Attunements removed from SSC and TK
by Eliah Hecht 
Jun 19th 2007 at 1:45PM
Wow, this is something I never saw coming. Tigole just announced that the Serpentshrine Keep and Tempest Keep: the Eye raids will no longer require any attunement:After a lot of thought and deliberation, we've decided to remove the attunement requirements to enter Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep: The Eye. While many of our attunements in the Burning Crusade have been good progression checks, a few of the attunements have turned out to cause unnecessary stress on guilds either doing the content or attempting to do the content. With Black Temple and Battle for Mount Hyjal thriving, we want to encourage (rather than prevent) new guilds and raid groups to attempt Serpentshrine and TK. We are going to leave the current attunement quests in the game so that players can still engage in the challenge and the lore of those quests should they choose to. At a later point, we are considering adding a final reward step to those quests as well (that way those who have already completed them would not miss out on a *new* reward).
We're listening to feedback from you guys constantly and your opinions are important to us. We want this game to be the best possible MMO experience for our players.
Enjoy Serpentshrine and Tempest Keep =)
(Please note: This change will go live later today -- it's not yet active)
Presumably the idea is that the effort it takes to get the gear to compete in SSC or TK is enough of a check. Many people have complained about overly involved attunement processes in the Burning Crusade, and this is a big step in the direction of fixing that. In fact, Tobold had cited the attunement barrier to SSC as a major reason why he canceled his WoW account. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some sightseeing to do...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Tiago Jun 19th 2007 1:54PM
8)
Okage Jun 19th 2007 1:55PM
I don't know about the rest of you but...SERPENT SHRINE CAVERN PARTY!!
Adys Jun 19th 2007 1:54PM
Woah.
Dave Jun 19th 2007 1:55PM
Wow talk about drastic. Well Tobold sounds like you need to reactivate your account. ;)
But seriously this is great, especially for casual guilds> The constant swapping in and out for people to kill bosses in raids was quite a pain.
Tiago Jun 19th 2007 1:56PM
[cue in for elitist jerks to bitch about blizzard having just cut a few inches off of their epeen] 8)
(Sorry for the double post, the comments system didn't like the enclosing instead of the [] I used now)
bill Jun 19th 2007 1:59PM
As a crafter of major fire prot cauldrons, I support the opening of the eye to all Pugs.
someone Jun 19th 2007 2:00PM
Worst fucking Devs in the world. I love having all my accomplishments turned into something a half brained noob can do because every patch the end game is nerf more.
Hell just wait 4 months, by then thell just give epics away.
Nogun Jun 19th 2007 2:05PM
this is pretty lame, the Scrolls from Vashj and Kael were a much nicer solution.
They should just release Zul'Aman if the casuals are getting bored but too crap to get attuned.
Paradoxic Jun 20th 2007 1:57PM
What the hell? Never saw this coming...
Blizz is making this easy mode, imo...
TyphoidTimmy Jun 19th 2007 2:08PM
Man, the hardcores are going batshit over this news because of the 'wasted hours on progression' over on the Dark Iron Server.
While I had only got one half of my SSC attunement, I can see where Tigole is coming from with a big chokepoint on The Eye for a lot of the smaller guilds.
Still better than EQ's "Eat It and Like It" attitude, IMHO
Dalaran Jun 19th 2007 2:08PM
LAME. I worked on all my attunements for nothing.
Mel Jun 19th 2007 2:09PM
Talk about absolutely unexpected. :) *wheee*
Quoi Jun 19th 2007 2:26PM
Haha, QQ moar hardkor raiderz! Seriously, I thought you did it for the challenge? You got your server firsts and all that crap. Get over yourselves.
Dave Jun 19th 2007 2:14PM
Whoa, I did not see this coming. Personally, I'm okay with this idea. With the smaller raid size, it's more vital that each person pull his or her weight, especially on cutting edge content. There's already a built-in check in that a certain level of gear is required to complete fights successfully. While a mostly overgeared raid might be able to pull through a few undergeared raid members, it'd be a challenge. And if a undergeared raid does manage to topple the bosses, all the better for them.
I anticipate a negative reaction from many who did the attunement the hard way, even though nothing was really taken from them; they're also on the cutting edge for when the new rewards for the attunement quests are released.
Is it just me, or do a lot of Daves post comments here? I suppose it could just be me and one really active guy.
Tridus Jun 19th 2007 2:14PM
Good change.
Actual progression will still be stopped by gear: raids in dungeon 3 blues will get nowhere in SSC, even if they can go into it now.
All this does is remove some fairly pointless rep grinds.
Razzberry Jun 19th 2007 2:16PM
Excellent decision. Having a 10-man raid be a pre-requisite for 25-man content was just a poor decision to begin with and just causes a ton of logistical nightmares for guilds who want to solely focus on 25-man content. I am, however, surprised they did away completely with having Gruul and Magtheridon be pre-requisites for SSC and TK respectively.
Jimbo Jun 19th 2007 2:20PM
yeah, thats funny. make things accessible, and here come the whiners. its um, a game. unfortunately in the end, we all lose, no matter how attuned, or how many more hours you put in than me. but hey, if it makes you feel better, complain all you want. It makes me laugh.
blackangely2k Jun 19th 2007 2:18PM
This is FANTASTIC! Of course, SSC is going to beat most guilds silly at first, but attunements are retarded anyway. If you can handle the mobs, you should be able to succeed. Forcing everyone into an arcane tracking system to determine who is or is not attuned was always dumb, and now we can see more guilds rise to the challenge of the actual instances, instead of the challenge of proper recordkeeping.
Asspigeon Jun 19th 2007 2:20PM
Although I disagree with this because I already competed my SSC attune and was well on my way to the Eye, most raiders cannot keep up gearwise with the PVPers. This makes it a little bit easier to get T5 and hopefully compete with arena geared people.
Aziraphale Jun 19th 2007 2:21PM
This, this is amazing... I guess I have been proven wrong from previous posts, I guess Tobold DID have a huge influence :P ... maybe.
But nonetheless this is EXACTLY what TBC raiding needed. ACCESSIBILITY!!! Way to go Blizzard on this decision, maybe now raiding will be fun like it used to be!