Blizzard Cleans Up Mythic+ Rankings After Carry Controversy
Ion Hazzikostas, game director at Blizzard, has announced a thorough review and correction of the top 1% World of Warcraft Mythic+ dungeon rankings. This comes after reports surfaced that some players had paid for “carries,” where other players completed dungeons on their behalf to achieve high scores and claim exclusive rewards.
The new reward system, introduced in the Midnight expansion, offered unique titles and benefits to those who reached the top 1% of Mythic+ dungeon rankings. However, the percentage-based cutoff meant that even small boosts could displace legitimate players from this elite tier. This led to a surge in paid carries, where players would pay others to complete dungeons for them, effectively buying their way into the top 1%.
“The team is doing a thorough scrub of this for Season 1 and will share more with the community soon about how we approached that review, as well as the final results,” Hazzikostas said. This “scrub” aims to remove any players who gained their ranking through illegitimate means.
The Grind and the Cutoff: A Delicate Balance
One player lamented on Twitter, “I hit 1% M+ rating yesterday and it lasted for 5 minutes.” The constantly rising cutoff made it a relentless race to maintain that top spot. Another player highlighted the prevalence of “note” keys, where players had to pay the keyholder just to be invited into the group.
While the percentage-based system was intended to keep players engaged throughout the season, it also created a stressful environment for those near the cutoff. As one Reddit user put it, “That uncertainty makes the end of the season feel more stressful than exciting.”
The Rise of Meta Compositions
The pursuit of the 1% title has also led to a homogenization of group compositions. While websites like Raider.IO track a wide variety of character classes and specializations, the vast majority of Mythic+ keys at higher levels feature a limited set of “meta” specs: guardian druid, unholy death knight, devourer demon hunter, mistweaver monk, augmentation evoker, restoration shaman, and retribution paladin.
Andrew De Souza, lead encounter designer, acknowledged this trend but emphasized that dungeons are designed to be playable by all classes. “When we’re thinking about world record folks,” he said, “some of the fun is identifying how to solve puzzles with different characters.” However, for those aiming for the 1%, the pressure to conform to the meta can be intense.
Future Plans: Spec-Specific Rewards on the Horizon?
Blizzard is now exploring the possibility of implementing specialization-specific cutoffs for future rewards. This would allow players to compete within their chosen class and spec, potentially fostering a more diverse and inclusive environment. However, this feature is still in development, and Blizzard is carefully considering the logistical challenges involved.
“While the spec-specific title reward is something we’re excited to explore,” Hazzikostas said, “there are still a number of logistics, factors, and scenarios we’ll need to account for as we build out that capability, to ensure fairness across the board.”
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