Patch 3.3: The Dungeon Finder Guide page 2
by Gregg Reece 
Dec 8th 2009 at 11:30AM
The Slow and Meticulous Dungeon Runner...
Let's say that you're trying to get a weapon from Heroic Trial of the Champion, a set of legs from Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle, and a belt from Heroic Nexus. That's all you need. You just want to run those three instances. You can do this, but you can't do it with any of the perks of doing a random dungeon.
Just hit that little drop-down in the upper right hand corner of your Dungeon Finder frame. It's the one between the quest and the role icons. Select 'Specific Dungeons' from the dropdown and you'll get a list of all of the dungeons available to you.
Uncheck the box next to the headings of each group and then only check the dungeons or heroics you really really need.
Once you're done, just hit 'Find Group' at the bottom and everything will proceed from there like the random dungeons do. The only difference is that you won't get any rewards from doing it this way other than those things that drop in the dungeon. No extra badges, no bags of goodies, no extra gold.
However, since most people will be hitting the random dungeons you'll be able to find a group much faster. The program behind the scenes just picks one of your specific dungeons and grabs 4 people wanting to do random dungeons and tosses you all into a group together. Yes, that means even if you want something from Oculus, you'll still be able to find a group.
Let's set some ground rules...
The first rule of the Dungeon Finder is that it does not work on raids.
The second rule of the Dungeon Finder is that it does not work on raids.
Blizzard added a new interface for joining raids. The Dungeon Finder helps you find parties for dungeons using everyone in your battlegroup regardless of server. Being as raids are still going to be same-server only, that means you won't be using this tool for it. Plus there's the fact that you can't use this tool for it. Raids have their own new interface that's very similar to the specific dungeon interface. See the Raid panel of your Social window for more info on that.
The old Looking for Group channel now has nothing to do with the Dungeon Finder. Looking for Group is now just a channel like trade available in all major cities. That means anyone who is currently spamming trade with group information can now do that on a channel actually designed for it.
You can choose to queue for one of the following at a time, but no more than that: dungeons, battlegrounds, arenas. Pick your queue of choice and commit to it. If you want to queue for a dungeon, get done with that and then queue for an arena or battleground afterward, that's perfectly fine. You just can't queue for Halls of Lightning and Alterac Valley at the same time.
Need before Greed is the law of the land. Blizzard put the random dungeon loot requirement as need before greed in order to help prevent as many loot disputes as possible. If you don't want to use that for your loot distribution, then you'll have to create your own group by hand. Sorry.
The randomness of the random dungeon dailies aren't completely random. While the text does specify the dailies as random, they're not really. The system tries to make sure you aren't running the same dungeon over and over again. With random mode on, it will allow you to bypass your normal heroic lockouts. This means if the dice gods are against you, that random dungeon could be one you really don't like. However, the system tries really hard not to do that.
If you're choosing specific dungeons through the interface, it will still take your heroic lockouts into account, so you can't just choose to run new Icecrown heroics over and over again. Now, if you've selected random dungeons and everyone else has selected the new dungeons specifically, like on oh, I don't know... patch day. You might be able to get the new dungeons over and over again. But that's just luck if it happens and don't count on it.
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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
johnbernhard Dec 8th 2009 11:35AM
Delicious! I was surprised you didn't mention the feature that allows for a 5-man group to vote to choose to eject someone who isn't playing right, etc.
Vitos Dec 8th 2009 12:20PM
I was actually wondering about that. My DK is about to ding 80 (my third 80) and I know for a fact that he will be undergeared for ToC much less the new ICC instances- If I get booted (or request to get booted) do I get the deserter debuff? Or is that only if i choose to drop the instance myself?
wdsrmail Dec 8th 2009 12:31PM
I know on the PTR a few times I had a group disband before the debuff wore off, after which I was saved to a partially completed dungeon with no group and still had the debuff. Not sure about if you get kicked.
Orlan Dec 8th 2009 12:37PM
Vitos, you will not even have a chance to get there via the Dungeon Finder until your gear score is good enough for it.
Vitos Dec 8th 2009 1:02PM
K- Thanks for your help- wouldn't want to ruin a Pug
rhorle Dec 8th 2009 11:38AM
While you mention disenchanting is considered a greed roll you don't really cover the fact that it is equal priority to selecting greed. So people that select greed roll against those that select disenchant.
Bronwyn Dec 8th 2009 11:43AM
Kind of sure mentioning that disenchanting is considered a greed roll means the same thing.
Bob Dec 8th 2009 11:46AM
Interesting. I'm curious about the greed vs. disenchant. Let's say I'm greeding for offspec, no one else needs, and since I'm the only one greeding, everyone else hits disenchant. Does that mean greed gets the priority and it's awarded to me or does it go to disenchant automatically?
Brandon Tilley Dec 8th 2009 11:51AM
Bob,
You'd be rolling against the people who wish to have it disenchanted.
There's sure to be a bit of time while everyone gets used to the new options while rolling, in addition to the new requirements for "needing" the item. If you don't really *need* an item, but you'd rather use it than having it DE'd, there will have to be some communication to the rest of the group.
Jardal Dec 8th 2009 12:01PM
Bob,
also of note is that you can only roll need on your dominant armor type. So a paladin can only roll need on plate, a druid on leather, etc. If a lower class armor piece of gear drops that you need for regular or offspec, make sure to mention this to the group or you could see it getting sharded as they click disenchant.
Fierna Dec 8th 2009 12:04PM
May be this change would feel more fair if I could roll to have plate armor drops turned into order, robes into bolts of cloth, and rings into gems. But nope, one profession only has been enslaved. Now I'm off to walk the sidewalks with my "The End is Nigh" sign.
Calianna Dec 8th 2009 12:04PM
Brandon,
I don't believe that is correct. My understanding (and perhaps someone who tried it on the PTR can back this up is that is works as follows). No one needs an item, Players 1 wants it for offspec and clicks greed, the others click to disenchant. Everyone gets a "greed" roll. If player 1 wins the roll, they get the item, if someone else wins, they get the enchanting mats.
DeKoven Dec 8th 2009 1:22PM
Bob, it seems that greed vs. disenchant will be the same as if everone just rolled greed. Everyone gets an equal chance to win. The difference will be that the player who wins will get the gear (if greed) or shard/crystal/dust (if disenchant).
Brandon Tilley Dec 8th 2009 12:40PM
Calianna,
That is correct. I only meant that if you'd rather use the item, you'd want to talk to the group to check if it was okay to take it/ask them not to DE roll if you can't need it/etc.
Blau Dec 8th 2009 1:16PM
Let's simplify this discussion by saying where many people used to use greed as an offspec, it will no longer be useful to do that.
For the most part people would be happy passing for an offspec but with this somewhat badly implemented system offspec items are either going to get taken over people rolling for mainspec (in the case where offpsec players hit need) or offspec items get DEd before they have a second say (in the case where offpsec players hit greed).
There are 5 possible options and with this new system we will have to see how people work through things:
Need Mainspec
Greed Offspec
Greed to sell
Greed to disenchant
Pass
Also as an Enchanter I am not really happy about the flooding of the enchanting economy against my will. I plan on watching how people roll and hitting need if everyone greeds/DEs.
And lastly, I assume that trading in dungeons isn't available so that new system where if looting mistakes are made the item can be traded in the next 2 hours will be unavailable. Also soulwells and food tables are going to be the only option for dishing out consumables...
Gnosh Dec 8th 2009 1:47PM
Blau,
Are you saying you intend to ninja every drop that might go to someone else as mats? What a dick move.
Here's to you being booted from every group you enter.
Yaimano Dec 8th 2009 2:04PM
This roll setup becomes a nightmare when you consider a situation like a cloth piece drops that a boomkin really needs but can no longer roll need on because it's not their default armor class. They have to roll greed, but someone else already rolled to blow it up and won it instead. Now they can't even trade the equip to the person who actually needed it.
jrizutko Dec 8th 2009 2:21PM
Fortunately the system will prevent Blau from ninja-ing items that do not suit his class. It doesn't let you roll need unless the item is a class appropriate upgrade.
Janaa Dec 8th 2009 2:59PM
lol @ enchanters whining. As someone else so eloquently put it "My profession involves me flying loops of Scholzar Basin for hours on end. Yours requires me to drag your ass through a dungeon and kill things for you." (Not the exact words, but you get the point).
Enchanters like to feel they've "earned" a bunch of shards somehow. Funny how they couldn't get them without the other 4 players helping them.
TBH, Blau, if your main enchanting income is coming from selling mats rather than selling enchants (as scrolls, on AH), then you're doing it wrong. My enchanter makes thousands of gold selling enchants. 10x what I would if I was selling the raw mats.
The fact is, people can scrape together the mats now, buying at a premium price from AH and going to look for an enchanter. But many don't. They'd rather the ease and convenience of just buying the scrolls, even though it costs more than the already high cost of enchanting mats.
You should be looking at it the way I am - as an opportunity. Realise, most people buying enchanting mats from AH are.. yes that's right.. enchanters. I love the idea of buying mats cheaper, because I'll still be able to turn them into scrolls, and sell them for much more. As much as before per scroll? No - probably not, but with cheaper mats I can just make more of them.
Fierna Dec 8th 2009 3:13PM
You drag us through the instance to get the drops to be sharded? You don't want us to tank or dps or heal anymore? That's fine you can 4 man it and I will stand back and wait till the boss and then we can roll for the pile of magic dust. What happens when there are two enchanters? Should we roll to see which one of us gets to hang back and be the DE bot or should it be based on gearscore?