With patch 3.3 we are going to see cross-realm LFG options. Yes, we will now be able to do the daily heroic with each member (theoretically) from different servers. Will this actually give players a better chance of filling out a group then we currently have? I suspect a big, inescapably lamented, NO!
What is the problem we have now? Too many players wanting to DPS and not enough tanks and healers to spread around. In order to make a proper group for a 5-man dungeon you must have a tank, healer and 3 DPS. (Yes, it’s possible to have a different make-up than this but 99.999% of the groups have the common formula)
So, that means 40% of your group must be a healer or tank and 60% of your group must be DPS. Based on my experience using the LFG GUI I see roughly 10% of players are healers, 15% are tanks and 90% are DPS. Wait, what? 10 + 15 + 90 = 100? No, but most healers and tanks have a second spec for DPS so technically speaking 90% of players have the capability to DPS in a 5-man.
Let’s take a ‘for instance’ look at what the new cross-server LFG will do. For the sake of easy numbers let’s assume there are typically 100 people looking to do the daily heroic on any given server. So, 10 can heal, 15 can tank and 90 can DPS. That means, at most, 10 groups can be made since you need to have a healer.
This leaves 5 tanks and probably around 50 DPS high and dry – remember some of the healers could likely DPS as well. Now, with some arm-twisting and guild begging those 5 tanks can probably get a healer. So, suppose 15 groups are made when everything is said and done. That means 30 DPS players are left with their thumb up their ass. That is nearly 1/3 of the players!
What happens when cross-realm LFG is implemented? Well, instead of 100 players searching for a group it will be 1000. Instead of 30 DPS players sitting on their ass 300 DPS players will be sitting on their ass.
Will this change actually accomplish anything? I suspect not. In fact, even beyond what I’ve already mentioned, I think it will likely cause more problems. You know there is going to be some douche-bag newb healer who says he can heal H ToC so he can get the mass of epics. H ToC is nothing to scoff at. That place can be rough to heal through…even for a well geared healer…especially if the tank isn’t well geared. So, I’m a DPS player who happens to land a group with the cross-server LFG and it turns out the healer is an absolute scrub. With the current system you can at least see who is going to heal and do a quick gear score on them or armory them. Hell, even look at their health and mana pool. If you see a healer with 14k mana and 13k hp you know for a fact they just hit 80 and are not going to be able to heal H ToC.
With the new random LFG you won’t know who is signing up to heal or tank until you are already stuck in the group with them. I predict headache galore – but maybe I’m just too cynical.
