SoD Phase 8 drama: Scarlet Enclave raid high difficulty explained
Despite player struggles, the Scarlet Enclave raid won’t be nerfed anytime soon. Here’s why that decision has both fans and critics speaking up.
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The Scarlet Enclave raid remains the toughest challenges in Season of Discovery, and developers have confirmed they’re not rushing to apply any nerfs. Let’s break down the pros and cons of keeping the difficulty high.
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Scarlet Enclave difficulty problem
Let’s be honest: Scarlet Enclave is a brutal raid. It’s doable for hardcore and dedicated raiders, but “dad guilds” that raid once a week are really struggling with the new content. Only a small number of players have cleared all eight bosses, and many won’t see the final boss downed even once.
Here’s a breakdown of the main hurdles in their way to beat the Scarlet Enclave:
- Loot is limited. While the drop rate is tuned well for a 20-player raid, Scarlet Enclave is far too difficult for a 20-man group. Most guilds have to bring 30 to 40 players just to get through the DPS checks. Unfortunately, there’s not enough loot for that raid size, and gearing up a 40-man roster at this pace is painfully slow.
- Boss mechanics are unforgiving. Several encounters will instantly kill players for even the smallest mistake. A moment of inattention or misstep is all it takes for a wipe.
- Coordination is demanding. Many bosses have intricate mechanics that require full team coordination. That’s hard to pull off with large raid sizes, especially when the raid includes random players from LFG, which is often necessary due to the difficulty of clearing with a smaller core group.
- Gear and consumable requirements are steep. To survive, players need expensive items like Greater Holy Protection Potions and Greater Fire Protection Potions. But on most Classic servers, the cost of reagents is sky-high, making this a serious barrier for casual groups.
- Specific class roles are required. Some bosses call for unique setups, like needing a Rogue tank. If your raid doesn’t have one, your tanks must be stacked with best-in-slot gear, which isn’t realistic this early on.
All of this leads to a bigger issue: many players simply aren’t able to enjoy the new raid or earn the new gear. It’s starting to resemble the situation back in Vanilla, where only a small percentage of guilds ever set foot in Naxxramas, the final raid of Classic WoW, because of strict gear barriers.
Scarlet Enclave raid buff
Even before Phase 8 and the launch of Scarlet Enclave, the developers had already built a system to help players handle the raid’s steep difficulty. It’s similar to the system used in the Icecrown Citadel raid from Wrath of the Lich King, where all raid members receive a buff that increases their HP, healing, and damage dealt. This buff starts at 5% and increases by 5% each week, eventually reaching a maximum of 30%.
However, while this mechanic is already built into the game code, it hasn’t been activated in any form. Blizzard developers recently confirmed that it’s still too early to implement this assistance, meaning players are facing the full raid difficulty without any support buffs for now.
SoD Devs response
Let’s take a look at what the developers recently said.
“Being honest, when we think its needed and not before. We aren’t sure its needed yet. We are looking at raiding data and week over week the raiding population is increasing rather than decreasing. So we need to be careful to respect the progression of groups working through it before we nerf more.
But we are watching it, very carefully. Caldoran is still hard (but NOT impossible) for groups that aren’t running 25+. Luckily, its very easy to recruit right now if you want a few more people help get over the hill. So again, before we pull that trigger, we are taking a measured approach.”
— Josh Greenfield
So, the developers have decided to keep Scarlet Enclave difficult and competitive for now. In some ways, that’s a fair decision: this is likely the final major content release in Season of Discovery, so there’s no reason to rush progression. Players can take their time farming Scarlet Junkboxes and picking up loot from the earlier bosses.
The good news is that you can still begin collecting pieces for Ashbringer at your own pace. The key quest item drops from Beatrix, the second boss, and defeating Caldoran—the final encounter—only becomes relevant much later in the Ashbringer questline. For a full breakdown, check out our dedicated SoD Ashbringer guide.
Still, this slower pace has left some players frustrated. Many feel excluded from the experience, as if Scarlet Enclave is a private club that only top-tier raid groups can access. That sense of being locked out has cast a shadow over what should be an exciting final phase for everyone.
Conclusion
Do you agree with Blizzard’s approach to the Scarlet Enclave raid? There’s no doubt it’s challenging, but you don’t have to face it unprepared. Use our complete Scarlet Enclave guide to navigate every boss and mechanic with confidence. And if your gear isn’t quite ready, check out our Phase 8 catch-up guide to get raid-ready faster.
And of course, if you need extra gold for gear or consumables, you can always buy WoW Classic gold to speed things up and stay prepared for every pull.
Comments
good article