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Burning Crusade has brought a new dungeon system which incorporates a dungeon difficulty setting.[1] The simple concept of the dungeon difficulty spans across two levels. Firstly there is the Normal setting, in which players will experience average loot as would be expected in any World of Warcraft 5-man dungeon. Heroic, however, is a little different.

Although the raid difficulty system is similar, it only applies to raids and may have slightly different options.

Difficulty modes for all instances[]

Difficulty for instances affects boss fight difficulty and loot drops.

In decreasing level of difficulty:[citation needed]

Official info[]

From Frank Pearce's Interview for the Official EU (en) site:[2]

Q: Dungeon difficulty setting?

A: The dungeon difficulty settings will allow you to replay dungeons at an increased level of challenge, meaning you'll also gain access to greater rewards. For example, you'll be able to replay that same level-63 wing you just mastered later on at level 70, with level-70 monsters and level-70 drops. If it's a level-70 wing and you play it at the harder difficulty level, the content will still be level 70, but the loot tables will reflect the higher challenge that comes as a result of the monsters having more hit points and dealing more damage. Or you might get more monsters per pull...that sort of thing. We are definitely trying to provide a great deal of content for players, regardless of the amount of time they have to devote to it or how many other people they like to play with.

The differences between Heroic and Normal[]

It should first be noted that, before Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. Cataclysm, heroic mode dungeons were not available for Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. Classic dungeons. Upon the release of Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. Cataclysm, however, Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep have heroic settings. Initially, the only dungeons available with a heroic setting were those in Outland, the Caverns of Time, Magisters' Terrace and Northrend.

In heroic dungeons, the enemies that you encounter will not just be of increased level, but also an increased difficulty far greater than their level would indicate. All enemies in heroic dungeons will be in the range of levels from the level cap to three levels above. However, heroic dungeons are substantially more difficult than the normal dungeons like the Steamvault or Utgarde Keep. Expect the trash mobs to hit well-geared plate tanks pretty hard for some particularly strong mobs. Also, expect bosses to hit harder, use their abilities more frequently, and often have new abilities.

In Burning Crusade[]

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Gaining access to Burning Crusade heroic dungeons[]

To be able to access an heroic dungeon as a party, each member of the group must have unlocked the heroic difficulty. This is typically done by obtaining a key from the appropriate faction but the heroic difficulty for the Magisters' Terrace is simply unlocked by completing the quest that involves killing the final boss on normal difficulty. If all party member have unlocked the heroic difficulty, the party leader can set the dungeon's difficulty to normal or heroic via menu options available by right clicking his or her own portrait.

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Rewards[]

Each boss drops a rare loot on par with or better than loot from normal level 70 dungeons.

End bosses are guaranteed to drop one epic item from their loot table in addition to a second, rare, item.[3]. They also usually drop a [Primal Nether].

Badge of Justice[]

Icon-time This section concerns content that is out-of-date.

As well as increased loot quality, and the guaranteed epic, there is also a Spell holy championsbond [Badge of Justice] which drops from each boss in heroic dungeons — for each member of the party. They are used in exchange for epic quality items in Shattrath City.

In Wrath of the Lich King[]

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Gaining access to Wrath of the Lich King heroic dungeons[]

In order to access Northrend's dungeons in heroic mode, each member of the group must reach the level 80.

Rewards[]

Each boss drops a rare loot on par with or better than loot from normal level 80 dungeons.

End bosses are guaranteed to drop one epic item from their loot table in addition to a second, rare, item. They also drop a [Frozen Orb].

Emblem of Heroism[]

Icon-time This section concerns content that is out-of-date.

Each boss drops an Spell holy proclaimchampion [Emblem of Heroism], which can be used in exchange for epic quality items in Dalaran.

In Patch 3.2[]

Patch 3.2.0 brought the use of normal/heroic difficulty for 10 and 25-man raids in the Crusaders' Coliseum. Players will find new options when right clicking on their own portrait.

Dungeons Old New
Dungeon Difficulty setting Dungeon Difficulty setting
5 Player normal Dungeon Normal 5 Player
5 Player heroic Dungeon Heroic 5 Player (Heroic)
Raids Old New
Dungeon Difficulty setting Raid Difficulty setting
10 Player normal Raid Normal 10 Player
25 Player normal Raid Heroic 25 Player
10 Player heroic Raid - 10 Player (Heroic)
25 Player heroic Raid - 25 Player (Heroic)

Note: If an heroic raid mode is selected, the previous raids which did not use this new feature will be launched in the selected mode (10 or 25-man).

In Patch 3.3[]

Patch 3.3.0 will bring new changes to dungeon difficulty settings.

In the upcoming patch we are adding a new feature to the Icecrown raid instance that allows the raid leader to change the instance's difficulty setting on a boss per boss basis. The way the raid leader chooses to switch is the same as now, by right-clicking on the character portrait. The difficulty settings can be changed from inside Icecrown Citadel, with some restrictions. For example, you cannot change the difficulty in combat or during certain events specified by our design team. To enable the ability to change the raid difficulty to heroic, you must first defeat the Lich King on normal mode, as doing so unlocks the heroic version of this raid instance. There is no heroic version of trash; meaning changing the difficulty will only affect boss difficulty.
We chose this particular functionality because we didn't want to use the Trial of the Crusader method, and have four versions on a raid of this size. We felt the Ulduar method of having to know a certain trick to do on the boss was difficult to communicate and tied too heavily to achievements. We might eventually convert Trial of the Crusader over to this new system but Ulduar and Naxxramas will likely never change.[4]

In Legion[]

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For Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. dungeons new scaling difficulty modes were added:

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. Mythic mode 5-player Mythic mode 5-man only
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. Mythic mode 5-player Mythic plus mode 5-man only


See also[]

To edit this section, click here.

References[]

  1. ^ Blizzard Entertainment. Features of the Burning Crusade (New Dungeons section). Old World of Warcraft Community site (US). Archived from the original on 2008-08-12. Retrieved on 2013-09-30.
  2. ^ Error on call to Template:ref web: Parameters url and title must be specifiedBlizzard Entertainment 2006-07-24. . Old World of Warcraft Community site (EU). Archived from the original on 2009-08-03.
  3. ^ http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=52717687&pageNo=1&sid=1#2
  4. ^ http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=20677335705&sid=1
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