RIO doesn’t measure if you PUG or play with a small group of friends. It only measures what M+ dungeons you have done and what your best run for each dungeon was. I do most of my M+ runs with a small group of friends, some of whom play once or twice a week only. Neither their nor my score is negatively affected by this.
If someone only runs one or two of the same dungeons, because they are the easiest, or because that is where desirable loot drops, they will have a lower score. But that is an accurate reflection of their experience: they only have experience with those two dungeons. The RIO add on (as well as the site) does show a person’s best run for a dungeon. So if you are an expert at running Freehold and have timed a bunch of +15s there, you’d probably have a better chance to get in a FH +15 group than someone whose best FH run was a +10 even if their overall score is higher.
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There is something else that often gets overlooked in RIO debates:
When you post a +10 key, you get a lot of applications. Sometimes dozens of them. Getting declined isn’t always because of the RIO score, but it’s probably as often because someone doesn’t play the class that the group leader is looking for. Or there are simply so many applications that even if you’re a rogue or a resto druid, you still get declined because there are ten other resto druids and rogues signed up. Plus, not all classes are equally desirable for M+, which is additionally affected by the specific dungeon and the weekly affixes.
The addon “Premade Groups Filter” shows what classes are in a partial group already. I find this very useful when I apply as a dps. If a M+ group already has a ranged dps, I don’t apply, because most likely they only look for another melee dps or two.
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Just my point of view , each and every iteration of gearscore/ilevel/RIO just puts me off of even trying to do anything related to dungeons or raids so I don’t do them.
its the old do you have experience and if you don’t ,well get stuffed attitude.
Follows by how do you get experience if people will bypass you with a scroll of your name via an add on even if you’re trying to make your own group.
Its a people problem not an add on problem.
So I won’t even try , don’t have friends to play with I just play this as the lone wanderer I may talk occasionally to people. My Argent Dawn guild is lovely but I have been turned off of dungeons years ago I will maybe level alts up until 80 via dungeons but that’s pretty much it.
and I’m annoyed that I have to LFR for Wrathion questline I really can’t be arsed with the queue waiting guess I’d do that 2 expansions from now.
footnote: I won’t even bother trying to apply for mythics. never have and zero intention I will wait until my tank can solo the darn thing.
haha if you are getting declined it means you’re trying to join somewhat decent rio groups to get boosted. mamma mia
I joined this M+ season late, because I took a break shortly before 8.2 came out. When I came back, I didn’t want to straight up ask my friends to do some runs with me. So I had no current score. To build up one, I joined sub +10 runs, where RIO only rarely is checked or asked, even though gear upgrades weren’t really available there. I did it to gain experience and the score, before I started to run again with my friends. If you run every dungeon at +9, you are already close to a 1k score.
This isn’t different from how this works in real life. Most people don’t start their career as an experienced higher manager or a CEO. They start much closer to the bottom of the rug in an entry position. It isn’t paid terribly well and it may not be what you really want to do, but you gain experience by doing it and it will help you later with getting the jobs and work that you do want.
As for friends, I still mostly play with people I befriended in the game nearly fifteen years ago, but there are now activity-centered communities that help with finding people who have similar goals (e.g. learning M+). You can also reach out to people here on the forum; I think many of us here would not be opposed to helping with a lower key. If you play with someone who seems nice, whisper them and ask them if they want to do more dungeons together. I realize this isn’t easy for everyone, so some of the other options work better.
RIO/etc. is only really a factor if people with no experience expect to get taken along for a +10 or higher run where the best loot drops. That is where folks get more selective, but I’m confident that 90% of the M+ groups in the LFG tool for +2-8 groups do not require a RIO score (maybe +9 do because it’s so close to a +10 key).
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It might not be the alternative you seek, but I think that one good alternative would be to give people the deserter debuff for deserting keys.
I did an island expo a few weeks ago, and the minimap bugged out for the other 2 players. They thought I was AFK on the boat, and they kicked me while I was in the middle of killing a rare mob. I whispered them to find out why they kicked me, because I had a 30minute deserter debuff from it.
If this debuff is slapped on someone who did not desert at all, then why isn’t it slapped on people who desert keystone dungeons?
I think it should give a person a 1 hour deserter debuff for leaving a level 1 dungeon. and then an extra 30 minutes for each level thereafter. so 1 hour 30 for leaving a level 2 dungeon. 2 hours for leaving a level 3 dungeon and so on.
If players are forced to complete the dungeons, yes there will be some fail groups where people are paired with less capable players, but they will learn and improve. This gradual improvement of all, will result in keys not being “broken”.
Also, elitists would then be forced to play with other players, and stop being so elitist.
For most people, it doesn’t matter if a dungeon is done in time, they just want to complete the run. But those who like raider-io scores quit runs which will not complete in time, then jump straight into someone else’s key and go around breaking keys without penalty.
People say raider-io shows a player’s capability? no, it shows their luck.
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What’s the point of forcing people to play with others if they don’t want to? That is what creates toxicity and resentment. If someone with a 2k RIO score looks for other 2k people to do a +10 key with, why is that a problem? It’s their key and if they want to set excessive requirements for it and make it harder to find people, that doesn’t really affect anyone. You can’t force them to run their key with people who have a 1k or 1.2k score if that is not what they want to do. If you tried, they’d be upset.
This isn’t just about RIO. Yesterday I still didn’t have my weekly Mechagon run for the essence, so I opened the tool and deliberately looked for groups that required an item level of 430 because I didn’t have much time and didn’t want to wipe or spend 2+ hours in there. The dungeon only drops 415, so 430+ was an excessive requirement. Was this “elitist” of me? Or of the tank who did post the 430+ group I eventually joined and one-shot the dungeon with? They probably also just wanted to get it quickly done because it was already Tuesday.
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So the difference between players who are able to push +10, +15, +20 to players who aren’t even able to push +10 is luck? lol… keep going with your logic. 
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if someone has a 2k score, they clearly have a set team to run with lol
I wonder if you even know what logic means…
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I get it now. Since you’re incapable to manage things by yourself you want to FORCE others to play with you, cause your pride just can’t let you out of your high horse - “WAAAA people don’t want to play with me, force them to PAPA BLIZZ”. Pathetic, and I hoped you’re just trolling.
I think your player category is Entitlist. Right next to some titanforge lover.
PS. Call me elitist if you want, from you it sounds like compliment.
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what planet are you on?
is it so hard for you to believe that I can do dungeons just fine, and that I am speaking because I believe that this addon hinders the progress of OTHERS
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Oh yea, let’s all speak for others - how noble.
Makes sense 
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You’re trying to force people into awkward solutions because you can’t put up with the way people measure you and want any form of reasonable judgement removed from the game so you pleb get carried so yeah I’m pretty sure I know what logic means and I’m trying to follow your kind of absurd logic.
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Why not? Why is it so hard to look from the other side? I have my own M+ group. I finish at the moment weekly a +16 and time +15’s. I am not even aware of my own current score anymore.
Is it really an issue for them? No clue. Then we argue about something that is potentially not an issue.
Under +10 it is well known that faaaar from all groups look at rio. It is also known that many (if not most) players don’t do 10s or higher.
Who are they argueing for?
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Yeah, this add on is sad, designed for people who don’t know how to make their own groups.
Just like people who can’t play the game and dl kazillion add ons to have a voice explaining to them to not stand in fire.
Just amazing.
Ok, blizz removed this addon. What’s next?
How can you garantee my teammate “KillerProx3000” is a good player? How can i check him? Did he clear all m+10 in time? Did he have exp in any keys above 10? Should i check his profile?
You are all saying remove\ban\delete and etc but you’re all have never said anything about what we should use next.
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Well, the thing you guys don’t seem to understand is that a great deal of players do not want to come to these forums because if they or their ideas don’t fit into the status quo, ^ this is what happens.
I am being collectively patrolled here. No need for it.
measure me?
I don’t bother to do dungeons so often. I don’t particularly care about chasing a raider-io score in order to be able to achieve a level 15 dungeon, which bares no better reward than a level 10.
I gear up from raiding, I spec my character for raiding. I don’t need dungeons. But many players in my guild do need dungeons, and raider-io prevents them from being able to get into groups when they cannot make guild groups. It hinders their progress. Which in turn hinders my guild’s progress.
Personally, raider-io does not affect my own game-play. It did at one point, and that is why I can sympathise with those who are still held back by raider-io.
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You were perfectly able to +2 several 5 keys and +1 a 6 key in season 2, I wonder what has changed in Season 3. (Resto druids are still kings in m+ btw). Possibly the fact you didn’t have gear progress since then.
Anyway, a single rio hate post, no replies in thread, obvious troll.
