I think the harder expacs are the ones with no level change. You all got used to the difficulty at 115, now try some of this.
Maybe this time we will see more differentiated tiers - something along the lines of Tucoh's definitions (which I am in favor of)
I actually enjoyed Underfoot raids, but I don't see us returning to that kind of difficulty again. Difficulty recently has been more based on mechanics and emotes rather than straight forward killing hard hitting stuff. I've found ToV raids more enjoyable than some of the last expansions, a few less annoying mechanics. I'd rather see more auras and less circles on the ground as the terrain can interfere with seeing them, velks is a nighmare seeing the green slime near the entrance if someone was stood lower than the raid killing a shard, or its at head height as someone happend to be on a rock! I miss the puzzle raids like Shards Landing.
As a leader in a casual raid force (open/casual, not all one guild) what hurt in TBL was smoke. Basically getting people to do the progression so we could get to later raid givers was the issue. I'm confident we could have beaten the events if we could have gotten there. (point is a bit moot now with the candy land that is ToV - falls to the backburner to hit in another expansion or two for checkmarks once things unlock)
Here is a radical idea. Let it rot, you do not need to loot it at all. The headache is a self made one. I have said it previously it is silly that you can log in alts and loot items off a raid chest when the alt was not even a participant in the raid.
Are you feeling a little emotionally needy right now? Regarding the loot pinata... I love it. If you're one of the toons sitting on 10000 dkp, I can see how this is kind of a bummer, but for those of us who aren't we actually still get to meaningfully contribute and see fantastic rewards as a result. The alt loot stuff is just a fun bonus because who doesn't like to gear (I used a different word, but apparently EQ doesn't like references to prostitution) out that former main that's been neglected for the last 3-4 years (lookin at you, Yoscorio)?
I am all for the extra loot. It makes people happy, lets our alts get a few nice things. And it doesn't really add that much time to the evening's raids.
Bro I wanted to, the meme thread has been stagnant as hell, but I felt to do my point justice, the people needed to see the video. Always put the needs of the people first!
Hopefully the next expansion is going to be something extremely difficult, since everyone is geared to the teeth now! There's no more lack-of-progression or gear-check related excuses!
ToV has been excellent for my server. We've had more folks raiding than any time in the last 5 years. Even the weekend pick up raid is now filling up. Covid-19 is certainly a part of it. Being able to beat content with out being part of the 1% elite raid for is another big draw.
I like loot. I like big shiny piles of loot. I'd be Scrooge McDuck swimming in huge lakes of sparkling, glittering loot! But if you find that too much loot is offensive you can just leave it in the chest and ignore it! How simple is that?
Drowning in loot: Thats one way to hurry up the looting. 10 minutes from chest pop pain and suffering hit you! you die. game over!
Funny, but it's been taking us about 10 minutes to distribute a chest. Worst case has been about 12 minutes.