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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPatch 3.3 PTR: New LFG interface
by Gregg Reece 
Oct 21st 2009 at 8:00PM
In the latest build of the PTR, Blizzard has included the new Looking for Group interface they've got in the works. As they had announced in at BlizzCon, the recent fix for the "Additional Instances" errors that were plaguing us a few months ago also adds the ability for them to allow cross-realm LFG. A new feature usually means a new interface and the trend proves true. It incorporates a lot of the long asked for features as well as removes several older features from the panel.
They've taken the current system that allows you to select your available roles (healer, tank, or dps) as well as select if you're willing to lead the instance. One thing that should help out is the ability to earn emblems as well as gold for doing just a completely random pug each day. While some of you might be groaning at this thought, they are willing to reimburse you for the inconvenience with 68G for completing a random level 80 heroic. This money scales based on how much of your party is random and how much is premade. The less random your party is the lower the cash return.
It's still early in the PTR and several features, like the ability to use the LFG panel to look for a raid, don't appear to be completely finished yet. I've included a gallery of what the new interface looks like thus far.
They've taken the current system that allows you to select your available roles (healer, tank, or dps) as well as select if you're willing to lead the instance. One thing that should help out is the ability to earn emblems as well as gold for doing just a completely random pug each day. While some of you might be groaning at this thought, they are willing to reimburse you for the inconvenience with 68G for completing a random level 80 heroic. This money scales based on how much of your party is random and how much is premade. The less random your party is the lower the cash return.
It's still early in the PTR and several features, like the ability to use the LFG panel to look for a raid, don't appear to be completely finished yet. I've included a gallery of what the new interface looks like thus far.
Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Instances, Screenshots, Galleries, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 9)
Kylenne Oct 22nd 2009 12:09PM
@ Sky:
Members of the Three Stooges. /facepalm
Domandred Oct 22nd 2009 2:44PM
"mo larry curly and shemp?? at least 3 of those names sound african-american...."
OMG are you serious? Race baiting racists find racism in everything lol.
Sky Oct 22nd 2009 4:18PM
oh im sorry i didnt know about the 3 stooges so i took the post as flame bait...
my bad that was inappropriate
dawnseven Oct 23rd 2009 4:25PM
This reminds me of calling a clever teen "MacGyver" the other day and having him look at me and screw up his face and say "...who??"
Nevermind! Get off my lawn!
Sicadastra Oct 21st 2009 8:32PM
Wow! I am very excited to see this live! I can't stand the time it can take to get a group together for a simple daily heroic, I really expect this to help a lot. Instant porting into the dungeon is a major plus too, I didn't see that coming at all (or missed it if it had been mentioned before). Also, really excited to see access to LFG for older content included as I'd love to knock out all the Outland dungeons for the achievements.
My guess is that the cash + emblems for the first random you do each day is the replacement for the daily heroic and regular quests? With the new weekly raid quests, and the old achievements being converted to feats of strength I assume they are gone? Can anyone on the PTR confirm?
sankto Oct 21st 2009 9:39PM
Very highly possible that it's the case -- no longer need to go to Dal to get the Daily, plus a money compensation !
Coupe Oct 21st 2009 8:32PM
Absolutely love it!! If they do lfg for raids the same way I will love it even more.
Mullen Oct 21st 2009 8:34PM
This is just awesome covered in awesome sauce.
I usually do the Heroic Daily and Heroic ToC and trying to get a group together for both takes hours, even on my high population server.
The only thing I worry about is not being able to see who the other players are before entering the instance, so I can decide if I want to run with them or not. If I have a bad experience with someone, I do want the choice of not running with them again.
The other concern is having 3 of the same DPS classes together, who will have to battle among themselves for loot. When I form a group, I keep the class types spread out that so people don't have to really roll against others for loot.
Spiraea Oct 21st 2009 8:53PM
I would guess that the extra space on the ignore list will be useful for PuGs as well. Perhaps able to ignore someone from another server will set you to never be put into groups with them? If not, I think they'll put something similar in place so you don't get constant groups with that guy who ninjas everything simply because no one in the group in on his server
Noctiluca Oct 21st 2009 8:35PM
While most of older 80s don't care about the loot inside the heroics, some people will. Prepare to see a lot of ninjas, fighting, and just poor attitudes in general (ie, we're not on the same server, I don't care what you think). I come from a pretty big guild and it's always easy to find people who want to run heroics/raids, so I will probably not be using this system. I despise PUGs with all my being, but it looks like a useful feature for many. Good luck. :)
Scotter Oct 21st 2009 8:40PM
Looks great so far. I am looking forward to this feature a great deal. I have 5 80s, am currently unguilded for a variety of reasons and usually only get to run heroics on late-night server time, where it's tough to get a group for even the daily sometimes.
catharsis80 Oct 21st 2009 9:21PM
"Your Random Dungeon group is ready!"
Always comforting words.
Tolkfan Oct 21st 2009 9:23PM
I have my doubts about this system.
-- how will we find people for raids now? This new tool only includes dungeons. Will we have to stand in a capital and spam trade? I didn't see a LFG channel on the PTR
-- the old tool presented you with a clear list of people and parties, you could choose who to take, you could talk to them before inviting, you could set it up so that no gear overlaps and there wont be any fights (mage, warlock, spriest, rogue, feral tank in one party... ouch)
-- I don't like the idea of grouping with people from other servers. You know people and guilds on your server, you know what to expect from them. I know a guildless tank who's awesome, and then I know a horrible healer (alt, not main) from a very hardcore raiding guild.
-- what is the point of the "leader" role? A leader is the one who creates the party and then looks for more members... when all this is automatic, what's the point? Marking can be done by everyone now
I'm really worried that this will make running instances as mindless as battlegrounds are now. Click join, get teleported inside with a bunch of random people and try and make something out of it.
sankto Oct 21st 2009 9:42PM
As said in the article, raid Panel hasn't been done just yet. Please wait.
mmason91 Oct 21st 2009 9:44PM
i would rather be midlessly be doing something that helps my game (money. emblems) than midlessly spaming in trade any day
Sicadastra Oct 21st 2009 9:55PM
I agree that seeing the names of people is useful, and the ability today to see groups that are LFM is really cool... unfortunately I don't think most people even know about it, so few semi-groups will add themselves to LFM.
That said, I was kind of assuming this function might be in addition to the existing system... assuming and hoping...
Spiraea Oct 21st 2009 9:56PM
"-- the old tool presented you with a clear list of people and parties, you could choose who to take, you could talk to them before inviting, you could set it up so that no gear overlaps and there wont be any fights (mage, warlock, spriest, rogue, feral tank in one party... ouch)"
You never know.. the system may be smart enough to pick as "perfect" as a group out of people who are in the queue
quinnm34 Oct 22nd 2009 12:12AM
marking in a 5man? cant remember doing that once in wrath but i know what yo mean leading a 5man is not really doing anything
ecwfrk Oct 24th 2009 7:15PM
-- how will we find people for raids now?
MMO Champion has a SS of a similar interface for raids. However awhile back GC said the XServer LFG wouldn't have raids included at first so it may or may not make it into 3.3.
-- the old tool presented you with a clear list of people and parties
This one doesn't. It's meant for PuGs, not for picking and choosing specific people to group with.
-- I don't like the idea of grouping with people from other servers.
Then you can still stand in Dalaran and spam. This is for people who don't want to do that anymore.
-- what is the point of the "leader" role?
It basically says "I'm willing to explain fights to noobs and tell people what to do." In general though, it'll probably be pretty much be meaningless.
--I'm really worried that this will make running instances as mindless as battlegrounds are now. Click join, get teleported inside with a bunch of random people and try and make something out of it.
That's the point. Some people like jumping in with random people and making a go of it. People who alt-f4 when their PuG wipes once shouldn't use it.
And people who worry about Ninjas are going to have issues. If you're doing dungeons via this system it should be for fun, XP and/or badges because doing it for gear is likely to be frustrating.
Hexen Oct 21st 2009 9:31PM
I am happy about the fact this includes BC/Pre-BC dungeons. I have had trouble finding people to get my BC heroic achievements with, but now it won't be a problem!
Cross server RAIDS would be pretty sweet. Oh, I am not talking about current level raids though, that would be wipe city :) but being able to get some of the BC raids down would be great fun. (but still probably fairly wipey)