Blizzard you don't care about raiders

Item quality can really be summed up to how long it takes to replace the item. All items will be replaced, but the quality of the item really boils down to how long it's going to stay on your character. Now that can definitely be altered drastically if a person is suddenly progressing really fast or jumping around a lot, but in a linear sort of progression (like leveling) the item quality will generally equate to how long you have it.

That's still very much true going forward, but what you won't see is someone going into Howling Fjord in tier 6 and seeing it replaced with quest rewards. That said we still want players to be able to progress, and to get new items, because while everyone becomes attached to their items to some degree you're ultimately trying to improve them, and never getting an upgrade would make it really boring.

Also while there still has to be some amount of 'catching people up' with a level cap bump so that we can appropriately manage difficulty, I don't think you'll see quite the same disparity as you did between pre-TBC loot and post-TBC loot with the release of WotLK. It's way to early to say that as a fact or anything near it, but it would be my guess.

Also ... I think there's a thread around here somewhere with the title "Blizzard you care too much about raiders". Fun how that works.

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Thank you for summing up so perfectly why I just canceled my account

Paladin since beta, raider since mc, and tired of having all the progress mean jack.
Good Game and so long

So let me ask you, what is meaningful progress if it isn't upgrading items? Obviously items aren't the only means for progress, although it's certainly a focus at the level cap. Are you going to enjoy wearing the same armor for the rest of the time you play? How is it augmented to actually help progress you? Is that any better than actually receiving a new item and being able to change the way your character looks?

I can definitely understand the perception of "what the hell, this item I went through all this trouble for is being given out to anyone who can kill 6 bears", but that was still meaningful progress you made at the time you got that item. Is it not just as meaningful to then go into new instances and continue those quests for bigger and better things?

I don't know, I guess I just don't buy it.

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Are you all doing anything in terms of addressing former content? So much classic "end-game" content is pretty much entirely being ignored now due to it being obsolete. mc/bwl/aq/naxx...all that fantastically made, beautiful content will never again be experienced by at least 90% of the players...i would like to venture a guess at 100%, but i'm figuring on being generous here. I know I would have loved to have had the chance at going through all that content.

Now with the new expansion, what is going to happen with the current "end-game?" Will I never get a chance to see Illidan just because a new expansion is released? It feels like lost story. A waste of resources, and in some respects, is rather depressing in terms of what I had hoped to get out of this experience. IE. I will never again get to test my will against Nefarian and the legions of blackrock, or fight back the raging swarm of the ahn qiraji and defend silithus (by the way...since there are no heros defending, shouldn't those areas be overrun by the enemy now?)

I know blizzard's official stance is that they never claimed to have made statements in regard to outfitting old instances so that they were usable by higher levels - but why wouldn't you? Currently all that content just seems to represent a waste of resources.

Well, the short answer is not really. There's a lot of things at work but most importantly it's a lot more difficult than it may seem to take an old dungeon and not only make it match the difficulty for higher level players with new abilities, stats, talents, etc. but also to itemize it, and ultimately make it relevant to the higher level player in some way. The choice is do we go back and do what is actually a lot of work to make these old dungeons relevant, or do we focus on new content for everyone to enjoy? So far we've really wanted to push on and make new content instead of just rehashing old content. We don't feel bad or disappointed that newer players may not see them, we have new and better dungeons for people to experience.

That said, there was some mention at BlizzCon of Naxxramas possibly (insert gigantic disclaimer) putting on its winter coat and taking a short trip...