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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsIn the category of "finally": Raid ID confirmation windows in 3.1
by Michael Sacco 
Feb 27th 2009 at 5:00PM
The 3.1 PTR has brought a lot of wonderful quality of life improvements, but here's one that players and GMs alike will undoubtedly appreciate more than a lot of them: you finally, finally get a confirmation window when you enter an instance that would lock you to it. You get the option to accept the lockout and stay in the instance or leave the instance and save your ID for later. You have 15 seconds to make said choice.
This means no more getting screwed out of heroics by some idiot who forgot he already ran Violet Hold today or any other of the myriad ways you can lose your ID for the day (or week). It's about time.
Our good friend BRK found this feature without even realizing it, as WI reader Brandon Tilley discovered it in BRK's screenshots of a PTR raid last night. Thanks for the heads-up on this exciting change, Brandon, and way to miss the boat, BRK!
Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.Filed under: Patches, News items
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
omenscourge Feb 27th 2009 5:26PM
What's really fun is it pops after every boss right now. At least it did yesterday.
http://omenscourge.blogspot.com
tonedeff Feb 27th 2009 5:27PM
We are beiong givn this new feature, How long entill people take it for granted and start QQ over 15sec not being long enough for them to make up there mind?
sonicice Feb 27th 2009 6:06PM
Too late, already happened in post #9
Hansbo Feb 27th 2009 5:28PM
Typical of blizzard, to cater to the casual.
I remember a WoW when I had to plan when to run instances, and had to be a good investigator when joining a group to prevent myself from getting saved.
This is just listening to QQ. My time runs out in april, and I wont refresh it. GG Blizz :(
Michael Sacco Feb 27th 2009 5:31PM
This is a pretty pro troll (since it can't possibly be anything but).
Scott Feb 27th 2009 5:34PM
ZOMG Hansbo that has to be one of the most PATHETIC reasons to leave the game. Listening to your QQ makes my ears bleed!!!
Quidamtyra Feb 27th 2009 5:34PM
I don't think it was Blizzard's intenti0n to cater to the casual at all with this change. I think it was more of a preventative measure vs people who lie to get people into their groups (or just plain forget they ran something for the week and get 24 others helplessly locked in).
I personally have never had a problem with being locked out of an instance I didn't clear, but there are people who, say, start a VoA25 run, get people to zone in, and those who do get locked out because the leader did it right after reset or something.
When it goes live, I'm sure they will have it fixed to where it doesn't pop up after every boss, or where you can say leave after killing first boss just to do him again. End result will most likely be (and what their target probably was) that if you kill a boss, you are locked, no matter what. If you zone into an instance already started, it will ask if you really want to zone in.
Hansbo Feb 27th 2009 7:13PM
I was suspecting I was going to be downrated, but yeah.. I was pretty much being satiric of the people who complained that the hearthstone CD was getting shorter in the next patch. I fail at humor I guess.
Aubrecia Feb 27th 2009 5:32PM
Like the concept quite a lot but agree that it's got to be fixed so it's not exploited. I'm sure Blizz is already aware of this problem and working on it, but the concept itself is pretty great, if it would just pop up at the beginning of an already-cleared instance or something similar.
splice42 Feb 27th 2009 5:52PM
Fail. This is bad interface design. Let me tell you exactly what will happen.
The first time a raider sees it: "Ooh, neat. Now I won't get saved to instances I don't want to be saved to anymore."
The 10th time a raider sees it: "Getting pretty annoying. Yes I want to be saved to the instance, WTF would I enter it if I didn't?"
The 20th time: "Yes, yes, goddamn, yes, just go away."
Shortly after: "Wait, why is this set to heroic? Shit, now I'm saved to a half-cleared Naxx-25, gg Blizzard"
Putting a confirmation dialog on something that's expected to occur every time you enter a new dungeon will result in everyone reflexively pressing "Yes", same thing as the EULA you always get when installing software.
Poor design. GG Blizzard.
sonicice Feb 27th 2009 6:07PM
WOW. Some people really will QQ about anything.
Zhenton Feb 27th 2009 6:17PM
The design doesn't seem so bad to me.
If you start an instance or a raid and kill a boss, you'll be automatically saved and won't see this message.
You should really only see this when you enter an instance or raid that's already started, and unless you have a habit of joining things already in progress, an occasional click here and there is no big deal.
At least that's my take on what they're trying to implement.
rochmoninoff Feb 27th 2009 5:59PM
I like the idea.
And I was recently victimized when I joined a 25-man VoA following a WG victory
only to find out the boss had been cleared ... by the raid leader!
24 very upset people.
But how does it work?
How can you tell if the boss(es) have been cleared or not?
"you're about to be saved" - Great! But what info do I get to decided to stay or go?
Without info telling which bosses are up, this seems like a useless gimmick.
Covnam Feb 27th 2009 6:03PM
I'd prefer if they would work on a way to tie the raid to the character instead of the character to the raid. That way whether or not you get into a full clear, you can always join another group the next day.
If they can track which bosses you kill for achievements, surely they can tie boss kills to the character on a weekly reset and just prevent you from being able to get any loot once you've been flagged for the kill for the week.
Marissa Feb 27th 2009 6:21PM
The 15 seconds should be extended, imho. Not for people that can't make up their minds but more for people that have a problem zoning into instances. As we know zoning isn't always 100% perfect. Personally, I would hate to see myself or guildies get saved to some instance because the window and game saved us before we saw the confirmation window.
BigREk Feb 27th 2009 6:31PM
@ Hansbo
So you investigate the run HUH? how? If i LFG and get an invite and ask "is this a fresh run" and they say yes what else can you do except take their word for it. Seriously if you let this bother you then maybe April to too long to wait
This is a welcomed addition :)
edward Feb 27th 2009 6:44PM
This is awesome, but 15 secs. While its a good amount of time, is it too close for comfort if you get some sort of lag spike.
Do you get auto Accept or auto Leave if you didn't get to choose any button?
Rayyth Feb 27th 2009 7:24PM
If you've ever spent time on the Customer Service forum, you'd know how badly this feature is needed. Many a person has been directed to the Suggestions Forum to make this suggestion and the developers have agreed it's required. If everyone that played this game was honest and decent it probably wouldn't be needed, but fact is there are a lot of people out there that delight in ruining other people's fun.
The Elitist Jerk Feb 27th 2009 9:29PM
The screenshot was taken by someone on EJ, not that huntard BRK. Get your facts straight.
profglitch Feb 27th 2009 11:24PM
it's not a matter of "QQ 15 seconds isn't long enough to make my mind" it's a matter of some PCs (like mine) take well over 15 seconds to even zone into an instance.