[blizzard author=Bashiok link=http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2580598282?page=3#42]Plenty of people like the challenge, but not everyone has the ability or maybe even desire to be in a guild capable of tackling it right from the get-go.
It's always been our intent to offer new raid tiers in Cataclysm that are difficult to provide challenge to the raiding guilds, and then gradually allow older content to self-nerf as people gear up through VP, and then eventual literal nerfs to the content. That's something we've been communicating for some time.
Burning Crusade swung the pendulum one way, and Wrath of the Lich King swung it back too far the other. We're attempting to find that middle ground where there's still something brutally difficult for the cutting edge, but content gradually comes down until it's extremely accessible (ie PUGable) either simply through gear proliferation, or literal content difficulty nerfs.
There's always going to be two sides of the fence, some people want things more accessible for them and that's cool, we want it to be too, and some people think it should be difficult and always be that way because that's the way they had to do it. The fact of the matter is that as an MMO the end-game bar is constantly being raised, and progression content is in general not a place where we're going to purposefully gate prestige through difficulty. There are some exceptions of course, hard modes and unlockable bosses are purposefully there to be more difficult challenges, but as a whole our intent is to create a constantly moving ramp upward for Normal difficulty raids. That has to mean that the Normal raid content that was the hardest will one day be the easiest.
You will very likely see this same happen for Firelands when the raid tier above it is released.[/blizzard]
[blizzard]
The Bastion of Twilight
- The damage modifier on normal difficulty has been reduced for Arion, Elementium Monstrosity, Feludius, Ignacius, and Terrastra.
- One of each type of bound elemental in the Ascendant Council chamber has been removed.
- Arion
- Chain Lightning damage has been reduced.
- Cho'gall
- Health, melee damage, Health of Corrupting Adherent, Depravity damage, Corrupting Crash damage, Flaming Destruction damage, and Unleashed Shadows damage have all been reduced by 20%.
- Corrupting Crash and Depravity - The amount of Corruption they give has been reduced to 5, down from 10.
- Corrupted Bite effect caused by Blood of the Old God has been reduced.
- Damage taken from Corruption of the Old God per Corrupted Blood has been reduced from 3% per stack to 2% per stack.
- Debilitating Beam damage has been reduced by 20%.
- The duration of Twisted Devotion has been reduced by 25%.
- Dragon Siblings
- Health, melee damage, Twilight Meteorite damage, Devouring Flames, Blackout damage, Unstable Twilight damage, Twilight Zone damage, Twilight Blast damage, and Fabulous Flames damage have all been reduced by 20%.
- Elementium Monstrosity
- Electrical Instability damage has been reduced.
- Feludius
- Damage due to being frozen while Waterlogged has been reduced.
- Halfus
- Health, melee damage, Fireball/Fireball Barrage damage, Furious Roar damage, Scorching Breath damage, and Shadow Nova damage have all been reduced by 20%.
- Nether Scion, Slate Dragon, Storm Rider, Time Warden, and Orphaned Emerald Whelp health has been reduced by 20%.
- Shadow Nova base cast time has been increased.
- Ignacious
- Rising Flames now increases damage by 3% per stack, down from 5%.
- Terrastra
- Harden Skin now increases physical damage dealt by 20%, down from 100%.
Blackwing Descent
- Atramedes
- Health, melee damage, modulation damage, Roaring Flame Breath damage, and Searing Flame damage have all been reduced by 20%.
- Modulation no longer causes Sound in normal difficulty.
- Sound given by Sonar Pulse has been reduced to 3, down from 5.
- Chimaeron
- Health has been reduced by 20% and melee damage has been reduced by 10%.
- Chimaeron will now only cast two caustic slimes per 30-second cycle.
- Drakeadon Mongrel
- Time Lapse no longer stuns.
- Frost Burn silence is now 3 seconds.
- Dwarven Kings
- Whirlwind no longer drops threat.
- Execution Sentence now deals damage only.
- Shield of Light absorption has been reduced.
- Magmaw
- Damage and hit points have been reduced by 20%.
- Lava Parasites have been diminished.
- Lava Spew damage, Magma Spit damage, Massive Crash damage, and Infectious Vomit damage have all been been reduced.
- Mangled Lifeless no longer instantly kills, and its damage has been reduced.
- Parasitic Infection has been decreased.
- Maloriak
- Health, damage, Aberration health/damage, Arcane Storm damage, Prime Subject damage, Flash Freeze/Shatter damage, and Scorching Blast damage have all been decreased by 20%.
- The Aberration stacking damage buff has been decreased.
- Prime Subjects no longer fixate, and are no longer immune to taunt effects.
- Nefarian
- Health and melee damage has been reduced by 20%.
- Animated Bone Warriors take 33 seconds to fall over, down from 50. In addition, fewer Animated Bone Warriors spawn.
- Blast Nova cast time has been increased.
- Chromatic Prototype health has been reduced by 20%.
- Electrocute damage has been reduced by 30%.
- Magma Stacking debuff effect has been reduced by 75%.
- Nefarian's Shadowblaze cast frequency cannot increase beyond 1 once every 15 seconds.
- Onyxia health and melee damage has been reduced by 20%.
- Shadowflame Barrage damage has been reduced by 20%.
- Tail Lash damage has been reduced by 50%.
- Omnotron Council
- Health, Melee damage, Electrical Discharge damage, Lightning Conductor damage, Health of Poison Bomb, Incineration Security Measure damage, and Arcane Annihilator damage have all been reduced by 20%.
- Barrier absorb amount has been increased by 100%.
- The cooldown on Power Conversion (Converted Power chance) has been increased.
- Flamethrower damage has been reduced by 40%.
- Static Shock caused by Unstable Shield damage and Poison Bomb damage has been decreased by 50%.
Throne of the Four Winds
- Al'Akir
- Acid Rain now stacks every 20 seconds, up from 15.
- Electrocute now pulses every 1 second, up from 0.5.
- Feedback duration has been increased to 30 seconds, up from 20.
- Health, damage, and Wind Burst damage have all been reduced by 20%.
- Lightning and Lightning Rod recast time has been increased.
- Lightning Strike friendly chain damage has been reduced by 50%.
- Static Shock will no longer be used on normal difficulty in phase 1 or phase 2.
- Conclave of the Four Winds
- Rohash, Anshal, Nezir melee, Ravenous Creeper health/damage, Ravenous Creeper toxic spores damage, Hurricane damage, Sleet Storm damage, Permafrost damage , Slicing Gale, and Wind Blast damage have all been reduced by 20%.
- Gathering Strength cast time has been increased.
- Ice Patch slow effect is now 5% per stack, up to 10 stacks, down from 10% per stack, up to 30 stacks, and damage has been reduced by 20%.
- Wind Chill damage has been decreased by 20% and now increases damage taken by 5% per stack.
[/blizzard]
While some of these nerfs needed to happen, most are too far. Once again fine tuning w/ a chain saw.
According to his comment, that apparently is the direction development has been going which certainly explains a lot =P