I’m new to this game; I’ve been playing on and off since january. I got 2 level 70 characters. I’m enjoying it so far, whoever I’m extremely confused about dungeons.
Whenever I hit a new level I unlock a new one, but I don’t know what they are for or how to get in there.
I’ve played other MMO’s where dungeons where necessary to level and unlock new features, but they don’t seem to be obligatory in WoW. Am I missing something??
As a rule of thumb, that has exceptions, dungeons are 5 man group content that cap the story line for some zones and raids are 10/20 man group content that wrap up the story lines for an expansion. You basically fight through packs of elite mobs and a series of sub bosses to a final boss.
They often come in normal and heroic (more difficult) modes. towards end game, raid also come in mythic difficulty with “keys” that set various levels of difficulty.
People run them to get “phat loots” and gear for transog or sale on the AH. Some are run for profession recipes or reputation with some faction.
A five man dungeon group consists of:
- One Tank, Who typically leads the group. this job is to pull mobs and initiate the fight and keep all the mobs beating on them.
- One Healer, whose primary job is to keep the tank alive and the other members only if he can afford the resources without getting the tank killed.
- Three DPS to burn down the mobs attacking the tank and to not do anything stupid that would need healing like standing in fire.
A raid will have a main tank and healer, possibly 1-2 additional tanks and/or healers, and the rest will be dps.
Guilds will often conduct raids or dungeon runs and form their own groups but that is more likely at end game than while you are leveling.
Most people use the Looking For Group (LFG)/Goup Finder tool. It’s the green circle/eyeball icon on your mini menu bar.
To enter a dungeon, select dungeon and your role. (tank, Healer, or damage dealer). You can pick either a specific dungeon or opt for a random dungeon. The first few runs of a random dungeon each week will also give you a Satchel of Useful Goods which typically contains a piece of gear usable by your class.
Once you hit enter, you go into a queue and the system will form a group from folks from all realms and port you to the dungeon. You may occasionally be ported to a dungeon run that is in progress if one of that runs players dropped group.
Tanks and Healers have relatively short queue times, DPS are long queue times. Most folks quest or fish while waiting for the group to pop.
Prot warriors queue as tanks, fury and arms are dps. As fury, just follow the tank and beat on whatever he’s attacking.
Finally, many people run dungeons they have outleveled for gold, mounts, pets, and transmog items. If you are 10 of fewer levels of the dungeon level, you get personal loot for gear drops which is just gear usable by your class. If a mob has no gear on it’s current loot table for your class, you get no gear. Once you are 11 levels or higher than the dungeon, you get group loot which includes all gear on the loot current table egardless of class.
At 71, you could solo many/most 1-60 dungeons. I would recommend changing your spec to Protect - the tanking spec, uses 1 hander and shield - for solo runs though unless you are quite a bit more higher level than the dungeon.
EDIT: Most dungeons also have a one time series of quests at the beginning or within the dungeon that award considerable xp ans nice loot.
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Dungeon content is somewhat optional, especially while leveling up. If the idea of beating up monsters with a group of people appeals to you, then they are a great thing to try out. Some people prefer that to solo questing while others prefer solo questing. (And then some people like a mix of both to spice thing up.)
When you start getting to Legion content (98-110) dungeons are baked a little heavier into the story. Not doing them won’t stop your progress while leveling, though. At this point, they also added a lot of dungeon quests for various profesions, so maxing out your Legion professions will require dungeons in most cases. They’re also required for the class hall questline, although, again, that’s not required for leveling, and you can go back at 120 and solo most of the stuff to see the story.
While you can form manual groups and walk to the dungeon entrance to run them at any level above a dungeon’s minimum, using the LFD tool requires you to be in the appropriate level range for a dungeon. Once you level past that, LFD will no longer be an option. (At that point, most people will wait until they’ve leveled high enough to solo them, but if you’ve got some friends willing to run the dungeon with you, that works too.)
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Hi Jezabe!
Welcome to WoW, dungeons aren’t necessary but are pretty fun to participate in.
I’m new too and like 27 days ago I asked the same question as you as at 120 there are some dungeon quests tied into the lore of each map which you need to complete to get the game whole storyline.
Having since participated in dungeons since then I can assure you they’re much more fun and easier than I imagined (and probably the same for you, especially if you have heirlooms). In the LFD honestly I had read up more on how to handle bosses than some of the other DPS.
I’d say it is very optional for you now but down the line 100% worth doing.
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Thank you all for the answers!! Definitely helped me a lot! 
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