Cataclysm Epic Changes- For Better or Worse?

I'm sure most people have heard about the comments regarding the future stance on epics in WoW: We're actually working on restoring the epic feeling to epic items in Cataclysm. Epic loot should be epic, and something to be very proud of. Our plan is to try and get the Heroic -> Blue Gear and Raid -> Purple Gear balance back. (Source).

I was thinking on this a bit, since hearing this comment. I do remember fondly that I worked hard for my blues in Pre-BC, heck even in BC. I worked even harder for my epics. Thinking back on it now, I don't think I'd put up with that crap ever again. I put up with a lot to be able to raid, bad guilds, tons of drama so on and so forth. It was the only way to get good gear. Now, if I don't like it I don't worry about it.

In BC it took quite some time to finally have some decent gear. As the expansion moved on I spent many a night fishing instead of raiding for lack of finding a good guild. The ever widening gap continued to grow. Even in this expansion I have had a rough time with guilds, passing loot I won to their friends or making me sit out on raids for someone who shows up late, but is their old buddy.

I also remember in Pre-BC guilds bending rules and that epic I saved up all that DKP for the past month was whisked away by an alt or a member who would show up once a month taking that upgrade I've been trying so hard to get, me showing up to every raid. I needed those upgrades. Not everyone has a great guild. It's hard finding one and takes time. Honestly it's been a looooong time since I had a great guild in WoW. Point is now it's not so bad I can gear up decently and not have the best but good enough to participate. We all can.

While I was proud of my blues before I started raiding in Pre-BC they were good back then. There was no Gear Score and the game was still fresh. Think of it now, resorting to blues. I think many people get so caught up in nostalgia they can't see that it is too far in the game to revert to blues being 'special' while Epics are 'Uber'.

This game is getting old. You can't keep reverting things and keep people happy. People like the idea of doing group content to lead up to raiding. I can now do heroics to get myself geared up so I can catch up without too much 'pain' involved. The problem is that the gap is going to widen again. I may not need to but if my friend Bob or Sue wants to join in they can catch up fairly easy, or perhaps my alt will next.

Look at it this way- Think of how long it was since we started raiding in Nax, the gear from ICC is leagues ahead of what we started out raiding for. Now imagine starting up an alt or maybe you're coming back to the game at a later point. How far ahead will those epics be than the first? Group content will be a joke if that is the means for getting geared for raids. You think those kiddies making fun of your epic gear score is bad now? Oh so we have to raid all the time to catch up. I get it. Good luck trying to catch up there when most people want to do the current content and you can't.

If you have the time to raid throughout the whole expansion and stay on top, then this omits you. You might actually like the idea of being on top. Much like the EQ raiders did, in the end who is there to look down at now? You can't consider one play style, you have to take in the whole picture. If you want to be the rare few in good gear- get over yourself.

Unless the system is similar to how it is now, it will be harder on casuals. I like how it is now.I like the idea of people catching up and keeping the game balanced. If I wanted huge gaps in gear and players I'd play Everquest... Did I mention that before?

I'm not snubbing my nose at blues and I'm not wanting easy purples to be just handed out. I don't want to see Cataclysm cause some huge gap between players. What will be the point of doing heroics? I've pondered over this. Do you think people will actually do heroics if there isn't an incentive? That has to be a very, very good incentive to keep people running them as much as they do now. Plus I actually enjoy doing heroics for rewards, I love it compared to how it's been in the past.

Keep the raid gear ahead of group gear, don't shut the door though. On an aging game we can never recapture what the game once was. It will never be the same. A change like this could push players to the new MMO on the horizon. I've read many blog posts and articles of how people are excited about these changes, their eyes clouded with memories of the past. Wake up people.