And Bornakk basically confirms that Blizzard agrees (well, all he says is that they'll talk about it on the next Blizzcast, but he adds a smiley, so odds are that Blizzard is down with the Heroic Countenance). They've been talking for a while, too, about making the reputation grind easier for alts and guilds, so maybe this type of spell is how they'll deal with that -- get it cast on one of your characters, and it will be cast on all of them.
The only question, then, is what to do with all those Heroic keys that we've picked up. The answer is probably nothing -- Blizzard doesn't really care, it seems, about updating old content, and my guess is that the instances in Outland won't be changing much from their current form. But in Wrath, it might be fun if the keys stayed, but opened up other, less consequential content. Instead of Heroic mode, what if a Revered rep key opened up the way to an additional optional boss, or an additional loot area per run? Not enough to make it necessary, but enough to reward those who went all the way with the reputation factions in the game.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-09-2008 @ 4:46PM
Oblivion said...
I like collecting keys and was a bit dissapointed that this time around I got a buff instead of an icon for my keyring. I like the idea of completeing quests for the heroic keys over rep grinds, though.
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4-09-2008 @ 4:47PM
Draele said...
I definitely like the new keying mechanic..though I feel they could have done a little more with it than they did with Terrace. It was too simple, too un-fulfilling in a way. In Wrath it would be great to see Heroic Countenance tied to a big zone quest which is followed up by killing the main boss of the instance in non heroic. And it could be tough too, if they decided to extend it to your alts. Ultimately it would be a sound move to make keying actually tougher, though in a non rep grind way. Make it difficult and memorable on your main, and then your alts never have to deal with it again.
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4-09-2008 @ 4:58PM
BaboonNL said...
Considering the amount of retards I've seen in heroics since they lowered it to honored, bring back the rep grinds. :(
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4-09-2008 @ 7:33PM
Green Armadillo said...
Honored was a stupid solution - it allows players to get four of the five keys without setting foot in an instance. Completing the level 70 dungeons once would have been far more intelligent.
I'd certainly prefer more spells over items you can never get rid of ever like the Drakefire amulet. The issue is how you design it - with a lengthy Onyxia style attunement chain, getting people attuned (and even getting groups to get yourself attuned) can be a pain, especially if your guild has moved on from that content. At the same time, "complete one instance run" is a far less stringent requirement than revered was (for everyone but CE anyway).
I also really wish Blizzard would stop putting outdoor solo content on the same reputation with group dungeon content if they're not going to allow the solo players to progress to exalted. It sucks to be told to wait til honored before you attempt any quests for fear of wasting instance trash rep. Hopefully Blizzard has learned that lesson, but I'll believe it when I see it.
4-09-2008 @ 5:13PM
marj said...
"Not enough to make it necessary, but enough to reward those who went all the way with the reputation factions in the game."
If it is enough to reward someone, it's enough to be necessary.
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4-09-2008 @ 5:15PM
someguy said...
Well this is odd.
I never killed Kael on normal. But then I went in with a different group who did it on heroic.
How was it that I got in on heroic without ever killing Kael first?
Bugged out?
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4-09-2008 @ 7:49PM
Ophelos said...
i wish that blizzard would have made it so u needed to be exalted to run this instance in heroic mode, since normal mode is so easy it's not funny.
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4-11-2008 @ 12:46AM
Shilkanni said...
I'm not sure I agree with your logic there! You think it's too easy on Normal mode but want to be forced to run it more times on Normal mode?
IMO Magister's (normal) is harder than all the other normal mode dungeons and maybe slightly hardest than some heroics so I don't really know what you were expecting from a normal-mode dungeon.
4-10-2008 @ 7:39AM
Yada Blah said...
And to think, I still haven't bothered going to the new zone on my 70s ...
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4-10-2008 @ 8:29AM
Dakira said...
On a side note, I use Fubar and the DungeonFu module it currently has an Epic setting and provides the Yellow text to everyone in your group "Dungeon difficulty has been set to Epic"
I find it quiet fun to freak PuG's out in such a fashion!
Now bringing it back to on topic they could go with a spell for heroic and a key for Epic.
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4-10-2008 @ 9:24AM
Angus said...
I'd almost like it with revered again.
I haven't gotten in to do the quests leading to heroic attunement and some of my guildies have done heroic a good 15 times now.
:(
Stupid Enhancement shaman lack of CC.
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4-10-2008 @ 10:57AM
Mattivc said...
I like this new idea for heroic attunment but i think the one for MT whas a bit to easy. For wrath maby they can have a questline witch makes you run several instances to open upp heroic mode for all those instances in an instance hub.
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4-11-2008 @ 1:45AM
Shilkanni said...
Methods they've tried:
* Magister's Heroic Countenance:
- only 1 run needed
- must have done the instance before to run it on heroic
* Honored Key
- questing or a couple runs needed
- doesn't need to have done any the instances before to run it on heroic (can quest to honored with most factions).
- generally easy to get keyed (easier to find people for heroics)
- more undergeared/skilled people running heroics
* Revered Key
- multiple runs of level 70 instances required
- Probably has done the instances before by the time they hit revered (but not guaranteed)
I thought the Revered -> Honored change would be bad as I regularly PUG heroics, but it really wasn't that bad. Before when someone said 'oh crap I don't have the key' - they usually couldn't get it. Now they can, and they usually suck, but often we can finish the instance anyways. :-)
If it's a countenance quest it needs to easy to get and shareable - maybe even just talk to someone or use an item after killing the final boss - I don't want people to have to complete a very 'missable' quest chain like 'Key to the Arcatraz', but something simple like talking to Milhouse Manastorm at the end of Arc normal unlocking heroic Arc would be great, or just keys dropping from the end bosses.
Countenance simplifies things greatly, often it means I only have to explain the differences between normal and heroic, not the whole instance.
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