Thread: 3.2 Patch Notes

Originally Posted by Andrea

I would agree if it wasn't for the fact that the mechanics are separated out to everyone and not just one class.

That's up for debate, to be honest. At release, it was harder to solo tank/heal it, so the role separation wasn't necessarily crystal clear to every random DF group. Most groups I was with for the first few weeks put ranged DPS on the cannons.

But it's not honestly that people can't understand the mechanics: it's that expecting people to explain those mechanics (and indeed, for people to want to listen to that explanation) in an environment (the Duty Finder) where explanations are almost never necessary was a bit much, especially for a piece of content that was gating the expansion completely.

Ultimately I think that's why they nerfed it—it wasn't the sort of content they conditioned people to for the DF. That's also why they nerfed Pharos Sirius, IMO, as that dungeon required more than most other DF dungeons at the time. That's also why they made mechanical adjustments to SCOB for the Duty Finder. Having a small number of content pieces that are more difficult/complicated than all of the other content in that same content class is messy.

I wish they hadn't nerfed most of that stuff too (though I feel Steps of Faith needed to be given its place in the scheme of the MSQ—I stopped doing Trials Roulette completely because of it in 2.5 because I do Trials for quick tomestones, and Steps was anything but quick Tomes).

But ultimately the game just doesn't have a place for difficult/complex DF content. The place for that stuff is outside the DF, which is why EX Primals and raids always require pre-formed parties initially. For things like Steps/Pharos/SCOB/everything else that's been nerfed to fit into the DF scheme, the game would already have to have a foundation for that type of content, to build the expectation and baseline necessary.

WoW ran into a similar problem with its initial Cataclysm Heroic dungeons, which were an order of magnitude more complex than the Wrath of the Lich King ones, which were all straightforward enough to work rather well with the new Dungeon Finder. The Cataclysm dungeons, though, were a lot more like the older, pre-DF dungeons, but the environment was now different: you weren't making parties with people from your server anymore, going in with pre-determined goals and strategies. You were now expected to do more complicated/difficult dungeons with complete and utter strangers with unknown playstyles and attitudes.