Dungeons, known as instances, are special zones where players group together to fight tougher monsters than the outside environment. They are called instances because each group who enters them is given a separate copy of the dungeon and will not interact with other players of either faction when inside. Higher quality loot is available in instances than the environment, in addition to excellent quest experience and rewards. Today's WoW Rookie gives you a guide to the dungeons may enter in your first forty levels or so.

Instances are known in most cases by their initials. Notable exceptions will be listed below. This guide also gives suggested levels for completing the dungeons. Entering at a lower level will usually prove difficult and, at times, painful. If you do an instance at a higher level than recommended will garner little experience and rewards that do not benefit your current level.

Most of the monsters (mobs) you will fight in instances will be elite. That means that they have higher hit points and more devastating attacks than normal mobs of their level. Elite mobs can be recognized by a gold dragon around their character portrait. Most instanced require full groups of five characters at the appropriate level or an escort by someone significantly higher. Instances have several bosses, each of which have special abilities. More experienced players can tell you what to expect or check the links above.

Wowhead, and other databases present loot tables that show which gear is dropped from specific characters. Be sure to check the links above to see if there's something in particular you would like to have. The boss mobs usually drop superior quality loot. The names of these items are printed in blue and often say "bind on pick up" under the title. This means that once the item is in their inventory, the player cannot pass off the item to another character. They can only discard, vendor, or disenchant it.

The etiquette of instance loot

You will be given the option to need, greed, or pass an item. In most cases you should only pick "need" if the item that dropped is appropriate to your class and better than your current gear. If you need a piece of gear, click on the die icon in the pop-up window. Conventions on greeding and passing vary among groups. In many cases players who do not need an item and would only sell it to a vendor select greed by clicking on the pile of coins. If someone in your party states that they need an item, it is genial to click the X to pass it.

If everyone opts to pass an item, you may be told to "roll" on it. Type /roll to generate a random number between one and one hundred. Whoever has the highest roll is entitled to pick up the item. If there is an enchanter in the group, they may pick up the item and disenchant it. In most cases the enchanter does not keep the shard provided by the disenchant ability. Everyone rolls and whoever is highest is given the enchanting created from the disenchant. This practice also varies from group to group. As a courtesy if I win a roll, I ask the enchanter to keep the shard.

Instances are important for loot and leveling, but they also help you to learn important aspects of how to play your class. Next time I will address the roles you will be expected to play in an instance.

Tags: Conventions, Dungeons, Etiquette, Grouping, Groups, Instance-Guide, Loot, Lowbie, Newbies, role, roll

Filed under: How-tos, Instances, Leveling, Guides, WoW Rookie