Summary
The War Withinis introducing a new raid difficulty toWorld of Warcraft, as players will be able to challenge the upcoming Nerub’ar Palace in Story Mode. Ever sinceCataclysm, Blizzard has tried to make raid content more accessible to casualWorld of Warcraftplayers. UnlikeFinal Fantasy 14, whose story is intertwined with trials and dungeons, the pivotal moments inWorld of Warcraft’s narrative play out in raids.Wrath of the Lich Kingwas the first to truly lean into this type of storytelling, and its success set the direction of all subsequent expansions.
The last patch ofCataclysmintroduced the Raid Finder, which allowed 25 players to tackle the Dragon Soul raid via matchmaking. This new difficulty forWorld of Warcraftraidswas met with a lot of controversy, as many in the community feared that it would further diminish the social aspect of the game. By contrast, its proponents argued that Raid Finder allowed all players to experience the story, as raids were becoming harder to clear for pick-up groups inCataclysm. These sentiments changed little over the next decade, and with the introduction of Mythic difficulty and Flexible raids in Siege of Orgrimmar, most players became apathetic to Raid Finder and its overall place inWorld of Warcraft.
World of Warcraft Is Adding a Story Mode for Raids
That being said,The War Withinis set to introduce a new raid difficulty for the first time since 2013, andWowhead has datamined detailson what this game mode entails. The Story difficulty will function similarly to Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic, and Mythic, and will be available for Nerub’ar Palace, the first raid inThe War Within. The Story difficulty will allow a flexible group of up to fiveWorld of Warcraftplayers to challenge the raid, but no loot drops have been datamined just yet. Given thatThe War Withinwill add Follower Dungeonsto the game, a Story Mode for raids feels like a natural extension of that.
Cross-faction guilds inWorld of Warcrafthave shown that Blizzard is interested in giving players the freedom to play with their friends however they want, and the features coming inThe War Withinreinforce that direction even further. Warbands will make juggling alts significantly easier during a raid tier, as overall content progression will be tied to one’s account, rather than a singular character.
Though the full potential of a Story Mode remains to be seen, it does place the Raid Finder in a strange position. Its main appeal was its accessibility, but if Story turns out to be the more popular way to experience the narrative of aWorld of Warcraftraid, Blizzard may decide to retire the Raid Finder altogether. While arelease date forThe War Withinremains unknown, the upcomingWorld of Warcraftexpansion is heavily rumored to launch at the end of August 2024.
