Reflection On Ulduar And Content/Loot Progression

Patch 3.1 will usher in new content in the form of a raid dungeon called Ulduar. If you’ve been to Halls of Lightning and/or Halls of Stone then you’ve gotten a peak into what Ulduar is like since those two 5 man dungeons are actually part of the whole Ulduar area just like Slave Pens, Underbog, Steamvault and the raid dungeon Serpentshrine Cavern make up the whole Coilfang reservoir area in TBC.

Ulduar will be a step up in the progression of raiding content and thus entering a new tier of gear. This is similar to entering the t5 content of Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep: The Eye coming from raiding Karazhan and Gruul’s Lair and Magtheridon in TBC. Back in the TBC days, smaller guilds only had access to Karazhan and Zul’aman since they were the only 10 man raids available. If they wanted gear at par with even further content they would have to amass a huge number of badges of justice to get the badge gear that came with the Sunwell patch. the effect of this though is that people farming badges from heroics and Karazhan could get gear at par with things you can get at Black Temple and even if I benefited from this coolness of gear it still felt quite wrong. It’s the result of the strangeness of having people start raiding in a 10 man environment and then eventually get stuck once they need to advance because of the shift to just 25 man raiding especially after t5 content.

When Blizzard announced that there will be separate tiers for the different progressions of the 2 raid types, I didn’t really understand exactly what that meant. Now that Ulduar is coming and things are being explained more, it’s clearer. 10 man Naxxramas (and the other dungeons like Obsidian Sanctum) gives Emblems of Heroism just like 5 man Heroics but the Emblems of Valor that drop from 25 man Naxxramas (and OS etc) will also drop in 10 man Ulduar. 25 man Ulduar will drop a new emblem type called Emblem of Conquest which is currency for an even higher type of gear. The two raid type system gives you access to the content that you might not be able to see if you’re in a smaller guild and for a lot of people that’s already a plus. I’d have to say You get to see the content even in a 10 man environment but of course at a smaller reward in terms of gear. I’d say that this new system solved the problem of trying to get more people to see higher content and also the “badge of justice mistake” where people could farm low level content like heroics and Karazhan to get high quality gear.

I’d have to say that if Blizzard went on with the way they were going in TBC, I’d probably never be able to hope to see Ulduar because it would be just 25 man raiding So with all the buzz now about Ulduar, I’m happy that I can be excited since I can hope to see that content. If I’m lucky, I just might even be able to see the Lich King someday in the Icecrown Citadel!