Challenge Modes in Legion!
Hype!
So Blizzard has finally released the new redesign for CM's on the Legion Alpha... and they look AMAZING.
For clarity, let me tell you that I personally find the current iteration of CM's frustrating and stressful. I have suffered through them (all gold) for the rewards, but did not enjoy them. The challenge of the content was fine for me, but what really stressed me to no end was the timers. Gold felt SO tight for our group. Spending 25ish minutes healing a dungeon, stressed beyond belief the entire time, and then missing Gold by literally 2 seconds and therefore getting nothing for the time spent, was like a recipe for instant rage and self-loathing.
Especially when that same thing then happened another 5 times. Three hours in a dungeon for absolutely no rewards or progress. Blah.
So when Blizz announced that they were going to redesign CM's in Legion, I had a cautious hope that the change would be for the better.
I know it's early for me to say this, but...
I was not disappointed.
And apparently neither were others. Here are some screenshots of feedback the Alpha testers have provided so far.
SO EXCITED SQUEEEEEEEE!
How Do They Work?
Ever played Diablo 3? The new CMs are essentially the Greater Rift system, but WoW-ified.
Don't get all angsty about originality. The concept actually translates extremely well to WoW, such that even this very early version of it is already compelling, and is single-handedly re-awakening the Legion hype amongst the Alpha-testers and their followers.
So here's the way it works.
Step 1: Obtain a Keystone.
It's unclear how this will work, but it will involve doing some sort of content, and it sounds like you'll only be allowed to obtain one per week, per character. In the Alpha, they just buy them from a placeholder vendor for now, and there's no limit to how many you can buy, for testing purposes.
Your keystone *will* be tied to a particular dungeon.
Step 2: Go to the Mythic version of the dungeon on your keystone.
"Challenge Mode" is no longer an actual mode that you can set as a dungeon difficulty. In fact, they're not even called Challenge Modes anymore. The new name is actually yet to be determined, so for now Blizz is calling them "Mythic+" dungeons.
To access a Mythic+ dungeon, you fly to and physically enter the Mythic version of that dungeon. Once inside, there will be a small pedestal you can interact with.
You can ignore the pedestal and simply complete the dungeon on Mythic, which will work the exact same way it does now: no timer, just kill bosses, and each drops some loot, on a weekly lockout.
Step 3: Insert Keystone.
Or, you can interact with the pedestal and the following box will pop-up, asking you to insert a keystone.
One of the five of you must insert a Keystone of some level. The first time, all you'll have is Lvl 1 Keystones. So one of you must interact with this UI, and insert your Keystone. A Lvl 1 Keystone will modify the Mythic dungeon so that everything in it does 8% more damage and has 8% more health than the standard Mythic difficulty. It will also create a 45 minute timer. More on that later.
When you click "Start Challenge" it will activate a reload screen that modifies the dungeon based on the Keystone you entered. As soon as the reload completes, you'll see the standard CM-style golden wall preventing you from moving/seeing beyond it just yet, and a 10-second countdown will begin.
After the 10 seconds, the wall will fade, and your 45 minute timer will begin ticking down!
Step 4: Complete the dungeon.
During the challenge, you'll see the following UI on the right edge of your screen.
The UI will remind you what Level you're working on, display your timer, and track your bosses killed, as well as your "Enemy Forces" progress. The Enemy Forces count is essentially the old "Mob Count," except instead of actually counting mobs, it's the same progress bar we now get for most daily quests in WoD. The biggest change between "Mob Count" in WoD and "Enemy Forces" progress in Legion seems to be that some mobs will count for a larger chunk of the % than others.
Step 5: Collect Lootz!
Did I say loot? From a CM? You bet I did!
One of the big changes from old CMs to the new Mythic+ system is that they'll actually reward loot. Like, real loot. Supposedly it will be comparable to raid loot. It's unclear if that means all the way up to Mythic raiding ilvl, or possibly capped at Heroic raiding ilvl, though most assume the latter. All Blizz has said on the matter for now is that they intend this new system to be a legitimate, alternate gearing path in Legion.
And the best part is, it sounds like you get a loot chest at the end (presumably with 1 piece for each of you), regardless of whether or not you made the 45 minute timer. Merely completing the run rewards the chest!
The Timer
So then, what's the point of the timer? Great question!
If you complete the dungeon within the 45 minute timer...
-You will get the loot chest.
-Your Keystone will upgrade to a Lvl 2 Keystone.
If you do not complete the dungeon within the 45 minute timer...
-You will get the loot chest.
-Your Keystone will become a "Depleted" Lvl 1 Keystone.
If your Keystone upgrades to Lvl 2, then you are now able to go do a Mythic+2 dungeon. As with your Lvl 1 Keystone, this new Keystone will be tied to a specific dungeon, and that dungeon will *not* necessarily be the one you just completed. It will simply randomly reroll to any Legion dungeon, including the one you just did. So it might convert to "Keystone Challenge Level 2 - Black Rook Hold." This then forces your team to leave your current dungeon and hoof it over to the Mythic version of Black Rook Hold, where you can interact with the pedestal and insert your Lvl 2 Keystone, if you wish to continue progressing.
This Lvl 2 Challenge Dungeon will be slightly harder than a Lvl 1 challenge. In the Alpha, it appears that the modifier for Lvl 2 is 17% to both health and damage (from the original Mythic version). The chest at the end of a Lvl 2 run will have better gear than the chest at the end of a Lvl 1 run.
Just as with the Lvl 1 challenge, when you finish the Lvl 2 challenge, you get loot. If you managed within the timer, you also get your Keystone upgraded to lvl 3. Otherwise it becomes a "depleted" lvl 2.
Depleted Keystones
A "depleted" keystone is the result of completing a dungeon, but not within the time limit.
If you have a Lvl 1 Depleted Keystone for Halls of Valor, that means you may re-insert that same Keystone again for another try at beating the Lvl 1 timer, BUT you will not earn loot for doing so. In this sense, the "depletion" is really just a lockout of sorts. It says, "you already got your Lvl 1 loot from this stone, and you can't get Lvl 1 loot again."
So then why keep a depleted stone? Because, even though you won't get a loot chest, it's another chance at completing the Lvl 1 dungeon within the timer. And if you can manage that, your depleted Keystone will then upgrade to a Lvl 2 Keystone, and this new Keystone will no longer be depleted. So say, due to some errors, you finished the Lvl 1 run at 50 minutes. You got your loot. But you know you can do it in <45. You can head out, reset, re-insert the stone, and go again. You can do this as many times as you like, and when you finally hit that 45 minute mark, the Keystone will upgrade to Lvl 2, allowing you to then go complete a Lvl 2 dungeon for a Lvl 2 chest of loot.
You simply only get loot for the first clear on a difficulty per lockout, as with raiding.
So basically, if you started a dungeon using a Depleted Keystone, it works like this.
If you complete the dungeon within the timer...
-You will not get the loot chest.
-Your Keystone upgrades to a non-depleted Keystone of the following level.
If you do not complete the dungeon within the timer...
-You will not get the loot chest.
-Your Keystone will remain exactly the same - a depleted keystone of the lvl you just completed.
Higher Levels -> A Greater Challenge
So as your team progresses through the levels, in addition to the percentage buffs to health and damage, there are some extra surprises mixed in to increase the challenge!
So far, Blizzard has only announced extra challenge modifiers at Lvl 3+ and Lvl 6+.
Starting at Lvl 3, the dungeon will have one of the following modifiers:
-Tyrannical - Bosses have significantly more health and damage.
-Bolstering - Non-boss enemies will buff nearby allies' health and damage when defeated.
-Raging - Non-boss enemies will enrage at low health, dealing double damage until killed.
-Teeming - Additional non-boss enemies are present throughout the dungeon; kill count requirement increased.
The modifier will be the same for everybody at any given time, and will reset with the weekly lockout. So, for instance, starting on Tuesday, this week might be "Raging" week for levels 3-5. Everybody, no matter who you group with or what realm you're on, will have to deal with the "Raging" modifier in Mythic+ dungeons throughout that lockout/week.
Starting at Lvl 6, the dungeons will now have 2 modifiers at once! It will have one of the lvl 3 modifiers combined with one of the following new modifiers:
-Necrotic - Enemy melee attacks apply a stacking debuff that deals damage and reduces healing received.
-Volcanic - Enemies cause eruptions of flame beneath the feet of distant players.
-Skittish - Tanks generate much less threat.
-Decay - All players suffer damage over time while the challenge is active.
Presumably there are more to come, perhaps every 3 levels?
As it is on Alpha, Lvl 6 can barely be completed (only ONE team has managed it, and their trick was to use 4 tanks and 1 healer, and it took them nearly 5 hours).
Don't panic. That difficulty is not the intent. The reason Lvl 6 is near impossible on Alpha is that, for testing purposes, all of the players are being scaled to a set ilvl (830 I believe).
But I have good news for you.
In Legion, players will not be scaled in any way for the completion of these dungeons.
Wait... I get to keep my gears?
Yep! You heard me right. In Legion, there will be no scaling mechanism for Mythic+ dungeons.
So you're 900 ilvl from your raiding efforts? With sockets? Four sets? Great! All of this will make it easier for you to progress into the higher Lvl Mythic+ dungeons! In fact, even loot earned from previous Mythic+ dungeon runs and levels will, in itself, strengthen you to be able to more realistically complete the Mythic+ dungeon of the following difficulty!
This is great news, because it means that if your team has hit a brick wall this week on Lvl 5, you can always just wait until you're a bit more geared from the following lockout's dungeons/raids/etc, and see if that will help you push to the next Mythic+ Lvl.
Questions I Have
So since this is all still very new, there's obviously a lot that still needs to be announced/decided, but as of now, here are some of the questions I'm most curious to find answers to.
1. Four sets, sockets, and my current ilvl will all be usable, but what about legendaries?
2. If all 5 of you have a keystone lvl 3, can you do lvl 3 5x that lockout, and therefore get 5 pieces of loot from the same lvl?
3. Does a depleted keystone become un-depleted the next lockout so that you can re-farm that lvl's loot chest once more? Or do you just have to go find another keystone? If so, does the one you find start at the appropriate lvl where you left off at last time? Or will it always be lvl 1, requiring you to reclear lvls 1 through x every single lockout to get back to the appropriate point?
I have a partial answer to #3. Apparently your Keystone can jump several levels at once if you complete a dungeon in well under the timer. So, presumably finishing a Lvl 1 run at 44 minutes simply upgrades your Keystone to lvl 2, whereas finishing it in 10 minutes would presumably make it jump up several levels at once. So perhaps the intent is that we do restart at lvl 1 each lockout with a new keystone and have to re-level? I dunno, seems weird.
Regardless, this new redesign is looking amazing! I am excited for "CMs" for the first time ever!
