A Break from raiding, though not by choice

This doesn't have to do with gaming, just a brief intro

So this whole "life" thing people keep talking about, well, it's sucking me in too.  Nothing amazing, just moving to a nicer apartment.  One with a dishwasher (/cheer) and in stark contrast to my current apartment, which hasn't been renovated since the 1970s, this one is new construction.  I realize both have their drawbacks, but I think I'll like the new one better than the old.  Anyway, I say this to say I probably won't get my first look at Ulduar until most of you are already hacking your way through it, so I thought I'd give my first impression of it now, before I've even seen any boss fight, or even any trash mob.

On to the good stuff

So from what I've been reading on other sites, blogs, etc., here is my first impression of Ulduar, from a completely third person point of view.  Or maybe more correctly, this is my first impression of other people's impressions of Ulduar.

Finally!

This is probably the most widespread reaction I've seen.  Most of the hardcore raiders blasted through T7 content, and then got bored.  Others moved a bit slower, still cleared it, and are just now getting bored.  But in any case, people are ready for new content.  I think part of the problem is the introduction of "hard mode" as a way to keep people interested.  Sure, it's something different, and it's actually a pretty interesting solution, and it works to some degree, but if most people are anything like me (a stretch I know), the boss himself is the goal, and how you get there is slightly less important.  Think about the first time you killed a boss you had a hard time with.  Most recent for me and my guild is Grobbulus.  When we finally got him down, and with excellent execution too, it was a great feeling.  The next time was nice, to prove it wasn't a fluke, and now if we wipe on him, I wonder what went wrong.  I haven't tried many "hard mode" bosses, not even Sarth+1, but I can imagine that after clearing Sarth+0 over and over, the satisfaction of killing him again is somewhat diminished, even if it is with a (few) drake(s) up.  Many guilds are still working on Sarth10+3, and most of these are the same people who are bored with current content.  However Blizz has released as much as they did for T4, a big raid, and two little ones.

Oh Noes!

This reaction is more in line with some of my friends, and some more casual bloggers that I read, because to us, T7 wasn't as easy as it was to the hardcore raiders.  We're in guilds that don't boot you from the raid for dropping a poison cloud in the middle of the room, or being on the wrong side of Thaddius, or anything like that.  We're in a guild because we like the people.  Raiding is fun, but only if it's with our friends, and, well, some of our friends might just not get it sometimes.  Ulduar is supposed to be tuned much harder than Naxx, which isn't necessarily bad, but for some of us, it will make it harder to bring along our friend who forgets sometimes to pick up buff food (I've done it before) or the one that can't fly a drake and fight at the same time (that's 1/2 my guild lol), or the one that drops the poison cloud in the middle of the room.  Despite us not being the best raiders, we still want to see new content, so we're all anxious about the new raid.  Will it be too hard?

I don't even raid, why should I care about 3.1?

This is a small group, but I can understand their frustration.  No new 5 mans, no new badge loot, nothing interesting at all for PvE players that just love running heroics.  All they can do is grind out the same old badges, buy BoA items for their alts, and level up more alts, to work on being the most well-rounded 5 man player around.  I'm kind of hoping 3.2, or 3.1.x, comes with a new 5 man, a hard one, that has a "hard mode" on some (or all) bosses that causes them to drop valor emblems.  That might be fun, especially if the "hard mode" includes an ilvl cap, as Klepsacovic has suggested for old raid achievements.  That would prevent people from overgearing and just blasting their way to emblems of valor.  They can do that in Naxx25 or Ulduar10 if they want to be that way.

Well, time to go pack up some more boxes.