Raidfinder is For the Masses

I was thinking a little today about what i want to do with my free time for the next several months.  I know i've mentioned that i want to start two characters within the next few weeks because my girlfriend is going back to school, but now plans got a little delayed.  Program doesnt start until the end of November, so i have at least another month to drill out some raids with her.  yay!  but i still think about the future of wow and about the time where i will be leaving this game.  One thing i find very useful is playing my xbox when i do get the chance.  it brings me a little bit of playing "perspective" from other genres and gives wow a little more life... being that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" or "how can i miss you if you dont go away?" kinda thing.

So when i do play other games, i find that i always end up going back to wow due to two reasons.  First, there's always progression on my characters.  Second, due to this progression, the game is never finished. Contrast this to many of the other games i've played, i played it to the point of the last battle even, and then quit before i reach the end.  it's never the end that really forces me to continue playing. it is always the journey.  and even in wow, level 85 begins a grand new journey that is drastically different from the previous.  from 1 to 85, you're chasing after that experience bar, equiping gear that's appropriate for your level and class.  but at 85, there's no more experience, only gearing.  and some of that gear comes from reputation "experience" or dungeon "experience" (ie. grinding a dungeon for the 10th time for that one last piece of gear) and, finally, currency "experience" where the currency is used to purchase better buffs, potions, upgrades or gear.  in the case of wow, it's gear. upgrading my gun with a scope? no, im replacing it with a boss drop!  see the difference?  not much of a difference at all now is there?

In any case, i am reading up on the 4.3 patch notes today and come across a wide variety of buffs.  Holy priests may be playable again.  beasts and survival hunters are getting a small buff to, hopefully, bring them out from the dps pitts and make them "ok" again.  nothing useful for paladins. etc.

what i do find most appealing is the raid finder tool.  now i dont care to nitpick at any of the minor details just yet (you know, with the whole world is ending if they dont change this or that before they impliment it... chances are, they will change little things here or there to make it whole.  also that whole winged guardian minipet OMG end of the world crap just needs to DIAF).  anyway, raidfinder.  it will be the ultimate weapon of the casuals to do casual things.  all the raiders are complaining and thinking, wtf, it wont work, raids are a complicated logistical mess, is it not?  but hey, if you dont think it's optimal for you, then dont use it.  and who is to say bliz wont design it so that it WILL work with 25 random folks?  somehow us players think it needs to pass the [insert your name here] Seal of Approval before it can be implimented into a game, a game that isnt even ours. we only pay to play it.  but really, bliz has already thought about most of our concerns when this feature does hit.  lower ilevel drop, limited rolls on gear, will not lock you out of the real thing, mechanics will not be as unforgiving as a real raid, etc. heck, if they had this for WotLK i would have used it to kill arthas.  hell yea i would.  break up all the wings into different instances also.  yes. do that. i'd love to raid like that.  anyway.

So this new raidfinder thing sounds great.  more stuff to do for those who are done with the heroic dungeons, have all the vp gear they need, and are ready to do something more, but cannot commit to a guild to raid on a weekly basis.  it's also more stuff to do for those who already have one or two raiding mains and would love to get more of their characters progressed to the point where they can "adequately" stand in for a missing raid member, if needed, without having to run zulroics 40 times in order to do so. 

My horde guild is odd.  no they're not odd. it's just that when i am on, half the people are already in a raid.  that leaves me with nothing to do really.  i ask around sometimes to group with the "leftovers" for a zulroic, or to add to someoen's BH run.  that's about it.  i've only been able to raid with this guild twice ever. and this is only when the moon and stars and planets and all the asteroids allign.  it was on a weekend.  it was on a day they needed an extra player and i had the opportunity to play for 3 hours.  it's difficult to even get to that stage because any extra player would have been filled up fast. but i think those days, i beat someone out on replying. =P  anyway. this gives me and maybe a couple of random stragglers who are online while the main raid is going on to actually get into another raid and kill a few bosses.  gear would be better than what we have but will not be as great as the ones in the normal raid.  fair enough.  i like that.

My alliance guild is also odd. there's two main differences.  one, there's a lot less people, but of those people, everyone has different alts that arent really considered "alts".  they're really co-mains. this guild raids often, and most would take their alts to various raids throughout the week.  this not only gears up their alts, but makes their alts just as geared as their mains.  having two solid mains give them the flexibility to raid several times a week with different compositions, keeping relatively the same core members.  i am not part of that core group since i only raid with them once a week.  for a guild like this, the raidfinder tool really isnt a desirable option for them, unless it becomes an alternative to gearing alts through firelands (t11) to get t12 ready.  i think this will be what they'll use it for. 

So for both types of guilds, and i know there are more types of guilds out there, but at least for the guilds that i am in, random dungeon finder will be beneficial to both groups in two similar but different ways.  Horde guild will have a bunch of mains playing to gear up because it is an alternative to the three new heroics (and they're not part of the raiding core) and alliance guild will use it to better gear up their alts to be raid-ready for their "alt" t12 deathwing raid 2, or raid 3, or however high it goes. 

For the strictly socials, or non "hardcore" players who dont raid, this is an awesome addition.  for the raiding hardcore who have many co-mains, this is also an awesome addition.  For those who have one main and raid exclusively with that main, pushing server firsts and all that, well those people will probably have as much use for it as grinding earthen ring rep.  or something similarly useless. for those who like rep grinds and daily quests, this feature might not be for them.  the vast amount of options at the end game is why wow is so popular still and shows its dedication to cater to a wide array of players.  having a raid finder might not be useful for everyone, but for a lot of people, it's a great feature i am definitely looking forward to using.