It’s unsurprising to see players struggling with new content, but Blizzard‘s newest content drop in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is proving to be significantly more difficult than most players suggested.
Yesterday, Blizzard released the new Mythic+ dungeon system, rated PvP system, and the first raid of the Shadowlands expansion, Castle Nathria. Players have already charged into all three, collecting rewards all along the way.
But with Castle Nathria, players are discovering that the bosses are much more difficult than they prepared for. Given that (with the exception of beta testers) players haven’t been able to access this content yet, it’s understandable that simply studying the available guides and whatnot undershot the difficulty.
This is taking place on both released difficulties, Normal and Heroic. The specific bosses that Wowhead names seems to be Huntsman Altimor and Sludgefist, but some have been struggling with others – such as the Council of Blood – to a high extent as well.
Wowhead is quick to point out a very important point: the raid will get easier with gear. At the release of the raid, the highest obtainable items were around 200 item level, such as the Darkmoon Deck trinkets.
There were a few other items, such as 190 epic items that dropped off of random mobs. Otherwise, the majority of items were 184 – the gear dropped in Mythic dungeons without using a keystone, which only just became available as well.
Because of this, the average gear score of a geared character floated around 180-ish, give or take a few depending on the luck one may have found in their mythic world tours. With Mythic+, Nathria, and rated PvP now available, that average gear score will surge dramatically.
As it does, all content will become easier for the obvious, simple reason of players becoming more powerful. That said, many are considering this raid release to be more difficult than others in previous expansions, which had the same gear score issue.
Much of this is due to some overtuning – or, more simply said, some of the bosses are a bit stronger than they maybe should be. Huntsman Altimor is the main villain in this, with his Sinseeker ability inflicting significantly more damage than many were prepared for.
Sludgefist, however, is proving to be even more difficult due to more varied mechanics and the need for high damage that many just aren’t capable of putting out. While certainly killable, there’s a high chance that unprepared groups may find Sludgefist unsurmountable simply due to the DPS-check that has been put in place.
