The new World of Warcraft Dungeon Finder system was released with patch 3.3 yesterday, and it is a much needed improvement on the previous Looking For Group system. Unlike the old system, DF does not require constant attention by the party leader to seek out that elusive tank or healer to fill out the group before going to the instance. Instead, each person places himself in the queue for a particular role. Once DF has matched up a full, balanced group, you are prompted to enter the dungeon in a similar fashion to the Battlegrounds queue.

Also similar to the Battlegrounds queue, the DF system works across the entire battlegroup. The battlegroup is a cluster of 10-20 servers, vastly increasing the available player pool to find group mates. This makes matchups happen more quickly and the automatic matchmaking system insures you have a balanced group. Once you are in the instance, it operates just like the old instances, except for the reward system for doing random dungeons.

The reward system grants bonus money, experience and special Emblems as an incentive to use the random dungeon system to find groups. As a level 74, my first run of the day got me 14g, 33,100 xp (about 1.5 times a normal quest) and 2 Emblems of Triumph. Those emblems are currency for some exceptionally good equipment once I hit level 80.

This new system, as amazing as it is, does have its flaws. I tried three DF groups last night with only 1 ending in a successful dungeon run.

My first run was a run through Drak’Thalon Keep where I ran as a healer on my 74 Restoration Shaman. The group ran through DK just fine and upon completion, I was teleported back to Dalaran, which was my location prior to entering the dungeon.

My second attempt was trying to enter DF as a group with a 73 Rogue. Even that 1 level disparity was enough to block us from entering most of the dungeons I was allowed to enter on the previous run. Drak’Thalon Keep, Violet Hold, Azjol-Nerub and others were off limits due to the 73 in the group. I can attest, however, that this particular 73 can easily hold his own above his level. On a particularly odd note, even Utgarde Keep was marked off limits with a message indicating it was due to him. Not only has he already run UK before, but if either of us would block us from UK, it should’ve been me at 74. In the end, he left before we were able to find a dungeon.

My third attempt was another solo attempt that got an Azjol-Nerub run within 5 minutes, but locked up shortly after. At the AN loading screen, the game stalled until I was kicked back to Dalaran. However, I was still in my party and upon leaving the party I was given the Deserter debuff. This debuff is a disincentive to leave groups before the run is over and prevents you from joining DF for 15 minutes. I am all for this system, except when I am given it after being kicked from the dungeon.

Once these kinks are worked out, this system will improve the game in many ways. I know I will be running a lot more instances through this system than I ever would have with the older system. It makes it as easy as Battlegrounds to get in queue and then go about your normal business waiting on the group to form. I think Blizzard has done some great work here that keeps World of Warcraft fresh and keeps advancing the game.

Now, where is my aesthetics gear?

It’s now been over a week since I updated this site, and about as long on any tweets, and the reason is simple – World of Warcraft. After Will got the game recently, my group has been more focused than ever on having some fun in that game. We are mostly currently in our early-mid 20s, hunting through Redridge Mountains and frequently running dungeons. This character (Eromar, my Draenei Shaman), is my first character to really spend a lot of time in the instances. We’ve already run Deadmines and Wailing Caverns, and plan to run Deadmines again tomorrow and Blackfathom Deeps on Monday.

Playing a Shaman is a bit of a new experience for me. The only previous characters that I got above 15 were a Warlock, Warrior and my current main, a Paladin. The Shaman plays like none of those, instead focusing on totems and buffs to enhance the group. It is a lot of fun and I’m thoroughly enjoying this group. At the moment, we have a feral Druid, protection Warrior, combat Rogue, holy Priest, enhancement Shaman and retribution Paladin. We also have a few other characters in this range, but that seems to be our main group. However, I think the retribution Paladin will be making a Warlock soon to provide crowd control and debuffs. There is also another Rogue in our group of friends, but he is in his late 30s, so we don’t group with him yet.

These dungeon runs gave the game a whole new life for me. I’ve run dungeons before on my Paladin, but not many, and not with a reliable group of people. Knowing everyone in the group and running dungeons is a lot of fun, and it is an experience I wish I would’ve done years ago. The game is easy to solo, and fun that way, but running dungeons is much more interesting. I can’t wait until this group gets higher and more dungeons open up. The end game dungeons are a hell of a lot of fun.

As of last night, I switched Bargas, my level 65 paladin, over to the Proudmoore realm. I originally went to Stonemaul due to a friend being on there, but I have not grouped with him since I was level 33, and mostly just solo or find random groups. A few other friends are all on Proudmoore, which is a non PVP realm, and I finally decided to make the move. It cost $25 and took about an hour to complete (much less than the 3 days Blizzard said it could take), but I think it was well worth it. I don’t like playing on a PVP realm – it is just no fun to be hunting and questing and suddenly get ganked by a level 80 who is bored.

This group that I am going to join now has a 70 Deathknight, 60 Hunter and 62 Paladin, which is much better than the Stonemaul realm, where I had almost nobody to group with. This might get me back into World of Warcraft much more solidly, since the fear of ganking is now gone.

A few months ago, I made my first Death Knight in World of Warcraft. My previous character was a level 55 Paladin (now 61, I haven’t played a whole lot in this time), and the transition to a Death Knight was pretty frustrating. It felt really weak. I couldn’t last in fights without needing a heal immediately afterwards, and I felt like a 55 Paladin to a 55 Death Knight was a kick in the nuts. I put in about two hours and stopped playing, and only today did I finally go back and play that particular character again.

This Death Knight is a dwarf named Dundabi (Proudmoore server), who is now a 58 Blood Death Knight. I’m still not super thrilled with him, mostly due to the lack of moves available. The opening area was designed to rapidly get you up to speed. You start at 55, and before you leave, you get 46 talent points to spend, and as soon as you leave, you get pretty much all flight points in Azeroth (except Northrend). The one area that wasn’t fully set up was the move set. I still only have about 8 moves, which is pretty minimal, considering I am level 58.

I don’t know how much more I will play that character. I really want to bring my Paladin up to level 80. I’m used to the Paladin, and take more pride in the Paladin than the Death Knight. Sure, in order to even get a Death Knight, that means I got to level 55 somewhere else, but it still just feels a bit cheap – I’ve put less than five hours into that character, and he is on the verge of going to Outland.

One good thing I can say though, the starting area was really well done. I didn’t like the ship cannon or wyrm missions, the controls and UI seemed half assed, but when I was playing normally, it was fun. The missions were well designed, the phased zones were really cool, and I felt like a true part of the Scourge. The ending scene also did a good job starting off the story of the Death Knights. The only mission I didn’t enjoy (except for the two I mentioned) was the one where you had to fend off some enemies while an allied Death Knight held up an anti-magic shield. I had to stay inside the shield, or suffer really strong magic damage, but anytime I tried to click an enemy, it would activate the shield and I’d start talking to that Death Knight. I am a control whore, and that little flaw irritated the hell out of me.

After a damn long journey, my paladin has finally hit level 60. I’m still 20 levels away from end game and all the fun involved in that, but I’m proud of myself. I am too often the type who jumps from game to game and character to character so rapidly that I could never pass the low levels (prior to this, my highest was 24). I have an epic mount, I am hunting Outland, and I respecced to a protection paladin so I can tank dungeons.

Let’s hope I can keep this up and hit 80.

My Human paladin Bargas has finally reached level 58 and I can enter Outland for the first time. I’ve never been to Outland, because as I said in my last post about this particular character, this 58 paladin is the farthest I have gotten in any MMORPG, but a pretty long margin.

I’m glad to finally be here, but part of me wishes the level cap was still at 60. I’ve begun to get pieces of the Lightforge armor set, which was one of the endgame sets of armor before Burning Crusade moved the level cap to 70. If the cap was still at 60, I’d focus on getting this gear, but with it up to 80, I’m afraid that by the time I get all of the gear, I’ll be far past it’s usefulness.

Right after getting into Outland, I got into a fight with a level 61 Orc warrior. It was me and a 58 Night Elf death knight versus him. The death knight was killed fairly early, and it was down to me and the Orc. I used divine shield to protect myself for a bit and heal up, a luxury he didn’t have, but he still killed me. However… he died at the very end. I think that with the final blow that killed me, my retribution aura finished him off.

I’ll be glad to explore Outland, and even more glad when I finally reach 80 – that way I can begin to get a set of endgame gear without fear of outgrowing it before I even finish the set.

I finally hit level 55 on my human Paladin (Bargas, on the Stonemaul server) in World of Warcraft and I can now make a death knight. This is by far the furthest I’ve ever gotten in an MMORPG. I’ve played quite a few, but typically stop playing each character pretty quickly, and never get too far.

The deathknight will be on the Proudmore server, and once I create it, I’ll post more details.

Update: Dwarven deathknight Dundabi!