So I ve been playing WoW since the start of BFA and I always just played what was fun for me and that happened to always be off meta.
So getting into keys has been an issue for me from the beginning and as pushing keys in M+ is what I mainly do I got really fed up to the point where I stopped doing keys last season and decided to play a Meta spec this season if i could find one thats fun for me.
Now I am playing Ret Paladin and from what i ve seen and heard its currently the best melee or at least among the best melees.
It has the highest melee representation in keys 20 and above and im aware of the fact that this also means theres a lot of competition.
Well i am currently sitting at 2609 rio and 435 ilvl i have a few keys timed on 20 and the rest on 19, so all i can do for score at this point are 20s, however I once again cant get into any keys.
I ve been applying for 2 hours straight now an i havent gotten a single invite, am I that far behind in Ilvl and score or what is the issue here I just dont get it tbh.
Im not expecting insta invites but i thought playing a meta spec would make it easier to get into keys but so far i see literally no difference.
And before people tell me I should run my own key, thats not what this thread is about, its simply about me not understanding why i cant get into keys despite playing a meta spec and being properly geared and not trying to skip several keystone levels or anything.
Anyone who runs hight M+ and has no premades will know how much of a pain it is to run your own key, its simply really ineffective and more often than not you will end up having your key depleted and having wasted your time regardless.
So if anyone has any thughts on that and can really tell me why its so hard to get into those keys, please enlighten me.
At this point im very close to just quitting M+ for good as im tired of wasting several hours of my time every day for just applying.
The role is just so over saturated im afraid theres just too much choice for groups. Which causes a issue. Theres like 150 dps applying to every key.
To add, your not a BL class, meaning sny group sat there almost full, basically is likely not needing your class,
You play the most overplayed role, on the most overplayed class, this isnt going to make queuing irritating. Becaise the likelyhood is tje groups ur applying for already have a ret paladin.
Id recommend running own keys, its generally alot quicker.
See, usually i would agree, however I should mention, Im using a weak Aura that Shows me which classes are already in the group.
Therefore I dont even apply to groups that already have a ret or need Lust or already have 2 melees and probably want a ranged dps.
And about the own Key Thing, Last season for example If i opened a group for a +20 or above tons of ppl were applying as you Said, but thats not the Case anymore right now.
I ve tried building my own group several Times but it really Takes some time, especially finding a Tank or a healer is really difficult, but theres also only a handfull of dps applying Not even enough to make me scroll usually and thats also Something i noticed when being in a group thats Not my own and observing the lfg Tool.
So if i dont get much ppl applying for 20s and above its hard to Imagine other ppl can Pick from dozens of dps.
So i currently have an Uldaman 21 and when i open a group for that key i barely get anyone applying at all, its not even nearly enough to fill the page and make me scroll its like 2-3 ppl at the same time at the most.
And a lot of the ppl that are applying havent even timed 20s or just a few and think that they can get into 21s while i wont even get invited into 20s with having every key on 20 or 19.
I dont invite ppl to 21s that havent even timed the key on 20 or just have a lot of 20s left to time in general and neither do i expect ppl to invite me to 21s with my current progress.
As i have stated before i got a few keys timed on 20 and a few left on 19 and I dont even apply to 21s only to 20s, so I dont see the issue^^
If its my own key then thats a different story, of course I wont downgrade it to a 20 especially since i already have uldaman timed on +20, but as I said I dont expect ppl to invite me into 21s and as a matter of fact they dont even if i was so bold to apply and try to skip the +20 level entirely and so I dont invite ppl like that either.
Since you don’t have your paladin set as your main on Raider IO, I can’t look at your stats to see if this is an issue or not, but here’s my experience and you’ll know if it applies to you.
Something that people look at when deciding who to invite is the number of keys you have timed at 20 and above:
Below 8 is kind of dodgy (you might get invited if the key owner also only has a handful of keys timed, but most are looking for better);
Exactly 8 is a red flag (people will assume you paid for boosts to get the dungeon teleports);
More than 8, especially once you get into the 12 - 15 range or above marks you as most likely a competent player who will be an asset in getting the key timed.
Likewise, people looking for keys to apply to will be looking at the same things. Once I have some timed 20s behind me, I look at the number of 20s the key owner has timed (as well as whether they have the listed key timed or not). I use the same criteria as above to judge whether the key is likely to be completed in time - and whether it’s worth me spending my time on it - or not.
One thing you can do to improve your chances of getting invites is to increase your number of 20 and above timed by applying to keys you already have at 20, where there’s a much higher chance of being accepted. The other thing is to apply to keys that are known to be difficult, especially if the key owner is a lone dps, where there’s also a much higher chance of being accepted.
If you can get a good, fast run on a key that’s considered difficult (so that your best run on the RIO addon is listed as something like NL 20++), your chance of getting into keys jumps dramatically. I recall in the last season of SL, I got lucky with a premade group for my own Upper Karazhan +21. We 2-chested it and having that as my best run got me easy invites for the rest of the season.
Getting a good score as a lone dps is hard, and requires a lot of jumping through hoops, but it’s possible to do. (And I mained feral druid at the end of SL, which was considered near bottom of the barrel for M+ then, so it was exponentially more difficult!)