I understand that Challenger’s Peril is being rolled into Xal’atath’s Guile to replace the extra 10% enemy stat boost. While I don’t have an opinion either way about this change (I really don’t care about Mythic+), I am a fan of appropriate theming. So I thought it would be cool if this new affix, which adds an extra penalty for player deaths, was renamed to Xal’atath’s Judgement.
Xal’atath‘s MO goes like this: strike a bargain with the selfish or desperate, giving them great dark power, and then step back and watch them wreak havoc which empowers the black blood. If her “client” runs into trouble, she expects them to be strong enough to handle it themselves, because “only the strongest survive” in her world. Failure to rise to the challenge means they are unworthy of her gifts and should just die right there.
So from a story perspective, I find it super appropriate that, at the highest level of M+ progression, Xal’atath is keeping a close eye on our performance and severely punishing any sign that we are faltering. It fits her “survival of the fittest” mentality perfectly. All that remains is to put a fitting label on this mechanic to really sell the idea that we are in the latter stages of a bargain with the devil.