Posted by iTZKooPA on Friday, October 30th, 2009 - 12 Comments
Tags: cross-realm instancing, daily random dungeon, lfg overhaul, lfg system, patch 3.3, patch 3.3 changes, ptr 3.3
The supposed final content patch for Wrath of the Lich King is bringing us a lot more than just content. Alongside Icecrown Citadel and its instances are a ton of convenience changes, items that have been sought after by players for years, and new ideas that were announced at BlizzCon 2009. Blizzard gave us the first concrete details on one of those BlizzCon promises the other day, theLFG overhaul.
You can read the full breakdown from Blizzard itself here. Here’s my forumesque recap:
Join as a Group or Solo: Eh, not really worth the bullet point. We can already search for members of the current system as a group, or enter it as solo. I guess it’ll be nice to join the pool as a group, rather than simply being a destination in the scan.
Cross-Realm Instances/Grouping: Quite possibly the smartest move since cross-realm PvP was created (WoW incarnation of sliced bread). I believe that the feature could indirectly cause a consolidation of raiding talent on certainBattlegroups . Think about it, if you run a few instances with a small group of off-realm players and things go smoothly every time, wouldn’t you try to get them to transfer to join your guild? It’s not a bad thing though.
Instance Teleporting: The less Meeting Stone ganking the better.
Smarter Group Matching: It looks good on paper, but I think it’ll be more of the same setup in practice. Blizzard’s talent isn’t an issue, it’s the pool of players the system is selecting from. It is just too hard to form good groups when only a few dozen people are available. I do hope I am wrong. I hope the cross-realm feature makes the time spent designing this new system work perfectly, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Daily Random Dungeons: You can still select a specific dungeon, but going random rewards party members with additional badges, a perfect treat. There’s actually a few changes nestled under this category. The Daily Random Dungeon replaces the former Daily Dungeon/Heroic, and those quest givers will now give out weekly raid tasks, another sweet morsel. The system even applies topre-WotLK dungeons, handing out level appropriate rewards for leveling instance runs. Another reason to see the old world before Cataclysm.
Repeat Random Dungeons: Yes, you can repeat the Daily Random Dungeon task if you so chose. If you do, you’ll only receive two Emblems of Triumph, instead of a pair of Frost badges. The more things I can tempt people with the better (Guildies always run things before I get home).
Choose Multiple Dungeons: Meh, we can already chose three. If you are badge farming being able to select all should minimize your queue time. That’s pretty nice.
Vote Kick system: Awesome for PUG raids when you realize that member X isn’t nearly as geared as expected, or is being a giant (insert explicit). On the downside, I can see some people getting upset and /wrists when they’re singled out and kicked for such things. Incoming drama.
Lovin’ the PUG Bonuses: A chance at a non-combat pet for PUGing? Looks like I know what I am doing come Patch 3.3! The other “extra rewards” are not detailed, but the more random folks you kill beside, the better.
Looking For Raid: This should clear up Trade and General Chat in the main cities. Assuming people actually bother using the channel extensively - doubtful.
Need Before Greed Updated: “Classes are limited to their dominant armor type (for example, plate for paladins).” There’s some flamebait if I ever saw it. Don’t worry, if the item is passed over by everyone, then it goes to standard greed, but first dibs goes to the class it was designed for.
Group Disenchanting: Enchanters need not worry, one of you has to be present for this tool to be available. It simply saves you the time of disenchanting and then handing out the materials to the winning rolling. It also eliminates the ability for you to “forget” to let people roll on the shards.
Even though many features are long overdue, I applaud the changes as a whole. I honestly believe these changes will usher in a rebirth to instancing, at level cap and low-levels. How do you like the changes and what’s your favorite feature? Which do you see having the most impact?
Related Posts: More Treachery: Stealing Raid IDs, RaidID Fix Coming In Patch 3.1, Patch 3.0.2 - The Latest And Greatest, PTR 3.3: New Tutorial System Incoming, Alex Afrasiabi Talks Cataclysm With Gamasutra,
By Rogue4Life on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
it is going to be interesting for sure. as you said though it will be cool to be possible to actually do the same heroic again. while you can’t select it if you have done it already, but if you use the random it is possible. chance for those guildies to run it even if others have already completed.
Cross Server = Great!! I am sure there might be some issues, but will really help not waiting forever to get a group together to run something.
QQing - looting, somehow I am sure the forums will be blasted with it, but what can you do blizz.
Really looking forward to P3.3.
Are you prepared Arthas?
By lolbroek on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
furst XD
By Tharon on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
@Rogue4Life
One catch to that, you can repeat a H Dungeon only if you haven’t selected it manually. Atleast that is how I read it on Blizz’s site. Once you select it manually you lose the chance at getting it through the Random Dungeon Generator.
By spikolie on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
woot new NC Pet!!!
By Gaudim on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Looks like some DPS classes will be getting the shaft on the new loot rules. I know plenty of ret pallies that take non-plate loot that has better stats for DPS. Lots of Best in Slot items for Ret Paladins are Leather. Hopefully they’re have comparable Plate loot to fill those gaps.
By Pegraath on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
I’m not sure about the enchanting change.
When I run dungeons on my main, I de all blues and epics and then hand the shards out at the end when we roll for them. Usually it’s “Highest roller gets Abyss, lowest roller gets nothing” (as there’s usually only 4 items)
If this is rolling at boss loot time, there is the opportunity for someone to win repeatedly (which is equally likely to be me I know).
By Blahbahblah on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Really happy about the DE thing. More often than not I’ll greed on purpose in a PuG even when there’s a DE in the group telling everyone not to because, more often than not, the DE will freely DE everything and conveniently drop group before offering a roll.
By Redauroa on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 5:58 am
It is the same old argument about DEing. The Enchanter can only get the mats for his/her profession if they DE blues and purples, so why should they have to roll against the group? We don’t roll on the ore when a miner hits a node do we?
I personally don’t care. I only have Enchanting because it goes well with Tailoring. More often then not I end up with a group who says “No thank you keep the shards I don’t need ‘em.” My husband always ends up in groups that he losses every roll for the shards he created. So that does make it somewhat difficult to make a living off Enchanting.
Like I said the same old argument. It will never be solved. The enchanter needs the material for the proffesion and the rest of the group need the material for there new gears enchantments. It is a no win argument.
By Shala on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 9:36 am
TOTALLY AGREE ^^^^
c’mon ppl think of it, I can’t roll on an LW pattern that drops from Ice Howl so why should you get my DE mats? I rolled Enchanting, I spent A LOT of gold to get to the proper level, so sorry bout ya. Not to mention a lot of time just like the herbies, miners and skinners. No one ever rolls on the skins in and instance or the nodes, so why are the mats from my gathering profession given out?
People argue that ‘We all worked to get the boss down so that the gear dropped, so we all roll on the shards,’ lame.
Bottom line: the things that enchaters win and DE are thiers and if they are so inclined to let ppl roll then so be it.
By amidaman on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 11:47 am
because the item drops for everyone and can be vendored, whereas if there is no miner, the ore will be totally lost. furthermore, EVERYONE in the raid worked to get that item you DE’d, whereas ores are on a first come first serve basis
By Void on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 3:18 pm
since im a tank im usualy leader so when I have an enchanter in group i usually tell everyone that the enchanter gets 1 abyss since its him that has lvld the prof and we roll on what ever is last. Since ive lvld all proffs to max except ench i know how hard and expensive it is and if people dont like that rule i just get another dps or healer.
By Alkahest on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 2:35 am
Group Disenchant - As an enchanter the whole idea of having groups roll on shards kind of irked me. I can’t ever remember a time a miner said “hey guys I see a XXX node on the map. Let’s roll on it”. I know its not exactly the same thing but why do all the other gathers get to keep what they find but an enchanter is supposed to do his gathering and then let the group roll on it.