Normal modes are for sub-90 dungeons. This includes the new dungeons tooled for 85-88ish.
Heroic modes are all level 90 only, and the dungeons that are only accessible at 90 are heroic-only (this is like not having normal modes of HoO, Lost City, and Grim Batol).
Heroics are supposed to be a lot easier than Cata (like, Wrath-level). LFR is now the next step.
Gear-wise, looks like heroics drop ilvl 463. For comparison, LFR will drop 476 in Mogu'shan (the first raid), and normal raids will drop 489 (again, in Mogu'shan).
Now, Challenge modes!
These are what people who complain about wanting things that you need to be awesome to obtain, but it also doesn't fux with the progression paths.
They award transmog-only gear. No stats.
They're gear-scaled (your current gear is always scaled to some fixed ilvl. So even if you're in the best heroic raid gear, won't matter, all are equal).
They're timed runs. Faster times get you Gold/Silver/Bronze "medals" for more rewards (titles, coloring on gear sets)
The best times are listed in-game for your server.
They're supposed to be a LOT harder. New abilities on bosses, CC required for trash, etc.
They're not available through LFD. Need to make your own 5-mans.
Basically you get to show off that you are in fact a badass, while not having it on the gear progression path. It's amazing, because you don't gate people from content based on their ability to gear up, AND you don't use elite fights to trivialize other content.
Basically you get to show off that you are in fact a badass, while not having it on the gear progression path. It's amazing, because you don't gate people from content based on their ability to gear up, AND you don't use elite fights to trivialize other content.
I mean, no one's going to care about "world first CM Scarlet Monastery" or "world fastest CM Temple of the Jade Serpent" because I'm sure those records will be comp based.
But beating your own best time will be a great way to have fun.
Also, I'm a huge fan of showing skill metrics in game. I think WoWProgress should be officially sanctioned and integrated into the UI somehow. I think an official damage meter is a good idea, because honestly, unless someone is helping you (or more likely berating you), do you even know you're playing terribly? (in-game only, without outside resources)
I suspect a large part of the issue with LFD and LFR is that casual players have no idea what the baselines should be. They don't know they're bad because they can't see what "good" is, and they wonder why they get yelled at.
The more I think about it, the more I think I'd enjoy gear normalization at all levels of the game. Each time you defeat a raid boss, you get 1 extra ilvl in normalized gear or something, so that the raid becomes easier the more you farm it.
Of course, the gear RNG carrot is far more lucrative (and probably more fun in the long run). But it'd be nice to be able to accomodate my desire for "gear up until you can kill it, and then move on."
That works fine, because its not random grouping. Times are recorded individually (I'm pretty sure), so if you broke a server record with B.net friends, you'd still rank.
There is the concept of a "guild group" for rep, challenges, and acheivements for it as well, but that's standard issue.
