Patch 33 The Dungeon Finder Guide
Patch 3.3 is out and the old looking for group interface has gone. The old heroic dailies? Gone. The reputation dungeon daily? Gone. Gone.
In their place, we are given the ability to queue for dungeons much in the same way you would queue for battlegrounds. We are able to quickly have our group put together and be teleported directly inside the dungeon. For those who reached the age of 80, there are no absurd GearScore requirements (thanks to the Earth Mother), insane dps requirements, or achievement checking. It eliminates all the problems that come with trying to find a group of heroes who can get gear.
Let's take an in-depth look at this feature.
A little background... Let's start by talking about why we have this amazing tool. Back in the days of "Additional instances can't be launched," the servers were created to ensure that each realm had an instance server for each realm. This is how we imagine it looks like, since Blizzard has its own network layout.
However, this was before Wrath. It was something guilds were involved in, but it wasn't something the general player base became interested in. The servers running instance games were not prepared for Wrath's arrival and pugging was the most popular trend. To prevent the servers from collapsing under the burden of so many instances running on them, Blizzard implemented a cap on the number of instances that could run simultaneously. This ensured that instances were stable and user-friendly however, it also made them difficult to access and created the "Additional instances” problem that we all know.
That was just a stopgap fix until they could put into place their larger plan. To fix the issue with "Additional instances" they removed all instances servers that were connected to one realm and made them accessible to all realms of their battlegroup. If your previous instance server was full it will be redirected to an instance server that has slots left. Tada, "Additional instances" is now fixed. Again, this is a guesstimation as Blizzard will not release the information.
This opened up a lot of possibilities for Blizzard. azov Your instance servers were spread throughout the battlegroup so you could instantly do an instance with anyone within your battlegroup. All you need to create is an elegant interface and you're ready to go. It's possible to simplify, but this is what they did. Let's take a closer look.
Quick and Dirty Dungeons... If you'd like to see the same text alongside images, I've included an image gallery at the bottom of the guide to help you understand what I'm talking to.
If you hop into World of Warcraft right now and click on the old Looking for Group window, you'll be presented with the new 'DungeonFinder instead. It's pretty similar to the old one. You've got the option of putting your character at the top of the tank, healer or DPS. You can also choose to lead the party.
What is different is that instead of the usual choice of your three dungeons or heroics or raids there's the option of completing a quest. It's also your daily heroic quest at 80. All you need to do is click on "Find Group" and you're in like Wrynn. Lower level characters will receive an awesome bag of goodies that can include blue quality items to level up and dungeon running.
Give it around 2 seconds (that was the amount I saw on the PTR, but your mileage will vary) and you'll be told the role you'll play as well as what rewards you can expect upon completing this dungeon. That graphic was the one that got me started.
You'll see a ready-check window appear after you click 'Enter' Dungeon. That will let you know if everyone else has hit their entry dungeon buttons too. The people who are ready are indicated with check marks, whereas the question marks indicate people you're waiting for. If you get a big red X on any of the members (in my instance, the healer was not available) The Dungeon Finder will pop your pre-assembled team out of ready and find the replacement. Your name is still at the top of your list so the first healer to appear is yours. The process will repeat the check-up procedure until it has everyone gathered and ready to go into the dungeon.
Please be aware that at the moment, you still haven't had to speak to anyone, form any parties or debate who is the healer and who is dps.
Once everyone is actually ready when everyone is ready, you will be taken directly to the dungeon. There is no need to cross the meeting stones and will not fight for the right to enter. Each member of the party will be given an icon that represents their role in the default user interface. The same plus sign is used to indicate healers on the Dungeon Finder screen. Dps has a dagger or a sword icon and the tank has the shield symbol. The leader of the party even has a little flag symbol. Isn't it adorable? Thanks to this, there is no confusion about who does what. After everyone has been buffed, the shield looks to check if the plus sign is ready before pulling.
If everything goes well and you are able to defeat all bosses in the dungeon, the rewards from your quest will be displayed in your inventory. If you exit the entrance to the dungeon you'll be teleported back to where ever you were before hitting the button 'Enter Dungeon'. You can just repeat the process again to earn more loot and rewards.
To Dungeon Finder Page 2 >>
