LFR & New Dungeons: Not a Bad Start

Played on the new patch last night and was able to knock out all three new dungeons and half of the new raid in a total of 4 hours.

Yeap, you read that one right.

Of course, there is a valid reason for the first day going so well and I do not expect to see it continue like that.

I did the dungeons with all guild.  Sure, we get no luck of the draw buff but we get to talk to each other on vent and we can work strategy out and change approaches on the fly like that.  Anything is easier when people can work together like that.

Our guild tank however DCed in the first dungeon so we replaced them.  We ended up with a tank that was okay but not great.  They got us through the first one but I think the only reason they made it was that we where killing things so quick. 

The guild healer was having a hell of a time keeping the tank up, they where kind of squishy.  She even said a few times she did not think she could heal it.  We told her to stick it out and she did and we managed.

We moved directly to the second one, so no valor points from it being it was not a random, but there will always be time for valor later, I wanted to get them all done.  When the tank realized that this was not the same dungeon they dropped group. 

I guess they wanted valor now and where not up just for seeing the new dungeons at the moment.  No big deal really.  Well, almost no big deal, they left mid pull when they noticed, so we wiped.  They could have at least waited until the mobs where down.  Like 20 extra seconds would have really killed them?

The replacement tank was nothing special either.  On one of the trash pulls up to the second boss they died, the healer died and one DPS died leaving me and the mage.  We had one mob almost dead and three more up when it was just us two left but leave it to a mage and a hunter to make that into a "no big deal" situation.  We both have CC and we both know how to play our classes.  We CCed, I turned on my pets growl, and used my glyphed misdirect over and over on my pet and we killed them all.  Now that is what I call fun.

We wiped on the boss.  The tank could not really control the mages.  This is also one of those reasons I love having silencing shot.  I was able to take care of Azshara interrupts and not have to count on someone else to do it.  Sure, I sacrifice some DPS but in the end it really does help sometimes.

We wiped a second time on Azshara and the tank rage quit.  The healer once again started to doubt herself and we told her not to worry, we could do it and she could do it.  We pick up another pug tank and go at it again.

Goes to show you that tanking can sometimes be more then just a meat shield.  The tank held the mobs and never worried about Azshara being I said I got that covered and we downed it nice and easy.  What a difference a tank can make when they do not let mobs go attacking everyone all willy nilly.

That tank stayed with us through that one and the next one and we had no further problems.

Arrow of time dropped, me and the other hunter in the group rolled need on it but neither of us got it.  We where the only people to roll need on it.  Okay, looks like a bug, or looks like we might have moved to the new instance too quickly.  Either way, it is not like I won't be seeing it again hundreds of times.  I'll get it later.

One bug that did annoy me is that I won three BoEs from the new heroics.  All three of them I won with a greed roll, all three are now soulbound.  Excuse me?  Since when are BoEs soulbound even when you win them with a greed roll.  What is the use of a BoE if it is not BoE?  If winning it just makes it soulbound then it is BoP, in my opinion at least.  I am guessing this is just another bug but I do hope they fix it and adjust my already won items so they are no longer soulbound.

After I was done with the three I decided that I would join the raid finder for shits and giggles.  There was one thing I did not count on however.  The minimum item level requirement is 372.  No, I had no problem with that.  I think I was 372 five months ago.  But being I neglected to notice that I also neglected to realize that the only people that would be 372 right now are people that where raiders.  Non raiders would not have a 372 item level or it is unlikely they did unless they spent a butt load of cash on BoEs.

This meant that everyone in the raid was a raider, knew basic raid movements, knew basic raid mechanics seemed to have already learned all the fights the way a real raider would before stepping into a raid.

This meant bosses down and bosses down fast.  I finished my first raid (first four) faster then I finished my first ZA or my first ZG.  Actually, in all honesty, I think the raid in the raid finder was easier then ZA and ZG are even now after we severely over gear them. That might be because of the quality of player that was there.

We did wipe two times but two times in a raid and a raid filled with random people and a raid with no voice communication and a raid where no one explained, they just pulled, is pretty darn awesome.

Goes to show you that if you get 25 actual raiders together and put them in a watered down raid they do not need voice chat and it could be easy.

I do not believe that this will be the results of the raid finder for long.  Right now as I write this there are many really bad player spamming the new heroics getting 378 gear and building up justice points getting more 378 gear and they will have a 372 item level by the time I get home from work.

This means the chances of me getting into groups that do not know what they are doing will go up a lot now.  The only reason the new raid was faceroll was because it was filled with people that "should" be there.  Please, do not take that "should" as being elitist.  The "should" just means people that actually looked at the fights before walking into them and people that did not expect to walk in and get carried to gear.

I still stand by what I always said.  If you need to be told to kill the skull, you do not deserve to be in a raid.  The raid leader skulled the slime he wanted killed, everyone switched instantly without ever even being told.  Raiders do that.  People that "should" be there do that.  After today, and people that just grinded their way up to 372, a whole slew of people that "should not" be there will be there and they will not be switching to the skull.  I am willing to bet you on that.

Maybe I should not be making any bets however.  I've been a little off lately.  When I signed up for the LFR and saw average wait time listed as 30 seconds I laughed and said to people on vent, who wants to bet it takes longer then 30 seconds.  Everyone said they are not taking that bet because there is no way it will only be 30 seconds.  I was wrong, we all where wrong, DPS wait time was indeed 30 seconds.

If I can get raid groups like that and 30 second wait times then I love the new raid finder.  I do not expect it to stay that way for long however.  It sure was nice yesterday, really nice.

Something feels wrong about downing the first four bosses of a raid with no effort on release day.  I could even finished the whole raid in less then 3 hours had it not been getting late and me having to work the next day. 

I know all about seeing content and letting everyone see content and I support that 100%, always have, but this is taking things way to far.  Raid content is supposed to last.  Raid content should not be cleared the first day it comes out in any form, even an easy form, unless you are a hard core raid team.  Raid content, even more so current raid content, should not take less time to complete then the heroics did when cataclysm first came out. 

I know people, many people, that spent more time in deadmines their first time there then it took me to complete half the new raid content and 3 new dungeons.  I could have completeled all the raid content and 3 new dungeons in less them then it took many people to complete deadmines on release day if I did not have work the next day.

As far as patch days go this would have to rank as one of the better patch days I remember.  No server lag, up on time, very few bugs, new content being fluid and not hell or broken.  A lot better then not being able to log on on a Tuesday.

Cataclysm might have been a crappy expansion in my opinion but there is one thing they have greatly improved on this expansion and that is patch day.  Each patch day seems loads better then I remember them being.  I guess something good came out of cataclysm after all.  They finally learned how to release a patch right.

If you had to ask me now I would give the new dungeons and the new raid finder an A+.  Ask me again later when there are people in the raid finder and dungeons that really are not ready to be in them and you will surely see a different answer.

I'll just be happy with last night.  The first time doing dungeons since I quit doing them some months back.  I might actually have to start gearing up some of my alts now.  If things are going to be fun again and if the raid finder is really going to be easy enough that it won't stress me out then I very well might have found something to do to waste 2 hours on instead of sitting around bitching that I have nothing to do in game.

The return of actual content that you could do for fun.  Who would have ever expected that.