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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsHow Blizzard used the dungeon system to change Oculus
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 14th 2009 at 2:00PM
That's very interesting, and it tells that (at least on the PTR if not on the actual live realms) Blizzard can more easily get information from the new dungeon system about which instances players are running. That could have all kinds of ramifications -- if they see a lot of Scarlet Monastery runs coming through, or see that no one at all is visiting Maraudon, we may see even more updates coming to those kind of places. And they can use that feedback for future dungeons as well. It'll be interesting to see what kinds of patterns for instance running arise on the live realms -- obviously there's a lot of interest in the "random" dungeon function (that rewards you for running random instances), but that's still weighted towards what instances you've already done. We may see more changes coming to current dungeons depending on what kinds of information Blizzard gets after the patch 3.3 release.
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 Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.Filed under: Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Instances, Bosses, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
John B Nov 15th 2009 3:16PM
I think this article misses the point a bit. Sure, people don't like doing Oculus. I never liked it not because of the combat... But because it disoriented half the group and they couldn't get a handle on how the mechanic works and then we wipe because someone is flying up instead of down, or not using the correct skill rotation. So the wiping turned me off to it.
They have known about this issue for a long time and they can track this without a new dungeon system. The new system didn't teach them anything but did force their hand. If you want people to do random dungeons for rewards to encourage pugging, then they better make sure people don't just drop group when Oculus pops up.
So the easiest way to do that is to make you be able to trip over yourself and still win. Nerfing is the only reasonable answer other than a total redesign of the instance.. which you may think is warranted, but Blizzard won't do.
Unless of course an Older Older Old God's Uncle decides to blow up northrend
Cross Dec 6th 2009 10:57PM
One particular set of comments strikes me odd as a relatively new player.
"We spent 80 levels learning our class and this has nothing to do with it..." and many similar thoughts like this...
I'm sorry. I just don't feel you there. I didn't go through the periods of 1-60 or 60-70 and then 70-80, but as a person who went from straight up 1-80, I did not feel as though I learned anything about my class from 1-79 that wasn't immediately obvious. As a new player, I learned significantly more about my class and roles and skills at 80 then I have done for the last 79 levels.
And as such, as a New player, I don't hate the fact that this 'gimmicky' dungeon or raids detracts away from class skills because they stick you in a generic vehicle with a couple of skills. I enjoy the dungeon precisely because it doesn't require me to use the class skills I deploy about five hundred times more.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that there's plenty of reasons to hate the dungeon. Not being able to use riptide and chainheal or spam cleave is not one of them.