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Breakfast Topic: What kind of PuG are you?
Let's face it: with rare exceptions, good or bad Pick Up Group dungeon experiences usually have very little to do with the dungeon itself. Last night, for instance, I dropped in on two back to back PuGs as a tank and had solid runs in both cases. But the first run was a silent zerg fest that was only notable in its grim, stormtrooper like efficiency as we basically chain pulled the entire Nexus in silence. Admittedly, as tank, I set the pace, but no one complained as I charged from pack of mobs to next pack of mobs, never stopping for mana and saying nothing. It was as if five inexorable gods had come to visit doom upon the poor inhabitants of Malygos' once-proud fortress. Keristraza was dead within 32 seconds of her release. (No, I didn't actually time it, but it was pretty fast.) We parted ways without much fanfare, all loot sharded and in our bags. For contrast, the Drak'Tharon Keep run that I did immediately after was a lot more fun. The healer told a continuous stream of awful jokes and kept informing us that she'd never been there before. The enhancement shaman was directionally challenged. I pulled King Dred with all of his adds just to see if I could hold them (I did, but it was pretty hairy even in full TotGC gear) and the druid kept asking me questions about tanking, as he or she wanted to start doing it. ("Uhm... hit swipe a lot? I don't know much about druids.") The second run wasn't as fast or ruthlessly overgeared, but it was a lot more fun. So what kind of PuG's are you seeing? What has your experience been so far?
The best of WoW.com: December 1-8, 2009
It's patch day again in the World of Warcraft, and that means there's a whole bunch of upgrades and updates and brand new challenges, quests and things to do in the most successful MMO ever made. Joystiq's sister site WoW.com has all the patch 3.3 info you'd ever need, from the new Dungeon Finder system to class changes, to all of the various UI tweaks and tips for getting your add-ons ready. Find ten of our most popular posts of the past week after the break, and head over to WoW.com for the latest on the game's newest update.
Patch 3.3: The Dungeon Finder Guide
Patch 3.3 is here and the old looking for group interface is now gone. The old heroic dailies? Gone. The reputation dungeon daily? Gone. The achievements for doing all of those dailies are now Feats of Strength, because if you didn't have them before, you'll never have them now. In their place, we get the ability to queue for dungeons in much the same way that you normally queue for battlegrounds. We get the ability to almost instantaneously have our group put together and be teleported directly inside the instance. For those of you who just recently hit 80, there is no crazy GearScore requirements (thank the Earth Mother), no insane dps requirement, and no achievement checking. It removes all of those things that really stink about trying to find a group to get gear from heroics. Let's take a better look at this new feature.
The Queue: Late night with WoW.com
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today. You're getting The Queue late tonight since all the WoW.com writers are up late. We're sitting around the virtual campfire working on the last bits of our patch 3.3 content for tomorrow. We're going to be publishing a few great guides to the strategies and resources you'll need for both the 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raids. We're also putting the finishing touches on a look at the lore in patch 3.3 -- it's taken a while to get together, but it's going to be a great piece when it's all done. So, while you're waiting for the patch notes to drop this evening (or morning), sit back and read some Queue. It's full of yummy goodness. Wmepe asked... "How many badges can I get in chaining random heroics for six hours?"
Dungeon Finder Tool Mini-FAQ
Blizzard has posted a Dungeon Finder Tool Mini-FAQ this morning. The Mini-FAQ is a nice rundown of some of the more important facts that need clarification. It's more or less a polished up version of the questions Zarhym answered over the weekend. As we talked about last week, patch 3.3 should be coming out tomorrow if there has been no major additional problems. The entire Mini-FAQ after the break. %Gallery-76169%
Breakfast Topic: Dear Greatfather Winter
Surprise! It's December already, which means the winter holidays are just around the corner. According to Blizzard's calendar, Winter's Veil will be upon us in just two short weeks, and if patch 3.3 does drop next week as expected, it'll seem even shorter than that (I'm sure that the new Dungeon Finder system will make the time fly by for most of us). So before Greatfather Winter actually appears in Ironforge and Orgrimmar, the Godmother has the right idea: it's time to ask GFW what you want for Winter's Veil. He's delievered some nice ingame presents before, and this year should be no exception. Personally, 3.3 will grant most of my Warcraft-related wishes, so I'll just wish for world peace. Oh, and 5000g for my newly 80 paladin's epic flying. Actually, I need a chopper, too, so world peace, 5000g for the epic flying, and another few thousand for the chopper mats. Oh, and I need gear to run heroics, so the peace thing, lots of money, and good gear. Wait -- I'll need a good flying mount, too. So let's say Rusted Proto-drake, epic gear, and lots and lots of money. Actually, it's Warcraft, so just forget the peace thing -- I'll just take the money and purples, thanks. But that's just me and Steve Martin. What would you like to get from Greatfather Winter this year?
The best of WoW.com: November 24 - December 1, 2009
Patch 3.3 is just around the corner in the World of Warcraft, and WoW.com is there as usual: we've got lots of information about what's coming in the new patch, including the new Icecrown raid instance, the cross-realm Dungeon Finder system, new loot and gear, lots of class updates and changes, and of course lots of new achievements and quests. Hit the break below to read ten of our most popular posts from the last week -- whether you're a new player or just coming back for the game's fifth anniversary, we've got something for you.
WoW Insider Show Episode 118: Taking sides
We had a great time as always on last weekend's podcast -- Kelly "Cadistra" Aarons and C. Christian Moore (a.k.a. Colby, a.k.a. C-money) joined us on the podcast to talk about comics and PvP, respectively, and we hit on the most popular posts of the past week as well, including wrapping up Pilgrim's Bounty, our favorite memories of the game for the fifth anniversary, and how GDKP works -- both in terms of mechanics and as a loot system. Additionally, we talked again about the Dungeon Finder system and how it will affect the game, as well as why Blizzard probably won't provide any more character slots per realm, even in Cataclysm. And we hear some more great fan-made intros -- if you'd like to send us one (or anything else, really), the address as always is theshow@wow.com. Thanks for listening and enjoy! Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes. [RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. Listen here on the page:
PUG with the Blues 3: Live Free or PUG Blue
If you didn't make it to the party last time, here's your third chance to PUG it up with WoW devs and CMs. Blizzard announced take three of PUG with the Blues, and this time it's personal. Just hop onto the Patch 3.3 PTR this Wednesday at 4 PM PST/7 PM EST and put your character into the random heroic Wrath dungeon queue. If you're lucky, you'll get grouped with someone with <GM> before their name and get to run a heroic with a developer or other Blizzard rep! This could be your only chance to catch a blue standing in fire, keyboard turning, or using Lava Burst without Flame Shock up. Don't miss it! Oh, and some WoW.com staff will be there too. So get your PTR client patched up and ready to go! Do you feel lucky, PUG? Do ya? Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.
Patch 3.3: Helpful rewards for low-level dungeon runs
We've been talking a lot about Patch 3.3's new Dungeon Finder feature lately, and for good reason -- it's leaps and bounds better than the LFG tool we've been dealing with for the past several years. One of the features that's caught everyone's attention is the great reward that level 80 players get for completing random WotLK Heroic dungeons. Well, if you're a lower-level player using the tool to run random dungeons at your level, it turns out you get something too. The Satchel of Helpful Goods is a level-scaling bag o' rewards, which EU Community Manager Wryxian says will contain one piece each from two sets of loot rewards. Quoth the crocolisk: ...these satchels are rewards from doing a random dungeon through the LFG tool at lower levels. There's two groups of items that can be inside them. One includes bracers, rings, necklaces and cloaks. The other has belts, boots, gloves and shoulder items. What you'll find in the satchel is one item from each group, and this is also further influenced by a ten level range. So for example, what is in a satchel received for completing a dungeon between levels 20 and 30 might be a nice necklace and some gloves, but from a dungeon between 50 and 60 you might get a ring and some new boots. The level ranges he refers to are 5-15, 15-25, 24-34, 35-45, 46-55, 56-60, 60-64, and 65-70. Wryxian indicates that the two item groups are set up so as not to trivialize quest rewards from the zones in your level range, and to make sure that you're always receiving a variety of gear. It's unknown at this time whether these'll be blues we've seen before, a la Elven Spirit Claws, or whether they're newly-created blues with the express purpose of being Satchel rewards. Still, pretty cool. Oh, and you get money too. Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.
