Monday, April 11, 2011

This Will Only End in Tears ...

Visit The Daily Blink for the best WoW commentary around.
Let's start by fully quoting the "plan" to reduce queue time:

  • The Dungeon Finder: Call to Arms will now identify which class role is currently the least represented in the queue, and offer them additional rewards for entering the Dungeon Finder queue and completing a random level-85 Heroic dungeon.
  • The least represented class icon will show within the Dungeon Finder to indicate the role that is eligible to earn the bonus reward.
  • Players must queue solo with the currently indicated least represented class (by the system) and complete the dungeon up to and including the final boss in order to be eligible for the bonus reward.
  • The bonus reward will be displayed to eligible (system identified as least represented) classes within the UI.
  • Once the dungeon is completed the eligible player will receive a goodie bag with various potential rewards including: gold, rare gems, non-combat pets, and (very rare) mounts.
I mean, the Daily Blink pretty well says it all up there. I wish I were so talented as to be able to sum up the problem so neatly.


"The class role that is currently the least represented" should just read "tank." The problem today is not enough tanks, it was always not enough tanks. The problem will continue to be not enough tanks.

"Tanks?" Did I say "tanks?" I meant "Good tanks" or... I don't want to be elitist... so let me just call them "real tanks." Two times last week in the random queue, death knights with dps gear popped in to tank my heroic runs. And two times they died horribly on the first pull or two and /shamequit. There was also the very bad tank who didn't seem to have ever run the dungeon before and had absolutely no interest in listening to advice from anybody else in the group. "No, wait! Don't pull that group until after the patrol comes by," we said, and he pulled anyway and the pat walked up and slaughtered us all. And then when we ran back, he did exactly the same thing again. Players who waste a group's time like this really need to have black marks put next to their names in some database, if not a special corner of hell.


Is it really necessary to reduce DPS times? I don't mean to be gnarly to the DPS, but think about what it was like before the LFG queue ever came along. A DPS could go all night waiting around for a group to form. I mean really... a mere 35 minute queue is luxury compared to that.

Is shaving a few minutes off that 35 mins really worth the enhanced probability of Scrubby the Tank showing up?  This may be the worst problem with this plan: nobody has any say over this matter except Scrubby the Tank, really.  DPS players don't get to make a choice of opting out of this "Call to Arms" situation. Basically, they have to take the chance of meeting Scrubby, or else go look for an old school group in trade chat.  What about the healers? They are going to be the first ones to notice how badly prepared the tank is, and they probably going to cop the party aggro when the tank dies, whether the healer is at fault or not.

Oh, fret fret. Worry worry worry.

Me and the LFG queue have a pretty bad history with one another anyway.  I learned in Wrath to nevermind Mos Eisley, the LFG queue was the real most wretched hive of scum and villainy.  It seemed to me that the past few months in Cataclysm had generally been better, after the initial shock of having to make an effort again wore off. But in the past week or two, douchebags are getting restless again. Nasty trolling and abuse spew during a random run is becoming hard to avoid once again. Frankly, the current content is getting old and ennui is setting in. Patch 4.1 with their damned troll instances isn't going to help very much I'm afraid.

Scrubby the Tank isn't going to help very much either.

3 comments:

  1. I agree, with a caveat.
    I have an alt DK which has a tank gear set.
    I'd go a try to tank heroics AFTER TELLING THE GROUP ON START that these heroics are new to me and if the group prefers I'll leave and they'll be back at top of queue (only fair).
    Problem is the trolling you were referring to - the abuse that SOME DPSers give to anybody they can. I don't see heroics as a proving ground, a place to show the world how good I am. They do.
    Problem is my tanking gear is not bad (iLvl about 340 with 2-3 PvP items that still have better stats than my 316-325 items) but is definitely not Raid gear level.
    If the DPSers are raiders looking for VP or "ggos time" picking on ppl then I'n toast.
    Heroics are difficult enough when you have to fight the mobs, too much when you also have to fight your so called team.
    This is the main reason why I have been hesitating and not tanking in them yet.
    I may do it with guildies, but the "LFD bait" will have to be A LOT better for me to chance it.

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  2. "Heroics are difficult enough when you have to fight the mobs, too much when you also have to fight your so called team."

    Amen to that, brother. Yr really nailing something that I was thinking about but didn't know how to address so well: alt tanking is pretty thankless with the way so many players behave, and this piddly bag of doodads Blizzard has come up with doesn't change that.

    As much as I fear Scrubby the Tank, I wish that the player base was more tolerant of new tanks, willing to try hard even if they don't have the gear or experience that makes a tank Pure Awesome yet.

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  3. Idk if I'd say it's necessary to reduce the LFD wait time for DPS, but god would it be nice. I can't count the number of times I've sat there for 20mim and thoughtlessly logged onto a banker to check some auctions, completely forgetting my queue, and having to start again.
    Getting DC'd 15min into a 30min+ queue, removing u from said queue, is also quite painful and time consuming.

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