Patch 3.3 is here and the outdated group interface has gone. Are you tired of heroic dailies? Gone. The reputation dungeon daily? Gone. Gone.
In their place, we are given the possibility of waiting for dungeons much in the same way you queue for battlegrounds. You can have your party assembled in a matter of minutes and be transported to the dungeon. If you've just hit 80, there are no ridiculous GearScore requirements (thanks to the Earth Mother), insane requirements for dps or achievement-based checking. It removes all of those things that really stink about trying to find a group to obtain gear from heroics.
Let's take a closer look at this feature.
A bit of history... First we'll talk about why we have this cool tool. In the past, when "Additional instances can't be launched," the servers were set up so that each realm had an instance server for each realm. At least, that's the way we see it because Blizzard does not necessarily share its network structure.
However, prior to Wrath there weren't such a large number of instances. This was something guilds did, but it was not something the general population was interested in. When Wrath hit and pugging became the hottest new fad, the instance servers weren't ready for it. Blizzard put a limit on the number of instances that could be running at the same time to avoid servers collapsing. This made instances stable and easy to use however it also made it very difficult to access and created the "Additional instances" issue that we all know.
This was a temporary fix to their larger strategy. To address the issue with "Additional instances", they removed all instances servers connected to one realm and made them available to all realms in their battlegroup. Now, if your previous instance server was full, you just got sent to an instance server that still had slots available on it. Tada! "Additional instances” is now fixed. This is, of course, an estimate since Blizzard will not release the information.
This opened up a wide range of possibilities for Blizzard. Since your instance servers were shared throughout the battlegroup, you were suddenly able to create an instance with anyone from your battlegroup. All you have to do is create an elegant interface and you're good to go. Okay, we're a bit simplistic, but that's essentially what they did. Let's look.
Quick and Dirty Dungeons... If you'd like to read the same text alongside pictures, I've added an image gallery at the bottom of the guide to aid you in understanding what I'm talking to.
You'll see a new "Dungeon Finder" instead if you log in to World of Warcraft now. It's very similar to the old one. You've got your role selection at the top of the tank healer, DPS or tank. You also have the option to be the leader of the group.
It's different from the typical selection of 3 dungeons or heroics or raids. Instead, it has an adventure. Not only that, but at the age of 80, it's your daily quest to be heroic. For the daily quest, all you have to do is click Find Group'. A cool bag of goodies will be given to lower level characters. It can contain blue quality items that can be used to level up and running dungeons.
It should take about 2 seconds (that's the average I got on the PTR but your mileage could be different). You'll then find out what role you'll play and what rewards to be expecting upon completing this dungeon. That graphic was my opener.
Enter the Dungeon You'll get a ready-check-check window to open. This will inform you if anyone else has also hit the enter dungeon button. The people who are ready are indicated with check marks, while the question marks indicate the people you are waiting for. If you receive a large red X (in my case, it was the healer who declined) The Dungeon Finder will take your team out of readiness and locate an alternative. Your name is still at the top of your queue so the first healer to appear is yours. It will repeat the same way until everyone is ready to enter the dungeon.
You should take note that you haven't been required to talk to anyone, or from any party or debate who is the healer and who is dps at this point.
When everyone is ready, you will be teleported directly to the dungeon. You won't have to go through the meeting stone, and you will not have to fight the doorman for the right to enter the dungeon. In the default UI, every player has an icon representing their specific job on their party's nameplate. theartofkerembeyit.com Healers are identified with the same plus symbol as on the Dungeon Finder screen, dps has a dagger (or perhaps it's a sword), and the tank is marked with the shield icon. The party leader even has a little flag symbol. Isn't it adorable? It's easy to know who is doing what. After everyone has been buffed, it looks to see if there's an plus sign and then pulls.
If everything goes smooth and you get rid of the final boss of the dungeon the quest rewards pop up in your inventory. If you exit through the entrance to the dungeon you'll be teleported back to where you were prior to hitting the button 'Enter Dungeon'. You can do the same thing over again for more loot or rewards.
To Dungeon Finder Page 2 >>
No comments yet