Streamlined Dungeons

[Seefer]

Why do people like this? I don't get it, go from point A to point B, no twists and turns and optional (summoned) bosses etc? Where is the fun in that? Seems quite boring to me.

I was watching a video on the "evolution" of Scholomance and it brought back some fun memories for me of adventuring through there with friends, getting a pally his mount etc. here is the video
Yeah that many bosses is a bit much but it doesn't need to be as streamlined and boring as they are now, maybe if they brought back that style more people would go back or enjoy doing them more than they do today.

[Deleted]

The streamlining is a natural consequence of LFG and the general way content is delivered, sadly. Things like BRD or Maraudon don't work with that system, cutting them into pieces is a brutal, unsophistocated solution Blizz had to adapt to make it even bearable, otherwise you'd have a clusterfuck of people queueing and getting lost, quitting, requeueing forever, and then whining on the forums like crazy because they queued for a dungeon to run, not for a 2h waste of time waiting for a new tank to pop up then get lost then quit, only for the ordeal to repeat again.

So they started doing smaller dungeons, is all. BTW the groundwork for this was laid down before LFG was even a thing, and before the "decline" of any kind - in TBC, where dungeons were short, linear, copy-paste corridor romps. That worked well for their intended goal (dungeons as quick content and introduction/requirement for raiding), so they kept doing just that. A WoD dungeon is in essence a TBC dungeon, just with way better production values and lower tuning.

[Deleted]

Would be fun if they could add timewalking vanilla dungeons, like Scholomance, Sunken temple etc. And maybe a timewalking raid finder? I really want to experience the old Zul'gurub again.

[Deleted]

I am honestly kinda against the simplification of some of the older dungeons aswell.

I understand its annoying signing up for a dungeon and not being able to do most of the quests in there but they could have just given you the items needed for the quest at the entrance

[Deleted]

The old vanilla design philosophy of huge sprawling complexes without a design-intent focused on gameplay didn't even survive into TBC because it was probably wrong to place those enormous areas within an instance to begin with.

They've moved a lot of that stuff outside of the instance portal since then, evident in stuff like how Highmaul exists largely in it's entirety at the western edge of Draenors Nagrand.

[Deleted]

You must be new around here, Blizzard hates fun. Don't worry, you will learn in time.

[Deleted]

Why do people like this? I don't get it, go from point A to point B, no twists and turns and optional (summoned) bosses etc? Where is the fun in that? Seems quite boring to me.

why put an optional boss in when the majority be like "do optional? na!".....
you can prove that with the spider boss of everbloom.

[Deleted]

You must be new around here, Blizzard hates fun. Don't worry, you will learn in time.

In the same week they implement a rainbow toy...

Fun is subjective, I prefer the TBC style streamlined dungeons to the Vanilla mini-raids.

[McNeil]

Vanilla dungeons had a lot of skippable bosses that people often didn't want to do, even if one party member had a quest to do there. I guess they wanted to ditch the hussle of clearing the whole dungeon or not, which often led to some fights in the group. It was also easy to actually get lost, some dungeons like Wailing Caverns and Sunken Temple are good examples.

I'm a huge fan of vanilla dungeons though, but I don't think they should last 1-2 hour these days with way to many thrash and optional bosses. They could just keep the size of the dungeons, but cool down with putting thrash in every corner.

[Sansnom]

Why do people like this? I don't get it, go from point A to point B, no twists and turns and optional (summoned) bosses etc? Where is the fun in that? Seems quite boring to me.

Because generally people do not want to do the dungeons or the optional boss. To these people, they are only there for the loot. Not for the fun.

[Rivin]

It really depends. I prefer dungeons to have a clear path to the goal(s). That doesn't mean they have to be completely linear, though. I liked the old Wailing Caverns and Sunken Temple quite a bit; however, I still despise Blackrock Depths because it's just a huge mess.

I think they could've left recent dungeons and remade dungeons a bit more open--for example, Auchindoun has two side paths, and which side you do first really doesn't matter, but they force you into one before the other instead of letting you choose. But on the other hand, I'd rather have strictly linear paths than sprawling messes, so... *shrug*

[klaps_05]

because over time the majority of players prefer to spend less and less time and go in the game, do everything they want quickly and logout. that is the current mentality - everything, right now, quickly because i dont have time. in vanilla, everything was extremely slow paced.

[Allenseiei]

Why do people like this? I don't get it, go from point A to point B, no twists and turns and optional (summoned) bosses etc? Where is the fun in that? Seems quite boring to me.

I was watching a video on the "evolution" of Scholomance and it brought back some fun memories for me of adventuring through there with friends, getting a pally his mount etc. here is the video
Yeah that many bosses is a bit much but it doesn't need to be as streamlined and boring as they are now, maybe if they brought back that style more people would go back or enjoy doing them more than they do today.

Yet most people always rush to get through it. Baron runs, righteous orb runs, etc. People want rewards and will do the most efficient way to do them.

[Deleted]

I prefer the older version of said dungeons. To those who say "Well, people skip optional bosses anyways" I can only say to hell with that. Not everyone skipped said bosses. Even if they're skipped, you're only left with more options to choose from, even if you're not choosing it. Why would want less options in your dungeons? Do you actually enjoy following one long corridor from A to B?

A lot of dungeons are simply starting to not feel like dungeons at all. They're designed as a linear path from A to B with no divergent paths. If you look at old Sunken Temple, what do you think Blizzard's thought process was when they made the place? To me, it looks as if they wanted to make this mysterious maze-like temple which you could wander off for a long while and explore. They actually made this believable area for any adventure to venture through. Sunken Temple wasn't made to be convenient for the players in any way shape or form. At times it could even feel oppressive to the player, which might be why it was so heavily streamlined. Truthfully, that's how some dungeons should feel. For other dungeons, being streamlined isn't a great matter at all.

That isn't to say I dislike what's come out in recent memory. I loved the Cataclysm dungeons, and they were for the most part linear experiences too. Skyreach and Shadowmoon Burial Grounds were pretty fucking good too in my opinion. I just much prefer having more dungeons actually feel like dungeons, and not necessarily a linear and scripted event for us to witness. I want to feel something when I'm doing the dungeons, not going through the motions.

[Deleted]

Another "I was new and didn't know how to do it better but it was awesome!" argument? Sorry but there were always many many people who did it in the most efficient way.

[Katchii]

I honestly prefer the streamlined versions. Yeah the old ones were cool, from a dungeon diving perspective, but Sunken Temple was just TOO big, and convoluted. If you didn't know it front and back you'd get lost, frustrated, and end up not finishing. The same goes for the other dungeons as well that were like this, Gnomeregan, Mauradon, Dire Maul, Lower and Upper Blackrock Spire, that one dungeon for the 50-60 range...Blackrock Depths?

Sure those used to be fun in guild groups, but in the age of LFD I don't need a little mini raid that requires study ahead of time in order to know where the hell I'm going to finish the damn dungeon.

Give the option for the full version maybe, but I'm totally OK with the LFD version to be streamlined and able to be done in 20-30 minutes with a fresh random group.

[Supercool]

The TBC and onward model is better for so many reasons, but I do wish old content could be left intact somewhere in the game rather than removed or replaced. Old Scholo should still be accessible as should Vanilla Naxx and many other places.

[Deleted]

It's a shame how these dungeons changed. Back then we used to ask if people wanted to do the optional bosses, most of the times people were up with it, sometimes, people were not.

I hate these linear dungeons, and the quests.

Dungeons like Wailing Caverns, Blackrock Depths and Sunken Caverns were like a labyrinth when you first tried them. I found it fun to learn my way around the dungeons. Reaching the point where you know every path or secrets in Blackrock Depths was something that I really liked. As a tank back then, I also felt like a dungeon tour guide, knowing exactly how and where to go. To me, that's an adventure. I stopped caring about dungeons during Cataclysm. Felt like a steamroll through a dungeon, linear path, killing a bunch of mobs with some names nobody cares about.

I for one enjoyed spending an entire afternoon with guildmembers in BRD during classic. Find different pathways, learn your way around and then being busy for so long only to find out the mobs at the start have respawned.

I do have to admit though. Sunken Temple was the most confusing and difficult dungeon to find your way around. Every corridor looked the same. BRD atleast has sections that look different.

I want an adventure, not a steamroll

[Seefer]

Another "I was new and didn't know how to do it better but it was awesome!" argument? Sorry but there were always many many people who did it in the most efficient way.

And there were many many who liked the fun of adventuring and feel like they were doing something with their time other than grouping with NPCs (sorry LFD you may as well be with NPCS) and pushing a button to wait in a queue while you sit in a city trolling trade (for upwards of 20 mins if you are DPS).

[Jibjub]

Sunken Temple was fantastic. Not nostalgia.

WoW used to be about adventuring. Now it's about collecting.

Unfortunately, for me, I like the former.