BlizzCon 2011: Overview of PVE Scenarios
by Robin Torres 
Oct 21st 2011 at 7:19PM
Mists of Pandaria will introduce Scenarios to give us instances similar to PVE Battlegrounds as well as staged, instanced group quests to revisit older content. These quests are designed for a few players and are intended to be short instances.
In order to enter a Scenario, players will queue in something similar to the Dungeon Finder, but will not have to choose a role -- hopefully making the queues very short. Scenarios are designed so that players won't have to designate a tank or healer and still be successful, much like when questing as a group normally.
Remember the days of Alterac Valley when the PVE elements were actually used and it wasn't just a PVP zerg? (I miss those days.) The Scenarios like PVE battlegrounds will be very much like Alterac Valley but without the PVP. The group of players will have staged objectives to complete in order to beat the scenario such as killing a number of enemies and capturing towers. This was designed for players who want to experience Battlegrounds but don't like PVP.
There will also be staged quests set in familiar locations, such as the Battle of Goldshire. Players and their groupmates will complete the objective of each stage until coming to the final boss. The example given was that the first stage might be to kill 25 kobolds, then you would rescue 4 children in the second stage and finally killing Goldtooth in the third. These will most likely be the replacement for group quests.
The rewards for completing Scenarios would include Valor points, much like the new daily quests. This continues Blizzard's goal of most gear being accessible to all players, regardless of playstyle.
Remember, all of this may change before launch.
The news is out -- we'll be playing Mists of Pandaria! Find out what's in store with an all-new talent system, peek over our shoulder at our Pandaren hands-on, and get ready to battle your companion pets against others. It's all here right at WoW Insider!Filed under: BlizzCon
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Guy Oct 22nd 2011 12:17AM
These sort of remind me of the WAR group quests (I forget what they are called) where you complete 3 levels of tasks with a group then all get loot at the end depending on how much you contributed.
Shrikesnest Oct 22nd 2011 2:07AM
I'm... torn. On one hand, these sound very cool and exciting. Sometimes I want to do some group content but I don't have a couple hours to allocate just in case I queue for a heroic and get the dreaded Deadmines. These seem like a great sort of step-down content for when I'm not interested in spending my whole night on something, but don't just want to farm or do dailies.
On the other hand, if you're not going to need a tank and healer, these are probably going to be piss easy. Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to me that the only way it wouldn't require party roles is if it wouldn't require any party organization. Just mow down the bad guys, everybody spread out and collect the quest objectives and then zerg the last guy, and we can collect our VPs and go home. The reason I'm interested in group play is the feeling of teaming up with people. When I down a raid boss or a difficult heroic I feel a sense of accomplishment and connection I don't get when I finish off a series of difficult quests. I've made friends that way. Even when I'm grouped with Herpy and his brother Derpy, I've had a lot of fun trying to save bad groups as a healer or what have you.
I'm not one of those guys who's going to whine about "OMG EPIX FOR CASUALS AND BADS!" because those people are stupid cartoons, and I don't care if you can get VP for doing something easy. This just doesn't seem like a lot of fun, and if I can get VP for grinding dailies, well... shoot. Why do group content if you don't need teamwork?
On the OTHER other hand, these would be great if you could do them with two people. Maybe they'd be super difficult to duo or whatever, but one thing Cata really *did* ruin was duo-questing. It'd be awesome if my fiance and I had some content that was actually tuned for the two of us to run together. WoW has a big shortage of content in between solo questing and five man dungeons. This could be the perfect solution.
Bossy Oct 22nd 2011 4:42AM
^ I agree 100%
I do NOT like the heroic Deadmines. But I guess I am all in for this scenario system.
It will have the advantages of the public quest system without the negative points (you'll always find people with the queing system).
That and of course the new Pet collecting/combat game within WOW.
WOW meets Pokemon for adults.
:))
viciouspen Oct 22nd 2011 6:35AM
WoW awesome.
I love the idea of this, adding in a new type of play, cool :D
Meighan Oct 22nd 2011 11:27AM
I think I'd be more excited for this if I hadn't entirely given up specs other than holy on my main.
If a healer "isn't needed," that tends to mean that being a healer will make the whole thing more tedious, or result in the group carrying you.
Yes, I know bgs don't follow this model, but it seems like it'd be hard for them to design these such that there's something for a healer to do.
Tange Oct 24th 2011 9:58AM
This sounds so cool, reminds me a bit about what they are doing in both LOTRO and SWTOR (beta)
princess_of_doom Oct 24th 2011 7:53AM
Stolen from other mmorpg's much... rift... warhammer... gah blizz u are making me so angry! glad i didnt straight away agree to 12 months when u said id get diablo III for free
grrrrr.... so angry
vlakaa Oct 26th 2011 1:48AM
Warhammer did it awesomely and Rift expanded on it.
Let's hope Blizzard don't botch it up.