WoW: Pug Police- New Dungeon System

Was there ever anything good to be said about pugs in WoW? Blizzard will fix bad pugs and hold our hands the whole way, with the new system?


I must be going for a record of posts in one day. The others actually were ready to be published as I had been meaning to post them for a few days but I had other things in mind. Anyhow, I'm up early with a headache so I figured I'd talk about something that has me feeling grumpy.

In my last post I was very hyped over the new LFG system in WoW. While the little pug pet is nice, some of the changes well... flat out annoy me. If I am going to pug it means what? I either want the pet or need badges and gear right? Both! If I had a guild.. which I am fresh back to the alliance going to be a fresh 80, what do you guys think? I wouldn't need to pug if I wasn't. If I had gear.. you get it. This annoys me on many levels. I will get to this as we progress onward.

I don't know why it took me so long to go over how it is actually going to work. If you haven't seen the changes you can find them on the official site here also.

So here we have the changes:

System Highlights:

• Join as a Group or Solo
• Cross-Realm Instances/Grouping
• Instance Teleporting
• Smarter Group Matching
• Daily Random Dungeons
• Repeat Random Dungeons
• Choose Multiple Dungeons
• Vote Kick system
• Lovin’ the PUG Bonuses
• Looking For Raid
• Need Before Greed Updated
• Group Disenchanting

What's not to like, right?

Most of these are actually great, join as a group, teleport to instance, cross-realm instances and so on. At first glance it looks like pug heaven, however lets go over a few of the not so great changes. I am going to start out with the one that bothers me the most.

Need Before Greed Updated
Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spellpower items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (for example, plate for paladins). All items will still be available via greed rolls should no member be able to use the item as well as the new disenchant option will be available for all parties. 


So, if I come on my Shaman and a cloth or leather is an upgrade, I can't need on these? Nope, I can't. If I am a fresh 80 I am penalized because this is suppose to stop ninja looting. Well what if I'm a Holy and Ret dual spec Paladin, I decide I want to ninja tanking gear, how is this any better? Well I need it in case I want to tank! It's not any better if you ask me. I can need on an item I already have and ninja it if I want! If I can use it I can loot it! What's to stop ninjas on the rest of the items?

Ok, so you say I still can ask another player that won it if I can have it? Well that's kind of why people don't like pugs, people can be real jerks. If they want to be a jerk they simply can tell me "No". And there is nothing I can do. I may to resort to bartering or begging.. no thanks. Or worse, they don't mind but they already chose to disenchant the item instead of the greeding and won it. Doh! This isn't the biggest deal but it really gets under my skin.

At least have the option to need the item but pass to a class that can *only* use that type of armor, if they also roll. If they passed, hit greed or disenchant you could still get the item if you need it. 

I honestly didn't think this was a problem since they added the ability to trade items rolled on by group members for a duration. Wasted time and resources.

Group Disenchanting
Players in a group with an enchanter will now have the option to automatically disenchant any items that are not claimed by a player from within the loot window. Players will have this option available to them in both premade groups and in randomly matched groups. This option is available in any loot system, even if players don’t use the new dungeon tool.

This really wasn't needed. The enchanters are upset. As an enchanter I am neutral on this to be honest. I do see how it would annoy people. Within the first week how many of these shards do you think are going to be in the AH's. There is going to be a flood of them. By the time this first week goes by the vendor value of the item will probably outweigh the cost of the shard.

People are going to be doing massive pugs for the pet if anything. Seriously. Ok, so you have free shards you can offer to enchanters for enchants right? Well now they are so cheap, and people have these mats, they don't want to tip much. Anyhow, I think this was more wasted resources. The prices might bounce back up, it will take some time in my eyes.

Vote Kick
Players who use the system to find additional random members for their party will be afforded a couple of extra conveniences to help them perform well. The loot option is fixed to the updated Need Before Greed option (and unalterable by any member) and players can vote to remove another party member from the group. It will take four votes in order to remove someone, however, so consider this newfound power carefully.

This is just stupid. Nothing else to say on this one.

Smarter Group Matching
The new system will now work to match at least one experienced player for the assigned dungeon with less experienced players in the group. It will more carefully match class types, and will more consistently match players of equal levels for the dungeon chosen. The interface will also allow players to see how many players are looking for groups as well as the average wait time of groups that the tool has formed.

Once again wasted resources. Why? For example player A has the achievement for instance X. Player B doesn't, however they have a main they have run in  instance X 100 times. Player A went through it once but appears to have more experience. Oh, player A knows what to do! Player A didn't really pay attention, luckily player B knows! Yeah, real smart. What does this even matter? If it was really a smart mechanic it would look on achievements across the account... /facepalm.

Conclusion
There are so many other things I could think on that need attention more than these. While I may seem like I am over analyzing the changes, do we really need all this, in the end why is it being more streamlined? Do we need to be penalized because someone might ninja loot an item?! It is not fool proof.

I really like some of these changes but it just dampens my mood with the ones I don't. Simply put, as someone who is leveling a fresh char to 80, a hybrid caster at that, I'm very put off.  Just some thoughts, I don't like being forced into doing things a set way. As a player I'd like a choice in some matters when it comes to my games. This on top of the instances being released  in a 'gated' manner, well it takes some of that choice away from players. That isn't a big concern for me, though it is for others. Do we really need a game where everything is 'policed'? 

/rant off
-kaozz