About
Instances:
An "instance" is a dungeon that the game creates just for you and
your party, so that you are not intruded upon by anyone else in your realm.
This personal instance starts when you enter a blue† instance portal, which is
often already located inside a cave or dungeon. Almost all of the mobs in an
instance are elite, and the drops, loot, and quest rewards are better than
those obtained through solo play, though they are somewhat more difficult and
require teamwork to achieve.
For some players, World of Warcraft is all about instances, whereas some
players only do them when the mood strikes them, or when they have dungeon
quests. Since doing an instance is not a requirement for leveling a character,
some players go all the way to 80 without setting foot inside one. Still, if
you want to try one out, it is suggested to try the low-level ones first, as
that is when all party members are learning how to play their class (in group
settings, at least) so you may feel more comfortable.
Portals come in other colors, but blue means parties of no more than 5
characters. Lower-level characters are unlikely to start in raid or Outland
instances.
Gameplay Differences:
"Just for your party." Instances are large, multi-room areas
(sometimes with scripted events) that the game has generated only for the use
of your party. You will never find another party already in the instance ahead
of you, because walking through the portal creates a special run just for the
party.
Death is also handled differently. When you die in an instance and release as a
ghost, you release to a graveyard out in the zone the instance is located in.
You then run back to the instance portal as a ghost. You are brought back to
life the moment you step back into that portal—not to where your body was
lying. It is for this reason that you should not release until you are sure no
one will resurrect you. Because of this, you should pay attention to the way to
the instance portal as you go with the group, so if you do have to run back
from the graveyard as a ghost you don't get lost.
A note about running away: Your natural instinct when you cannot shake a mob is
to run away; however the mobs in an instance are designed differently than
their outside counterparts: They never give up the chase until you are either
dead, or have zoned out of the instance altogether. Counter-intuitive as it may
seem, your single best tactic is to run towards the tank. (There's more on
Tanks in the next section.) This lets the tank pick up the loose mob, and off
of you. Once you get to the tank, stay in one place to make it easier for the
tank to target the mobs attacking you.
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Group roles;
A balanced party typically consists of:
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Healer Typically, a
priest, paladin, druid or shaman, a healer stands out of harm's way in |
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More knowledgeable
groups can also assign crowd control tasks for multi-mob fights. These tasks
usually fall to one of the DPS members like a mage to polymorph (also known as
"sheep"), a hunter to trap, or a rogue for sap. The plus of doing
this is if you are attacking a group of four mobs, and the mage polymorphs one
into a sheep, you only have to worry about attacking three mobs for 20-30
seconds. Damage breaks most of these crowd control methods though, so don't use
abilities that attack multiple opponents while using crowd control.
Note: The skills used to tank and heal are counter-intuitive to solo play. It's
an entirely different experience to try to keep things attacking you (and it's
not as easy as it would seem), and it might seem dull or unimportant to stand
in the back of the party to keep people alive. However, tanking and healing are
the two most important tasks for a successful instance; if either is missing,
the group cannot succeed.
Because the party limit is five players (low instances will accept raids of
ten, but in those cases, you cannot complete quests) [citation needed], there
is usually one tank, one healer and three DPS. However, if any of the other
three have the ability to switch roles, they should be prepared to tank or heal
in a pinch should the need arise.
If you are asked to tank, heal, or DPS:
If you are asked to be the healer, stay back, far behind the tank—but close
enough you can reach the tank with your healing spells. Use skills that heal
over time to keep people topped off and save big heals for when health bars go
very far down. The healer, more than anyone, realizes how important it is for
the tank to attract attention—it means only having to worry about healing one
person most of the time. Tell those in your party to try to keep in range and
in sight so they can get your heals. Learn to use your defensive (like Bear
form for druids or Power Word: Shield for priests) or threat-reducing abilities
(like Fade for priests) for when a mob turns its attention from the tank toward
you, since healing can generate a large amount of threat from mobs that are
unhappy at seeing the health of their target (the tank) continue to stay up.
If you are asked to be the tank use any skills you have that increase your
armor and cause a high amount of "threat" (usually listed in the
tooltip; also known as aggro or hate). You may have never used these abilities
before because in solo play you don't have to worry about keeping mobs on
yourself. Make sure to keep in range and sight of the healer.
If you are asked to provide DPS try to wait a few seconds for the tank to build
up threat. Learn any good defensive (evasion, roots, shields, or snares) or
threat-reducing skills (Cower in druid Cat form, disengage for hunters, or
Feint for rogues) you might have for when a mob turns its attention from the
tank toward you. If you use mostly ranged attacks, try to keep as far-ranged as
possibly. Rogues should use Feint to reduce threat or Vanish (if they have it)
if their cooldown is up.
Pre-instance preparation:
Buy or cook food - One stack of 20 should do. This will speed up the down time for you between pulls. If there is a mage in the party and they give you conjured food, eat that over the food you bought, since theirs are conjured and disappear after you log out of your character for 15 minutes. Best of all are some of the foods you can make from the cooking profession. Many of these types of foods provide temporary buffs that can give you that little extra boost in health or something else. | |
Buy drink - Two stacks of 20, more if you wish. Again, if there is a mage in the party and they give you conjured water, use that before the drink you bought. (Note: Warriors and Rogues do not use mana, so this is not required for them.) | |
Repair - When durability gets to zero (red armor), armor loses all armor value and stat bonuses, and you are no longer contributing to the party. Starting a new instance at 100% will often avoid this issue. | |
| Empty your bags - There's plenty of loot in the early instances, so make sure you have space for it. Sell all of your gray level items before you start. If you haven't checked it out yet, ask a guard in a capital city where the bank is. You can store things there for free then pick them up when needed. Making sure you're using all of your bag slots is a good idea. You can visit a bag vendor in any capital city, but those bags are very expensive when compared to the price of tailor-made Linen Bags in the Auction House. |
Empty your bags - For every spell or skill you have that requires a reagent, try to make sure you have a few just in case. | |
Get quests - Look on the web and see what quests an instance has and pick them up ahead of time. |
Real Life issues:
Before you go about finding an instance group, try to make sure to set aside
about two hours of undisturbed time, which is typical for a normal party (it
may take shorter or longer depending on your particular situation). Few things
frustrate other players more than someone agreeing to run an instance and then
getting called offline for something they knew they had to do. If you do start
an instance with a limited amount of time, tell the group right away. Also keep
in mind that it can take a varying amount of time to gather a complete group in
the first place, then get everyone to the instance portal.
Most party members are understanding if you have to step away from the computer
from time to time for real-life issues. If you do need to briefly step away to
get a drink, use the restroom, change the baby, and so on, make sure you let
the group know by typing "AFK" or "BRB", so they don't go
back into combat a person short. If you find yourself repeatedly getting called
away during an instance to the detriment of the party's progress, offer to
leave so the group can find a replacement.
Finding a group:
To find an instance group, you can: |
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Ask your guild, if you belong to one. |