Project Lore: Five dudes. Four cameras. One World of Warcraft.

The Looking For Group system was only a setback! Blizzard has fully replaced it with the new Dungeon system on the PTR. Although vestiges of it were on the test realms before, it should be — more or less — fully implemented now. And there’s a pretty big bonus: raids are now a part of it, as well. This build is pretty light, otherwise, but it’s worth looking through the notes anyway. If you have any questions on the way the Dungeon system works, they’ll probably be answered. Please note that the daily dungeon quests will be gone with the inclusion of this system (and are now, in fact, done through it). NPCs will give out weekly raid quests, instead.

Races: General

• Will of the Forsaken now shares a 45-second cooldown with similar effects, including the Medallion of the Horde, Titan-Forged runes, Insignia of the Horde, etc.

Druid
Feral

• Predatory Strikes: The Predatory Swiftness buff from this talent now has an 8-second duration.

Paladin

• Sacred Shield: The damage absorption effect from this ability now triggers only once every 30 seconds.

Holy

• Infusion of Light: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the effect of Sacred Shield by 12/24 seconds.

Protection

• Divine Guardian: This talent no longer increases the amount of damage transferred to the paladin from Divine Sacrifice. Instead it causes all raid and party members to take 10/20% reduced damage while Divine Sacrifice is active. In addition, the duration has been changed to 6 seconds, however the effect does not terminate when Divine Sacrifice is removed before its full duration.

User Interface
Dungeon System

• This feature has replaced the Looking For Group tool and provides all-new dungeon party creation functionality.
  • Players can join as individuals, as a full group, or a partial group to look for additional party members.
  • Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance.
  • Players can choose the Random Dungeon option.
    • The Heroic Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Frost no more than once a day.
    • The normal Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Triumph no more than once a day.
    • Continuing to complete Wrath of the Lich King Heroic instances using the Daily Random Dungeon option will award players two additional Emblems of Triumph each time.
    • Daily Heroic and normal dungeon quests have been removed. These quests have been replaced with weekly raid quests (see the “Quests” section for details).
    • Level-appropriate rewards will be offered to players who choose the Random Dungeon option for pre-Wrath of the Lich King dungeons.
    • Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.
    • Random Dungeon rewards will be placed in each player’s inventory automatically upon completion of the dungeon (final boss killed). A pop-up notification will display any rewards earned through the Dungeon System.
• Instead of choosing a random dungeon, players can also choose specific dungeons appropriate for their level range. Multiple instances can be selected at one time. The feature no longer limits the choice to look for only 3 dungeon groups at one time.
• Pick-Up Groups
  • Cross-realm instances are now available and use an improved matchmaking system to assist players in looking for additional party members. As with Battlegrounds, the realms in each Battlegroup are connected.
  • As part of the matchmaking system, some of the more difficult dungeons will have a minimum gear requirement. Players also need to meet the requirements for dungeons that require attunement, such as keys or quests. If a player does not meet the requirements for a particular dungeon, a lock icon will be displayed next to that dungeon. Hovering over this icon will display the requirements which have not been met.
  • Only conjured items and loot dropped in a dungeon for which other party members are eligible can be traded between players from different realms.
  • A Vote Kick feature will be available in the event a member of a party is not performing to the expectations of the other members.
  • Players who leave the group prematurely are subject to a Deserter debuff preventing them from using the Dungeon System tool for 15 minutes.
  • If an existing group loses a member, the leader will be asked if he or she wants to continue the dungeon. Choosing to continue will automatically place the group back into the Dungeon System queue.
  • A Player will not be placed in a group with people on his or her Ignore list.
  • Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon System will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.
  • The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon System and has been updated.
    • Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.
    • Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player’s current level.

Looking For Raid

• There is a new Looking For Raid option available to players that can be accessed via the Raid Information screen in the interface or by typing “/LFR.”
  • Players will be able to browse the system manually for any other players looking for a raid dungeon group.
  • While browsing LFR players may sort the list ascending or descending by left-clicking the following headers: Name, Level, Class, Tank Role, Healer Role, and Damage Role. The crown is the Leader Role (representing a raid group with 2 or more people). Players can left-click on this header to sort the list with groups at the top or at the bottom.
  • Hovering over players listed in LFR will display their name, class, level, roles and comments. Hovering over a raid/group will display the leader’s name, the raid information (number of people the raid), comments, if there are any bosses dead (and which ones), and if there are any friends from your Friends list or ignored players from your Ignore list in the raid group.
• The Looking For Group chat channel has returned and can be accessed in all major cities (similar to the Trade chat channel) without the use of the Dungeon system interface.
• Players may only be queued or listed in one of the following systems at a time: Dungeons, LFR, Battlegrounds, or Arenas.
• Ignore List: The amount of characters a person can ignore has been increased to 50. In addition, players on other realms can be placed on the Ignore list.

Reputation

• Commendation Badges which award reputation with various Wrath of the Lich King factions can be purchased with Emblems of Triumph in Dalaran.

Items

• Sceptor of Celebras: Since this item is no longer needed as a key, Celebras will no longer give one out to a player who loses it. The item can now be sold or disenchanted as normal.

Looks like I need to finish the daily-related achievements before 3.3 hits. Yikes! It’s clear that Blizzard has put a lot of thought into this, though, as there are all sorts of measures and contingencies in place to (hopefully) keep people from abusing the system. It’s certainly more than a mere UI update. What do you readers think of the Dungeon/Raid changes and do you plan on using it in the future to set up groups? With the promise of gold, badges, and even a vanity pet, it’s mighty tempting.

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Related Posts: Dungeon and Raid System Q & A, More Treachery: Stealing Raid IDs, Patch 3.0.2 - The Latest And Greatest, Patch 3.0.2 Going To Be Big - Downloading Begins Soon, PTR 3.3: Patch Notes Updated 11/09,

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