~3 MIN
Intro
Analyzing Key Metrics and Player Behavior Post-Update
Season 1 of The War Within received heavy criticism from players for many reasons — overly complex mechanics, punishing affixes, underwhelming rewards, and more. Blizzard listened. In Season 2, they implemented numerous changes, including increased crest drops and more access to Heroic gear. But how did these changes affect player engagement?
Experts at Icy Veins analyzed data from Raider.IO to explore how these adjustments shaped Mythic+ activity in Season 2.
Raw Numbers
Compared to Week 1 of Season 1:
- The total number of completed Mythic+ dungeons is down 17.46%
- Timed runs have slightly decreased by 0.7%
This decline is mostly due to balance issues, which forced Blizzard to apply massive nerfs just a few days into the season.
But there’s good news:
- Dungeon activity is now more evenly distributed: ranging between 11.56% to 13.53% per dungeon in Season 2, compared to a much wider 8.92%–19.24% range in Season 1.
- Success rates also improved: the gap between best and worst dungeons shrunk from 25.25% in S1 to 18.13% in S2.
Key Level Insights
On the first chart, we see a comparison between total dungeon runs in each season:
- Blue = Season 1
- Red dotted = Season 2
There’s a sharp drop-off after the initial runs. However, there’s a noticeable spike at key level 6 in Season 2 — players are now rewarded with heroic gear at that level.
In the second chart, we see the percentage of timed runs by key level. Season 2 outperforms Season 1 in nearly every category — except key level 10, which remains the most punishing due to the combination of Tyrannical and Fortified affixes.
A Closer Look at Key Level 10
This key level is significant because Vault rewards are based on completing +10 dungeons.
- In Season 2, key level 10 performance is dramatically better than Season 1.
- In Season 1, some dungeons at +10 had extremely low success rates.
- In Season 2, even the worst-performing dungeon (Priory at 32.09%) outperformed half the S1 dungeons.
Only Tirna Scithe and Ara-Kara from Season 1 could rival the new lineup in terms of completion rate.
📊 Total timed runs at key level 10:
- Season 2: 95,132
- Season 1: 75,710
Crest System Overhaul
Season 1 had major issues with crest distribution:
- Early key levels gave Carved Crests, which were nearly useless.
- Gilded Crests only dropped from key level 9+ (adjusted to level 8 mid-season).
Season 2 improved things significantly:
- Carved Crests are no longer available from Mythic+ dungeons.
- Gilded Crests now start dropping from key level 7.
- Heroic gear drops from level 6 keys.
📈 Result:
- Week 1 of S2 saw ~2.1 million Heroic items looted, compared to 1.2 million in S1 — a 77% increase.
Even looking at rewardable Gilded Crest runs:
- Season 2: 790k+ runs
- Season 1: 200k runs
Note: Some players likely continued running keys even after hitting their weekly crest cap, which skews the total slightly.
Conclusion
While total player engagement dropped slightly from Season 1 to 2, the overall player experience significantly improved.
Importantly, the need to run dozens of keys — like in Season 1 — has been greatly reduced, thanks to smarter progression systems.
But one question remains:
💭 Will these improvements bring back players who were turned off by Season 1’s harshness?