Skipping packs in leveling instances: pointless Wrath remnant.

[Deathgoose]

Reading this post affected my alt xp gain more than skipping a couple packs of mobs on a few dungeon runs.

Point being - the amount of xp lost from skipping packs of mobs is negligible. Don't let it bother you for that reason.

imho - the biggest problem with skipping packs is that someone seems to always screw it up, pulls the pack, tank doesn't notice, and it ends up being a wipe.

Sweet baby jeebus, this part is so true. Since Wrath was brought up in the OP, I'll use a Wrath example of this:

2nd ICC 5-man, Pit of Saron. Just after the Ick/Krick, where you have the few seconds to zerg up the ramp before the two groups of trash form up, those two possibly presenting the hardest pull in the entire instance.

So many people wanted to skip it than do it when my wife and I would PuG it as tank/healer. Now, I didn't really care either way philosophically, but someone would invariably either not make it, so then the party was split between both packs, or they would pull one (or both) trying to make it up the ramp too slowly.

So it got to the point that we would just sit at the bottom of the ramp to avoid the inevitable wipe and just do the two pulls like normal.

[SurrealNight]

Leveling up my RAF accounts getting through dungeons for the bonus at the end then re-queuing as fast as possible was the best exp. Since I always ran one account as a tank I would move us around easily skipped stuff but wouldn't like time pats or try to sneak past.

[Stormdash]

Sweet baby jeebus, this part is so true. Since Wrath was brought up in the OP, I'll use a Wrath example of this:

2nd ICC 5-man, Pit of Saron. Just after the Ick/Krick, where you have the few seconds to zerg up the ramp before the two groups of trash form up, those two possibly presenting the hardest pull in the entire instance.

So many people wanted to skip it than do it when my wife and I would PuG it as tank/healer. Now, I didn't really care either way philosophically, but someone would invariably either not make it, so then the party was split between both packs, or they would pull one (or both) trying to make it up the ramp too slowly.

So it got to the point that we would just sit at the bottom of the ramp to avoid the inevitable wipe and just do the two pulls like normal.

Here's the thing with that Pit trash after Ick and Crick -- I don't know what pissed me off more, skipping it, or people that were too stupid to do it right. That one jackass that would also mount, run up the bottom of the ramp and then back down to "wait", thereby starting the trash coming down. How hard was the basic premise of "mount here, ride up together, go all the way to the wall"? It's like pass interference or a dumb foul in basketball -- it's bad enough to do that, but FFS he better not still catch it/still make the shot.

[Zandalarian Paladin]

I dislike clearing a whole dungeon; turns out I don't do instances to powerlevel but rather to enjoy the storyline in it and get the loot to progress better. Yes, the piece of gear might be outdated in 10 levels, but the 3rd time I'm running the same instance, I know the story and I'm bored, I just want to clear it as fast as possible. It is also the same behavior most people have. You might like losing 10 more minutes clearing the whole instance; to me it could've been a 10 minutes clearing a quest, progressing into my zone storyline and having the same amount of XP, but not while mindlessly killing everything that comes down my path.

I guess it's a matter of perspective?

[frogger237]

Some people actually like to quest to lvl tho and do dungeons to either complete quests, experience the content ,or get gear + some exp.

I never do a dungeon for the exp and i dont think i have ever seen a pack of mobs give even close to the amount of exp the dungeon complete does.

[blackblade]

You finished BRD and UBRS to get a key to Onyxia (alliance side at least, no idea how Horde got it), as well as attunement to MC and BWL.

Ah, the horde onyxia key.

"quest" starts by talking to an NPC in Kargath, Badlands (He doesn't give you a yellow "!") major PITA to explain to guildies.
LBRS (kill all bosses, get document).
UBRS (kill rend)
Desolace, find rexxar.
WPL, find hermit, get quest to collect dragon eyes frommmm........
UBRS (Get 15 black dragon eyes)
Back to WPL, Back to desolace, get another quest to get the amulet from an elite in DWM

Begin the test of skulls:
Kill an elite dragon in Wintergrasp, Tanaris, and Stonard.
return to Dustwallow Marsh.
Get last part of the test of skulls:
Kill an elite dragon in the wetlands (near grim batol)
return to dustwallow Marsh.

Get amulet, return to rexxar in desolace.
Get quest from rexxar to get Drakkisath's blood from UBRS.
UBRS (Get blood. used to only drop one at a time, was later changed to drop for everybody.)
Back to Desolace, find rexxar, get onyxia key.

Rexxar patrols between the twin peaks of feralas, along the road up unto the entrance of desolace on stormtalon side. with no flying mount, he was an asshat to find.

OT:

I'm on board with running a new dungeon once for quests and then moving on. grinding elites in dungeons is inferior to individually queuing for new instances as they come while clearing zones. You're guarenteed loot from the quests (even if it isn't better than heirlooms) and you spend less time dealing with other people's mistakes.

[Highlord Hanibuhl]

When I'm tanking I take all the packs.. except the loser-packs that are not standing near the path we need to take. I'm not gonna go completely out of my way to kill 4 misfits when everyone wants to move foreward and they drop nothing of value.

Someone never did the BRD lava swim.

So much win! /bump

[Fortera]

I tank, and I do so efficiently. I don't skip packs. Because I tank swiftly (not overly), killing every pack in the path from start to finish doesn't take a lot of time. Nobody complains. People need to learn to tank. This is of course not counting the numerous groups where there are just total assholes that make absurd and rude demands.

[Deleted]

When i leveled tanking classes i had one friend/guildie leveling as a healer. I knew he can keep me up and he knew i do anything possible to ease the healing. Both decked in heirlooms and blue crafted/dungeon gear. I even used flasks and potions if i had any leftovers from lvling Alchemy.
I was pulling entire rooms of mobs and ran to the boss, then just AOE the whole pack down in 30secs. Boss mechanics were the only thing that slowed us down(Anub'arak is good example).
If we had good dpses we asked them to join next run and usually they were happy to do that, even if we killed everything, because the speed was very fast.

I ignored small packs if they were too far to pull with ranged attack or taunt.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

You know what, there's a bigger and more concerning trend these days.

Tanks overpulling because they think heirlooms make them invincible.

[Hedleyazg]

You know what, there's a bigger and more concerning trend these days.

Tanks overpulling because they think heirlooms make them invincible.

LOL, my trial account level 20 warrior can pull 1/3 of an instance and kill it all easily with a group.

[Tziva]

Here's the thing with that Pit trash after Ick and Crick -- I don't know what pissed me off more, skipping it, or people that were too stupid to do it right. That one jackass that would also mount, run up the bottom of the ramp and then back down to "wait", thereby starting the trash coming down. How hard was the basic premise of "mount here, ride up together, go all the way to the wall"? It's like pass interference or a dumb foul in basketball -- it's bad enough to do that, but FFS he better not still catch it/still make the shot.

Oh man.

I hate skipping those pack with PuGs.

And by "skipping," I mean "having one slow person bodypull both groups at once and wipe us."

I have no qualms philosophically with skipping those groups since they are tricky and can be painful, but I'll only do it with friends or if I'm in a PuG that seems really pro. Of the possibly hundreds of times I've run that dungeon since it was implemented, I think I can count the times a PuG has successfully skipped that hill on one hand. If I'm with a group that wants to skip, I basically approach it with the expectation that we're getting at least one of the packs.

[Cows For Life]

Thinking back to 2005 and 2006, I can't remember there being this systemic skipping of packs at every possible turn, mainly because instances back then took an hour or two, perhaps even three. 45 minute Baron was considered a fast run.

Yeah, people skipped shit here and there, but it was Wrath specifically when runs became so fast, 5-15 minutes per heroic, and when people started to have their stable of 10 characters, that everyone just ran to the end boss, killed him, and got their raid-level currency.

That's the mindset and mentality that has been etched into the minds of people; skip whenever you can because the rewards are worth it. Well, they're not worth it in the leveling instances, not anymore anyway.

I remember skipping as much as possible in Scholomance, Stratholme, both Blackrock Spires, Dire Maul, and every other dungeon at 60. This goes back to way before WotLK.

[ringpriest]

Ah, the horde onyxia key.

"quest" starts by talking to an NPC in Kargath, Badlands (He doesn't give you a yellow "!") major PITA to explain to guildies.
LBRS (kill all bosses, get document).
UBRS (kill rend)
Desolace, find rexxar.
WPL, find hermit, get quest to collect dragon eyes frommmm........
UBRS (Get 15 black dragon eyes)
Back to WPL, Back to desolace, get another quest to get the amulet from an elite in DWM

Begin the test of skulls:
Kill an elite dragon in Wintergrasp, Tanaris, and Stonard.
return to Dustwallow Marsh.
Get last part of the test of skulls:
Kill an elite dragon in the wetlands (near grim batol)
return to dustwallow Marsh.

Get amulet, return to rexxar in desolace.
Get quest from rexxar to get Drakkisath's blood from UBRS.
UBRS (Get blood. used to only drop one at a time, was later changed to drop for everybody.)
Back to Desolace, find rexxar, get onyxia key.

Rexxar patrols between the twin peaks of feralas, along the road up unto the entrance of desolace on stormtalon side. with no flying mount, he was an asshat to find.

Oh man, I forgot just how awesome that attunement quest chain was. (Except for finding Rexxar. That part was indeed a nightmare. )

Ah, the horde onyxia key.
OT:

I'm on board with running a new dungeon once for quests and then moving on. grinding elites in dungeons is inferior to individually queuing for new instances as they come while clearing zones. You're guarenteed loot from the quests (even if it isn't better than heirlooms) and you spend less time dealing with other people's mistakes.

[Notamonk]

It takes a few seconds to kill a pack. The pack will give high experience, with rested most likely over half of what the random dungeon reward is. Even running random dungeons one after another, you won't be getting higher experience by skipping packs.

Experience is what 99% of the people in the instance are there for. Gear is made useless in a few levels by access to the next expansion's content. Most people have heirlooms anyway, and if you don't, skipping content shouldn't be your priority.

Tons of awesome fast experience has been lost this way. Pointless Wrath of the Lich King mentality remnant.

Agreed. I can understand if the packs of mobs are clearly out of the way and will take time to get to; but if we're squeezing inbetween walls and other objects not to pull aggro on these things just so we can go faster I always pull and make the group clear them.

I don't run low level dungeons WHILE leveling just to get gear; I do it so I can get to level 90 asap.