[Classic] Looking for Dungeon

WoW Community Council

#1 - June 11, 2022, 6:43 p.m.

I am making a thread separate from the Wrath Classic Announcement thread to focus on a specific aspect of the announcement…
The Looking for Dungeon being excluded from Wrath Classic launch.

It has been a major heated topic on the forums and other social platforms that the removal of Looking for Dungeon is a change that not everyone agrees with.

I won’t comment on the quantifiable number of disagreement nor will I give my own opinion on the decision, let’s just say that there is enough disagreement across the Classic community to justify a response from the Blizzard team, whether it is to revise the decision in some way or to provide a long form explanation to the reasoning behind the change.

I have spent no small amount of effort taking notes from the countless threads found in the Burning Crusade Classic Forums, such as Behold Lord Kaivax, the solution to the LFD faction war and This is why you don’t want LFD. I have also made a thread myself in hope of getting as much feedback as possible from the community. I have scoured Reddit, with threads such as So I guess I’m in the minority not wanting LFD in Wrath and Wrath Classic should have LFD.

The main takeaway I got from all of this is that the issue isn’t actually with the LFD in itself, but with the underlying problems that plague Classic, the lack of response from Blizzard on these issues and the decision of completely removing the LFD tool without feedback from the community.
Most people would be perfectly fine with an alternate solution or a limited version of the LFD, but what is really needed is for the issues that LFD would tackle to be fixed.

Some of the major issues with Classic that LFD could help alleviate or fix:

Underpopulated servers access to dungeons
Boosting epidemic
Lack of inclusion because of player agency
58 (70) boost and the lack of social interaction for lower level content
Extremely poor user experience in making or joining a group through the LFG

Additionally, some of the fears from including LFD as is:

Losing the Spirit of Classic
Too much automation
Devaluation of dungeons if made into a grinding experience
Loss of server community
Hurting World PvP

So what can be done?

That’s ultimately the question that I’m here to ask.
Classic Players are worried that these issues that have plagued the entirety of TBC Classic will also ruin WotLK Classic.
There needs to be something done regarding these issues that makes leveling, doing dungeons and playing the game as a whole an underwhelming experience.

Whether it is by improving the current LFG tool, providing a limited version of the LFD, rolling out LFD on a per phase basis, or, dare I say it, retail’s Premade Groups interface, there needs to at least be something done.

“Imperfect action is better than perfect inaction.” - Harry S. Truman

Thank you,
Mispeled.

Keltoras

WoW Developer

#3 - June 21, 2022, 11:05 p.m.

As we all know, there’s an infinite amount of ground to cover on this topic. I’m not sure how much I can say that hasn’t already been said before, but what I can assure you of is that our team is extremely committed to finding good solutions to player concerns that don’t compromise on the things that make Classic loved in the first place.

And speaking of solutions, I’ve come bearing some good news: we are actively developing a brand-new Group Finder UI for Wrath of the Lich King Classic! Here’s a small sneak preview of some of the features we’re aiming to deliver.

New Look, Modern Code: We’ve rebuilt the UI to be easier to read and more inviting than it was in Burning Crusade Classic. Behind the scenes, we’re using our modern Group Finder code, ensuring stability and performance.
Roles: We’re introducing roles into the UI in Wrath Classic. Partial groups can broadcast which slots they have open, and individuals can specify whether they’re willing to tank, heal, deal damage, or do multiple of the above. Roles are intended to expedite communication – not stifle gameplay creativity – so for the moment we’re keeping all roles open to all classes.
Solo Listings and Multiple Activities: We envision this Group Finder as a “bulletin board” where players can list activities they want to do and discover others who want to do the same. To that end, we’re supporting listings from both solo individuals and partially filled groups. And if you can’t decide which dungeon you want to run, that’s okay! You can list yourself for more than one.
Request Invite and Suggest Invite: To smooth out group formation, we’re adding Request Invite and Suggest Invite features. Just remember: a quick “Hey there” is always preferred over a silent and sudden ninja-invite!
The Single Source for Your Group Finding Needs: We’re aiming for this Group Finding UI to be a one-stop shop for all your group-finding needs. To that end, we’re reviving an old rule from the original Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King: sending messages in the Looking for Group chat channel will require being listed in the UI.

You might be thinking, “no one likes restrictions”. In an ideal world, each individual player would build their groups using whatever tools they deem best for the job. However, we’ve observed that group finding is a social coordination problem, and there’s value in funneling everyone through the same system. If we can create a single “source” through which all group finding is done, all players will reap the benefits.

We’re aiming to have our new Group Finder deliver an effective, efficient, and enjoyable group finding experience, and we want the help of you and other players in getting there. We’ll have a fully functional test version of the Group Finder available on day 1 of the Wrath of the Lich King beta.

We look forward to hearing your feedback!

Keltoras

WoW Developer

#6 - June 22, 2022, 2:27 a.m.

We’re planning to require an authenticator to create a listing with custom text, same as mainline WoW. Additionally, if someone is being disruptive or breaking the Code of Conduct, you will always be able to report their listing.

We’ll definitely be watching how the Looking For Group chat channel is utilized going forward, through beta and beyond. The channel still serves a purpose: you can use it to recruit for a niche activity, or post a message if you want to signal boost your group a bit. Our expectation is that the existence of this UI will greatly cut down on the amount of spam in the channel, and hopefully make opting into using the chat channel a better experience for everyone.

I should have mentioned in my original post that the screenshots are very much work-in-progress! We’re already planning some changes, such as combining the Dungeon and Heroic Dungeon category and having better separators within a particular category (e.g. collapsible sub-categories for “Burning Crusade Dungeons” and “Wrath of the Lich King Dungeons”). We also want to have “smart” sorting, so that the search results you’re likely to be looking for are bubbled up to the top.

To your specific questions:

“Request to Join” will push a pop-up to another group’s party leader letting them know about your request. If they accept, you’ll receive an invite to the group. (Side-note: this can also be used outside of the Group Finder, such as if you want to join another party you meet in the world.)
If a listing is already in your search results, you’ll see updates to it as that group changes. If the other players invites a healer, you’ll see that reflected in their group composition. If the the other player delists, the listing will become grayed out and inactive. The Refresh button will pull in brand new listings that weren’t in your original search, but you definitely shouldn’t feel the need to spam it!

Ultimately, screenshots and explanations aren’t a substitute for the feedback we’ll get from real players forming real groups, so we’re eager to get it into your hands as quickly as possible. I believe the term is… Soon™?