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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Raid Finder, take me away ...
by George Tipton 
Aug 28th 2011 at 8:00AM
The introduction of the Raid Finder in patch 4.3 probably means little to players who raid on a weekly basis with their guild. You get on at a predesignated time and attend the raid. Sure, it might be great for alts or doing older content, but for those of us who have stuck with our old guilds, trying in vain to grab at embersilk tatters, it could be a real guild-saver.
I have been running a guild that re-formed at the beginning of Cataclysm. I have watched players leave by the score to join higher-level guilds. They want in for the perks and the mere chance that they may be selected to be an alternate for heroic or new content, even if it's only once a week. Given our shifting playerbase, we have not been able to hold on to a full team that is raiding consistently. Our ability to progress through content has suffered. It seems most of the time our new members either don't have the time to raid or have no experience and very little willingness to put in the time to learn.
So what does the Raid Finder mean for us? The way I see it in my wildest dreams is -- autopilot.
Guild message of the day: Ladies and gentlemen, please meet up on Sunday evening to join a raid together via the Raid Finder. Study fights. I'll bring cauldrons and feasts.
For my guild, the Raid Finder could mean that the guild stays intact because the leadership is relieved of some of the stress of keeping raids going on a weekly basis. What does it mean for your hardcore raiding guild? Easier time pugging spots? What about other casual guilds? What do you think?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
ugoticedbro Aug 28th 2011 9:01AM
I want the raid finder to "break" sometimes and port everyone right in front of the whale shark without warning. Gnomish technology at its finest.
AudreyR Aug 28th 2011 9:13AM
Downing the whale shark was a blast. Much more fun than all the For the Horde raids I'd been part of.
AudreyR Aug 28th 2011 9:08AM
I'm in a social guild. To avoid the drama that often accompanies running current content, we only do raids from Vanilla to Wrath.
However, we do have members who are interested in raiding and have no problem with them pugging if they want.
This will be a wonderful tool for them. It will give them a chance to have their cake and eat it, too. :)
Justin ross Aug 28th 2011 9:14AM
I fear the jerk like behavior seen in Pugs is only going to be amplified with the Raid finder. I would love to be able to raid more, on my time schedule which the raid finder will allow. I hope it's not cross realm; Too many bad experiences with the internet anonymity with folks from other servers. Just my two cents...
Noyou Aug 28th 2011 1:42PM
I think it will be a little less than with dungeons. I mean, it's a raid so it shouldn't be expected to be one shot at record speeds. I think initially after more people get brave enough to do it, you will see more sniping. I am not a raider but I don't think it's logical for pug raids to be able to down stuff so easily when season guilds don't. The whole thing with this is, if you can't save your team somehow and agree to meet up again, it kind of gimps you. The whole thing about raiding is teamwork. You will be hard pressed to build that cohesiveness in an hour or 2. It would work with the LK style raid challenges where it was one boss. It will be challenging to say the least. I am hoping it works out better than I expect it to.
redwinger_6 Aug 28th 2011 9:31AM
Heroic 5 man pugs are bad enough, pugging a raid where you go out and get people and can check their gear at least before going is far from ideal. Getting thrown together with random people who just want to blow through a raid as fast as humanly (orcly? troll-ly?) possible will be a nightmare unless you only need one or 2 people.
Konataismine Aug 28th 2011 9:40AM
Raid PUGS were the only thing keeping in server community. Blizzard has decided to kill that now too?
Krz Aug 28th 2011 10:41AM
Perhaps they are planning something enormous to do with all the realms...
Perhaps... melding of the realms!
jechampion1 Aug 28th 2011 10:26AM
I am married with kids with a schedule that can vary wildly from week to week- I see Raid Finder as a Godsend that will allow me to Raid on my own time. I will be able to gear and learn fights and when calls go out on my server for guilds that need a spot filled I will be able to say that I have Experience with the fights and help out. This Raid Finder will help so many people who have RL obligations that prevent a regular set schedule join the Raiding Community AND increase the number of people who have experience with the fights to help the raiding guilds. The Raiding guilds can help by jumping onto Alts and having the patience to teach as well. This can be a very good thing for the Raiding community if people are patient
Ominous Aug 28th 2011 10:29AM
It seems that a lot of people are missing the main idea of the raid finder.
Full raids, found completely via the finder, might have issues.
If you're in such a position, however, you're probably also thankful to even see the inside of a raid (that week).
What the raid finder will do - which will be a big help to smaller / social guilds - is allow them to raid when they like.
If you've got 6-8 solid members, but two are missing, you can use the raid finder to finish the group and make the attempts that the majority wanted.
If the raid finder is limited to one tier below the top, things will become even smoother.
Be optimistic!
ravyncat Aug 28th 2011 10:58AM
I think this might make some of my guildies happy. We are a very small social guild that has struggled to get even 6 people together to retro raid.
I will not be using it. The only thing I enjoy about raiding (or even dungeons) is my friends. This just sounds like the dungeon finder--which I loathe and will not use--but 100 times worse. Raids already stress me out. Raids with silent strangers...no way.
Magus Aug 28th 2011 11:16AM
As someone who enjoys raiding, but can't commit to a single set schedule (due to varying work/personal commitments), I love the idea of the Raid Finder. You know what the current method of finding raids as a PUG player is?
1.) Stop actually playing the game and teleport to a major city.
2.) Sit in a major city for 45 minutes watching Trade for "LFM BoT 10 man".
3.) Hope like hell that you're the fastest Mage (or whatever) to respond to that ad, because otherwise you get back "full on mages". Even if you're sufficiently geared to only need one or two items from the raid (thereby meaning it's unlikely as hell that you'll actually overlap gear), it doesn't matter.
mrimac00 Aug 28th 2011 11:23AM
Look, for you guildies and hardcore players, keep playing with your guilds. At worst, you'll use the Raid Finder to find that extra DPS or two.
For the rest of us casual or non-guild affiliated players who would like to experience the raid content, LET THE CLUSTERF**K BEGIN!
Monger Aug 30th 2011 6:16PM
The biggest problem I see with this is the lack there of a viable Voice Chat system built in game so the grp has a good way to communicate, because we all know that without a great way talk to each and explain strats, it very likely to fail. Some will say use Vent, that is all good but many people use many different kinds of voice-chats, I mean our guild uses teamspeak 3 and i also now that mumble has a pretty big following these days too. With that said it means that you will have to ether have a bunch of voice chats downloaded or just go without knowing what is going on or a whole hell of typing which I know as a raid leader I hate to do... So i really think this is a big short coming on Blizzard's designers... Anyways just a thought..
Harvoc Aug 28th 2011 11:49AM
Since I've no time at all for organized raids during the weekdays because of school and homework, the raid finder means that I can actually do raids just like I do instances now. I know that the odds of a good raid are slim but I plan to make the most out of it. I'd probably bring a feast, flasks, potions, a Runescroll of Fortitude II, and a Drums of Forgotten Kings so that I can cover as many buffs as possible. I would also try to explain the fights beforehand in case anyone is clueless (which I predict many will be).
Jon Aug 28th 2011 11:53AM
If you think Raid Finder is going to be a horrible mess with terrible players - DON'T USE IT! No need for whining & complaining.
I for one am warmly welcoming the raid finder. It will be nice to be able to raid without having to commit to an entire 3 hours. This way it's easy for the group to find another healer when I have to leave after three bosses to fulfill real-life commitments in a pinch.
Orrdeath Aug 28th 2011 2:23PM
Raid finder will have some good and bad situations, it will have bad players and good like anything else. But the majority or players who will use it will be casual. These players wont have the time and patience to grind through content. So my biggest fear is we will get more raids like VOA, BH and less like Lich king, and Sindy. Which are awesome designed fights that actully feel like you have acompleshed somthing when you finally down them. Puggable raids Will be nerffed raids, mark my words.
bobble Aug 28th 2011 12:03PM
It's good that they're introducing this in the third tier of raid content, when there will be a bunch of easy max-level raids to romp around in- similar to how the original level 80 heroics were a joke by the time the dungeon finder was introduced.
People are going to be disappointed if 4.0 rolls around and there aren't any ultra-easy raids to just enjoy yourself in.
Tyr Aug 28th 2011 12:01PM
I like my guild but i can never join raids with them because it just doesn't match up with my work schedule. Pugging is also pretty much dead on my server since cata, not really sure why... now I can at least go and see the raids on my own time in 4.3. I'm not really in it for the challenge anymore, I wanna see Blizzard's hard work when it's still revelant and I hope the raid finder will allow me to do that without too much hassle :)
Me Aug 28th 2011 12:02PM
I wonder if Blizz will add some type of vent. Who wants to share their vent info with strangers? What if none of the participants have vent installed? I can't even begin to think of the problems that will arise without voice communication...