Comments on: ZG, ZA and Wouldn’t it be Cool if there were 5 Mans that Felt like Raids

By: Ophelie

Ophelie — Tue, 03 May 2011 22:39:56 +0000

Yes! That’s exactly what I was going for!

I wouldn’t want 10s and 25s to go to the wayside, but I’d love having the option of an epic 5 man, just for fun.

By: Ophelie

Ophelie — Tue, 03 May 2011 22:37:01 +0000

I wonder how much our time of entry to the game (and our perceptions of the game at that time) affects our perception of the current game. I pugged my way through Vanilla, on my own, and while I was pretty complacent about it and I really enjoyed the exploration factor, I was annoyed at how they’d take 4+ hours to pug and that you’d spend more time replacing players than you did actually fighting monsters. As a result, I find that Cataclysm instances, with their 45 min runs, their LFD and their quick run backs are quite nice! And I like that they still have a bit of that exploration factor, without being maze-like and confusing.

By: Ophelie

Ophelie — Tue, 03 May 2011 21:31:49 +0000

Yeah, it probably isn’t too bad to tank if you know what you’re doing. I didn’t have a clue! I was much happier healing. (And even then, I ended failing and dying.)

I can really see how people would drop group a lot. Even in regular heroics, I find that players are quick to claim “fail group”, even they are the one making the mistake. So I can only imagine what the harder instances are like. I was very thankful our DK was so patient and stuck with us until the end.

By: Saif

Saif — Tue, 03 May 2011 11:44:20 +0000

Absolutely agree – and the nerfs are already hitting (some well deserved, but I hope they don’t down-town it too much).

I actually completed my first run of Z’A on my warlock who’s not epic’d out or anything, and my crazily geared tank did it much later.

Now that I know both instances, they both take ~1 hour or so, not much longer. And the difficulty level is fantastic – it does feel like a mini-raid and I appreciate it all the more for it.

More of this sort of tiered dungeon content, IMO!

By: Saeadame

Saeadame — Tue, 03 May 2011 06:05:52 +0000

Just going to say I would LOVE a 5-man “raid.” I don’t have time to raid with my guild anymore, but I like the people so much that I hang around as a social member. Because it’s a fairly hardcore progression guild, the time commitment is just too much. But what about a 5-man dungeon that takes, say, 3-4 hours to complete by a good group and resets every week? Something that requires the same level of coordination from the team as a raid (though, easier because there’s less people, I’ll grant you). Probably wouldn’t drop the same level of loot, I guess, since a 5-man no matter how difficult is perceived as easier than a 10 or 25 man group but… I would love that. I can’t set aside 3-4 nights a week to raid with my guild, but I could definitely set aside one night a week to get a raid-like experience with me and 4 other guildies.

Sounds amazing…

By: Big

Big — Tue, 03 May 2011 02:17:29 +0000

I guess you’re right Ophelie. I don’t have to run them. Tbh, I don’t run them anymore. Between raiding and trying to meet weekly Valor point caps, it’s too much of a time sink for me. Sorry to of gotten so Emo about these heroics. I guess I’m a wrath baby at heart.

By: Gameldar

Gameldar — Tue, 03 May 2011 02:03:32 +0000

Actually I find the first boss in ZG is more a pain for the dps – it’s the linking that kills people in general. Tanking is easy – you just need to watch for the breath and run through him (and have no melee standing next to you to die) – you can run pretty early and it’ll be fine. The other tip is don’t try and tank him too close to the stairs – there is poison on the stairs that kills as well. Although I’m sure it has some bugs as I got killed by poison a couple of times when I was clearly not standing in it.

But I agree in general (haven’t done ZA yet… and haven’t managed to down Jindo – ran out of time and I had to go after our first attempt) – once the mechanics are mastered the dungeons aren’t too difficult.

I think people have it in their head that they are harder than they are – I cycled through about 8 healers on my second run of ZG (including a healer that drop group on the raptor boss thinking they couldn’t handle it because players kept dieing… that is a mechanic people!!!)

By: Ophelie

Ophelie — Tue, 03 May 2011 01:23:17 +0000

They’re only 45 minutes once you’re familiar with them (with the exception of the new ones and maybe Deadmines). And why do you “have” to run them? If you don’t feel like it, or you’re tired, then don’t. Once you get really into raiding (which you are), there’s nothing worth getting out of heroics.

By: Big

Big — Tue, 03 May 2011 00:32:07 +0000

I for one hate the new design of dungeons period in Cataclysm. They take too long to complete and the difficulty has nothing to do with that. Make instances hard but make them shorter. I can’t spend 2 hours running a 5 man “raid” when I have a REAL raid to run in the same night. So for a player like me these new dungeons aren’t even an option. I’m not a hardcore raider (only 12/12 normal) but I don’t like coming out of a real raid and then having to run a dungeon that is just as tough as the raid I just got out of. Make the instances shorter. Less trash and less bosses. Dungeons shouldn’t take this long to run. Not fun imo.

By: The Daily Quest: You want me to take you where?

The Daily Quest: You want me to take you where? — Mon, 02 May 2011 23:13:59 +0000

[...] In the wake of 4.1, The Bossy Pally ponders the potential coolness of 5-mans that feel like raids. [...]