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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsDungeon Finder reactions from players
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 11th 2009 at 9:00AM
Hots and Dots actually has a long take on the Dungeon Finder, including "15 Things You Should Know," like that tanks and healers are still as important as ever (if you sign up for DPS and another role, you likely won't be doing DPS), and that we're finding out very quickly just how skilled or knowledgeable people really are ("the Party Leader will be forced to confess midway [through] that they actually know nothing about the instance").
On the forums, players are generally ecstatic, with lots of folks crediting the new system for bringing their excitement back into the game. Not that there aren't a few quibbles -- players say it would be nice to clarify if you want a brand new instance or a half-done one, and while GC says it wouldn't be hard to install, they aren't sure how that would pan out yet. There's at least one weird bug floating (or falling, as the case may be) around as well. A few players say that leaving the Oculus in as a random choice of dungeons is another bug that needs to be fixed, but I'm pretty sure that's working as intended.
But aside from those few quibbles, the Dungeon Finder seems like a hit, and it's definitely true that finding and getting a pickup group rolling is much, much faster and easier under the new system. Seems like the Dungeon Finder has lived up to expectations and then some.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Raiding, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 13)
Hates Dec 11th 2009 9:48AM
Oh, and quick thing. "Oculus" has one C in it. Just the one. Spread the word.
from http://www.wow.com/2009/11/10/patch-3-3-the-oculus-receives-a-welcome-nerf/
:)
Thallium Dec 11th 2009 9:56AM
It was ridiculously nerfed. I got Oculus as my first random yesterday morning, and we got Make It Count with 4 minutes to spare without even trying. So next time it queues up, I won't be worried.
Barinthos Dec 11th 2009 11:03AM
Yeah, Oculus was hit hard with the nerf-bat.
Was able to run through the dungeon in like 15 minutes, and even Eregos was cake. I remember before the nerf there were quite a few bad "oh shit" moments...but now? "Oh shit" is only uttered when we realized we just kicked him in the face so fast.
Will Dec 11th 2009 9:10AM
I like the new dungeon finder all but the random dungeon I get stuck with the same dungeon.
Janaa Dec 11th 2009 9:12AM
I ran a random dungeon on each of my four 80s.. got AK every time. :(
Lance Dec 11th 2009 9:13AM
I do think they should add the option of wanting a fresh instance, I got into a PoS yesterday that only had the last boss to go. I didn't get a chance at the other emblems or a hilt. Then I was saved to the middle instance and couldn't run the full 3 with my guild.
Other than that the option
Gorelord Dec 11th 2009 9:11AM
Before getting in the queue for the new heroics (FoS, PoS, or HoR), please be sure to at least have your character geared from other heroics/intro-raids first. It's not what your group can do for you, its what you can do for your group!
Ryan T. Dec 11th 2009 9:21AM
I concur. My first group for Forge of Souls contained a rogue in mostly greens who admitted he hadn't played the game since before patch 3.1.
As the healer, he caused me fits.
Hëx Dec 11th 2009 10:30AM
While I haven't seen someone that horribly undergeared in the new dungeons, I have seen some GearScores that cause me to wonder if the checks and balances Blizz is using to select the group leans rather heavily in favor of dropping in a "carry me" player when everyone else is overgeared for the instance. I've been in several groups where four out of five are ilvl245 or above and one poor guy is barely pushing ilvl200 and getting one shot all over the place. How much fun can it be for him/her to sit there dead watching us easily four manning it?
schmO Dec 11th 2009 1:12PM
@Gorelord: Sure, players shouldn't be signing up manually for them if they know they can't pull their own weight, but the "gearscore" threshold is pretty flexible from my own personal experience.
You won't be able to stop those who sign up for a random heroic and get tossed into the one of the most challenging 5-mans of them all. The system seems to be pretty lenient towards those who may be on the low end of appropriate gear.
jrizutko Dec 11th 2009 1:14PM
As a happy pug healer, I like seeing an undergeared player or two. Seeing gear go to someone who can really use it make the runs seem significantly more meaningful, and its not like there is anything for 5 people that is legitimately hard anymore.
Sanity Dec 11th 2009 2:13PM
Hey Gorelord,
go make your own game then hand out the rules. If blizzard gave a shit about what you are blabbing about they would have worked it into the game. This clearly isn't meant for the overgeared. Enjoy the diverse world we live in and share your vast knowledge in a pug instead of being a dickhead.
Gorelord Dec 11th 2009 3:09PM
Whew, didn't mean to come off as a Richard Cranium here. Was only suggesting that, as a common courtesy to other players, the undergeared do not intentionally use the system to queue for content that they are not capable of pulling their weight in.
As a player who has limited playtime, I do not relish the idea of spending the extra gold/time that is likely to result from running with those inappropriately prepared for the instance.
The obvious solution is the 'vote to kick' feature, but I don't think anyone really enjoys booting someone from their group.
hdtv2000 Dec 12th 2009 1:15AM
Uh, yeah. That's fine advice for someone looking for a group outside of the Looking for Dungeon tool, which is not very common at the moment for obvious reasons. If you are doing the random heroic or normal daily through the new dungeon finder tool then you don't get to choose what dungeon you are going to do. Hence it being RANDOM. There is a gear check that will lock you out of doing certain dungeons like TOC, FoS, PoS and HoR. Otherwise if the group thinks that a person is under-geared for a certain dungeon, then that no fault of the player, that falls on a dispute between Blizzards gear check and the players opinion. Also, no one knows the specifics of the gear check outside of Blizzard, and I suspect that we will never fully know.
lsprof4 Dec 11th 2009 9:18AM
I like seeing druids and dks get a chance to tank without complaint and I get to dps like I've always wanted (warrior).
Zanapal Dec 11th 2009 9:16AM
I'd love for an expert to publish a quick dungeon guide that contains a few lines of key information on each boss in the dungeon or any hints. In fact, making Add-on that gave instance specific guidelines would be fantastic.
In my case I'm new to most of the dungeons, so these tips would be quite helpful.
jquinn Dec 11th 2009 9:34AM
Try using these add-ons (all can be found on curse.com):
* BossTactics - gives you the common tactics used to down every boss (not sure if 3.3 update in yet)
* Deadly Boss Mods - gives some great timers and warnings to let you know when the boss if gonna lay the smack down on you
* AtlasLoot - boss loot tables, know what you want from every boss before you get there
Cheers!
Kylenne Dec 11th 2009 9:40AM
Wowwiki and Wowhead are your friends.
Kahl Dec 11th 2009 9:16AM
So far I've only experienced it on my lvl 41 warlock. And while it was really awesome to actually find a group for an instance as a lowbie, selecting the random dungeon had my group so out levelled by the bosses that we couldn't actually kill one. As a group made up of players lvl 40 - 42 (there being only one lvl 42), we were tossed into Mara orange, where the first boss is a lvl 46 mob and was red to all of us. Needless to say, our dps and tank could barely hit it and our healer was oom after the first spawn phase.
The LFG system is a great idea, but on the lowbie side they need to straighten up the levels for the dungeons.
AudreyR Dec 11th 2009 9:32AM
I had the same experience as you from the tank stand-point. We were all 40-42ish, so the boss got through about four splits before our wipe. Luckily, you can always skip him and go straight to the boss that counts for the random pug. :)