Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsWhat effect does the Dungeon Finder have on smaller servers?
by Allison Robert 
Jan 19th 2010 at 8:00PM
While I go back and forth on that point -- lots of people will just gear a toon for its own sake without necessarily planning to raid on it -- I don't think she's entirely wrong, and I also think the larger point concerning the Dungeon Finder's potential impact on server communities is probably accurate.
It's no secret that I love running 5-mans, and queuing up for the Dungeon Finder has added another layer of fun to the process. But one of the things that's eaten at me lately is that I've spent increasingly less time hanging around Dalaran watching for the players advertising for a tank or healer. I don't need to do it anymore; I can get a 5-man from anywhere without having to watch trade chat. As a player on a low-to-medium pop realm, the odds of my being grouped with anyone from my server through the Dungeon Finder are pretty low. The result has been that I've spent very little time tanking or healing for people from my server who aren't already guildies.
That bothers me. Pre-3.3, If I met a particularly good player in 5-mans, I'd mentally bookmark them for later in the event that they applied to my guild. On the flip side, if someone was a real jerk, I'd also file that away in order to avoid them in the future. Doing 5-mans with other people from your server is a great way to keep your thumb on the latest gossip, trade news about how your guilds are doing, and establish relationships that may resurface later. While you can certainly convene server-only groups with the Dungeon Finder, it's significantly slower, at least for a tank or healer. Queue, boom -- three seconds later you've got a free dungeon port.
I absolutely adore the Dungeon Finder and I wouldn't give it up for anything (seriously, patch 3.3; great patch or greatest patch?), but I do wonder if: a). the sheer convenience of the thing will eventually have some sort of impact on server communities, and: b). if the increasing array of geared toons will spur people to start raid teams on their own servers, or to look farther afield.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Instances
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Gothia Jan 20th 2010 2:51AM
I don't think it will be neccessary to consolidate low population servers because with the advent of LFD and phasing. Blizzard can really take steps to bring its entire population together vice splitting us into segments. The idea to make Battlegroup servers handle instances can be expanded to Raids, Auction Houses, Mail, Guilds, Arena etc...
I know that some segmentation will be needed due to language barriers (or do they? - translators), but i think this can really open up doors for everyone.
I am Goth from Battlegroup Retaliation and I approve this message.
SamLowry Jan 20th 2010 6:34AM
Or at least offer free full-slate transfers from terminally bugged servers like Thrall to a less-populated server...hopefully one with a higher Alliance presence.
Firestyle Jan 20th 2010 9:48AM
The problem isn't that simple. There are very few low pop servers. What we have too much of is population imbalances where there is a high horde population and low alliance population, thereby making the alliance feel they are on a low pop server.
Moreover, server consolidation is taboo in the mmo world as it is indicative of mmo collapse and signals the end of the game.
Res Jan 19th 2010 8:41PM
I really don't agree that it's going to all of the sudden create an interest in raiding when there wasn't one already. These players are happy enough on underpopulated servers already for some reason... They either don't have the time or the interest in dedicating a chunk of their lives to WoW. Personally I don't play on an underpopulated server, but I've had to be very casual over the past year. I really enjoy the ease getting groups and gearing of gearing up my toons using the dungeon finder. But in the end I still don't have the time or desire to devote multiple hours multiple nights per week to raiding... I feel like this will be the case for most of these players.
Res Jan 19th 2010 8:42PM
WTB edit button.. apparently my brain shuts down around 7 pm. :)
Snuzzle Jan 20th 2010 12:16AM
I disagree...and I am living proof.
Prior to 3.3, I'd never have dreamed of doing ICC10. It would have been just a "that'd be nice, but not likely" pipe dream... same as BT was in BC. My guild simply isn't a raiding guild, we aren't a progression guild. And that's fine.
now? I went into ICC10 the other night with guildmates. And I loved it. I'm not quite geared enough (we didn't get past Deathwhisper) but I know it's only a matter of time.
While I would never look to other servers, as I love mine far too much, it has certainly motivated me to be more raid-oriented than before.
Anye Jan 19th 2010 8:46PM
I disagree that the dungeon finder is going to have a true negative impact. Two thoughts:
1) Let's divide the player base into three groups: casuals, raiders, and casuals who turn into raiders when they hit level cap. Casuals are going to love the new dungeon finder, they'll likely be happier because of it despite being on a smaller server, because it's much easier to find a group for dungeons or heroics. Raiders already know that a small server is a tough environment for raiding, and if they aren't in a good guild they're gonna jump ship, if they haven't already. The third group, well they're just in limbo, moving from the casuals to the raiders. The dungeon finder might speed up the process of their leaving, but that'll just make more room for new players (and hopefully a lot of new casuals) to take their place.
2) I don't think this is the last cross-realm feature we'll be seeing. I have no idea what's rumor and what's legit, but I've heard a lot of whispers that Battle.net is going to go a long way towards allowing friends to chat with each other anywhere on in the game--perhaps even cross-realm and cross-faction. Perhaps it'll even allow them to queue for dungeons and raids together. But less grand than that, I think a cross-realm Raid Browser is very feasible--it'd be more or less the same back-end as the Dungeon Finder. Sure, PuG raids are far from preferable and cross-realm issues would complicate things. But for a small server, a cross-realm raid browser would probably make raiding a much, much easier experience.
So, in a roundabout way, I think the new Dungeon Finder is actually going to help smaller servers. With the technology, Blizzard is going to be able to keep small server populations happier. We might even see them lower the threshold of "full" servers to try to encourage people to more, smaller servers--which depending on how well Blizzard uses VMs, could lead to greater stability, fewer downtimes, and certainly fewer players affected.
Patrick Smallwood Jan 19th 2010 9:28PM
I've been an alt-a-holic since one week after launch (of the original game - 5 years!). I never made it to level 60.
Thanks to the dungeon finder, I hit 60 on my main yesterday. It has made grouping so much better/easier. I had never *considered* raiding as anything but a far-off possibility, and now I'm starting to wonder how I can get into 20 and 40 man classic raids (without clawing my way up a guild roster).
Simply put, they've solved a major problem that existed for a long time for casuals. Now leveling and grouping is easier. Next up is cataclysm, then raiding, and then, time for the next gen mmorpg that builds in everything they've learned in WoW.
Molly Jan 20th 2010 2:10AM
Grats!
David Jan 20th 2010 9:51AM
Similar experience as Patrick; played the game off and on for 4 years, but never really advanced much past 60. Now I have a 77 (soon to be 78) Priest. Levels 61 to now have mostly been instance running, with some questing in Northrend. It's had an affect on my next highest alt on the same realm, he's a 63 Warlock and I'm purposely running all the quests I didn't do on the Priest in Outlands. A couple of nice thing is if I get tired of questing, I just queue up for a dungeon run and 20 min later I'm grouped. The other nice thing is that I can take those quests for dungeons and run them.
sonatasun Jan 20th 2010 10:52AM
Patrick, My experience is the opposite of yours. I leveled a Mage over the last year into end game raiding. I always wanted to level a healer and tank but just did not have the time. Now with the advent of the dungeon finder, the lower mount costs and heirlooms I'm able to get 2-3 levels in an evening just running random groups. Plus I get to learn the group mechanics of these classes from the outset.
Neirin Jan 19th 2010 9:36PM
As a resident of an extremely small server (Maiev-US) I actually think the dungeon finder has benefitted pug opportunities. ICC PuGs are still semi-difficult to get running, but the gear crutch from heroics is frequently enough for a few experienced players to get others through ToC or Uld HMs.
The real loss is the social one. Less people sitting in trade looking for a tank/healer means a lot less interaction. Since we low-pop lovers really pride ourselves on our communities, the loss of some of our interaction is pretty bad. I know a few people that xfered because they were only staying for the community and felt like it had kinda fallen apart.
TonyMcS Jan 19th 2010 9:47PM
My initial concern was that the Dungeon Finder would make Guilds less useful and essentially cut down on social interaction. Certainly the social interaction is cut down with a DF pug, but while I have no trouble participating as DPS for any dungeon, I'm finding I'm waiting for guildies if I want to heal or tank as I just can't stand the aggro from the other players.
As DPS you can just shut up and do your job (at least that's what I do, I agree it's not usual). As a tank or a healer you will have to put up with bad play, abuse, arrogance, stupidity and all the other deadly sins. Sure it's not all the time, but it only takes one bad run to put you off for some time.
My guild run will almost always be slower (or faster since we don't wipe) but it will be fun and I have the unconditional positive regard from my teammates. The more loud mouthed morons that appear in random pugs, the more tanks and healers will retreat to the warm embrace of their guild.
Kurick Jan 20th 2010 7:45AM
Agreed. As a tank i used the DF tool quite a bit recently - gearing up my os. Last night i grouped for a random, and got Toc. In their i did what i normally did, but this time there was a icc geared huntar (not hunter). I call him that as he did just about everything to make the run as unpleasent as possible. I pull - he nukes the last target (like the 'trash' where you take the priestess 1st and monk last - he pulled the monk 1st - everytime). He never used FD and couldnt wait for 2 secs or target my target. The result - a very messy run (and yes he rolled need for everything at the end, after i had deliberately refused to taunt off him again - and he didnt use FD - just had a real one).Personally as a tank i would NEVER run a cross realm raid, and at the moment i doubt ill use the random group again after i get my pet, ill let them wait on tanks. With the DF tool it shows you exactly what asshats are about. With this tool ive found more ninjas than ever before (in fact before the DF i had never seen a ninja), the last thing i would want is to be in a raid with one of those.
scherbaddie Jan 19th 2010 9:46PM
>I'm starting to wonder how I can get into 20 and 40 man classic raids
Get to 80 and watch trade on a sunday afternoon (or start your own groups).
Mandrill Jan 19th 2010 9:49PM
I think the much bigger effect the new LFG is going to have on ALL realms won't be seen for a little while longer: dramatically increased crafted item prices and mat costs in the AH. As more players are levelling through instances, fewer are working their professions. I think this is really the time to start gathering like mad and levelling some craft alts. When any expansion hits, and players start levelling new races & classes and mats costs briefly skyrocket. With Cataclysm, I think this'll be significantly greater, as fewer of the new 80's will have the skills & mat hordes to satisfy all the Goblin DKs, Worgen Druids, and Tauren Pallis.
Nasgul Jan 19th 2010 9:52PM
The article makes a good point, one that I hadn't particularly thought of. Personally, I think one thing that we can do as players, is be a bit more considerate of those on our server. Personally, whenever I prepare to queue up for a random dungeon, I'll do a quick "Anyone up for the daily random?" or something along those lines in trade first. This usually gathers at least one or two, especially if I am queueing on my tank or healer. It doesn't really take much of my time to hit up a few people for a group before I queue up, and they're usually very thankful at the quicker queue.
Don't hesitate to use the chat channels to recruit some people for dungeons just because it's not required anymore. The Dungeon Finder is an excellent tool, but there's nothing wrong with using all the available tools to build your group. (An added benefit of grouping with a few players from your own server is that you can group with the good ones again without praying to the RNG gods that you don't get stuck with Legolas the NE hunter from some random server as he tests his new hybrid throwing weapon spec.)
Niaintze Jan 20th 2010 8:12AM
I guess people must be on servers where the trade chat isn't full of kids telling Chuck Norris jokes and linking anal to every spell they can find. I don't care if they do that stuff, but it makes it impossible to find anything useful in the trade chat.
Mike Jan 19th 2010 10:22PM
I like the fact that you used an old AA SS ;)
themightysven Jan 19th 2010 10:37PM
my main's server has seen a steady pop. loss (and now is back to "new players" status) but Monday we were able to put a raid together for Anub'Rekhan Must Die! in 10 minutes (25 man) when I got back to Dalaran to daily it up another raid formed in about the same time period. This wasn't prime time either, it was early afternoon.
My vague point is badges and quick heroics mean everyone will get raid geared quickly and even on a small server, if everyone who can is raring to go, raids will form just as quickly. (actually faster than LFD for DPS)