Massively

Back in 'the day', raiding was the only way to secure the best gear rewards. Slowly but surely, Blizzard implemented various changes to counter this. Lowering the amount of players required to raid, and easing the requirements on entry-level raiding helped. Epic-quality gear purchasable with 'Badges of Justice'; rewards from the Heroic versions of 5-man dungeons helped, as did craftable gear which equalled, if not surpassed some of the instance rewards. There was of course much complaining from the vocal minority about these and other 'welfare epics'. On balance though, Blizzard opened up end-game content and gear to more players than they alienated with these moves.

16/11/08