When we last talked about this on the podcast, I said we'd basically have to wait and see how it all worked, but now that players have had their hands on the Dungeon Finder out on the live realms for a while, they're learning a few more tricks and tips about how to use it. As Rohan brings up over on the WoW Ladies LJ, it's easy enough to keep a good player once you've found them through the system: as long as none of you drop group once you're done with an instance, you can go back in and run as many as you want. Unfortunately, you can't friend them yet (hopefully that will show up whenever Battle.net functionality does), but the comments on that post point out that if you both sign up for an unpopular instance at the same time, chances are good you'll end up in the same group together (of course, that requires coordination, but maybe you can set up a time out of game).

More tips and tricks for the new system after the break.

Other tips we've heard: finding an instance as tank or healer will go even faster than trying to get in one as DPS, so if you can specialize into a more useful role and just want to grind out instances fast, do that. Damage meters are supposedly broken -- they haven't figured out how to track ranged damage across realms quite yet. Which may be a good thing, as lots of players never liked following those meters anyway. The vote kicking system seems to be working well -- the number one reason we've heard that players are kicking each other is that they're going AFK without notice, so if you're in a random PuG queue, be sure to be ready when it pops up to do the instance ASAP. Oh, and let's just agree right here and now: Frozen Orbs are Need, unless you don't want them for some reason.

And maybe the most important tip we've heard: it's important to make sure that your gear matches the instance you're doing. The number one issue so far seems to be players who show up for a Heroic in greens, or people who queue up to tank without having any tanking gear or experience at all. Thanks to the new system, there's lots of groups to run, and everyone will get the gear they need to do what they want. So don't waste players' time now by trying to take on something you can't do and ending the group in wipes or making other players step up for you. Start out low and easy, running regular instances, and then when you think you're ready for something tougher, move on up the ladder to Heroics.

Tags: battle-net, blues, damage-meters, dps, dungeon-finder, friends, gear, greens, healing, ignore, instances, leader, learning, low-levels, patch-3.3, patch-3.3-changes, patch-3.3-wow, pug, tanking, tips, tricks, world-of-warcraft-patch-3.3, wow-3.3-changes, wow-ladies, wow-new-patch, wow-patch, wow-patch-3.3, wow-patch-news

Filed under: Tips, Tricks, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Instances, Wrath of the Lich King