Cataclysm Heroics: Making Better Raiders?

Let me say right off the bat that I do not believe that Cataclysm Heroics are overly difficult.  I also, however, do not side with the camp that argues they are too easy.  Can they be rolled by a well geared raiding guild?  Of course they can.  Do they pose a significant challenge to a randomly assembled crew fresh out of the normal dungeons?  You better bet they do.  With that in mind, are these five player instances serving their purpose?  I think they are and find out why after the bump.

Serving Old Purposes

Since the advent of Heroic Dungeons, they have served two purposes.  First, they provide endgame content for exceptionally casual instance runners and second, they provide gear to prepare players for raiding.  For the sake of being confusing, let's look at the second purpose first.  Cataclysm's Heroics provide entry level raid gear through drops, badges, and incidentally through the faction rewards earned by wearing reputation generating tabards.  With a proper knowledge and execution of the mechanics of Cataclysm's first tier raids, players decked out in nothing but the gear available through Heroics can succeed.  It is then easy to say that Cataclysm's Heroics serve their "gear farm" purpose.

Looking next to the endgame needs of the very casual, there are some legitimate concerns.  An incredibly casual player with no knowledge of fight mechanics and little gear from normal mode dungeons will not advance through a Cataclysm Heroic on his or her own merits.  They require too much coordination and the damage output is too high for such a player to succeed.  As a result, many of these players are being exceptionally critical of the level of difficulty for Heroics.  I would argue, however, that said criticism is misplaced.

For an exceptionally casual player, Heroic Dungeons are meant to serve as an endgame endeavor just as current tier raids are meant to serve as an endgame goal for more serious raiders.  They are the end of the line in terms of not only gear available, but challenge presented as well.  A player without decent normal dungeon gear or knowledge of encounter mechanics easily clearing a Heroic is the equivalent of a raider easily clearing Bastion of Twilight without any Heroic gear.  If Heroics were already easily cleared without significant time spent in their normal counterparts, a link would be missing in the progression chain and casual players would find themselves "progression capped" less than a month after Cataclysm's release.  As a result, I believe Cataclysm's Heroics serve their causal endgame purpose because they are challenging, not in spite of it.

Serving a New Purpose

Interesting, hard hitting mechanics in Heroics are not new features that were introduced in Cataclysm.  What sets the Cataclysm Heroics apart from their predecessors is that the margin of error for said mechanics is much smaller.  Whereas a failure of execution in a Wrath of the Lich King Heroic might result in a slightly longer fight or perhaps a single player's death, many mistakes in the Cataclysm Heroics will result in an irreversible if not instant wipe.  Hence the increased challenge in Cataclysm's Heroics comes not from the complexity of the mechanics themselves, but instead from the precision with which those mechanics must be executed.

Warcraft has always expected a high level of individual awareness and execution from players when raiding.  Even back in the days of Baron Geddon in Molten Core, a single player mishandling Living Bomb could wipe a forty man raid.  Aside from the number of players involved, it has been fair to say that the major difference between raid content and dungeon content is how forgiving the encounters are.

By bringing some of the punishing, high awareness requirements of raid encounters to Cataclysm's Heroics, Blizzard has allowed them to serve a new purpose.  Whereas before, Heroics were a gear factory for raids, they are now a training camp as well.  Heroic dungeons require a level of knowledge and execution much more akin to that typically reserved for raids.

While many would complain this will drive non-raiders away, I would argue differently.  Though it is unavoidable that some players will leave Azeroth in light of these new challenges, odds are most players will adapt to them.  They will learn the mechanics and, through practice, develop the skills needed to execute them.  As a result, the technical skill of the overall player base will not only increase, but also more and more players will develop a mental approach to clearing instances that translates easily into clearing raids.

Obviously, even with the conditioning of less forgiving Heroics, players without the time to raid will not raid.  For those who do have the time, however, if they have geared themselves through Heroics, they should enter Cataclysm's raids as better prepared and more aware players.  This will result in one of two things.  Either greater success amongst average raids in clearing endgame content or an open door for Blizzard to design even more complex and challenging raid encounters.  Either way, the difficulty level of Cataclysm's Heroics should improve the quality of Cataclysm's raid groups which is a good thing any way you slice it.

Is the Cataclysm Heroic Difficulty Just Right?

I am not sure if the difficulty of each Cataclysm Heroic encounter is just right, but I think the increased difficulty level is good overall.  These instances still serve their traditional roles of supplying gear and providing an endgame goal for casual players while also challenging players to improve their quality of play.  Sure, those players who do not want to set aside time to learn encounters or farm gear will be frustrated by Cataclysm's Heroics, but they still have the normal and outdated instances available for a relatively painless clear.  Also, the Heroics will become more forgiving as average gear levels rise, so even the least competitive player should be able to roll through them well before the expansion has run its course.

Do you enjoy or appreciate the difficulty level of Cataclysm's Heroics?  What long term impact do you think they will have on raiding in Cataclysm?  Please share your thoughts in the comments.