Entries in Dungeon Finder (2)

Wednesday
23Dec2009

You threw off my groove!

DateDecember 23, 2009 at 1:20 AM

I am still a pretty big fan of the dungeon finder, for all the reasons that I (and just about every other WoW blogger) have listed.  However, I'm starting to see the other side of the coin.

I quest when I level.  It's almost exclusively what I do - this whole "multiple dungeons a day" thing is only a recent happening with the dungeon finder.  I work my way through areas and do just about every quest I can see until it's time to move on to bigger, better, (prettier) areas.  There are certain zones that I will drop every quest I have in an old zone to run start - Stranglethorn Vale is one of these zones, Zangarmarsh and Nagrand two others.  I've been looking forward to Dragonblight so I can finally see what Wrathgate is all about and then Storm Peaks later. 

However... since I've been so busy with the dungeons, I've gained lots of experience in level but I find myself behind in quests.  I've not moved through them as I ought to have.  There's been hardly any quest progression!  I only just tonight got the three quests for the Nexus, even though I've run it at least 6 times already.  And those quest rewards would've been GREAT for me had I gotten them when I first started running the Nexus. 

It's not just about the quest rewards, either.  Even though I've been having fun (most of the time) in the PuGs, I've been feeling a little... uneasy, shall we say.  While I was writing yesterday's post about finding "the one" for my main, I started to feel worried, thinking that this was the start of an upheaval and change of mains.  But, I think I've pinpointed what the issue is.  I'm not questing as I am wont to do, so I don't feel the smooth progression through chains and zones that I usually do.  It's surprising how much I favor structure like that in my leveling.  I just need to get back into my questing groove.

I did hit 73 early this morning in a Nexus PuG that probably has been my favorite thus far.  Our bear tank lagged out so we were going to wait for another tank, but I stepped up and offered to tank to save time so we only had to wait a few seconds for a DPS to port in.  The group was quick and efficient, I was moving at a nice pace, tanking well and having fun.  I jumped off a platform and totally missed the landing and died from falling too fast - and the group laughed at it.  That was a nice bit of comic relief - jokes were made.  I just had a great time on that run <3

AuthorAnea | Comment3 Comments |
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Wednesday
09Dec2009

PuG and PuG alike

DateDecember 9, 2009 at 12:41 PM

To be perfectly honest with you, I wasn't anticipating anything for 3.3 - I'd hardly been paying attention to what was going to happen when the patch hit.  When you're stuck in an alt and/or identity crisis somewhere not high level, it means little to you.  So yesterday, when everyone was all hot and bothered over ICC, I patiently waited for realms to come up so I could continue leveling my Death Knight. 

Luckily, I happened to be one of the first wave to log in, so I completely bypassed the Great Authorization Crisis of '09 and was able to play all day with no connection issues whatsoever.  I leveled as per usual for a few hours, then my brain reminded me, "Hey, weren't they talking about a battlegroup-wide LFG tool?  You should check it out!"

It was with great trepidation that I did - I never PuG.  Even with Anea, I would always group with Lus, then we'd find some DPS.  That way, I was assured the vital parts of the PuG were decent and if the DPS all turned out to be mouth breathers, we could at least limp through.  If I had to level a character by myself?  I'd never see an instance - I'd solo the whole way.

However, I found the tool very interesting - I like the way it's set up and the way it works:

  • there is a box you can tic if you're knowledgeable enough to be leader
  • once in party, there is an option to kick someone that prompts a group-wide vote
  • you can hover over "the eye" while in queue to see the status of your party and see what roles you're missing
  • experience, gold and a blue are awarded upon completion of the dungeon - the first time you get more, but the subsequent times you still get something
  • icons show up next to group faceplates so you can see at a glance what roles people are
  • you gain the buff Luck of the Draw
  • you can use it to find a group for a particular instance as well as the "Random Dungeon" option
  • once your group is ready, there is an option to port right into the dungeon(!)
  • once you've finished, you can port out right where you left the outside world

Once getting over my fear of the Inevitable Painful Fail PuG, I used the tool four times - once resulting in a group disbanded on the first wipe.  So... certainly no worse than any other PuG I've had.  Sometimes you'll get polite conscientious players and sometimes you'll get the mouth breathers.  But you'll get a group that wants the same thing you do - to get through the instance. The only real issue I encountered were hiccups because of patch day and impatience from groupmates on behalf of that.

I'm really psyched about this tool now!  Originally I had no intent to use it at all, but this way I get to complete quests in dungeons and even just see some dungeons that I might not have been able to on my own otherwise.  Who wants to stay in a capital and spam trade all day hoping that someone wants to do the particular instance you do too?

AuthorAnea | Comment4 Comments |
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