from raider io
week 1 stats
total m+ runs
DF S2: 2.52mm
DF S3: 3.23mm
TWW S1: 2.47mm
TWW S2: 1.65mm
ok, so that is as of last night. if the run rate for tonight is the same as the previous six days, then the full week will be approximately 1.92mm total m+ runs.
that represents a 22% drop off from the previous season.
something is clearly off in m+ land.
There was quite a big jump in item level between seasons causing a barrier of entry into low mythics for casual players
Yah there’s no reason to do low keys anymore that’s what’s off. M+ pretty much only exists from 6 and up now
S1: Heroic offered 584, m0 offered 597. 13 ilvl difference
S2: Heroic offers 619, m0 oiffers 632. 13 ilvl difference
1.65 million million runs is a lot.
People just aren’t doing low keys. High keys have no issues filling
M0 is dropping 636 for a 17 ilvl difference.
not if you were expecting ~2.5mm runs
Yeah, I’m trying to figure out what the mm notation meant. Surely it isn’t million million or 1 trillion.
Why would you expect that many runs?
mm = 1,000 thousands or a million
In that comparison TWW lost keys 2-9 and also we now have delves competing for players gearing attention. And delves just got buffed to give some gilded as well.
Also surprised you used DF s2 and s3 instead of s1 and s2 for a more direct comparison.
mm is a thousand thousand, so is a correct term for a million, just not commonly used. It could also be millimeter 
Not even noticeable from 13
mm means millimeters. A capital M is millions.
if you averaged S2 and S3 first week and adjusted for 6 days of play.
even if you used TWW S1 numbers, you would expect ~ 2.12mm runs
That’s never how the game has worked. S1 lasted a long time not everyone is going to be back. They also buffed delves. Unless your doing 6s already you can out gear all low keys just from delves and crests alone. That’s the reality. Most players either aren’t doing keys right now because it’s easier to just do delves. Keys will pick up when people start gearing alts
This week, the dungeons were way overtuned. See the hotfix nerf last Friday. I’d expect the graph of runs over time this season to have peaked around Wednesday, tapering off after that, and then have increased above that original peak over the weekend after the nerf. Don’t have Raider IO data to hand, but that would be my expectation after having been handed my head on a platter in a number of the runs I tried.
I think the answer is pretty clear - I’ve been hearing the dungeons feel pretty easy. Difficulty was never an issue for majority of players. The issue with M+ is that most people were only doing it because it was the absolute easiest way to get mythic raid level gear. Now that we have delves which are both easier and more accessible - a huge chunk of players are no longer going to participate.
I’ve been hearing quite the opposite - that the dungeons were generously tuned out the gate and these nerfs now are borderline making them too easy.