What’s Challenging about Challenge Modes?

by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

With February’s announcement that Challenge Modes are going the way of the dodo, interest in them has picked up. Groups are forming all over the place on my server (Wildhammer-EU) – I’ve even managed to run some alts through – and you only have to dip into Openraid‘s chat to see the same thing going on there.

With this resurgence in interest, it’s a good time to look back at CMs and ask what made them successful, and what could be done to improve them.

CMs were a new type of dungeon introduced in Mists. A timed run through the new 5-mans with level-appropriate (or at least, downscaled) gear, they are a way to give raiders a challenge on off nights, as well as offering challenging content to 5-man players.

What these instances did, they did very well. For starters, you can’t use the LFG tool to find a group; it has to be made up of BattleTag and RealID friends, or at least people on your realm. Basically, you need to talk to other players both before and during the dungeon (good luck getting gold times without voice chat). Old-school players have been lamenting the loss of server community for years – that’s a subject for a separate post, but suffice it to say that CMs are a step in the right direction.

High-level PvE skills are tested, such as quick decision-making, target prioritisation and switching and group co-ordination. People need a complete understanding of their class – perhaps slightly less important today than when players were in real ilvl 463 gear, but you definitely can’t get away with binding every key to Ice Lance and rolling your face across the keyboard. The dungeons also encourage non-standard tactics, like use of the Battle Horn and blowing Heroism at odd points.

Progression paths are WoW’s main focus; PvP and (raiding) PvE have clear ways to increase your power, but because they don’t reward loot and downscale gear, CMs aren’t tied to the same model. This is both good and bad; it’s positive because high-end gear doesn’t trivialise the dungeons to a great extent (they are made slightly easier through more gem sockets and better-itemised gear); but negative because 5-man players, for whom these dungeons are the end-game, have no tangible reward or upgrade path. This also means that, without shooting for world best times, the dungeons have little replayability.

So what went wrong with Challenge Modes? The first and most obvious point is that some specs dominate, while others suffer hugely from being downscaled. If you really want to struggle to make gold times, take a Protection Paladin/Guardian Druid tank, Holy Priest healer and pick your DPS from Fury Warriors, Fire/Arcane Mages, Balance/Feral Druids and Shadow Priests.

On the other hand, some specs do very well. Frost Mages and Elemental Shaman have excellent on-demand burst; Brewmaster Monks are probably the best kiters in the game; and Death Knights of all specs bring a huge amount of utility. Any class with an AoE stun is guaranteed to be useful. These classes are favoured because of the nature of Challenge Modes as time trials.

Shaman are a popular class for Challenge Mode pewpew.

Class diversity ties in with the timed nature. Again, this favours certain classes and specs – especially those with mobility and strong AoE, because trash is often the most time-consuming part of a run. Short-form crowd control like Shockwave is favoured over long-form abilities like Polymorph, because mobs are gathered up and cleaved down.

My final issue is that CMs haven’t been added to throughout Mists, although I’m hopeful for WoD. Although I was one of those who agreed with Blizzard’s decision not to add new small-group content in Mists (more development time on raids, yes please!), it also meant no new Challenge Modes or achievements. We don’t actually know whether new 5-mans would also see an associated Challenge Mode, but it’s not a long leap.

We’re a critical juncture in the development of the next expansion right now, with the beta (hopefully) right around the corner. It is a perfect time to help shape the design of CMs in WoD. How can they be improved?

Firstly would be a removal of the time restriction. As discussed above, it weights the class balance too heavily in favour of some and away from others. There is also the possibility of making longer, more difficult encounters (bosses are probably the least-dangerous enemy you’ll face in a CM). Alternatively, keep the timer but have it only be one of the ways in which a group is ranked; lower times could add points to a total that is also increased by, say, killing additional patrols or executing a certain strategy.

Secondly, find a way to make sure that all specs are welcome. Is there a way to get around the gear scaling issue? Celestalon tweeted that future Proving Grounds might scale up to match a player’s gear level. Could the same be applied to Challenge Modes (based on average group gear level)?

Wouldn’t it also be great to encourage re-running CMs, without shooting for world-best times? More vanity rewards or BoP crafting materials (maybe whatever WoD’s equivalent to Spirits of Harmony will be), would be one way. How about a small chance to drop a weapon that is only for transmogrification and matches your class set?

What are your opinions on Challenge Modes in Mists, and going into WoD? Have you run any? If not, why not? Let us know.