Min Number of Players Needed for Heroics now?

Was there a stealth change to heroic names that require a minimum number of players?
A friend of mine who frequently duos zones got a message 'come back when you have a bigger force' followed by a one-shot.
Leaving aside the contentious question of whether adding such a thing is a good or bad idea, such a radical change without warning or mention in the patch notes is, in my opinion, ABSOLUTELY inexcusable.
Good, bad or indifferent, such a big change should be documented and the players informed.

If you look, there are a couple of threads about this. You have to have a tank.

TB 3 player minimum

The duo in question was a tank and mage.. It's NOT a tank issue. It's a brand new SURPRISE!!! min group minimum.

Yeah pretty big change they snuck that in there.. I typically run with at least 3. But I think it's too big a change.

My best guess is they hope that increases krono sales as people are forced to run another account. The current business model isn't really about getting new players - it's about getting what they can out of the current players (which is logical).

A got belittled for this theory on discord.. but I've heard similar things from multiple sources that I trust. Of course no Dev or anyone else would admit it.. and they shouldn't, but its also not their decision. I also don't necessarily blame DBG because they are trying to keep the game going.

I'm not saying these changes have ZERO to do with balance.. nor do I know that the 3 people in a zone thing is ffor certain to try to increase account sales..

The not xfering characters from account to account could be much of the same.. they are hoping they can get people to purchase new accounts - (new accounts in the long run would be much more money for them than xfering existing characters between accounts) Again I don't know that to be a fact.. but...

The Krono theory is silly really. If you play the game as intended, you will not need another account....

Krono's are an important money maker for them..

Playing the game as intended has little to do with it (I'm sure its part of it.. but a smaller part of it).. ALOT of people box, or even bot. Even more have multiple accounts. This game partially relies on people playing multiple accounts.. that's where a lot of the krono sales come from.

It's not even close to silly...

One thing I've learned the last couple days is how many people don't understand the power of the krono sale.

The biggest issue isn't whether this was a good or a bad change.. but that such a change was made without warning or even documentation. I, personally, don't duo heroic zones, that doesn't make me think introducing such a change on the sly is anything close to 'a good idea'.

If those making decisions think a change is going to be received poorly, they should still act like adults and either
1) Announce the changes anyway... before would be better, but at the very least in patch notes
2) Not make the change

Hiding such changes.. because they're concerned about criticism or whatever... doesn't say anything good.. on any level.. about the people making these decisions.

Yeah there is something to be read into that fact that it's not mentioned in patch notes.

I know some people that are some of the most serious players in the game that this hurts their play style alot... I can see them krono'ing up and making another account.... or they may quit doing heroics all together.,, or just quit.

Sure is good there has been no population drop over the last few years. So I see this as a welcome change.

Thanks DBG.

Trust me, the people who could duo heroics before aren't going to quit over this.

I assume this is only applicable to current dungeons? Not anything from past expansions?

Right they are goign to buy new accounts... mission accomplished for DGB

I'd assume as much.. but given the lack of documentation or response, the only way to be sure is to check.

Devs in Discord said this is the way it is, like it or lump it.

What does this even mean...

Yeah... we know the devs changed it...

This isn't the real issue. The real issue is decision not to warn the players the change was coming or even bother to inform us the change had been made in the patch notes.
That shows a distressing lack of respect for us, as customers.

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/like-it-or-lump-it.html

It wasn't meant as disrespect. The update note said that checks regarding fighters were standardized. Before this update, different bosses had different requirements based on fighters/number of players. All those requirements were applied to all heroic zones except for a limited few where the script didn't work with it. At the time I didn't feel the need to expand it further as I thought it would be obvious. I guess I was wrong.

Regardless, it was an intended change (including Tower Breach which had a check being skipped and will be fixed next update) Now, it is likely once we get a system in place to handle the near invincibility players can get to (i.e. huge wards) we might remove these checks as long as it doesn't become preferable to run the zones without one.

For the record, we did not say "Like it or lump it" We devs have been open about it being intended and we have said why. Outside of that, we won't be going into extreme detail on it.