Blizzard appears to be ditching that frustrating Mythic Keystone depletion mechanic in World of Warcraft. In a post on the game's official forums, community manager Lore laid out the company's plans to tweak the system.

Mythic Keystone dungeons were introduced in Legion, the latest expansion for World of Warcraft. It was implemented as another way to reward players with additional, optional challenges. The dungeons haven't panned out exactly the way Blizzard envisioned them, however, and the company is ready for some big changes.

Specifically, changes to the fallout incurred after failing to complete one of these dungeons within the allotted time. Mythic Keystone dungeons are timed, and the rewards vary depending on how quickly a group finishes. This comes with a downside for those who ponied up their own keystone to initiate the run, but couldn't complete the dungeon in time. Their keystone would then become depleted, which essentially forced players to run the same dungeon again so they could get a fresh upgrade. However, a second run will reward no loot.

This hasn't set well with players who may have just ended up in a bad group, or ran into typical online issues, such as a loss of connection. Blizzard has heard their complaints and decided to address the issue.

In the upcoming 7.2.5 build on the PTR, the company will be testing the following changes:

  • Completing the run on time will have the same results it currently does in 7.2: you’ll get a new Keystone for a random dungeon that’s 1-3 levels higher than the one you just completed, based on how quickly you finished.
  • If you complete the dungeon but don’t make the timer, you’ll get a Keystone for a random dungeon that’s 1 level lower than the one you just used.
  • If you don’t complete the dungeon at all, you’ll have a Keystone for the same dungeon that’s one level lower than the one you just used.

It seems players will be allowed to continue Mythic Keystone dungeon hopping regardless of whether they succeed or fail, which should alleviate much of the problem.

The changes don't stop here, though. In addition to changing what players receive for not completing a dungeon, Blizzard is also looking at how players are rewarded for actually finishing in time. Some players are purposefully running low level Keystones and recruiting overpowered players to blaze through dungeons for more chests -- others are even charging players to be carried for easy rewards. To curb players of this behavior, Blizzard is looking to remove extra rewards for performance altogether.

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Here are the proposed changes coming to the PTR:

  • You no longer receive additional chests at the end of a run for completing it quickly.
  • When you finish a Mythic+ dungeon, the chest at the end will contain two items and an appropriate amount of Artifact Power.
  • If you beat the timer, regardless of how quickly, there will be a third item in the chest.
  • Keystones can still upgrade by 2 or 3 steps, so you can quickly get to a difficulty level appropriate for you.

Blizzard made it clear it didn't expect Mythic Keystones would be so accessible, so it's cutting rewards as a result. As you might assume, this hasn't set well with a lot of players, and they are currently making their voices heard on the game's forums. Whether it will make a difference has yet to be seen.

While the Mythic Keystone debacle rages on, the rest of the expansion is playing wonderfully. Legion is the sixth expansion to the legendary MMO, and it has garnered some positive reviews from the gaming community. This is attributed to Blizzard's ability to listen to its player base and the many, many hard lessons learned from its previous expansion, which was one of the game's most unpopular.

Legion received one of its biggest patches around a month ago. Dubbed Tomb of Sargeras, after the expansion's newest raid, the patch introduced flying mounts to the Broken Isles, included a new PvP Brawl mode, and implemented a new system where creatures encountered now scale to player item level.

World of Warcraft: Legion is available now on PC and Mac.

Source: Battle.net Forums