The early take on LFD

We all have an opinion on this one and they are usually one of these.

I love the new heroics, they are a real challenge.
The new heroics are easy really and this will weed out the bad players.
I hate the new heroics they are too hard.
I hate the new heroics, it is impossible to find a random group that can do them.
I think they have potential.

I probably would fit into the fifth option, I think they have potential, but currently I have to go with the I hate the new heroics because you can not find a random group of people that can do them.  If I go with guild mates they can still be a challenge but they can get done in time. 

If I go in a random, unless the other 4 people know each other and I can pick up on their pattern of play quickly, it will be a complete and total failure.  Notice that I even said it could be my fault.  I am extremely far from perfect.  Knowing what other people will do it almost as important as the game mechanics sometimes.

Example.  If I am in a group and people know I always throw a trap for the healer they will not waste time with a sheep.  If I am in a group that does not know that is what I am going to do then we now have 2 or even possibly 3 DPS going out of their way to help the healer.  This is a waste of DPS, a waste of time and can cause a wipe.  You see that, a wipe because people where doing the right thing, saving the healer.

That is where the biggest issue with heroics are now.  You can put a group of five random people together.  All five of those people can be great players.  The random will still fail.  Simple as that.  Hence the reason most people hate the LFD system right now and I actually agree with them.

However...

That is not why I dislike the LFD system now.  I hate them for a completely different reason then anyone I have seen has mentioned.  Even for normals, which I've had no issues with failure as most people can handle them, I hate the LFD system now. 

I have no problem what so ever spending and hour and a half to two hours with guild mates in a dungeon.  I have no problem with spending an hour and a half to two hours training people that have never been there that I know.

What I have an issue with is spending an hour and a half to two hours with four other people I do not know and will most likely never see again.  The LFD is just to get some points and maybe some gear and that is it.  It is not to make friendships.  It is not to learn mechanics.  It is not to get better at playing my role.  It is for quick and easy gear. 

I hate the new LFD with a passion.  I do not care if it is the smoothest run ever in the history of wow.  It is still going to take time.  Time that is a waste even if it is easy.  It is not about dungeon difficulty.  Hard or easy doesn't even register in my assessment.  It is about the fact that I do not want to spend all that time with random people I don't know and don't care about. 

Add to the fact that I keep getting Shaman healers rolling on my gear.  If you want to roll on Enhancement gear then query up as Enhancement.  I lost the same boots twice to a Restoration Shaman.  See what I mean about running with people you do not know?  Even the best players are complete and total assholes most of the time.  There is no accountability for people.  They know they will never see me again so they can ninja all they want.

Because of reasons like that I want to spend as little time as possible with these people.  The time it takes to do dungeons is horrendous.  Even the hardest dungeon in the world should take no more then 30-40 minutes.

Do not say "run with your guild" either.  I run with my guild but I also run on my own.  I am not going to sit around waiting for guild mates to come on.  I will run on my own and then if they need me later I will also run with them.  Not to mention I have more then one character.

Time is now a huge consideration.  Once I finish my dailies and run a dungeon the best case scenario is 2 hours have passed.  Admittedly I play more then that but what about the people that don't?  Not everyone can be on that long each day. 

The time it takes to do these dungeons needs to be greatly decreased.  How they do it I do not care.  Make the trash have less life so they die faster.  Lower the bosses life so they go down faster.  Remove trash completely and just make it boss after boss like ToC.  I do not care.  I just do not want to spend 2 hours running with some asshole shaman that is going to steal my boots any more.  I would not mind at all if it was a 30 minute run.  I can spam randoms until I get it again and then I will win next time. However at 2 hours per run I can not do that. There is just not enough time in the day even if I quit my job to spam dungeons all day long when they take forever to do.

Raiding should take time.  Dungeons should not.

This has nothing to do with difficulty.  This has to do with time.

LFD needs to be fixed.  The dungeons need to be reduced in the time required to do them.

Some other reasons for why the time needs to be reduced.

1) There is a 40 minute wait to begin with.  Add a 2 hour run and that is 2 hours and 40 minutes.  Not acceptable.
2) If you happen to hook up with a group of friends in the random you can get kicked for any reason at all meaning you wasted all that time.
3) Being they take so long getting kicked just because your class can roll on gear someone else needs is common.
4) No such thing as offspec and main spec any more when people wait forever to get in and the runs take forever.  They roll need on anything that the button allowed them to hit need on.
5) Turn over in dungeons is crazy because they take so long.  I've never been in a dungeon before where you had no wipes and you still went through 15 people to complete it until now.
6) People dropping just because they do not like the dungeon is even more common now being they know it will be 2 hours instead of 15 minutes in a dungeon they hate.
7) Having to explain the same boss tactics over and over because people drop after one wipe and the new people don't know either gets annoying.

Again I say it.  I've no problems with difficulty.  I have huge issues with time management.  Dungeons need to be shorter.  Let me get my points and my loot and be on my way.  There are much better things to do in the game then spend 2 hours with people you do not know and most likely will never see again.

Time will fix some of these problems.  As people know the encounters better they will get easier which in turn means faster.  As people get more gear they will blow through things quicker as well.  In a matter of a month no one will be mentioning CC any more because everything will die to quickly to care and that will speed things up.  Some dungeons like ToT will turn into less then 30 minutes runs, it is already less then 30 minutes on normal but others are just going to take time no matter what.  Those are the ones that need adjusting.  Remove the fluff put there just to make it more challenging.  Challenging is fun.  Challenging for the sake of making it take longer is not.

Okay, grumpiness time is over.  I now return you to your regular programming.