Luck of the Draw Buff
In case you aren't already aware, Luck of the Draw is the name of the buff you get for grouping with random people using Dungeon Finder. It currently provides a 5% buff to damage, healing, and health if you have at least one random player in your group. With patch 4.0.6, we are increasing this buff to 5% damage, healing, and health per random player, up to a maximum of 15%.
In the process of working on this change we actually discovered that the Luck of the Draw buff has not been working in Cataclysm at all, save for a few specific dungeons. This means that the difficulty in almost all normal and Heroic dungeons for those using the Dungeon Finder tool was higher than expected. Still, with that issue corrected in 4.0.6, we feel the bump up to 15% for three or more random players found through the Dungeon Finder is a necessary change.
The intent of Luck of the Draw is to help make up for the lack of coordination, communication, and familiarity that pick up groups suffer relative to organized groups of guild members and friends. Cataclysm dungeons, especially on Heroic mode, are quite challenging and ask for more group organization than the Wrath of the Lich King dungeons did. Therefore, Luck of the Draw became relatively weaker in Cataclysm. I'm painting the picture with unfairly large brush strokes here, but in general, Heroic dungeons are of appropriate difficulty for organized groups, but just brutal on Dungeon Finder groups. Players wonder, and rightly so, why Dungeon Finder supports Cataclysm Heroic dungeons at all when the chance of success is so low.
We think buffing Luck of the Draw is a good way to go about correcting the difficulty differences because it makes things slightly easier on PUGs without depriving the organized groups of a fun challenge. We also think the bonus is modest enough that it won't encourage organized groups to split up and just PUG instead - - the success rate for PUGs relative to organized groups is just that far behind. We still think you'll have more fun and a greater chance of success running dungeons with friends, but when that isn’t possible, we hope this change will make Dungeon Finder a more pleasant experience. Also remember that patch 4.0.6 is adjusting the difficulty of some bosses that are particularly unforgiving, such as Ozruk in Heroic Stonecore, though to be fair, we are buffing some underperforming encounters as well. In addition, we are offering larger Justice Point rewards for players who just prefer the faster pace and greater success rate of normal dungeons, and by the time 4.1 comes out everyone will have access to more powerful gear, making the older content even easier. But then there'll be new challenges to face!
We'd like to thank everyone who has provided us with feedback. We do listen, even if we don't immediately deploy every design change suggested by the player community. Our intent is to make the game fun for a wide variety of players, which can be quite a challenge when you have a community this large and this varied. We hope you continue to enjoy the game, and look forward to sharing more changes (and a few surprises) in the months ahead.
-Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street is the lead systems designer for World of Warcraft and was attacked by a coati as a child. (True story.)
Comments (1,532)
Gorefiend
The Underbog
As a baddie, I totally agree. I really like gussied up loot vending machines, but do firmly believe there needs to be challenging content for those players who are intellectually up to the challenge (if I can call it that) for difficult content without having to deal with players like myself. It seems most who like to come to my Tea Parties would agree when this logic is applied to economic and social policies in the US (except in that case we baddies would be left to die... or band together and steal/suckle from the well to do, giving reason for the police, GMs and game producers.)
Burning Blade
With the changes to boss encounters from Regular to Heroic, I honestly don't know what to expect. I ALWAYS ask everyone in the party "Anything different from regular boss?"
((Please try to see past this haenous QQing))
Perhaps Blizzard could donate a small portion of their time to creating an in game database of boss encounters.
You COULD dismiss this by saying "We want people to figure it out"
But face it, a few elitist guilds figure it out in the first 2 weeks before the rest of us, even good raiding guilds, are even geared to start it.
Tankspot has videos, millions of fan run emporiums of knowledge.
I hate tabbing out, screws wow up sometimes, makes my puter all laggy, takes too much time, and worst of all, I have NO idea whats happening in game while I'm tabbed out.
So, to finalize, add a boss encounter guide that can be viewed at any point by any member. Would really help just to know that the spanish guy that doesn't speak english, can understand the fight and not wipe the group.
Footnote: Please fix aggro, when I taunt, can it last at least until my GCD is up before my aggro is gone again?
Or make a big note to all those DPS to cool their DPS jets, cause fighting for aggro with unruley ppl that you can't kick for 45 mins is still very much annoying. (Note: I'm talking about the pull, not halfway through a fight, if I lost aggro then, I'm not doing something right.
Barthilas
Moon Guard
Blizzard, thank you for listening. <3
Eonar
For those clearly not paying attention to the OP, I quoted above. The heroics are tough if you are in an organized guild or not. It's tougher if you are using the finder. You may know what to do others may not, or vice versa. Even if you are IN a guild, it doesn't mean you won't or don't have to use the random button.
[quote=Ghostcrawler]It currently provides a 5% buff to damage, healing, and health if you have at least one random player in your group.[/quote]
If you pull off a full guild run, you don't get the buff according to the second statement I quoted. Not everyone is lucky enough to run with a guild, not everyone has the same schedule to participate in such runs. It's balanced for those who may not be. And who says everyone in the guild is going to be coordinated? You tolerate stupidity over 1 stranger, but not another? I have played this game for near 6 years now and have never once felt the urge to degrade anyone for not playing well. (Hint: there is a kick player option if it gets that bad.)
Quit hating on the social players. Put more fiber in your diet and you'll be happier. Kkthx..
Azjol-Nerub
Shu'halo
Borean Tundra
Perenolde
You should be ashamed!!!!!!
Warsong
Magtheridon
Also, just because you hit 329 ilvl and feel special because you can run heroics, does not mean you are ready and more often or not you will suck and ruin the group. Be ready for heroics before you start doing them. No reason to rush into something and make everyone else have to waste their time because you aren't ready. Some people can run heroics at 329 and do a great job, if you know you aren't one of these people, why the hell are you going to que for a heroic? To be carried? To hopefully get loot you didn't earn/deserve? Come on, make things easier on yourself and respect others and earn some more regular gear and experience before you move on. This will also make the heroics in general run a lot better for everyone else.
I know I said respect others, and I know this is WoW, so however far respect actually goes in this game, is what I guess I meant.
Exodar
Scilla
Anyways This buff is a joke, I cleared this heroic content 3 days after cata hit.
Dentarg
However, I don't think that the real problem is Casual VS. Elite, or available play time, or even skill abilities in your class. The real problem is what the vast variety of WoW considers to be fun. Some people want dungeons to be relaxing while also being rewarding; A time to bond with strangers and friends alike while maintaining a positive attitude. Others are strictly business and are gear/goal oriented when entering dungeons and have little tolerance for anything else. Others have no necessity to enter the dungeons (Other than Valor Points) and demand it keep the same satisfaction of difficulty even when they gear up.
Simply stated, the problem is a person's mindset when they enter the heroics. The clashing of these attitudes (Not just casual and elite) makes the game less fun for all players involved. There are ways around this beyond just appeasing the masses (Obviously it has been the "casuals" who have pleaded the case with Blizzard about dungeons).
One could have unique servers for separate play styles...or even just the option on the dungeon finder (That scales dungeon difficulty with play style). They could also introduce other difficulty of dungeons beyond heroic. By making the "Beyond Heroic" difficulty dungeons, you could allow well composed players the ability to gear on a level equal to raiding (Maybe just gear on the last boss, like previous heroics were) as a reward to their play-ability, and not ruin the more casual and relaxed style of play others want. This would allow casuals to still gear up for raiding and still give "elites/competitives" the edge and an alternative to nerfed heroics.
It's a suggestion at the very least. This game isn't about creating factions of players and dominating Blizzard's attention. It's about cooperation and finding a middle ground so that all styles of play can once again be accepted in the World of Warcraft (At least, in some moderation).
Bronzebeard
Fizzcrank
Zangarmarsh
Bronzebeard
Blackhand
If you think its hard tanking as a pally, and you dont have enough cd's to save a heroic group (Which I do as a 3 day old 85), try playing a druid tank. I am not trying to QQ, but go ahead and give up your parry, and block, and maintain the same level of health as every other tank, with quite literally 1/2 the cd's. Pally's dont need to be fixed nor do heroics outside of the fact that I agree the min IL needs to be either increased, or blizzard needs to eliminate the ability to count pvp gear AND unequipped items (or off spec items) as part of your average item level. If you can't save your group from a botched cc at this point, I'd strongly encourage you to reroll a dps or something.
Trollbane
Burning Blade
[Quote]dear lord please remove these people from the world so the smart ones can bring about a true eden.[/Quote]
It's comments like these that stir people up. If you dont want someone to tear you apart, don't attack people.
Even if the person is DEAD wrong, it gives you no grounds to hurl an insult.
Reason #1 - I'm sorry, but insults just lead no where. Period.
Reason #2 - Completely ruins your character, which then nullifies any good points you make
Reason #3 - It makes you sound like an a'hole irl
So unless you like typing without a point (gets nullified when your a baddie), be nice.
Fizzcrank
another solution could be to make it possible for people to get higher gear without dungeonruns. maybe attach a jp value or vp value to quests. i personally would prefer getting rep and better gear just through questing instead of running the same dungeons and dailies over and over and over again
Farstriders
Silver Hand
Example: There could be a "Use Luck of the Draw buff" clicker in the "choose your role" window. Or something similar to that.
Either way, I think this is cool.
Silver Hand
"See your comparing Cata to Wrath, YOU CAN'T. dear lord please remove these people from the world so the smart ones can bring about a true eden."
How was I comparing Wrath with Cata in my previous comment? I was stating an example of a game mechanic. I was not comparing difficulty of gameplay, or anything similar to that subject matter. And your comment there was quite negative and offensive.
You boast on intelligence when it seems that you lack even the basic of literary skills. Learn to read before you start ranting on about your opinions on other people's comments.
Also, your comments on irrelevant topics (such as ADHD) and also calling people morons is also quite offensive, and unwelcome here. Please leave your derogatory opinions at the door and be more mature and civil about the topic of this forum, and be more mindful of the varied kinds of people that do read these forums. You don't know who you could be insulting by saying things such as you have, previously.
I do not hesitate to report offensive behavior.
Dath'Remar
Trollbane
Are you serious? I know about the emergency buttons and guess what. They are not emergency buttons anymore there required to tank trash pulls. I was going off about the removal of "defense" and the fact that even with people that listen and try hard the content is way over designed to make people point fingers all the time. And as you proved in your response unless you have played with me personally you have no right to "assume" I didn't learn the new stuff. So lets look at this in a different perspective. Say its a 5 mob pull 2 are to be CC'd but they resist, I then have to get aggro off the CC players in turn making it me the target of all 5. Pop everything I can and still die because the dmg output is way way to high. to watch 160k+ health (depending on group make up ect. buffs you know) go to 0 in a matter of a few secs, is not anyone's fault but the programmers. They over did it in my opinion. So reconsider your words my good sir. Then we can debate.
Dath'Remar
Trollbane
Silver Hand
Icecrown
Then again perhaps it was an inattentive healer. Something I always do is if i have a lock in the grp I ALWAYS ask for a heartstone, thats like usually a 50k heal with no mana cost for those pucker factor times.
Shandris
Trollbane
100% Agree, & I think this could eliminate the people getting into them with PVP gear and what not in there bags.
Drenden
Argent Dawn
Trollbane
Silver Hand
If you're not enjoying Cataclysm (because it's too "hard"), why play it? Cataclysm has brought back the elements that gave players a true challenge when it came to dungeons and end game content (and other stuff I can't think of right now).
Now, there is more interactivity with the groups involved, and with the encounters, making the game a lot less mindless, and a lot more social. It's not just a "tank and spank" fight anymore. You actually have to think. If you've been tanking since Vanilla, you should embrace this as a good thing; for it's made to test you as a player (and as a veteran), and give you new obstacles to conquer and overcome.
Would you not be bored if the game was just like cutting butter with a warm knife? Seriously, the new challenges make the game even more fun to play, because once you are able to grasp them, and adjust to the new changes, you eventually become able to overcome these new challenges, and feel accomplished; not just as a tank, but as a player in general.
I'm not sure what you mean by a "true" tank, but I do know that a *good* tank (or healer/dps), would bite the bullet, raise their shields (or bear fangs) (or your choice of weapon or spell) and take on these new challenges with renewed vigor, and a smirk on his/her face.
So, if you're not enjoying the game anymore, perhaps its time to move on... or just take a well deserved break and come back to it later.
Trollbane
Next time you care to comment on someones post read what is being said. Yes I still enjoy the game I do not Enjoy current heroics. And my main complaint is that they Nerf'd tanking in general. As I was saying above its annoying to wipe a heroic and have people bail and not learn and they think its "our" the tanks fault. And as I said above if a CC goes bad its not fun. I will simply say good day to you and your narrow minded reading.
Icecrown