I have been running Heroics almost religiously since the new and improved Dungeon Finder was released by Blizzard. Rewards are great, the action is fast, and it provides a nice steady income of gold. The down side is some of the dungeons themselves. Oculus was a big group breaker and would “pop” too many times, but was fixed by Blizzard Bribery.
The new one I see pop way too often is Old Kingdom (O.K.). I have been getting O.K. once a day for the last week and half! Coincidence or maybe some evil Night Elf Hunter plan, well maybe. Either way Blizzard has decided to bring the nerf hammer down and address some player issues. Here is the quote from Blizzard;
Ahn’kahet, the Old Kingdom
With that said, we plan on making some changes to The Old Kingdom in the next minor patch. For instance, Elder Nadox will only get one Ahn’Kahar Guardian and Jadoga Shadowseeker will only use her Ascend ability once during their respective encounters. In addition, a couple of the stagnant groups of bad dudes between the Befouled Terrace and The Desecrated Altar will be removed, while some of the roaming groups will have their pathing altered. These changes are not to make this instance easier, but rather to make it a slightly quicker run and more in line with some of the other Wrath dungeons.
Nexus
I think you mean Anomalus. Yes, he will use his Create Rift ability less often. [...] we’re continuing to learn that time and difficulty aren’t synonymous measurements. For instance, Anomalus could use his Create Rift ability 20 times before you could kill him if we wanted to make it so. This would increase the encounter’s difficulty by a negligible amount, the hardest part of which would be staying awake.The Culling of Stratholme
We plan to do something to allow players a quicker start to this dungeon, however, the fix to the scripting is more complicated than the changes we’re making to some of the other dungeons and likely will not be ready for the next minor patch.
I, for one welcome these changes. Anything that makes these old dungeons speedier, not necessary easier also makes them more fun. With cataclysm rumored to be out later this year, I foresee many improvements and changes coming our way.
I think this is a good start in creating dynamic instances. I definitely believe this is the next step in the evolution of instances. Creating fun, repeatable instances that are challenging, however do not require four hours to complete. Many gamers do not have the time to spend four hours straight on an instance, however many have the ability to compete. They should be given the opportunity.
I completely agree with the author, challenge and time do not have to be mutually exclusive.