Project Lore

Blizzard has updated their website with some background information and screenshots regarding the new raids coming in patch 3.2. While I'm not a huge PvE fan, I am a big lore fan. My issue with PvE raids is having to dedicate so much fixed time to play every week and having to trudge through trash and wipes. This opinion may be an artifact of being on the cutting edge of content in vanilla WoW; I'm aware that instances and raids are much shorter than they used to be.

The Crusader's Coliseum instances are described as similar to the Ring of Blood style questlines, where players fight a series of bosses in succession. This sounds a lot more fun than fighting through trash. A lot of players groan when they hear Ring of Blood, but I really enjoy those style of fights. The twist on this is that there are 2 dungeons, a 10 man and a 25 man, each with a Normal and Heroic difficulty setting. The normal mode does not seem to have any "hard modes", so that guilds that have cleared a raid don't have to choose between clearing an instance and getting gear or progression. Once you finish the normal mode, you can proceed to the Heroic mode. On the heroic version, hard modes may be in play, and the main feature is a new take on the whole "Immortal" achievement that's been haunting us since Naxxramas. Heroic mode has a fixed number of attempts you can make, and every time you wipe, that number is decremented. Once you run out, you are locked out. The less you wipe, the better your loot.

Blizzard has released some details on a few of the bosses:

Beasts: Your first challenge will pit you against a group of terrifying beasts the Argent Crusade captured in Northrend, including (but not limited to) a magnataur and not one, but two jormungar wyrms.

Scourge: Some call the lieutenants of the Lich King fearsome creatures made of pure nightmare, which is doubtlessly a fitting description. How the Argent Crusade managed to capture these fiends remains a mystery; what's less mystifying is your fate should you fail to overcome this challenge.

As far as lore goes, this seems very contrived. Take a read of their introduction to the Crusader's Colliseum:

The time to strike at the heart of the Scourge is drawing close. Clouds blanket the skies of Azeroth and heroes gather beneath battle-worn banners in preparation for the coming storm. They say that even the darkest cloud has a silver lining. It is this hope that drives the men and women of the Argent Crusade: hope that the Light will see them through these trying times, hope that good will triumph over evil, hope that a hero blessed by the Light will come forth to put an end to the Lich King's dark reign.

So the Argent Crusade has sent out the call, a call to arms for all heroes far and wide, to meet at the very doorstep of the Lich King's domain and to prove their might in a tournament the likes of which Azeroth has never seen. Of course, a tournament such as this needs a fitting stage. A place where potential candidates are tested to the limits of exhaustion. A place where heroes... become champions. A place called the Crusaders' Coliseum.

I imagine if the United States armed forces captured prisoners of war and had their fun beating them up we wouldn't fare any better in combat. Fighting monsters on the Lich King's doorstep seems so silly.

The new Coliseum itself looks pretty cool. Are you a fan of this new style of no-trash, multi-mode raids, or do you want the standard version of dungeon-based gameplay?