In the Player Feedback Loop

As a part of ongoing development in Dragonflight, the development team identified three issues to address based on community feedback regarding the dungeon system as it is:

• Heroic dungeons are barely distinct from Normal dungeons at maximum level, and that distinction mostly only matters during a few days after players first reach max level.
• “Mythic 0” dungeons rapidly lose relevance a few weeks into an expansion, once the M+ season starts, with occasional exceptions for the weekly event quest.
• The only truly endgame dungeon mode (M+) currently revolves around a timer. This means that other than new mega-dungeons, there isn’t really a place for endgame players who enjoy a more methodical dungeon pacing and gameplay.

Given the combination of two underutilized difficulties, and a gap in meeting player demand, we’re restructuring dungeon difficulty and rewards in Season 4:

• Heroic difficulty and rewards will move up to roughly the current level of Mythic 0. These dungeons will remain available to queue into via Group Finder (default hotkey: “I”), though the item level requirement to queue will also go up accordingly.
• Mythic 0 difficulty and rewards will move up to roughly the current level of Mythic 8-10 (this is a bit hand-wavy – numerically it’s close to M10 but not having a timer at all or affixes really offsets that quite a bit).
• The existing Mythic+ system will pick up where that leaves off, such that a Mythic 5 in Season 4 is roughly equivalent in difficulty, rewards, and M+ Rating awarded, to a Mythic 15 today.

Here’s a visualization of the change (light blue circles represent where new affixes appear, going from M2/M7/M14 in the current world to M2/M5/M10 in the new one):

No Timer Like the Present

Season 4 changes will apply to all eight of the Dragonflight dungeons. As a part of these adjustments, we have a few goals in mind:

• Recalibrate core difficulties to align with seasonal player experience and progression.
• Serve the community who enjoys dungeon content but feels that Mythic+ content isn’t for them due to the pressures of taking part.
• Create a better environment in Mythic dungeons to prepare more players to take part in Mythic+.

One of the most notable changes players can look forward to is the removal of the timer for Mythic Keystone dungeons for what are currently 0 and 10. Players can run through these dungeons at their own pace without the need to watch the clock while still honing their skills.

Here’s a look at the changes for each difficulty: 

• Normal
  • This difficulty is unchanged.
• Heroic
  • The tuning and rewards of this difficulty are increasing to be equivalent to a baseline Mythic (Mythic 0) dungeon in the current system.
  • Mythic difficulty changes and mechanics will not be present in this difficulty.
  • This remains a queueable experience.

• Mythic
  • The tuning and rewards of this difficulty are increasing to the equivalent of a +10 dungeon with affixes in the current system.
  • There are no timers, affixes, or limitations on changing specializations or talents while in the dungeon.
  • The goal is to create a mega-dungeon like difficulty for this experience. This difficulty should present a meaningful challenge and provide commensurate rewards without the pressures of the current Mythic+ system.
  • Mythic 0 is still on a weekly lockout under this model.

• Mythic+
  • The Mythic+ system will have rewards up to level 10, with +2 starting from what would regularly be a +11 in the current Mythic+ system.
    • A +5 should be as hard as a +15 and +10 should be as hard as a +20 in the current Mythic+ system etc.
  • Affixes would slot in at +2, +5, and +10
    • +2 – Fortified/Tyrannical
    • +5 – Entangling / Incorporeal etc.
    • +10 – Bursting / Bolstering etc.
  • Dungeon ratings should be equivalent to what they represent in the current system.
  • There should be a smaller range of keystone levels to find groups for, and more meaningful progression between each level.

To the Victors Go the Spoils

It’s important to note that the basic structure of dungeon rewards is not changing significantly, so what you would have earned for completing a Mythic 0 will be earnable in the Heroic difficulty dungeon instead. Here is a basic rundown of what you can expect:

Crest and Flightstone rewards are changing to match the same difficulty  with only some minor adjustments.

• Flightstone earnings for any given Mythic+ will match the equally challenging Mythic+ from previous seasons. This means that a Mythic +2 in Season 4 will give the same number of Flightstones as a Mythic +12 in Season 3 currently does. The rewards will continue to match difficulty, even if what we’re calling those difficulty changes.
• Bonus Flightstone awards for increasing any party member’s Mythic+ score remain unchanged.
• Whelpling Crests are no longer available from Mythic+ dungeons, as those difficulties no longer exist. Players can continue to collect Whelpling Crests from many outdoor sources.
• Players will earn 10 Drake Crests on successful completion of a Mythic 0 dungeon, as there is no timer to beat.
• Wyrm Crests will be available in Mythic +2 to Mythic +5 dungeons in the same quantities as existing Mythic+ dungeons.
• Aspect Crests will be available in any Mythic difficulty from +6 and up, also in the same quantities as existing Mythic+ dungeons.