Do not raise level cap

Strongbus get off the shortbus ....What you are suggesting is tripling the workload of the devs when they barely have enough time to push out a functioning expansion as it is.

As far as content difficulty goes ... it should be designed for what player potential will be once they have acquired what is available to them in power increases from an expansion balanced with what they are from previous so that content doesn't become trivialized in the lifetime of that expansion.
With a level cap increase pending I would expect content to be very difficult at the start of an expansion and moderately difficult once all the gains in the expansion have been earned. Deeper into an expansion you get ... higher the difficulty. Me personally, if I wanted to plow through content without fear of consequences I would do nothing but play in older content. In this context GMM is a serious disappointment .... biggest rewards in expansion for least risk. Definitely a "gift" from the devs.
Designing content that isn't so difficult that it cannot be done by the most casual of player groups yet isn't mind numbing trivial to the bleeding edge is almost an impossible task you are asking of developers. Some people here seem to think it is easier than it really is.
The law of unintended consequences rears its ugly head far too often. IE: recent DoT changes affecting HoTs I'm 99.9% sure that was not intended and developers will have to spend hours if not days digging through an ungodly number of lines of code to solve the issue.
No matter what the developers produce and offer up to us there are always going to be those that , moan and complain. My only conclusion is they must love this game, and their jobs, creating content for it a lot, to put up with some of the crap we sling at them. Sometimes it is justified, more often that not it isn't.

Both Eok / RoS .. I tanked with my lvl 105 group geared warrior .. like it was nothing ..

When I can play a tank that is 5 levels lower then the actual content's "geared" for .. an stomp the content ..

Thats my definition of easy mode ..

Cant do that. They simply do not have enough resources to spread the game out that much. And the fact is to keep expansion sales going there has to be a reasonable expectation from group players that they can get all the group content and gear done or the vast majority of it. People are not going to shell out for a third of an epansion considering how small the expansions are getting.

Its all about trying to get as wide an audience for each expansion as possible. They have a hard job there is no doubt because they have small expansions and they can't ever please everyone.

And its useless to use GMM as an example. It was a TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY BONUS ZONE. It was intended to be a loot pinata. Plus Holly has admitted they screwed up on TBL (even if she won't take responsibility) and GMM was probably also intended to make up for that some. I would never expect an add on like GMM to show up again unless you are talking the 25th anniversary if we make it that far.

I watched my actual group players in my guild go through the expansions. Don't know what to say other then seeing actual group players go through the expansions I don't see then as under tuned.

I'm talking about the Beta of the last 12 expansions..

Clearly "minor" feedback..

Again your losing credibility with each post..

Not debating the length of time that "should" be allowed to beta test.

Obviously the longer it lasts, the better the product could be.

Your post makes it seem like Devs only work on the new expansion in beta..

No! Enclee .. just No..

They work on it a full year ..

And what type of players are in your guild ?

Bleeding edge raiders ?

Mid tier raiders ?

berely able to beat last expansion raiders ?

Top tier group players ?

Mediocre tier group players ?

S u c k group players ?

Personally, I am most worried about getting rank 3 spells in a new expansion. I probably only have about half in the 106-110 range. On my server (Tunare), only 1 of 3 raid guilds has even beaten a single TBL raid, so I have 0 items/spells from TBL. If the next level expansion is like TBL, it will just mean I fall farther behind. On the other hand, if they make Tier 1 raiding in the next expansion more like the Gorowyn raid, then more levels wouldn't be a bad thing. IMO, from a balance perspective, they should probably measure what an elite raid force can put out in dps, and reduce that by 2/3 and use that as the expected dps for tier 1 raids. They should also have fewer mechanics in tier 1 raids. Weaker raid forces struggle to learn complex mechanics, they aren't receiving write ups from beta testers, and are more likely to have players that struggle to follow emotes.

Oh and what I said above also applies to raids ... Challenging to the top 5 guilds but not impossible for the 15-20th tiered guilds once all new levels, spells, discs, AA are gained. A daunting task considering the degree of difference in skill and guild composition.
Increasing in difficulty as you progress through an expansion.
As much as Maeratas frustrated me to no end ... I applauded that it was the most challenging raid of the expansion unlike the snooze fest that was called Talendor...talk about anti climatic ending to an expansion :/

First off I have nothing to say about raid content. I speak only to the group game. Whether the raid game was overtuned or undertuned I have no idea. Ask raiders about that.

Group players. They cover all player ability levels. Some of our top group players get recruited by MS. Usually they defer for a few years and just do opens but at some point want to seriously play the raiding game. So I see players of all playing abilities. Most if not all of my guild are average or above in my opinion. It is actually pretty rare to see someone with no clue about the game these days. Unless you are considering returning players and that would be insane they just need some catch up time.

Even a recent Dev post said group content should be tuned towards group players. Tuning it to raiders would just be "odd".

The only S u c k players I know of are the ones who call people S u c k players. *shrugs* Though I guess technically I am then calling those people S u c k players so I end up getting labelled the same. Oh well.

You one of those .. lets givem a participation trophy people ..

I see.. I see..

I'm logical, an real with people. I dont cover up a gunshot wound with a bandaid..

If I play with some one with in the first couple kills, I can tell what tier of skill level they are.

If you truly do not think there are some real s u c k players on your entire guild's roster..

And that everyone is the EXACT same skill .. in the same class ..

think our convo is done ..

Because that is beyond the realm of logic by all mean's..

later gator ..

This seems like a relevant post (from Absor):

People, especially if they're paying to beta test, are entitled to have opinions about whether things are too hard, too easy, or somewhere in between. It's fine to disagree with those opinions, but blaming testers for the ultimate tuning of the content is ridiculous.

The final product is the dev's responsibility, and there were plenty of parts of TBL (like one unlocked zone) that nearly everyone was against but went live anyway.

I'm just hoping the game ends with the level cap a nice round number.

100, 120, 150, 180, 200 etc.

250

What shape are guilds in going into a new expac. lets see:
Top 5 raid:
All group and prior raid chevos done to date (some apps might dilute this a bit)
Full AA and RKIII spell books for everyone or dang close.
Full kits for all members or dang close to it (RoI full kits. Maybe some alts full kits)
A large amount of chasers done
2-5 Probably similar but maybe some dilution due to less successful farms.

6-10 raid:
All group chevos done to date and most raid.(other than apps)
Full AA and key classes full RKIII spell books
Full kits on key classes
A Large amount of chasers done

11 and beyond:
Most group chevos done and key people have raid done.
Key AA and most important spells assigned RKIII to high attendance folks.
Key slots with current focii gear on key classes. Focus on kitting tanks as much as possible.
Key players have chasers done.

Group play is more or less the scaled down version. if you have all the quests done to date, the best gear you can get from the group game to that point, you have a much easier start.

Its really all about loot dilution and unfinished achievements that cause a rough start. Bad play comes into effect soon after.

Bottom line: If you don't show up, you don't do all the prog, all the big quests etc...its going to bite back hard. The game is based on the cumulative power of getting everything done up to that date. If you don't, you have to go back and do it and get caught up, or its gonna hurt.

Bring on 115!

Dear Innoruuk the whining going on... Raise the level cap to 120 already! Gear reset, spell reset, the works. Is there stuff you can't handle in TBL, ROS, or EOK? Now you will be able to, its an increase of content, not a decrease.

Funny you mention this as we actually track and award bonus DKP for 3 things in MS, the second guild through TBL.

Max Heroic AAs
Max Artisan Prize
At least 1 Max Evolving item

The list is shorter than you think.

Now AAs, there are those on the roster without max AA but they are few and far between and generally play exceptionally without them.
Spells, Glowings occasionally still go to main and we’re at 1.5 years of these spells.
We have several people who sit on a 1000 coin before making a vendor purchase, those that survive fine in last years gear etc...

Which brings me to my point. Gearing helps, but what matters is the player behind the toon.

Typically those who are good about checking the boxes are also motivated to play well. Order a Chicken and an Egg from Amazon.....

It all depends on class but most that stuff is useless for a wizard. I'll never have all my rk3 spells, never have max AAs, never get all heroic AA, never do hunter achievements, never max artisans prize, never bother with personal tribute, etc. Too many people focus on stuff that isn't important.

The skill of a player, their ability to understand encounters and their role, and the foresight in not needing to be micromanaged - that is what separates the exceptional from the mediocre. Not an extra few % buff from a RkIII spell. It's nice to have it, but isn't what separates people.