wow New-Old Raids: Is It Time to Bring Previous Raids Back as More Than Timewalking?

[Starym 3,787]

 

One topic gets talked about more and more over the years and keeps coming back, as WoW has so much content that simply is not being uses properly or even at all. Also, Blizzard seem to be very much listening to the community and their ideas at the moment, and so I dove into a way to bring old raids back as current content, but not just as timewalking but as actual, proper, fully-fledged experiences with all the difficulty levels, and even story relevance, since I think it really is time to bring them back.

As I go into detail in the Raider.IO article, many players have not gotten to see older raids, at least not properly, with some truly amazing experiences going to waste on simple transmog or mount farming runs, when everyone is stuck doing the same single raid over and over for an entire patch. And so bringing the best of the best old raids back seems like a slam-dunk, with not that much work needing to be done and offering a lot of content that many players have not seen at all, have not seen in the proper light, or would just like to revisit!

Updating an old raid to make it fully equivalent to the current content one could be done in .5 patches, like we are in now, and the themes of the major patch could dictate which raid comes back. So for example for 9.1.5 we would get Icecrown Citadel, due to its direct (and even physical at this point) link with Torghast/the Sanctum of Domination. The whole raid would get updated, re-balanced, and maybe even get some new mechanics thrown in as well, to bring it up to today's standards, with a story/lore thread to connect it to current events. Whether it's Chromie or some other Bronze Dragonflight time travel shenanigans, we'd get to go and re-live the ICC raid and even add in new realizations about that period, given the new information we now know (like for example how the Jailer was involved, how he affected Arthas, contacted Sylvanas etc). The raid would have all 4 difficulties, LFR, Normal, Heroic and, most importantly, Mythic, so there could even be a new Race to World First! The mere idea of being able to face the Lich King again in a proper, difficult, progression encounter is enough of a reason to at least consider this, not to mention other classics like Lei Shen, Garrosh, Blackhand, Gul'Dan, Elisande... I could go on for a long while here.

Obviously there are issues with the approach as it's not all perfect/easy, and I go into all of that in the article over at Raider.IO, from more details on how it could be implemented, how the loot would work (players wouldn't have to do the new raid if they didn't want to), the pros and cons, how the raids could be chosen and more. So if you're interested in the idea, hop on over to Raider.IO and read the full thing, and if you want, you can also vote in the poll below!

? In relation to our article posted earlier today: Should Blizzard bring back old raids for current content in .5 Patches? ?

? The article: https://t.co/kzr0CiTsCs…

— Raider.IO ? (@RaiderIO_WoW) November 13, 2021

 

Either way, whether you like the idea or not, let's let Blizzard know!

[Nym85 72]

I'd love a full on timewalking revamp, with Cavern of Times redone so we can add all the vendors there and with Heroic Timewalking Raids that are meant to be a challenge, stay up for a season (make Timewalking be seasonal and have it affect two xpacs at a time, including a vanilla version) and combined with M+ give gear equivalent to Heroic raiding.

[Nihilatos 10]

My worry is that Blizzard would make the old raids impossible to do solo for people who like to collect transmog and mounts and not have to fight over items with other players. They'd either leave them as they are or bring them up to current. Blizzard doesn't know how to do balance.

[Cheatcho 46]

New raid in the previously unexplored part of Caverns of Time being similar to the Trial of the Crusader. Minimal trash/or no trash at all + fixed number of random bosses from any previous raid/expansion each week. Progressively harder bosses with each defeated boss. Last boss every time should be an end raid boss. We could either be teleported by an hourglass/Chromie each time or the Colosseum itself could change to represent the architecture of the raid boss encounter. Higher difficulty modes will have higher chance to spawn more end game bosses requiring more gear. Add a random lfr raid option for casual player with a fixed guaranteed loot and everyone will be happy. Both of those could stay forever and just be an addition to the current raid tier for a chance for some extra gear. 

[Desumetal 3]

As much as I'd love to see it, this is the point where Blizzard constant revamping of classes and borrowed power systems is going to bite them right in the *filtered*.  Like the MOP raids were designed around highly-mobile casters with strong AOE, and...oh yeah, the legendary cloak.  Legion raids were designed with the strengths of the artifact weapons in mind.  The further and further you go back, the less the game of today resembles what we were using back then.

Hell, some of the raids are still running on mechanics that technically don't exist anymore: Blizzard still hasn't fixed Viscidous, and it's only been what...17 years?

Not to say that they couldn't pull it off if they tried really hard...but they'd only get it right once.  Given how often Blizzard likes to introduce disposable power systems and "re-imagining the specs," every expansion will require a complete revamp of old raids in order for them to stay balanced.  I don't think they have what it takes to maintain an ever-increasing library of encounters when it's just so much easier to forget about them and work on the next best thing.

You know, like they've always done.

[SidonisAntares 288]

Sounds like a (saronite) bomb idea.

[Logarithm 40]

I very much believe the next expansion will have to do with The Dragon Isles, re-empowering the aspects and using a lot of the caverns of time to do it. I think this will help a smaller Blizzard team to be able to reuse some art assets and bring people back into what they love about the game. There will be a lot of dungeons (hence why the whole dungeon team was off of 9.2, they're working on the xpac).

[Helvorn 57]

No, this is just re-doing things, the majority already did a hundred, a thousand times. Nostalgia is and was always a lukewarm solution. 

WoW has way more critical problems that must be dealt with, with an already shrunken team. WoW is in dire need of something NEW and CONSISTENT. 

[Swarf 101]

I never actually bother with current content raiding and M+.  Though many enjoy these things, I just... don't.  But I do enjoy farming older content for mogs, mounts, etc., when it becomes properly face rollable.

[KLWN 7]

Cool article and I agree with it. There is still so much potential in WoW.

[KLWN 7]

17 hours ago, Nihilatos said:

My worry is that Blizzard would make the old raids impossible to do solo for people who like to collect transmog and mounts and not have to fight over items with other players. They'd either leave them as they are or bring them up to current. Blizzard doesn't know how to do balance.

If they did this right, it should'nt be a problem

[Badadada 184]

Updated timewalking encounters? Nope - don't see the point with Classic WoW around, the rollout will get there eventually anyways.

Revisited and refresed raids/dungeons like Karazhan? Cool once in a while.

[Nihilatos 10]

On 11/15/2021 at 2:36 AM, KLWN said:

If they did this right, it should'nt be a problem

When does Blizzard know how to do things right? It's one or the other with them sadly