NO MORE ALEXANDER(NM)!

[zosia]

As it stands now, savage alex is slowly killing the raiding community. I have seen several statics implode over the last month. This was not happening in BCoB, SCoB, or FCoB. I think our server has lost about a third of the statics, if not more, that were around in ARR. SE really threw the baby out with the bath water. Alex NM destroyed the mystery and and intrigue that usually accompanies very difficult raids.

There is a serious problem with the current model of alex NM, alex savage, and the soon to come void ark. There is little to no incentive at this point to actually do savage alex, just like SCoB SCoB savage. I know what people are going to say "but you get access to bis gear earlier than other people." Yeah, except the beefy left side pieces are locked behind a3s and a4s and if we are going to be honest with ourselves, not many groups are going to get those two fights down. Also, Coils were easier so people had access to the raid gear for more time before the freebies came along. With 3.1 5-6 weeks off, a majority of raiders are losing motivation to keep progressing because why do it? They know the story. In six weeks, they will get the freebie items from void ark. There is only the intrinsic value of overcoming a challenge. That's it, that's the only reward for clearing savage alex at this point.

Our group is really pushing for an a4s clear before 3.1, but it scares me to see the raiding community falling apart. I feel like if we ever lose one or two of our critical roles, our static would be in danger since the talent pool playing at this level has shrunk.

Raiders have no story reward.
Raiders have no time to appreciate the gear gap between savage gear and antiquated gear with void ark coming in 3.1
Recruitment has become an absolute nightmare because this content is not designed for midcore raiders.
In six weeks, alex will lose it's appeal of gear rewards.

Other than the date of the clear achievement, there is currently little incentives to do this content. The e-peen clear date reward is good enough for some, such as myself; yet, we know that all sorts of people raid for all sorts of reasons. Gear and story have been taken out of the savage equation.

I feel like Yoshida went full captain Ahab from Moby Dick this expansion. It's like he took it as a personal goal to make the only real raid in this game a challenge for groups like lucrezia and blue gartr. His 'white whale' was stopping any group, lucrezia and the sort, from clearing the main end game raid in a few weeks... Well, he accomplished that with great devastating effects to the entire raiding community, he threw the baby out with the bath water. "Raider" and "non-raider" are such polarizing terms that people forget that there is a stratum of skill level in each category and that most raiders don't play at the same level as people who will get a4s clears.

Alex normal should have come out one month after savage just like wow does it's LFR and Normal. Also, it should have been designed with the general raiding population in mind.

[StrejdaTom]

Snip

Thanks for this reply OP. I hope you don't mind if I save it and quote it in future in threads like this.
You managed to express my opinion really well.

[zosia]

Thanks for this reply OP. I hope you don't mind if I save it and quote it in future in threads like this.
You managed to express my opinion really well.

np =)
I don't mind at all.

[Evtrai]

Raiders have no time to appreciate the gear gap between savage gear and antiquated gear with void ark coming in 3.1
Recruitment has become an absolute nightmare because this content is not designed for midcore raiders.
In six weeks, alex will lose it's appeal of gear rewards.

Those are the keypoints that people on this forum don't understand.

[Colorful]

Alex normal should have come out one month after savage just like wow does it's LFR and Normal. Also, it should have been designed with the general raiding population in mind.

Small correction, but Normal & Heroic raiding modes come out first and then a week later Mythic, the hardest difficulty comes out. The first wing of LFR (4 bosses, comparable to the entirety of Alexander) comes out alongside it, not the other way around.

[zosia]

Small correction, but Normal & Heroic raiding modes come out first and then a week later Mythic, the hardest difficulty comes out. The first wing of LFR (4 bosses, comparable to the entirety of Alexander) comes out alongside it, not the other way around.

Well, thing changed a bit since I played in cata, but they should still do a staggered release to give people a chance to at least be curious about the story. It helps build the hype.

[KaijinRhada]

Well, thing changed a bit since I played in cata, but they should still do a staggered release to give people a chance to at least be curious about the story. It helps build the hype.

I don't think anything has changed since Cata, in fact, I'm pretty sure LFR came out at the same time as DS normal, and LFR only started from DS and onward. Flex was introduced in Mists, and is nw called normal with their needless nomenclature change. Prior to that and starting with Ulduar did you start seeing hardmode encounters, and then heroic raids came to be with ToGC. From then on people progressed with either 10/25 normal then on to 10/25 heroic being the norm until they introduced LFR and then Flex.

[Dhex]

Alex normal should have come out one month after savage just like wow does it's LFR and Normal. Also, it should have been designed with the general raiding population in mind.

While I see and agree with some of your points I still think removing Normal mode or releasing Normal mode a month after Savage would've exacerbated the "raiding die off" problem.

Asuran gear is i180 - and crafted gear is exorbitantly expensive to fully meld. I consider myself mid-core; I cleared SCoB & FCoB before any nerfs but I have no interest in Savage SCoB. We started on Alexander Savage the day it came out. Faust smacked use down hard. My group was between i180-i185 due to having Normal mode available and we still took about two weeks to clear Alexander Savage F1 - but if we'd been stuck in i180 gear with no route to grow I doubt we would have made it past Faust.

My only point; if you make the barriers to entry too high or delay the tools too long you stonewall people getting into content while it's current. If you want people to stay interested you can but not without giving them a clear pathway to overcome their deficiencies; it kills any interest in your raid just as quickly.