Patch 3.3 is out and the old-fashioned group interface has gone. The old heroic dailies? Gone. The reputation dungeon daily? Gone. Gone.
We can queue up for dungeons the same way as we queue for battlegrounds but in their place. We are able to quickly get our group together and be teleported directly inside the dungeon. For those of you who have recently reached the 80, there are no crazy GearScore requirements (thank the Earth Mother), no insane requirement for dps, and no achievement verification. This eliminates the hassles that arise when trying to find a group of heroes who can get gear.
Let's take an in-depth look at this feature.
A little bit of background... First, we're going to talk about why we have this amazing tool. In the past, when "Additional instances cannot be launched," the servers were designed in a way that each realm was given an instance server for each realm. This is how we believe it is, as Blizzard has its own network layout.
But, prior to Wrath, people didn't run such a large number of instances. It was something guilds were involved in, but it wasn't something that the player base got into. The servers running instance games were not ready for the arrival of Wrath and pugging was a hot trend. To stop the servers from collapsing due to the weight of so many instances run on them, Blizzard implemented a cap on the number of instances that could be running simultaneously. This made instances smooth and stable, however, they were difficult to access and causing the "Additional instances" issue that we have all come to recognize.
This was a temporary solution to their larger strategy. To fix the problem with "Additional instances" they removed all instances servers connected to one realm and made them accessible to all realms in their battlegroup. If your previous instance server was full, you just got transferred to an instance server that had slots available. Tada, "Additional instances" is now fixed. Again, this is a guesstimation as Blizzard will not reveal that information.
This opened up many possibilities for Blizzard. Since your instance servers were shared throughout the battlegroup, you were suddenly able to do an instance with anyone from your battlegroup. All you need is a sleek interface and away you go. It's possible that we are simplifying the process, but this is what they did. Let's take a closer look.
Quick and Dirty Dungeons... I've included a gallery of images at the end of this article if you want to see the same text next to images to see what I'm talking to better.
You'll see the new "Dungeon Finder" instead of the "Dungeon Finder" if you log into World of Warcraft now. It's quite similar to the previous one. You've got your role selection at the top of the tank healer, DPS, or tank. You can also decide to lead the group.
What is different is that instead of the normal selection of 3 dungeons, heroics, or raids you'll get an adventure. Not only that, but at 80, it's your daily heroic quest. For the daily quest, all you need to do is click Find Group'. Lower level characters will get an awesome goody bag that may include blue quality items for leveling and dungeon running.
Give it about 2 seconds (that was the amount I got on the PTR, however your mileage may differ) and you'll learn what role you'll fill and what quest rewards you should be expecting upon completion of this dungeon. I used this graphic to create the opener.
Enter the Dungeon You'll get a ready-check-check window to pop up.All about private wow servers This will inform you if everyone else has hit their enter dungeon buttons as well. The ones who are ready are marked with check marks, whereas the question marks indicate people you are waiting for. If you get a big red X (in my case it was the healer who did not accept) The Dungeon Finder will take your team out of the game and find an alternative. Your name is still at the top of your queue so the first healer to appear is yours. The same procedure until everyone is ready to enter the dungeon.
You should note that you have not been required to talk to anyone, or from any party or discuss who the healer is or who is dps at this time.
Once everyone is actually ready when everyone is ready, you will be taken directly to the dungeon. There is no need to pass the meeting stone and will not fight the door boss to gain the right to enter the dungeon. Each party member will have an icon that is representative of their role in the default user interface. The same plus symbol is used to mark healers in the Dungeon Finder screen. Dps is represented by a dagger or sword icon while the tank is a shield symbol. The party leader also gets a little flag icon. Isn't it adorable? This makes it easy to know who is doing what. After everyone is buffed, the shield examines to check if the plus sign is ready before pulling.
If everything goes well and you defeat the final boss of the dungeon the rewards for your quest will appear in your inventory. If you exit through the dungeon entrance you'll be transported back to where ever you were before hitting 'Enter Dungeon' and you can do the same thing again to earn more loot and rewards.
To Dungeon Finder Page 2 >>
