A few months back, I wrote an editorial about Blizzard's new "post-Lich King" trend of releasing new content quicker than ever before. Despite the controversy and various player issues resulting from the company's new release standard, I believe it ultimately offers the community more good than bad. However, I recently came across the post, "Does new content outdate too fast?" at Tobold's MMORPG Blog, which gave me pause. Tobold received a letter from a casual World of Warcraft player who feels left in the dust; the speed of new endgame content—specifically dungeons like Ulduar, Trial of the Grand Crusader and now the new Onyxia raid—is just too fast for some players.
Most hardcore raiders would contend that, in this case, the good outweighs the bad. Even many casual raiders, including me, agree that new content is a good thing; regardless of how overwhelming it can be for people without the time to "just put their head down and do it." But there are other factors to consider, too. For example, what about casual raiders who can't find players willing to run through the 10-player, let alone the 25-player, versions of these dungeons because they don't have anything to gain? Even if an older raid dungeon still houses one or two pieces of gear that offers an upgrade, why not run the newest raid instead, which offers better odds of getting stronger gear?