Patch 3.3: Teleporting in and out of instances
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 5th 2009 at 5:00PM
In fact, porting in and out of any instances you run may change your positioning in the game completely. Nibuca doesn't see any need any more to leave a hearthstone in Dalaran -- that was previously the most central location for collecting daily dungeon quests and flying out to meeting stones, but with neither of those things necessary any more, you can park your stone anywhere you want. It'll be very interesting to see how movement patterns change after the new system goes live. I doubt Dalaran will be a ghost town (if nothing else, there will be plenty of people there sitting in LFG chat), but certainly the LFG is mixing up the reasons that a lot of people are hanging around there.
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, Virtual selves, Instances
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MaDaBr14 Nov 5th 2009 5:50PM
I think with access to old world AH and to shat for what ever reason you need to go there that Dala will still be the hearth point for many.
nelk Nov 5th 2009 6:18PM
...(leaving Violet Hold, for example, won't work as an extra hearthstone to Dalaran)
For the record, anyone who tries to hearth to Dalaran after leaving Violet Hold isn't paying attention.
Itanius Nov 5th 2009 6:32PM
I have my hearth set in Dalaran more for the portals to other cities than anything else.
Cyno01 Nov 5th 2009 5:05PM
Dalaran is still a fine place to leave a heathstone. Cooking, fishing, JC dailies, very central to the continent, to all the raids, portals to all the other cities, quick flight to the argent tournament...
On the other hand, with all the dailies there, the top level raid and 5man right there, ive considered setting my hearthstones to the argent tournament since its still pretty close to Dal. But only on my fresh 80 DK, my other 2 80s have their tabards.
RogueJedi86 Nov 5th 2009 5:09PM
Not to mention that Dalaran has an AH for the Grand Master Engineers. :)
Bronwyn Nov 5th 2009 11:09PM
As a mage I don't have to set my Hearth to Dal, and I DID have it set to the Argent Tournament Grounds- right up until I got the tabard with the porting mechanism, now my hearth is at K3 because I am lazy and like to be able to get there for the Brunnhildar daily quest and the AT quest when needed.
vaag256 Nov 5th 2009 5:07PM
I believe that at the moment the system can still be used, or should I say exploited, as a method of transportation, by leaving the instance through the portal.
(and if that does not work, when you die/release your spirit won't be teleported in)
I'm pretty sure they will change that as well though.
Captahab Nov 5th 2009 5:27PM
In regards to the walking out the instance door, I'm sure they've done the same thing that they did with the battlegrounds. When you walk out of the portal to the instance (only really one in AV) you end up back where you accepted the summon, not in the alterac mountains.
And if they take the res sickness and the repair bill for the resurrection, that is a pretty steep price, There isn't a single flight that takes more than 15 minutes anyways.
Nathanyel Nov 5th 2009 5:52PM
Uhm, Mike said exactly that you get back to where you accepted the group anyway, not in front of the instance.
Phaea Nov 5th 2009 10:56PM
Walking out the instance portal takes you right back where you were when you accepted the group and were ported to the instance. You do not end up in front of the instance. I've used the system on the PTR, so I know firsthand.
Bronwyn Nov 5th 2009 11:16PM
Having tried out the new system last night I can tell you that in fact when you leave the instance through the instance leaving portal, you will end up back where you started.
Cyno01 Nov 5th 2009 5:07PM
Dalaran is still a fine place to leave a heathstone. Cooking, fishing, JC dailies, very central to the continent, to all the raids, portals to all the other cities, quick flight to the argent tournament...
On the other hand, with all the dailies there, the top level raid and 5man right there, ive considered setting my hearthstones to the argent tournament since its still pretty close to Dal. But only on my fresh 80 DK, my other 2 80s have their tabards.
jared.daniels Nov 5th 2009 5:13PM
As a mage, I don't have my hearth in Dalaran. I have my portals take me to major cities. I'm hearthed in Wyrmrest, and I have my Wormhole generator to take me other places in NR. I also have my argent tourney teleportation tabard of tremendous terrificness. Alliteration aside, I think I'll take my chances.
tabardsrock Nov 5th 2009 7:43PM
"you WILL take your chances at the tournament..."
love that movie :)
Beli Nov 5th 2009 5:19PM
Major cities will always be the default hearth location for most people. It's not simply that they are centrally located (at least, for Shatt and Dal) for dungeons - they also provide a central location to branch out for daily quests, bank access, portals back to other major cities for AH access, profession trainers and suppliers. As a city, Dal provides more than any other city in the expansion.
That being said, people who have another way to get there quickly (like mages) have a huge advantage in terms of questing routes. On my mage, i can start in Dal, port to the tournament for some dailies with my tabard, port with my hearth stone to get to some other dailies i'm interested in, and finish off by porting to Dal to turn in my JC daily. very quick and easy.
Lucidien Nov 5th 2009 5:51PM
I'm in exactly the same mage-position, but the difference I think people like us (Mages) will notice, will be requests for direct-ports to Org/UC, as those cities are now almost exactly like Dal, but with AH access, and without Northrend flight-access. Of course, anyone can use my Dal-ports to get to Org/UC (through the faction-portals), but why open a Dal port when the whole group is just going to head straight to Org to AH the disenchanting regents they just got from the run we just did. I think I'll be moving Portal: Orgrimmar back to my Action-bars.
That said, UC is personally my preferred trade-city, it's typically less crowded and laggy and I just find the layout very easily manouvered around. Maybe Dal-ports will still be the default, but I'll be watching people's map-dots run straight from the Dal-port-in to the faction-portals and sigh. Well, half of them run to the portals, the other half will run to the nearest mail-box to mail their bank-alt the regents. Hah. Bank alts. Didn't even understand what they were for until I rolled my first non-mage.
DeathPaladin Nov 5th 2009 5:21PM
My Paladin is staying in Dalaran. Finally got him to level 80, and while I slowly gear him up to heal, he's serving double duty as bank alt and second set of dailies for my Death Knight.
I'll probably keep my Death Knight's hearth in Dalaran just out of inertia. He has the Kirin Tor ring, so he already effectively has a Dalaran hearthstone, but there isn't really any other location that's better for hearthing. Maybe Crusader's Pinnacle or K3 to be near the portals but not have to deal with lag as a result of signing on inside the city.
David Nov 5th 2009 5:38PM
What happens if you wipe? Can you still get back into the instance? If so, and you wipe, what happens if you decide to take the money hit for Resurrection Sickness?
devilsei Nov 5th 2009 5:41PM
No reason to set Dal as your hearthstone? Someone seems to have forgotten about the new fishing competition... =P
CavalierX Nov 5th 2009 5:47PM
I wonder whether it matters to anyone how badly the sense of being immersed in a real world, where one had to travel to reach a destination, has degraded. Imagine how crappy Lord of the Rings would have been had Gandalf just teleported the group to Mount Doom to complete their quest. Might as well have been a comic book, and Elrond with a yellow ! over his head. Go ahead and downgrade this comment now.