Difficulty format for Normal and Savage will remain in 4.0

[Taika]

My biggest issues with the endgame design of this game is that (1) the game doesn't really motivate the players to do the highest level of endgame and (2) much of the content doesn't stay relevant for long. I think one simple step into right direction would be to remove the tomestone gear entirely. Then the players would actually have to do the content for the content drops (extreme primals or Savage or relic for weapons, Savage or Weeping City or dungeons for gear). Raiders would have a real benefit from raid gear when entering a new patch, while those who haven't yet completed the previous Savage tier would be able to get on that while it's been nerfed (and would have a reason to do so). The current mode of being able to get up-to-date gear by grinding 2 easy dungeons over and over and over and completing 1 easy 24-person raid a week is not a well designed base for endgame gear progression.

Similarly, the normal mode of Alexander shouldn't drop gear that's better than previous tier Savage gear, as Brian_ posted:

Gear that is an ilevel upgrade over the last Savage tier should not exist in normal mode. Catering to casuals in this regard is hurting the game a lot.

It basically destroyed gear progression in this game and made progression raiding a lot more expensive or grindy. Now, on top of every odd-patch being a catch-up patch, every even patch is a complete ilevel reset. At least before, the gear you got from the previous raid tier was useful until it was replaced by the new raid / tomestone gear. Now all your old gear is instantly replaced by crafted and Alex normal gear.

What this also does is instantly kill raid content upon clear. After your first clear of A8S there is no reason to ever do it again aside from the minion. There is no point to raiding anymore. Many A8S clearing statics I knew broke up because of how pointless farming is. Even if you farm for BiS gear, it's instantly replaced the next even patch.

There is also no point in going back to do old content after the new content is released and this shortens the lifespan of your content. In reality, while A8S might be too hard for a MC group even with full i240, it'd probably be a reasonable challenge with a few pieces of new tomestone gear.

Having a Normal mode is perfectly fine. But, SE's implementation in 3.X has been embarrassingly awful.