Take it easy on the Nerfing :/

[Ablongman]

If it's designed to be highly challenging, then it shouldn't have exclusive rewards, because exclusive rewards would force everyone who wants those rewards into having to do Savage Mode whether they want to or not. That in turn forces nerfing "savage" mode to be accessible to everyone, at which point it no longer serves its purpose for the people it was originally designed for. This holds true regardless of whether those exclusive rewards are powerful gear, cosmetic gear, mounts, or whatever. So long as they're both desirable and exclusive, Savage mode won't stay savage.

What it can offer, however, is a faster way to get some of the rewards that would be a long grind or rarer drop elsewhere. That can provide some real reward for the people who do the harder version without forcing it on those who don't want to.

Well, I don't think exclusive rewards would be an issue, provided those exclusive rewards do not provide a numerical advantage that widens the gap between those who are capable of pulling off gear-adjusted Savage versus those who cannot in areas where gear numbers would matter (i.e. FCoB).

But I do think having an alternative that checks persistence rather than skill to obtain those items would be reasonable. What is key, in my opinion, is that the power-as-reward method is problematic and should be abolished entirely from progression content.

One possibility would be to replace the stuff in FCoB-equivalent content with other desirable items for players who clear it (including glamours so they can distinguish themselves), keep power rewards as tomestone gear that trickles equally across all who do "endgame" content (and incrementally ease the cap to allow people who are late to a tier to meet gear requirements to join endgame raiding), and suddenly you have a playing field where the skillfull can set themselves apart without an unnecessary power gap. A skilled player can already maximize a character's potential and do far more than an average or subpar player, so to stack a huge power differential on top of that, like what we had prior to the WoD weekly, is just unnecessary.