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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 5 of 9)
Risa Oct 21st 2009 11:10PM
Currently bugged atm for me. Got into a random group and was ported to where I joined the queue, very much as if returning from a battleground.
Upon being ported to my original point I was informed that I had to be level 80 to enter a heroic. I was on a level 80 premade when this occured.
Couple of things I noticed are missing here!
You receive a 15 minute debuff called Dungeon Cooldown which prevents you from using the LFG.
There is a mini map button that offers you a teleport to dungeon option. This only returned me to where I queued.
fearthefireblade Oct 21st 2009 11:14PM
This is going to be huge when it hits live. It's SPECTACULARLY easy. I forsee much love.
Utakata Oct 21st 2009 11:26PM
@ johnnytorrance
That may only happen if you're the healer. If your dps or tank though, you could still end up with 3 DK's...unless you're implying you're a DK yourself.
urakei Oct 21st 2009 11:55PM
I hope they make use of the gear score (addon) like rating to make sure that player is viable for heroics or raid instances because Naxx and ToTC gear req for example is different (If they implement random raid LFG)
Also ignore list or bad players list will also be taken as consideration in grouping with LFG... at least we're gonna meet that ninja for the first time only and not anymore after that... although i feel pity for that ninja for not being able to group with anyone anymore if he keeps his ninja attitude...
Anon Oct 22nd 2009 12:22AM
While I highly disagree with the gearscore idea, I think the ignore idea would make sense so you don't end up grouping with the same ninja over and over.
urakei Oct 22nd 2009 12:52AM
the gear rating option can be disabled of course... this is to cater for those who can't risk getting and undergeared player... cross LFG is gonna be huge... there's gonna be a lot of players LFGing... so i think they need some kind of filtering...
bob998 Oct 22nd 2009 7:34AM
Your the type of player they made this for. Here's the problem. Some people, I know this may come as a surprise, play something called alts, and when they hit 80 they need to do heroic dungeons to get badges/gear. Even though a person may be on their 9th lvl 80 and know all the dungeons inside and out, you'll run into some retard that's like, "I wow heroed, gear-scored, and look'd at your armory page, and am currently attempting to hack your computer to get more information on you, it seems your not in all ToC 10 gear and appear to not have every achievement in the the game, so sorry we can't have you in this H UK group."
On my server, people post "link epic achievement" for UK and VH. It's bloody ridiculous.
urakei Oct 22nd 2009 9:14AM
Chill out don't get too emotional bob... i know this anti gear score thing... think about it... if these option is implemented, you won't see anymore those who says "hey you are undergeared /kick" or "link your achievement" because they have an option to filter it out for THEM... and for those who are undergeared, they may not be invited for those picky people instead invited for those who don't mind having an undergeared because they don't care and DISABLE that feature.... see where i'm goin? just like the disable xp for bg....
Plus it kinda like gear score but it's not because gear score relys solely on item levels as far as i know... blizz should figure that out...
And you can have a peace of mind bob....
Domina Oct 22nd 2009 10:44AM
I was thinking the same thing, but only for the raid LFG end of it. Heroics are puggable in greens/blues, if you know how to play your class - no problem.
If you're looking to PUG some of the higher end raids using this feature, good luck getting a group capable of actually downing the content without having some kind of filter or gear check in place.
Running TOC 10/25 with tanks in quest greens doesn't sound like my idea of fun.
Zmonix Oct 22nd 2009 10:52AM
bob...you are 100% correct. It seems these elitist people will not run with you to do even the simple heroics like UK. You have to be raid-geared to do simple heroics, but you can't get raid gear til you do raids...what a big ungodly cycle. What did people do when these heroics first started, when no one was raid geared to run these heroics?
Adamanthis Oct 22nd 2009 1:03PM
I strongly support the gear-score idea.
I have a tank that I recently got to 80, and found so much static trying to get started in Heroics - despite being in all ilevel 187 or BoE 200 gear having almost no upgrades left outside of heroics - that I just gave up on the character. There are and always will be elitists who don't want a tank with 25K HP or a caster that doesn't have a bottomless mana pool for H Nexus. I'd love a system that kept them away from me.
The strength of the proposed system is that it creates a much wider pool of players to draw from, so it becomes possible to find better matches. I'd love it if my tank could be matched with a like-geared group, just starting in heroics. No worry about attitude, and the instance wouldn't be trivial. That's the kind of random group I want.
urakei Oct 22nd 2009 2:00PM
"The strength of the proposed system is that it creates a much wider pool of players to draw from, so it becomes possible to find better matches. I'd love it if my tank could be matched with a like-geared group, just starting in heroics. No worry about attitude, and the instance wouldn't be trivial. That's the kind of random group I want."
Yes exactly... if they cross for 1 battle group there will be about 15 to 20 realms... so chances to get a group will be 15 times better and 15 times more to get bad experience too... so to give a better experience it is better to split those elitist with newbies before groups are formed... i'm a casual player don't get me wrong. I've met some of the guy that leaves us just because our tank are not viable enough, it's hurtful... although haven't seen guys that measures us from GS... for heroics it may not be relevant for wotlk.. cataclysm is coming so why not experiment it in 3.3?...
MightyBurebista Oct 22nd 2009 12:04AM
Does this mean that we'll finally be rid of the draconian interface restrictions that don't let you LFG for a dungeon which you're even one level higher than the "level bracket"?
MAKE IT SO!
Thomas Oct 22nd 2009 12:14AM
Being able to party with people from other servers is great but I think that being able to get everyone in the party to the instance instantly is just as big a change.
Sepkoski Oct 22nd 2009 12:18AM
The part of this that I'm most excited about is being able to be LFG for more than 3 dungeons at once.
Eli Oct 22nd 2009 12:29AM
I'm mostly excited about being able to queue for lower-level dungeons... for instance If i just want to run, say, reg VH or Nexus for the skinning, I can queue for reg and not the heroic just so i can get through the instance faster.
Or If I'm trying to find a group for an old-school raid that I want the achievement for, I can LFG for that too, instead of looking like an idiot spamming trade for "lfg any pre-bc raid"
That and being able to queue for more than one dungeon.
themightysven Oct 22nd 2009 12:31AM
so it will plop us down inside the dungeon, which means no running through Org to get to RFC for alliance, or running through SW to get to Stocks for hordies? sweet.
Muse Oct 22nd 2009 3:28AM
Ooo, bonus! Or all the way to SM or the Razorfen instances for Alliance?
ihatko Oct 22nd 2009 12:32AM
This is a great feature and I hope that it gets implemented close to as-is. I've been waiting for something like this for as long as I've been playing WoW. Perfect for the mix of soloing/casual guilding/pugging that I love. When not all of my ten (lol) guild members are online I can get stuff done. Great addition to WoW and I hope it's a game-changer.
Okra Oct 22nd 2009 12:50AM
what about if a specific dungeon requires something for entry.. Shadow Vault? Karazhan? etc.