Project Lore

[caption id="attachment_9526" align="alignright" width="300" caption="I bet if the dungeon was as sweet as this yacht, people would be running it all the time!"][/caption] Blizzard's tried. They really have. They've toned down the difficulty, they've increased the power of the drakes, and they've even made it easier to find a group for a dungeon that nobody wants to run. Alright, so they force you into a group for a dungeon nobody wants to run, and even then people bolt the minute they get past the rather telling loading screen. For a lot of players, getting Oculus out of the Dungeon Finder is more like playing the version of roulette where you have to use a six-shooter instead of a spinning, multi-colored wheel. At this point, what else could they possibly do to make the instance more popular with their players? Why, how about passing out even more loot? It's starting to look a lot like begging, Blizz. Next thing you know you'll be putting on the kneepads, and I'm not talking about the ones you use while praying for people to actually run the dungeon. But you heard me right. According to Zarhym, you get a free bag of goodies as long as you make it all the way to (and through) the final boss, Eregos:

To encourage players not to shy away from the many invigorating adventures to be had in The Oculus, we have applied a change to enhance the rewards players are provided when selected for this dungeon via the Random Heroic option in the Dungeon Finder. Once Ley-Guardian Eregos is defeated, one loot bag per character will be provided in his chest in addition to the current rewards. Each loot bag will offer players rare gems, two additional Emblems of Triumph, and a chance of being rewarded the Reins of the Blue Drake. These fine treasures could be yours should you honor your fellow party members by besting the challenges contained within The Oculus! Keep in mind, however, that these extra loot bags will only be awarded to each party member if Oculus is selected by the Dungeon Finder when players choose the Random Heroic option. In light of this change, the Reins of the Azure Drake will now have a chance of dropping in both 10- and 25-player versions of The Eye of Eternity.

Considering a good run of the Oculus takes about as long as it does for the 15-minute Dungeon Finder debuff to wear off anyway, this is a total steal! I'm already drowning in Emblems of Triumph, but hey, some rare gems and a shot at a new mount (it seems you don't even have to roll against other people for it) is decent enough for me. This update should be hotfixed in by the time maintenance is done tomorrow, but whether or not it will change the fate of what seems to be Wrath's least popular dungeon remains to be seen. But we can take an informal poll, right? Will this change in loot policy persuade you to stick around the next time Oculus pops up as your Random Daily?