please, kindly read the entire article before sharing thoughts, cause otherwise your questions might be already answered by the article itself and not knowing that is making conversations difficult, thank you
There are various issues people have been complaining about since its existence. Most common of them I heard in the recent seasons are affixes, key depletions, World of Waitcraft (queues), leavers, etc.
Recent changes to high keys +12 and above and low keys +2 and +3 are certainly a QOL change, but the issues remain and the satisfaction of players always drops when the season passes its first few weeks. It’s an undeniable fact M+ players who are not pushing it far (more than +10s) are not doing it because of the issues mentioned and they end up leaving the game until next patch comes around.
This is a big problem for not only those people, but the game itself, so resolving it to a considerable extent is a win-win for both players and the company.
My suggestion would not fix all the problems of M+, but it sure will lower the dissatisfaction big time.
How about they add a simple queue, like a dungeon finder but for M+? A dungeon finder was introduced to make it easy for the players to find people to join their groups so they would stop stressing over finding them manually. That was a great addition to the game, but according to people who criticize the addition, the overall MMORPG player base lost a major part of their conversations in the zone chat, thereby the overall soul of the game which are communications between players drastically dropped.
When M+ arrived, it already had a group maker installed, so again, finding players wasn’t achieved in the general chat.
The reason I speak of this is simple, making a finder for M+ will not break any communication system because there is almost none of it to begin with.
Hear me out!
I don’t want this system to go away, in fact I want it to stay. But let’s talk about how the addition this kind of a finder would work.
For example, if you want to join a M+ 10 Theatre of Pain, but you don’t seem to get invited into a group for hours, or you don’t posses that key, or you do but it’s +9, but if you finish it, it will change into another dungeon, you can simply queue for it!
How does it work?
The game already knows your class and race, all you have to do it specify your role. The game already knows your item level, your Mythic Rating and your previous timed keys. Instead of waiting on others to invite you for so long, you’d get a simple estimated time of joining without worrying about getting declined or cancelling your queue because that group already has your role or class filled. You could queue in both ghost key run or a player made run, and the completion and timing those keys would get you same rewards, rating and a key if you don’t already posses one.
Where does the key come from?
There would be two types of keys, one key comes from a group maker, the keyholder and the other one would be called a ghost key.
The one who has +10 Theatre of Pain can make a group on M+ Finder instead of making it like now (searching for people manually). Both keyholder and queued players can enjoy the game doing something else while waiting.
The one who’s making the group would have a set of tools to apply conditions for joining their key. They can add a minimum rating, a minimum item level, specific classes (and specs) they’re after, specific races, achievements, etc.
Once the group is formed, players get a pop-up window where you can choose to cancel the queue or enter the dungeon. Once players are teleported to the dungeon, the key won’t start until the leader puts the key in. That will be the last chance for players to leave without consequence (for example, the leader is not satisfied with the choice which would be a rare thing, or someone just doesn’t want to be there anymore, or someone is kicked from the party for not having invisibility potions or someone was rude from the start or similar). In that case, players are teleported back and remain in queue. If someone chooses to leave in the middle of the run, players get teleported back, the key doesn’t deplete and the leaver gets penalty not being able to queue for some time.
The ghost key is a bit different, a player can queue for both ghost and manual keys at the same time and will get invited to the first one available. The difference is no one is in a possession of a key, but players enter to the dungeons they specified at the specified key level. For example, for a +10, players will have to be certain item level, certain Mythic Rating and they would have to have all +9 dungeons timed. By default, the game will always pick at least 1 BL player, at least 1 CR player, 1 tank, 1 healer and 3 dps. After entering the dungeon, the countdown starts (2 minutes). That’s the time you need for flasks, food, routes, and introduction. Even at this point, unlike keyholder keys, if player leaves they get penalty while the rest remain in queue teleported back. At the end of the key, all rewards are the same.
What happens with the old system?
It stays. You can always do it like you do it now, this would just be an addition to try and resolve big M+ problems people are having. I’m aware these aren’t the only problems there are to M+, but it would most certainly be a win for everybody.
The only change would be the Mythic Keystone Hero portals reward. That is not something that would be needed much if the M+ finder is installed to the game, and for those who do not use it it wouldn’t be much of a problem since nowadays you can get to places quickly (+ you can use the portals from the previous seasons). Judging by the popularity of the game and the popularity that would (in my opinion) grow, both ghost keys and manual keys would have enough people playing, but if it gets overwhelmingly popular, like enough to jeopardize the ones who make it manually or use the old system, the later hotfix of the new system or ghost keys would be (you can’t do more than 3 ghost keys daily, or something)
Your thoughts?
