LFR: What the frak just happened?

[Primalthirst]

I've been a long-time raider in Rift as well as some WoW back in WotLK and I've just returned to the game this weekend.

I smashed out the leveling and got from 80 to 90 over about a day and a half and then tonight after work I decided to try LFR to get some gear etc.

Dear god, what was that?

I had no idea what was happening, what I should do, what the strategy was or how the hell I was even supposed to play Resto Sham. But apparently none of that matters. I was absolutely flabbergasted, the fact that I can show up like that and get loot just blew me away. I was immediately extremely bored and I actually now want to put the game away and never play again. That is NOT raiding.

How can people enjoy that and in what universe is it supposed to encourage me to continue playing? It made me want to actively quit. I've heard that LFR is terrible etc, but I never thought it would be quite that bad. FFS we solo tanked Sha of Fear to 20% and then he died and we did the last 20% with no tank at all. Dafuq?


*Obviously I understand this is nothing like proper raiding, get a guild, experience it properly etc*


I'm just at such a loss for words right now, I don't even.

[Sygil]

"Sha of Fear"

You do realise that its old content+LFR version right? Its supposed to be super easy at this point in the game.
Even if you're not that geared, the rest of the group probably was or there were a few really geared members of your group.

[Anguished]

It's basically "Here's the content, on an easy level, so you can actually see it and get some gear." Also, as you ran one of the older LFR's, it will be considerably easy, and can have players in them, that well over gear the content. When you do current raid finder, there's not too much difference, except, if you get a load of people that don't know what to do, you're going to wipe. That's my experience at least.

[Firebert]

I had no idea what was happening, what I should do, what the strategy was or how the hell I was even supposed to play Resto Sham. But apparently none of that matters. I was absolutely flabbergasted, the fact that I can show up like that and get loot just blew me away. I was immediately extremely bored and I actually now want to put the game away and never play again. That is NOT raiding.

It is, because Blizzard says it is.

How can people enjoy that and in what universe is it supposed to encourage me to continue playing?

If you want a challenge there's always Flex/Normal/Heroic. That's the carrot. I enjoy it because it means I can actually raid regardless of my shifts at work.

It made me want to actively quit. I've heard that LFR is terrible etc, but I never thought it would be quite that bad. FFS we solo tanked Sha of Fear to 20% and then he died and we did the last 20% with no tank at all. Dafuq?

When you're outgearing a boss by up to 70 item levels things like that are possible.

[Primalthirst]

Of course I realise this is old and easy content. But dear god, how does having such a terrible experience present help the game in any way?

[Buu]

"Sha of Fear"

You do realise that its old content+LFR version right? Its supposed to be super easy at this point in the game.
Even if you're not that geared, the rest of the group probably was or there were a few really geared members of your group.

No, because realizing that would take away the feeling of superiority complainers have.

[Puri]

While I won't deny you have a point, you hardly can make up your opinion from a fight that was a joke a year ago and has been solo'd on normal mode just a few months later.

And you also are right: LFR is not raiding.

[Buu]

Of course I realise this is old and easy content. But dear god, how does having such a terrible experience present help the game in any way?

Yeah, by your logic the to-do list must include every bloated piece of content ever made at WoW, to get its own baby-sitters and magic genies to make it fit to a random pissed off guy of the internets.

Reality check, please?

[Sonnillon]

Of course I realise this is old and easy content. But dear god, how does having such a terrible experience present help the game in any way?

That's the way the older content is... When it is fresh and new... You cannot blow through it in LFR with the same ease as you can do several patch old content. Better gear, better knowledge and nerfed content. That makes it boring and faceroll.

Get to current content, do some other things then the *shivers* LFR and then rethink is the game worth the money or not.

[Primalthirst]

Maybe my memory is going but I swear when I joined a Naxx or Ulduar pug back in WotLK after ICC came out people still needed to at least have some clue of what they were doing if they wanted to succeed.

[BergErr]

LFR also make me want to quit, but then my alts get enough ilvl to run normals and its fine.

[Anguished]

Maybe my memory is going but I swear when I joined a Naxx or Ulduar pug back in WotLK after ICC came out people still needed to at least have some clue of what they were doing if they wanted to succeed.

Yes, because that was an actual raid, on normal difficulty. You went into old content, in raid finder, that is why. If you go into a PUG for old content now, then you will need to know tactics. You're acting like Raid Finder is the thing around.

[Chuckadoodle]

I'm sorry but your experience is on you.. no LFR is not "proper raiding" but if you made no effort to read the dungeon journal to see hey this ability can kill me (well LFR.. cause a modicum of damage) then their is no one to blame but yourself. The fact that half of an LFR group can't be arsed to understand a fights mechanics isnt on Blizzard but on the player base itself. So now take that into current LFR content and watch your group fail miserably on Sha of Pride, dark shamans, Galakras and several more bosses.

[Warlord Booty]

And "Rift", you do realize that a rift healer has like... 2x as many useful spells with no fear of ever running out of mana? When I first raided in Rift, I joined some people and one day they asked if anyone wanted to raid, I said I was heals blah blah blah and after downing the first 4 bosses with only one wipe (the scorpion boss) I got like 3 whispers all in the context of "damn, why weren't you in a guild, you're awesome heals!" and really, the answer was "I PVP a lot" - which means, yeah, I have really good awareness of my skills, the randomness of incoming damage, and I use my own mitigation regularly. I'm not an idiot. And then I add "I also end game raided in WoW" which means, I'm used to an organized raid structure - so when they would run through a quick raid strat "look for X, lots of aoe damage" I'd... well, you know.. look for that and pop my 18 AOE heals (warden 4tw).

LFR isn't hard, there are a handful of bosses that will give your random pug problems, but usually only 1 wipe. Sha of Pride, Dark Shaman (sometimes Zaela, if the tower group DCs), Black Fuse and then Garrosh. That's it. That's the list.

[Spalding]

Yep LFR was implemented during the release of DS. Which meant people were running DS 2 times a week on each toon (more or less). After seeing that, my raiding days have been over. Honestly questing requires more attention, because you have to loot things and use items; whereas you can basically afk and get free gear. It really ruined my PVE experience with WoW and haven't gone back to PVE since. PVP isn't that much better either =\

[Deleted]

LFR has nothing to do with real raiding, and this is coming from a very casual player.
A lot of players seem to enjoy it, so by all means: go ahead. I for one avoid it as much as I can.

One tip:after levelling to 90, gear up on Timeless Isle, where you can get gear even easier than in old LFR instances (yes, really).
Then you may need to do some LFR SoO, but try to move on to flex raiding as soon as you can.
Flex is not perfect, but at least it is not the @%&$#$-fest that LFR seems to be these days.

Let me finish by saying: welcome back and I hope you enjoy your stay.

[sizzlinsauce]

Yes, because that was an actual raid, on normal difficulty. You went into old content, in raid finder, that is why. If you go into a PUG for old content now, then you will need to know tactics. You're acting like Raid Finder is the thing around.

so you're saying its ok to create content that is faceroll, so that when it's phased out as current it is even more faceroll?

[Senen]

It is, because Blizzard says it is.

If Blizzard stated that lfr was pvp, would it be right?
No, because these words has a meaning in the mmo community (at least, often in larger community as well) and it's not up to Blizzard to define whether or not LFR is raiding.
In this case, there's really a debate (and it has been debated A LOT on many forums, including this one) and you can discard it all just because Blizzard stated something.

If Blizzard stated that Garrosh was a duck. Well, I guess people would have to deal with it, since Garrosh is one of their character and they're doing whatever they want with them, they're writing the story*. Here, it's a very different problem, "raiding" isn't a notion that belongs to Blizzard.

(*: It's true for all writer/director/developper/etc except Georges Lucas, obviously. Han shot first. )

Of course I realise this is old and easy content. But dear god, how does having such a terrible experience present help the game in any way?

I know several people who actually like LFR.
Yes, you sometimes see terrible people. Yes, the content is very easy and you're 100% guaranteed you'll eventually kill the boss.
Still, some people enjoye seeing the content easily so that they don't miss anything relevant to the story while they can't commit to raid.

These people aren't necessarily terribad, for our first Lei Shen kill we lacked a raider but knew the dps wasn't a problem, so we asked to a friend who is one of this "lfr only" player and he gladly came to help. The boss died at the end of the night, everyone was happy. Our friend still liked lfr and didn't want to commit to raiding.

I have to admit that I'll never understand these people, but eh, they have fun, nice for them.

[Primalthirst]

I'm not sure why I'm being indirectly attacked here.

I legitimately don't understand why LFR is this way. Surely there could at least be some modicum of challenge or coordination required and people would still be able to complete it in a timely manner and perhaps derive some sense of accomplishment from completing it. i just feel empty, I don't like that.

[Bloodjunky22]

LFR is for the fucking birds . . .avoid it at all costs.