My stance on this is mostly neutral at the moment, though I think I could be convinced one way or the other depending on the details.
Scenario 1 – Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) Scheme Applied
In this scenario, the Slime Cat is removed from the game in 10.0. Personally, I feel like the FOMO tactic is unnecessary and potentially adds a level of stress for some players. Also, if we are being honest when it comes to difficulty, the most difficult thing for most guilds progressing on Normal difficulty is recruiting enough people for their raid. While this is funny to some, this is a very real challenge for others. Adding a time limit to the situation seems unnecessary here – especially when Season 4 will be 3 - 4 months and access to a third of the requirements cycles every 3 weeks. Therefore, while I really don’t like the FOMO tactic, if developers insist it is necessary, then the Slime Cat should probably be available via LFR.
Scenario 2 – No FOMO is Applied
In this scenario, the Slime Cat is not removed from the game, and the Fated raid mechanic continues indefinitely. Here, the pressure to get the mount by a certain time is removed. This means the Fated raid mechanic continues into Dragonflight. While it may take 10 – 25 players to complete the content throughout the rest of Shadowlands, it may become manageable by 7 – 8 people by Season 1 in Dragonflight. Maybe a well geared group of 5 can complete this by Season 2 or 3 in Dragonflight. Maybe in 2 -3 years it can be soloed.
In other words, as time goes on it requires less skill. However, players unable / unwilling to put in the time and effort will simply have to wait longer in order to gain access to the Slime Cat. Therefore, in this scenario, I think keeping the Slime Cat at a Normal difficulty level would be fine. Though, if enough people wanted it to be included with LFR, then that would probably be fine too.
Now if they chose to keep the Slime Cat for Normal difficulty, maybe a nice consolation prize for completing Fated LFR difficulty raids could be offering one of the following rewards:
- Recolor for each armor type from one of the raids (this may incentivize more activity to collect all 4 armor types)
- A pet
- A cache of Maw-themed weapon transmogs that didn’t make the original cut into the game
- Slime-themed transmog (Cosmetic category) to match the Slime Cat
Gearing up to Queue for LFR
Finally, currently, you can get an ilvl that exceeds current LFR ilvl via content in Zereth Mortis. Naturally, this takes a little time and consistency, but it can be done. With Sandsworn Relics becoming BoA, maybe it would be a nice option to use them to upgrade Sandsworn Relic gear to ilvl 265 (I think this is the ilvl of Fated LFR gear). Perhaps, 200 Sandsworn Relics bumps the gear up 5 ilvls at a time. The numbers here are just place-holders, but I thought the concept might be worth mentioning.