About six months ago, I posted an article laying out the community sentiments for the state of mythic plus dungeons in World of Warcraft: The War Within. There were a lot of complaints about all of mythic plus being too hard even at lower levels, making the content seemingly unapproachable for the average player. The WOW developers have listened to the community’s complaints and have made major improvements to mythic plus for season two of The War Within. This post will discuss those major improvements and what they mean for the average player.
Mythic Plus Improvements
The first major change is the dungeon pool. The eight new dungeons laid out in this article are arguable a better pool than in season one, making players more likely to want to play them because their quality is better. Some of these dungeons are still difficult, but the easier ones are still much easier than the easiest dungeons from the season one pool.
The second major change is to the dungeon scaling and rewards. Dungeon scaling has decreased – for example, a level 10 dungeon in season one is now the same difficulty as a level 12 dungeon in season two. The rewards are also easier to obtain because dungeons are more rewarding at lower dungeon levels. From levels two to six, Runed Crests drop (the second highest gear leveling currency) and give a hero level gear in the weekly vault. Level seven dungeons and above give Guiled Crests (the highest gear leveling currency). Level 10 dungeons and above still give myth level gear in the vault but because they are easier to do, they are more approachable for the average player.
Lastly, there have been some big changes to the dungeon affixes. Level two and three have no affixes; level four through six only has Xal’atath’s bargain (more on this later); level seven through nine gains either fortified or tyrannical depending on the week; and level tens and elevens have both fortified and tyrannical. Notably, challenger’s peril, the affix that makes death cut into the time by 15 seconds per death is only applied to level 12 keys and above, just like Xal’atath’s guile which removed Xal’atath’s bargain and increases all the enemy’s health and damage by 10% on top of the key level’s scaling. The final note on Xal’atath’s bargain is that the mini games players must play to get a buff have changed and become slightly easier to deal with.
Meaning for the Average Player
There are several takeaways from these mythic plus changes. First, it is easier to get better gear and upgrade currencies than before, so players can gear faster and push toward higher keys. This alone makes this season better than last season for the average player trying to get into mythic plus. This is both an incentive to do mythic plus and a catalyst for players to try harder keys.
Second, with the difficulty being decreased across the board, players are less punished for not knowing what certain things to do in these dungeons – even deaths are less punishing. Therefore, learning each of these dungeons is less tedious and potentially more fun because mistakes are more acceptable with less punishment. This doesn’t mean there is no punishment for making lots of mistakes, but a few mistakes here and there are not a huge issue.
Lastly, gaining mythic plus score, the rating the WOW used to distinguish how well a player has done in mythic plus, has become easier to obtain. Timing all dungeons on level seven or higher gives players 2000 rating, rewarding them an extra catalyst charge to turn dungeon into raid gear and a cool new mount. Timing all level ten keys gives players 2500 rating, awarding them personal portals to each of the dungeons this season and a glow on their raid gear from the Liberation of Undermine raid.
For those that really want to push higher, completing all level 12 keys or higher gives 3000 rating, which gives rewards for the first time ever. The rewards are a new mount similar to the one that players get for achieving 2000 rating and makes it so that players’ keys cannot deplete below 12. This depletion mechanic works at all key levels above 12, so if a player completes all the level 15 keys on time, their keys cannot drop below 15, and so on. This functionality encourages players to push their keys as high as possible with the punishment of losing their key levels for failing.
Overall, this is perhaps one of the best seasons for players to push their limits and try for the highest keys they can possibly do. New players can also feel less pressure while trying mythic plus for the first time because there is a lot less punishment for not knowing what is going on at every point in the dungeon.
It’s a lot of information, but the TLDR is that mythic plus is easier and more rewarding at lower levels than ever before. Now is a great time for all types of pf players to get into mythic plus dungeons.
