Why do you choose LFR over Raid Guilds?

[Normie]

It makes me sad to see that the community pillar of raiding is so crappy that people choose to put up with random chances of experiencing LFR horrors than choose to join a raid guild, assuming of course that they don't raid in guilds because they have real lives and still should be able to see the content just like anyone else.

What are these LFR "horrors" exactly?

Why do some people seem unusually perceptive about "horrors" and let's say the other 95% of people are "well, seems fine to me."

[prwraith]

I raided hardcore as in top 50 worldwide during cata. And I'm sorry but that was awful. I hate raiding on a strict schedule.

Yea the raid culture is awesome and yea the people make it great. But to have the ability to raid whenever I feel like it is just tops.

[Deleted]

I assume most people do LFR because either:

1) They can't find a raiding guild
2) Their schedule does not comport with that of Raiding guilds
3) they have no intent on being in a raiding guild

And then a very, very small number of people:

4) Would be in a raiding guild, and have the opportunity to be, but aren't because "LFR is good enough."

And the people that fall under 4) that then complain that LFR should be removed because it's "good enough" for them and therefore "forces" them to not be in a raiding guild seem to be a very vocal source of the complaining right now. Honestly... they really need to get over themselves.

That is my only reason. My work involves evening and night hours. Hard to find a decent guild that allows you to be very very flexible in attendance.

[Deleted]

I doubt a lot of people have left raiding specifically FOR LFR. I just rejoined the raiding community myself with my guild as a 10-man raider.

This, the first part.
I stopped progression raiding because I just couldn't stand my class anymore (Mage) and for months there had been some personal problems with the guild leader. I just really didn't wanna put myself through that anymore, investing many hours and effort into playing a class I really didn't enjoy anymore in an environment I really didn't enjoy anymore. So I stopped progression raiding. For a while did one chill normal raid a week on a class I enjoyed, was kinda fun but I never look forward to the raid and didn't hugely enjoy it while doing it. So I stopped WoW overall, haven't been online for weeks, my account time's running out soon...

Gonna reactivate once 5.4 has completely unlocked for LFR, I just wanna see the Siege of Orgrimmar once, completely, finish that storyline, kill Garrosh, see where it all goes. And then freeze my account again at least until the next expansion. If I get it WoW then it'll be super casual. I just can't stand all the fucking dailies, reputation, valor point etc. grinds anymore. Hell, the *legendary* questline is kinda a grind. I really don't enjoy WoW overall anymore, the only thing it still has going for me is that I'm still interested in the world, the story.

[Deleted]

LFR = instant gratification without any skill, gear or time involved, which is what most players want, not to mention most players would lack some of the 3 requirements or all of them at the same.

[Deleted]

Why should they do normal raiding, if they get every loot in LFR? 20ilvl is not that rewarding, to do normals.
And that is blizzards fail.

[Brodeo]

people dont leave raiding guilds for LFR, raiding guilds fall apart and they default to LFR.

[Ronduwil]

1. - Get a guild which raids 1-2 days á week.
2. - Get a guild where quality in players is a factor.
3. - Drama is just plain bad management.
4. - Complain and/or find another guild. If nobody says anything officers / leaders won't become better.
5. - Call it out and/or find another guild.
6. - Call it out, tell the raid leader to calm down.
7. - Make sure you find a guild which fits your schedule. i.e weekend raids etc.
8. - Start a conversation with the person, it could be you who is wrong, though if not others are probably annoyed to.

Basicly call stuff out if you're not satisfied with it, if not it will never become better. Though do so in a proper manner as to not piss everybody off by being provocative.

Problems are seldom big problems when you look at the from a different angle.

I don't know if you have kids, but the problem is not so much time constraints as the fact that you are likely drop group at a moments notice. Most raiding guilds won't tolerate that, and the ones that do are, frankly, a nightmare to raid with because their raids break for several minutes between fights/wipes.

Also, I don't know if you've tried to raid on a low pop server lately, but it is an absolute nightmare. Even top raiding guilds have trouble scrounging together enough people for a raid on any given night. For people on low pop servers LFR is the only option.

Finally, can we please just quit obsessing about the existence of LFR already? The fact that people have it as their only option is something to be pitied. Heaping scorn and ridicule on those players is in really bad taste. It's kind of like mocking a toothless baby because they can't enjoy the steak you're having and are stuck with a jar of beef-flavored Gerber. If you don't like LFR then don't run it. I promise that it's not siphoning raiders from you because actual raiding, when done properly, is much better. If you're having trouble recruiting raiders you should try and figure out where you're going wrong. If you were doing it right no one would be choosing LFR over your guild.

[Deleted]

I would easily have enough time on my hands to even join a heroic raiding guild...but I still don't. Why?
Because I can't be bothered to raid on a fixed shedule. If I want to do something different ingame let's say on a friday evening, I don't want to be obliged to raid.
Also, I prefer not having to deal with a guild.

So...would I still join a raiding guild if LFR wasn't there? Unlikely.

[Pull My Finger]

A lot of anti-LFR people keep saying that players are leaving raiding guilds because they can get the same stuff in LFR. What you actually get in LFR is;

Healer 10-15 min queue, Dps 20-60 min queue.
Potential of;
tank fail due to pvp gear
Heal fail due to healers being in dips spec because they were too good for dps queues.
DPS fail because of not following the mechanics that they know better than to do (AOE on DWing thumb)
Unenchanted/ungemmed/unforged/wrong gear/no knowledge of class/no knowledge of the encounter
Afk players
Players barely trying
People who grief you because they are 1 in 8 million and no consequences.
Booted just because someone said "Kick X because of bad DPS!" When you were a healer.
DPS in tank spec
Huntards killing you with misdirect for shits and giggles
People screaming at you for tanking wrong
People screaming
SUB-PAR crappy versions of LFR gear.

And through all of this crap that is the random bundle that we call LFR people STILL choose to abandon Raid Guilds for LFR, so why?

If I was still in a raid guild, I would have to deal with people of your mindset all the time, and that's really not worth my time.

[Tidehoof]

I reset my login for mmoC just to reply to this thread, haven't used it in ages.

Anywho, why do I choose LFR? LFR is the best thing to ever happen to the game for me. I have plenty of time to play actually, but I hate guild raiding. I hate the drama, the attitudes, the leaders, the recruiting, the egos, the accents in vent (nothing like finding out that lovely priest is a hick with a southern draw) which ruin the immersion.

In LFR I can see the same content, stress free, for some decent rewards. If I don't feel like dealing with banter, I can turn off raid chat. If I decide I want to go do something else, I go. No string attached.

I don't have to tell my real life friends and family "sorry I cant come to the barbq this evening, cause you know, dragons."

I seriously LOVE LFR and will not walk away, but will RUN away from this game if it is removed or severely gimped. It's literally the only thread left keeping this 8 year player in the game. To hell with guilds and their rubbish.

[Deleted]

I only did LFR from 5.0 to 5.3. Not that I didn't want to raid, I just didn't have a guild with a schedule I could follow. But when I got the choice to join a raiding team, I did.

I don't think LFR keeps ppl away from normal raiding. And the people that think LFR is good enough? I wouln't want them in my raid team...

[Arbs]

I rather do 10 man raiding than ever step in LFR & I hate 10 man Raiding.

[Chrysia]

Between college and a full time job, I don't have fuck-all time on my schedule that will match up with a raiding guild's times. It's not a choice. It's LFR or nothing, and frankly, I don't seem to have the horrendous luck most people do with LFR.

[Terahertz]

The reason why I don't HAVE to join a raiding guild is because I can already SEE the content with my own eyes in LFR. So what's the motivation to continue real raiding then if I already kicked the bosses their butts in LFR? Sure, I can get better gear, woop dee doo. Done nalak multiple times now and already got 3x ilvl 522 set items.

[Rumred]

Far to random when i am able to or want to raid. I was in raiding guilds that were fairly successful Vanilla-Wrath but after that i couldn't with any certainty say if i will be able to or want to play for X amount of time on X day.

[Vongimi]

The biggest issue I have with normal raiding is I HATE having to commit to a schedule to play a video game. I have done normal/heroic raiding quite a bit in the past but there are long swaths of time that I just don't want to log in, but I cant just not log in because than I lose my spot for when I do want to come in. LFR lets me come and go as I please, they don't care about attendance!

Also greatly looking forward to pugging some Flex raids here soon.

[SarahConn1]

First of all I choose LFR because I don't have the time to raid

[Deleted]

A lot of anti-LFR people keep saying that players are leaving raiding guilds because they can get the same stuff in LFR. What you actually get in LFR is;

Healer 10-15 min queue, Dps 20-60 min queue. Nope. I get 5-20 min as dps.
Potential of;
tank fail due to pvp gear.
Heal fail due to healers being in dips spec because they were too good for dps queues. Nope, LFR is so easy, it doesn't require very good healers.
DPS fail because of not following the mechanics that they know better than to do (AOE on DWing thumb). Nope. LFR is so easy that it really doesn't matter if 5 or 10 dps die to mechanics, the boss will still die.
Unenchanted/ungemmed/unforged/wrong gear/no knowledge of class/no knowledge of the encounter. See above.
Afk players. True, there are always a few but they get kicked if they are obvious and if they're not, the raid gets completed anyway.
Players barely trying. Sure thing, still doesn't matter.
People who grief you because they are 1 in 8 million and no consequences. Encountered it. Rarely though, and mostly when the "victim" encourages the griefer by actually responding to his trolling. Also, plenty of times the "victim" turned out be just as big a retard as the griefer.
Booted just because someone said "Kick X because of bad DPS!" When you were a healer. Nope. Never. Not that anyone cares, it's the LFR, lol.
DPS in tank spec. Nope, he gets kicked if things really aren't working.
Huntards killing you with misdirect for shits and giggles. Nope. Never. You can't die to LFR trash with 5 healers on you and no one missdirects bosses
People screaming at you for tanking wrong. This happens usually when the tank himself is unresponsive to more civilized advice.
People screaming. What ?
SUB-PAR crappy versions of LFR gear. Who cares ?!

And through all of this crap that is the random bundle that we call LFR people STILL choose to abandon Raid Guilds for LFR, so why?

Good points but grossly exaggerated.

[Khroom]

For me, it is because I have no raiding guild to join, I came back mid expansion, and I have a strange schedule.