🚀 go-pugleaf

On Apr 8, 5:13 pm, Neil Cerutti <ne...@norwich.edu> wrote:
> Dungeons that don't depend on there being damage, healers and
> tanks are possible. Portions of Wrath dungeons provide models.

I would extend this to say that most dungeons don't actually require a
tank, a healer and 3 dps in the way way the LFG system currently
works.  Back in the old days, there were lots of times when (usually
in a guild group) going with a high dodge rogue or a Voidwalker or
hunter pet as "tank" when we couldn't be bothered to get a "proper"
one.  I was in an instance the other day where the healer DCed, and we
decided to keep clearing trash until we could get a replacement, I was
tanking as a protadin (using the holy power heal spell whose name I
can't bring to mind and the moonkin druid was sending the odd heal my
way), and we were doing fine 4 manning it like that.  With an
automated LFG system, you can't chose to have a go like that, it's
"standard group nothing".

> For example, the first section of The Trial of the Champion.
> There's also the dragonborne battles in The Oculus, which lets
> players select for roles on the fly, regardless of gear type and
> spec.

The trouble is lots of players don't like vehciles as a mechanic.
Personally I rate vehicle quests as only slightly less bad than old
style escort quests (the new ones seem to be built around having the
escortee on follow which is not nearly as bad as the old fixed route,
fixed speed system).  I only actually did occulus twice (other times
it came up the group fell apart), and neither properly understood what
was going on, nor enjoyed the experienec one bit.

> Incidentally, I speculate that the eventual final battle with
> Deathwing will be dragonborne; it seems the best way to set the
> combat at the proper scale.

If that does happen, there is no way I will do that encounter.

> In short, the vehicle system is robust enough to create any kind
> of non-role-based scenario the designers can dream up. However,
> it would not be a huge improvement for masses of damage role
> queuers to get shafted to a small handful of entirely vehicle
> based dungeons. Some people already everything to do with
> vehicles, in addition to that concern.

The problem with most vehicle mechanics is that every one is slightly
different, and because the mechanics are new, they use intrusive aids
to help you understand what you're supposed to do, making them feel
really dumbed down (but they aren't acutally easy).  The other problem
is that vehciles are often used to kill enemies that are way too tough
to kill on your own.  The trouble is, if you don't learn how to use
your vehicle quickly enough, it gets killed and then you find yourself
in the middle of a huge field full of impossibly tough elite mobs,
stuck in combat so you can't mount up, in a location where there is
nowhere safe to res once you're dead.

> Another application of vehicles would be to make tanking, healing
> and damage vehicles available in instances. A rogue who really
> wants to tank could thus pay Gobblit McSparklebags for a Tankborg
> 2000 SUX and go to town. The downside would be if tanks couldn't
> get into dungeons because the Tankborg was too good. However, the
> Tankborg could be made available only during Call to Arms for
> tanks.

If you're going to have a mechanic where players who have not levelled
a class to learn how to play it and invested time in that particular
play style, then you may as well go the whole way and let players do
paid class changes.  We already have name, race and faction changes,
this is only a small extra step.