Welcome to the October WOW meeting!!
I greatly appreciate that all of you are taking time to attend this meeting. Unfortunately, as you all likely read in Discord or on the internet, the Shadowlands release has been delayed. This is disappointing in that many of us have planned some time off from work or tried to schedule some time to attack the new content. I see it for what it is, Blizzard is trying to polish the game and does not want to release too early. I read a blog by a high level ret paladin player who analyzes and crunches numbers and his take, which mirrors my own, is that the balance that Blizzard is trying to keep is very, very difficult with the Covenant portion of Shadowlands. The general take is that Covenants represent an important choice for players and provide (in my opinion) a fun game experience for the expansion. The issue is that many classes will be represented by a Covenant and that if one power is way overpowered, tweaking it affects many classes. If you then try to tweak the classes, you may have unintended consequences. Blizzard has tried very hard to provide balance across classes, but this may be where they are biting off more than they can chew. The Blogger's take is that it may be better to admit some specs of classes or even whole classes are weaker so that the system which provides a significant fun factor works. I do not envy Blizzard's position, but I am grateful that they are working hard to provide a polished gaming experience.
Pre-patch comes next week on Tuesday, October 13th. I hope all of you join me to see how our class changes and learn how to play with those new changes. A request for raids to re-start was made by Lava, and if there is interest, I would like to start them up again to help us relearn. Mythic+ and other grouping will likely start up again with more people logging for the new content. I am very excited to see more content and hope that the rest of you are as well!
Just a note too all pet battlers that there are going to be nerfs to some pet abilities as well. Icky, a prominent battle pet, is going to be nerfed as well as some others. This is the time to attack the current content before the nerf comes.
New Novices:
Inductions:
Hazta - not in attendance
Charlewall - not in attendance
Nikehalo
Officer Induction:
None
Award Nominations:
None
Raiding:
There is not a lot to talk about regarding raiding since we took a break. It was anticipated that pre-patch would have been a week earlier so there was a bit of a hole in activities. Unfortunately for me, work got a whole lot busier as well. Behind the scenes, though, the BC team has been working on requirements for raids and updating some of our documents. Also, if anyone has been by the website, I posted the first initial videos and strategies for the Castle Nathria Raid! This is exciting to see the initial videos and although there will be changes, I cannot wait to start attacking a new raid. I also posted a spoiler video in Discord about the Necrotic Wake dungeon. I am very interested in doing some research on these upcoming dungeons but do not want to spoil everyone. The videos prepared by Jeathe give some great insights into the dungeon. I think these videos will help the some of us to improve our understanding and play within the dungeons. This can also help with us with Mythic+ timing. I hope you all cannot wait to start leveling up and then gearing for raids.
I spoke about Covenants a little up top, but I do want to talk about them again. Covenants are going to play a role in damage and healing output and ability to tank. Some will be a buff for raiding vs Mythic+ dungeons. STC generally does not require everyone to min-max, but having some idea of the Covenants and their applicable buffs would be useful. There is some time to think about this choice as Shadowlands Beta is tweaked. I have admitted that I may run two different toons for different specs. This may be a personal choice that others may also make. The important thing is to work hard to improve yourself as you are all part of a team. We only achieve success when we work together but also individually improve ourselves.
Please look out for updated documentation on raiding requirements and rules. It is anticipated that the raids will likely have close to 25 or more players so it is imperative that we work as a team. We as a team struggled with making sure that we were gemmed and enchanted and had the proper amount of flasks and potions. There are going to be other items as well including oils and armor kits that will be needed. The BC's will lay out the requirements, and it is expected that all raiders come ready and prepared. If anyone has any questions or concerns, please reach out to the BC team.
