Here today I want to talk about something very interesting and that is the upcoming 30% ICC raid buff. We found this to be a buff that changes everything.

I want to talk about the timeline for this buff. When we see it, you know exactly how it’s going to scale. And then I also want to talk about something that no one has considered yet, like what’s happening with Raid Composition? How many healers are there? What do you give up when you have this buff? How has your tank changed? What changes have occurred to DPS? I want to cover everything.

ICC Buff Explained

So, before discussing timelines and Raid Composition changes, let’s get down to business. We should probably cover what the actual buff is.

So imagine entering ICC with a really outstanding magic boost that makes you stronger and all the healing you receive better. For example, you have a Protection Paladin Tank with 50,000 health, with this buff your health will rise to 65,000. This makes it easy for you to survive Lich King’s attacks.

By analogy, your Holy Paladin will rise from 13,000 Holy Light points all the way to 177,000 points. And your excellent Fury Warrior will jump from 14,000 DPS to 18,000 DPS.

But there’s a problem, the developers aren’t letting go of this exceptional buff in the next 5 months. Instead, it scales up every few weeks until it reaches 30% damage healing and health. So you might ask, while most people are referring to the upcoming ICC changes as “buffs,” what are the actual effects on gameplay?

This is really just Nerf done differently than Nerf of the past. This new and exciting way to actually enhance player abilities has some positives and some controversial negatives.

There’s always been a suspicion that ICC’s actual raid balance was designed around 30% buff combat, much like Heroic Lich King’s extremely punishing one shot mechanics.

Because there are currently only 175 guilds that have cleared Heroic Lich King. If anyone has already obtained Invincible’s Reins or powerful 284 weapons, it will bring a 30% buff, so ordinary players can also clear the battle easily. Lich King will eventually be available to thousands of guilds.

To be honest, I’m a little wary of this buff myself. Because I know this will weaken players’ enthusiasm for guild activities. But I know that a lot of players seem to be very excited about this buff so far. Therefore, this may also make some players more motivated to complete ICC raids.

ICC Will Be Easier

Another controversial change is that when we finally get the 30% buff, ICC becomes extremely easy for normal mode groups. Because a 5,000 gear score character should be able to handle ICC with ease.

I fully support this change. If I can take my warriors into a normal ICC team to get those powerful items, it will motivate me to be more prepared for Cataclysm.

The Buff Affects Other Raids

But what we have to note is that when people do 20,000 damage in ICC, they go to Ruby Sanctum to just do less damage and eventually even remove people’s damage. This makes the player’s gaming experience so bad.

So the developers must at least agree that raids like Firelands have completely different Nerf systems so that players don’t become too passive here.

But if you’re struggling in Professor Putricide’s Heroic Mode and you know you’re getting a 5% damage and health buff next week, a lot of guilds are really going to lose some momentum the week before the patch is due to release.

When Is The Buff Coming?

Now let’s talk about the timeline and what to expect from this ICC buff. Tim Jones mentioned in a recent podcast that the first ICC buff may not be more than two months after launch. But we don’t know if this news is reliable.

While we can mark the calendar as December 5 based on the 8-day timeline released on October 12, we really can’t know for sure.

The raid is a tough nut to crack, much more difficult than most of us imagine. This could mean we’ll see the 5% raid buff even sooner, perhaps even beckoning us in mid-November. Because we need to polish those buffs that come out every few weeks.

If this pattern continues, though, we could see the buff rise fairly steadily by 10% by mid-December and 15% by the new year. But remember, this is where the pattern holds. So let’s not rush things, keep your strategy more flexible and your WOTLK Classic Gold stocked up.

How The Buff Affects Guilds?

So let’s hear your battle plan. Are you preparing for earlier buffs? More guilds may use this new buff to clear Lich King. We also have some very good data from the past that explains exactly what would have happened in the past.

When buffed by 5%, Professor Putricide’s kill count jumped by almost a thousand. This happens in almost every fight, like Lich King, Blood-Queen Lana’thel and even Syndicate, and then progression levels off again. As you’d expect until the next buff.

While the strategy will be completely different in almost every battle, it’s not just the kill count that’s affected. Once the buff is implemented on Maraudon, you can actually pump DPS directly, even during Bone Storm. But it means there will be some serious team changes as well.

ICC Raid Comp Shifts

The best scaling level 8/14 only scales better on buffs. But it’s entirely possible that Gargoyle won’t get the buff, which would put them at a tremendous disadvantage.

It’s not just DPS that will change, it will also be the play style of tanks. For example, Protection Warrior may return with more health as a healer. While this is indeed bad news, most guilds will want to get the heals down to four as it will make Infest more manageable.

When Raid Comp changes, the level type itself will also change. We will see more GDKP running with buffs. Now, you can probably clear a full normal raid with 20 players instead of 25.

Overall, this has a tremendous impact on the game. Because of the ICC nerf, you may be wondering how to best prepare for this game-changing buff. to maximize your team’s full potential and take full advantage of buffs. I definitely recommend you start brainstorming how you can adapt to these changes. So you don’t miss the huge new ICC Nerf preparation guide and let’s conquer Lich King Fortress together.