The first thing I did when reading about the new LFR tool that would work like LFD, but on a 25 man scale is punch myself right in the throat, with a quick knock to the nuts. Why you ask? So I would be adequately prepared for the pain that this feature will be bringing to WoW. I think a car battery hooked to my tongue would also help.
In theory
When you first look at what the LFR is intended to do, it seems like a really good idea. Decent ilvl gear, supplemental tier gear, and the opportunity to raid in an environment that is tuned easier than the existing raids. I support all of these ambitions, and think that ad-hoc raids are an amazing idea. Imagine, being able to learn how raiding works, without being in a guild that raids! Just like the LFD, this tool will give players who want to raid - but can't for whatever reason - the opportunity to do so.
Providing they can survive the asshattery.
I mean, let's be honest. While the LFD is a huge improvement over the 2AM "LF Tank for Daily Heroic" search, you can't do a Google search using the word "fail" without getting 15k hits on LFD nonsense. I am a huge, HUGE, fan of the LFD, though I have to make sure my sanity meter is set to 11 before I start a run of them - especially at the heroic level. My god, can you imagine the epeen crowing that will be taking place here?
What I hope it has
First, I pray that there's an efficient way of getting rid of LolArthasDK tank who is in 333 blues and doesn't know the difference between Death Grip and Death Coil. DPS that can't move from the fire, because that's what healers are for. Etc, etc.
I hope that there are 'teaching' mechanics there, and that it's not just a super nerfed version of some content.
I hope there are rainbows.
Holding out hope
I'm going to hope that Blizzard does this project fairly well, because it does have the potential to be an amazing feature in the game.
I'm honestly expecting nothing but a bunch of reskinned patchwerks with modified loot tables.
ReplyDeleteWhat has LFD given me thus far?
ReplyDeleteLets see:
Overgeared tanks that refuse to stop, respond to chat or even acknowledge the existence of me or my mana bar.
Overgeared DPS that refuse to talk in /p or even acknowledge the existence of the tank.
Undergeared tanks that refuse to chat and have signed up in full greens bar 3 pieces of PVP gear, in Arms/Frost/Balance/Retri spec, and with a blue intellect cloak in their bags to cheese the item level robot.
Undergeared DPS that have learned the Way Of The Bag-Cloak but still fail to comprehend which Buttans do what and when they should press them. They accept that there is chat though, and usually use it to convey their random thoughts of the first time in the instance or scream "HEAL!" the second some random AOE hits them for 5% of their HP pool.
Also on my levelling DPS toons (to be fair, I don't always heal) Healers that managed to scrape through Deadmines at level 15 as feral with one piece of +1 Int gear on and think that that rule still applies at level 82.
And finally, Decent players who are well aware of the chat function but who are so fed up of grinding dungeons for their honor/valor cap that week that they keep their head down and pray it's over as quickly as possible.
And Blizzard want to do this to raids?
/heads to the corner to start rocking back and forth now.
My expectation is that Blizzard allows full groups to queue for LFR, giving you the possibility of bringing some known variables.
ReplyDeleteMy hope is that Blizzard allows a partial raid (10 players?) to queue for LFR.
Either way, I'll try it out just to see 1) How easy - er, 'accessible' - they've made it and 2) How quickly I'll be able to find a few random upgrades.