WoWGrrl's World

Here's a great thing about leveling up a crapload of toons through the Horde side, and then switching over and leveling up another group of characters on the Alliance side:

There are instances that Alliance folk are afraid of that Horde folk run a kabillion times when they level a toon family, and this Horde-based knowledge pays off big time in these few times.

Wailing Caverns and Razorfen Kraul

Druid Tanking Wailing Caverns

But in general, Wailing Caverns and Razorfen Kraul are two lowbie instances where a Horde cross-over can look all uber knowledgable and educated by taking the directional lead of a group of Alliance payers.

Wailing Caverns is one that I find the tanks often leave the party as soon as they zone in when I'm in there on my Shaman who cannot tank. They leave partially because the instance is so darned long, but also because as a Tank it's generally your responsibility to lead direction and get the group from the start of the instance to the end.

If you don't know your way through the twisty turny intestine-like mess of loops that describes Wailing Caverns, it's really easy to get lost and run around in circles while you try to find whatever it was you missed to bring you on to the next boss. And in order to get the Wailing Caverns completion achievement, you have to finish all of the regular bosses, and then talk to the Tauren at the start of the instance, in order to escort him to the final boss.

It's not a small trip! So if you find yourself in WC as an Alliance, and the Tank is leading direction well and actually gets you to the escort at the end, be sure to say "thanks for leading us through that twisty maze!".

Razorfen Kraul Pally Healing

Razorfen Kraul Is Easier Than It Looks

I was surprised at the concern that Alliance players tend to have when entering into RFK, though.

I mean, Wailing Caverns is long and twisty and confusing, but Razorfen Kraul is actually pretty straight-forward with few places to get lost and run around in circles like in WC.

Yet, when my Horde-turned-Alliance friend who was in the PUG with me died (fell into the pit of pigs and couldn't get back up), we both had to convince the rest of the party that there was no need to back-track to escort him back to where we were from the start of the instance, and at first I think the rest of them thought I was being cruel!

My friend and I laughed over vent at their responses, and my Mage friend was sure to pipe in on the party line to let folks know he knew the place very well and had no troubles getting back to us, too. He was back with us in no time at all.

Does The Dungeon Tool Encourage? Or Hinder?

Truthfully tho, the new exposure to instances that Alliance and Horde had minimal easy access to before cross-realm dungeons and instant teleport to the instance in question, is a challenge that I wonder about.

I've been in groups that have used the death of an unruly party member as a way to get rid of them from the party entirely when the person in question cannot find their way back through the instance to the rest of the group (without dying again that is), but I've also been in groups where we're nearly at the end of the instance and a new party member finds his or her way to us quietly and without problem.

I'm interested in hearing from readers, however. Does the new Dungeon Tool setup (of teleporting you in to the instance and potentially adding you to a party that is halfway done the instance) ENCOURAGE you to find your way through instances you're not hugely familiar with? Or does it HINDER your learning of these instances when you jump in to a partly-done run?

Let me know!

Related posts:

1. Farming Wailing Caverns, Flailing Around in Blackrock Depths