I Hate Raiding.

I am going to be putting this into something more cohesive, but since the subject keeps coming up, I'm posting this. This is partly in response to the recent issues from Nihilum, as well as the announcement from Risen that they'd no longer be raiding.

Also, I'm not interested in casual players saying "I told you so!" Or any of the garbage that fills the WoW forums. If you've never raided, don't even respond unless you have something substantive, because 9/10ths of non-raiders seem to have an agenda and have no clue why raiding is enjoyable.


I hate hardcore raiding.

I love tanking, I love Warriors, and I love spending time with friends. But hardcore raiding is a tired, awful mechanic.

I've seen people's lives destroyed because they got sucked up into hardcore raiding. I've seen marriages nearly collapse, including my brother-in-law's. I've seen brilliant people's talents put aside in the name of loot. Is it their fault? Is it their weakness? Yes, but we can't pretend that the design of the game has done anything but push it.

I've always felt this way. I've often stated that 15-man UBRS was the most fun I've had in this game -- an instance which could be cleared in 40-120 minutes. I write and develop primarily for new players and new tanks. I'll defend WoW as being similar to sports teams -- it's not an addiction the same way cocaine or video poker are. But sports teams have hard limits and schedules that make their lifestyles both more healthy and more reasonable.

It's conflicting to me, because I was absolutely disappointed by the new content in TBC -- so much so that I let my account go inactive for six months -- and Sunwell looks to be a continuation. In that regards, I sympathize with both Nihilum and Risen, as well as the many other top tier raiders who are just sick of this. Naxxramas, to me, was the last great raid instance.

So, to me, I'm just pissed off from two ends. I hate hardcore raiding for the damage it does to people's lives and their schedules, and I simultaneously hate seeing it become easier and more geared towards casual players.

Though those are contradictory, let me suggest two things. First, I'm aware of how much I enjoyed the difficult push through the encounters of deep Naxxramas, even if I knowingly saw people hurt themselves in real life (on my behalf, I encouraged everyone who had issues to take a break; I wish I had done the same for myself). Second, the easier content has only encouraged more guilds to spend more time raiding, which is a good thing from a content-completion standpoint (raiders get to see everything), but isn't conducive to the general welfare of players.

The game needs a fundamental shift in design that stops players from being allowed to recover from wipes and stops allowing unlimited attempts per night.

A friend who recently left the game said he couldn't keep up, since time is the currency of WoW. He's correct.

My answer lies in original Vaelastrasz. Tune instances around timers. Only the best prepared can make those timers, and the entire stratification of hardcore vs. casual still exists. Once you run out of that time, you don't raid.

You don't win the Superbowl by playing more games than anyone else. You win it by playing better games.


Before someone brings up experience: I've seen every encounter in every raid zone in this game. I have not raided since December, and will not return for Sunwell.