BlizzCon 2009: Blizzard announces cross-server instances
by Michael Sacco 
Aug 22nd 2009 at 4:47PM
In what will certainly be the be-all end-all solution to "additional instances cannot be launched", Blizzard announced cross-server instances and LFG at the Dungeons and Raids panel at BlizzCon 2009.
By taking advantage of brand-new hardware separate from your realm's instance servers, not only will you be able to find groups from pools of players in your entire battlegroup, your realm's specific instance servers will be free of the stress of mass heroic-running.
On top of the convenience factor, Blizzard says that rewards will be in place for players who lead groups through instances successfully. The nature of the rewards is currently unknown but Blizzard promises more information soon.
Blizzard says that the feature will be used for 5-mans only at this time. It'll be launched with 3.3, not with Cataclysm.
Fantastic news! No more "additional instances" errors, a larger pool of players to choose your groups from, and rewards for good party leaders. Great news for everyone.
BlizzCon 2009 is here! WoW.com has continuing coverage, bringing you the latest in Cataclysm news, live blogs, galleries, and reports right from the convention floor. Check out WoW.com's Guide to BlizzCon for the latest!Filed under: Instances
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Street Justice Aug 22nd 2009 4:53PM
Talk about two birds with one stone.
Not only have they fixed it, they made it more awesome!
CTD Aug 22nd 2009 5:09PM
The only thing I don't find awesome about this is the "reward for the leader" part. Why should only one person be rewarded when 5 people complete a successful run?
"Leading" in a 5-man is not actually something that requires much thought or skill. In the current environment of "aoe everything down", it doesn't require anything at all if everyone has been to the instance before. And getting the group together isn't a great feat either, that's the entire point of LFG.
Street Justice Aug 22nd 2009 5:12PM
Any rewards you will receive would most likely be minimal, like an extra EoC or SKS, or the equivalent of those in Cataclysm. I think its more of an incentive to get people to use it, rather than just ignore it and run with guildies.
Xiol Aug 22nd 2009 5:22PM
@CTD
On the contrary, I believe leading is everything. (Not necessarily for 5-mans, but for raids, definitely).
At the moment in time, if you get 25 people together in raid, if they all know how to play they will have the same talent builds, glyphs, rotations, and knowledge of the fights (per class I'm talking about here obviously) if they want to be competitive at what they do. The only thing that gets these 25 people through a raid is the leader.
WoW itself isn't hard, leading is.
CTD Aug 22nd 2009 5:28PM
@Xiol
Oh, I agree with you completely. But we're talking specifically about 5-mans here. And leading isn't everything there.
And Street Justice, I don't mind giving small rewards as incentive to use the new system, but give it to everyone in the run then. After all, it IS a group effort.
T Aug 22nd 2009 5:30PM
@Xiol
Well, did anyone ask about leading 25 mans? Did you read the transcript of the talk? The rewards are for leading 5-mans at this time. Who gives a damn how easy or hard it is to lead a 25 man in relation to this?
As for the reward, this will be interesting. LFG could turn into an enormous list of nothing but people LFM. Everyone wants to lead and no one will sign on unless they can be leader. Net result, PUG'ing is still difficult.
Next up, no more passing leadership to the tank so they can mark targets. Leader does that, and now rather than a quick and easy progression, we'll get to see debates, requests and questions between the leader and the tank for multiple groups throughout the instance.
I'll be very interested to see if this feature survives its beta testing.
ramivore Aug 22nd 2009 6:32PM
Rewards for leading is a good idea. Putting a group together and leading noobish people through an instance does require some effort and leadership, and you get blamed if things fall apart. Though this has been less of an issue with the EZ-mode WoTLK 5-mans. Perhaps this could signal a return of more noob-unfriendly instances?
Say if it is your first time in an instance (or in a heroic mode), you could choose to give a "leadership award" to someone who you thought has been a good guide. I'm very grateful when other players explain the fight to me etc. The reward doesn't have to be anything big, more of a recognition than an inducement.
Its the kind of thing that happens between decent human beings. Sadly, humanity is often discarded in PUGs without loot to back it up.
I agree that getting a reward for having the crown on your head during some 30-min milk run is dubious.
ashraith Aug 22nd 2009 10:53PM
@ramivore that is only needed the first time you run an instance. and we all know that with wow, latest at the levelcap you'll grind dungeons over and over. which is when everyone will want to be leader and things get bitchy and annoying.
noodwow Aug 22nd 2009 4:55PM
That's great news. I'd love to know when we'll be able to put ourselves in LFG for instances below our level. I'd love to put myself in LFG for something like Black Temple, but I'm physically restricted from doing so because I'm 80.
Nick Aug 22nd 2009 4:55PM
OH GOD, OH MAN, OH GOD, OH MAN.
This is SO awesome. It's going to make running all the Heroics (Or most) in one day really easy!
Nick Aug 22nd 2009 4:55PM
Failure.
Kole Aug 22nd 2009 4:56PM
That will be even better when the "X-Box Live"-esque Battle.net friends lists are deployed...
TheFlyingCorpse Aug 22nd 2009 4:58PM
Oh, I like the idea but also a bit sceptic for all the ninja leaders on my realm, Balnazzar EU. Every day a raid leader loots all the drops from final boss encounter and chickenstones out of there =/
Falcon6 Aug 22nd 2009 5:01PM
They've mentioned "reward systems." Maybe they can make it so, at the end of the group, you can rate the leaders based on what they do. Heck, make a checkbox that you put down if they ninja stuff. That would be awesome.
springwater Aug 22nd 2009 5:45PM
@Falcon6
"Heck, make a checkbox that you put down if they ninja stuff."
This sounds like a good idea on paper, but what keeps people (either an individual or the rest of the group) from checking this box on purpose just to screw the leader over?
This idea alone proves we all know there's a ton of dishonest people playing.. but unfotunately if Blizzard were to give us a system to identify them, they will find a way to game it.
regisfrost Aug 22nd 2009 4:56PM
More often than not it's one who is acting party leader when inviting to pugs, and then the tank get leadership for the rest of the run since it's they who actually "lead" the party in the instance. And yes, for all the trouble and worry tanks have in instances they deserve a reward.
DFWDruid Aug 22nd 2009 8:11PM
I don't agree at all, tanks don't deserve to be the only ones getting rewards, just cause they are group leader doesn't mean they are organizing things or leading anything, they are simply made leader so they can mark which mob they are going to beat on first, this is a slap in the face to the casters and healers who never end up being the group leader. This wasn't very well thought out, they should have made the rewards across the board or nothing.
austonst Aug 22nd 2009 4:57PM
Very nice, but I'm a little worried about potential drama over who gets to be group leader, if the group leader gets different/better rewards.
Halucid Aug 22nd 2009 6:30PM
I forsee hundreds of people STILL unable to get into an instance... but now because every stubborn elitest punk will want their "leader rewards".
koblec Aug 22nd 2009 4:58PM
This is, quite possibly, the best expansion. EVAR.