So, I tried the follower dungeons in Retail, and I really think they should be implemented on all servers, including Era servers for the following reasons:
- Available any time without a queue, so you can get your dungeon quests done when you get them
- They allow you to practice your role in a much more relaxed environment
- Era’s active population fluctuates too much, so it’s impossible to reliably find dungeon groups (especially if the dungeon isn’t particularly popular)
This feature would be great for the overall health of the game.
3 Likes
My struggle with this would be that it gives folks less reason to group with others, not more. This is someting that retail really suffers from I feel like. There’s just no reason to group with anybody until you hit level cap and need to start grinding your dungeon set.
I take your point about how it’s hard to find people for dungeons on some servers. I’m noticing this especially as I work on a horde character with a friend (Mankrik). However, with a system like what you’re proposing, there’s no real incentive to group anymore, which really is an integral part of the WoW experience (Era or otherwise).
I’m not even sure how to find a “best of both worlds” type of thing here. My brain is going to “Well maybe only enable it if there are not enough people in your level range online” but Era servers have so may bots that I think that goes out the window. My gut says this is one of those “It’s best left alone” type of things.
Is there something you would consider with this that would still give people incentive to group with each other, but provide a fallback for folks to utilize when nobody is playing?
1 Like
What I find strange is that it drops the same loot and you get all of it, so it seems you are incentivized to not group with others? I don’t remember how retail loot works now though, I assume it’s not personal loot anymore.
Ah, this… That’s actually a pretty big strawman. The processes for forming and running dungeons are rarely social.
Besides… This is a complete non-issue if there aren’t enough people looking to run dungeons.
Try running one in Retail. That’s not how it works. At all.
Was based on wowhead post under loot section:
How does it work then ? I understand Retail has a lot of scaling mechanics for difficulty of content and different ilvl of same loot, that don’t exist in Classic.
It’s not strawman at all. I made this same argument repeatedly during the the whole RDF debate in WotLK. I personally do find the process of forming a group to be very social and find that I see a lot of engagement in it; however, even more so once the group is formed. A key difference though is that I usually engage with my groups. I say hi, I joke around, I ask questions, and I help others.
If you don’t find the process of forming groups social, that’s entirely on you, but I would suggest that perhaps WoW isn’t the game for you. Why do you want a game that was designed to require player interaction in order to be successful to turn into a single player game when you have a plethora of single player games availabe to you?
I agree, which is why my post was speculative and not dismissive. I see the value in what you’re proposing for some scenarios but my concern is that it will become the preferred way to play, even in situations where there are enough people who could run a dungeon.
The way the game works right now is that you have to group in order to progress on those quests. If you give people an option to not group, they’ll always take it… because it’s more convenient.
That’s not always a good thing.
The question I’m asking you though is, if you can accept that a core premise of WoW is built around grouping, is there a way to find a middle ground where you’re given incentive to group when possible, but have another path available to you when it’s not possible?
1 Like
You don’t get much loot at all. It is personal loot.
Makes sense for retail. I imagine in classic you can balance it by an appropriate global nerf to drop rates, plus accounting for the fact that a moderately skilled group could clear faster, it may be incentive enough to have a PC vs NPC group when you can.
1 Like
Interesting thoughts. Personally I might be convinced to take that a step further and say that in Era you wouldn’t get any xp or loot from the dungeon itself, but you could complete quest objectives.
This would unblock you on quest progression in a scenario where you were unable to find groups, but there would be zero incentive to prefer an NPC group.
I cant say I have much a problem getting groups or raids on any characters, even when SoD shipped day 1 I was able to get groups for both level cap and on leveling characters.
At this point I think Era “lifers” should have at least three 60’s: One tank, one healer and one DPS.
A buddy group of like minded individuals aka friends doesn’t hurt.
2 Likes
It would be nice for practicing roles in SoD.
1 Like
Why play an mmo if you don’t want to play with other people?
1 Like
That’s a red herrings. It’s not about “not playing with people.” It’s about having options.
Playing Retail is your option.
