Why do casuals need Ulduar badges

Q u o t e:
Why do casuals need Ulduar badges?

You guys don't have the time to raid.

If you do raid, it's Vault of Archavon.

You guys clear 5 mans just fine with the gear thats available to you.

The gear won't help you in Ulduar or the new instance because casuals don't have the time(not saying skill) for a raid instance.


So why are we handing them free tickets?

First off please don't make assumptions on other people's play style as that only goes down a negative path.

Some people may not play a lot but are capable of clearing new content. The new system will provide a faster way for people to gear up and get to the new content. Without this change you'd continue to see some players (possibly new players) asking for Naxx groups after 3.2 is out which usually leads to mockery of some sort in the trade channel (in my experience). The new system will allow them to more quickly get the gear to focus on a place like Ulduar and possibly the 3.2 content itself which will be easier to find a group for and more enjoyable as it is newer.

Q u o t e:


This statement leads me to wonder, why are you intentionally rendering obsolete the <Ulduar content?? It seems to me that the lifecycle of raids is shortening and therefore reducing the value of the resources being invested in these raid instances. Does Blizzard see a positive ROI on this content when presummably, new/returning players and alts are encouraged to skip such content and if not, why even invest in exclusionary content at all? What is the percentage of players that even partake in raids to begin with??

It's not that the Naxx-level content is being phased out but is becoming more accessible. Some players want to jump to the latest content, sure, and the new system should allow them to go through it faster and get to the latest content. We are trying to avoid forcing players to spend ~2 months in Naxx before going to Ulduar then ~2 months there before going to the Coliseum.

Q u o t e:


you realize you just fell for an obvious troll thread right? :\

I didn't "fall" for anything. Having been here for a couple years I'm pretty good at spotting things, but as a community manager if I see a thread where I can provide some positive information and possibly start a discussion on a topic, I go for it. So yes, this thread had a greater potential for a discussion than most of the other threads I read and that is what I "fell" for.

Also, this directly relates to the whole not replying to straight complaints that aren't constructive feedback that Nethaera talked about: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=18326621042&pageNo=2&sid=1#20