Will WotLK Classic Have A Dungeon Finder?

Much to players’ dismay (or joy), there will be no Dungeon Finder in WotLK Classic. The Murloc in me is disappointed, and my day is ruined. You can check out the announcement video made for the Dragonflight and Lich King Classic expansions if you don’t believe me. In the video, the Lead Producer of the WoW Classic team—Holly Longdale—made it a point to mention that they would not include the Dungeon Finder in Wrath Classic despite the feature debuting in the OG Wrath of the Lich King. Their reason? It didn’t fit the “Classic” feeling, finally giving an answer to plays asking “Will WotLK Classic Have a Dungeon Finder?“

What is a WotLK Classic Dungeon Finder?

Many players considered the addition of the Dungeon Finger as one of the most pivotal events in WoW history. It was a two-way thing—some thought of it as a great tool and celebrated the launch, while others didn’t feel the same way and thought it was the “first step” to the fall of World of Warcraft.

Regardless, the Dungeon Finder automatically assigned players to a specific dungeon and teleported them there; it essentially allowed them to open a menu and go directly to a dungeon from anywhere in the world. The tool also connects you to other players in the dungeon you’re going to and puts together a group. If there are enough players, you’ll be transferred directly to the dungeon and start your run before opting to teleport back to the starting point.

Why the Controversy over WoTLK Classic Dungeon Finder?

The main reason the Dungeon Finder was mired with controversy was that it removed the “social aspect” of World of Warcraft. When playing WoW, it’s normal for a group gathering to take a long time. The journey to the dungeon and communications with the group members you end up with is a crucial part of the social aspect of World of Warcraft; it’s honestly why the developers decided to omit it for Wrath of the Lich King Classic.

According to Kevin Vigue, a software engineer part of the Classic team, the massive chunk of what they state as the “core of Classic” is the social experience. The friendships you make and the guilds you join in Classic are often formed due to players spending a lot of time together. Pushing the Dungeon Finder feature to WotLK Classic will prevent these experiences.

The Dungeon Finger was popular with players who didn’t want to communicate with others or were strapped for time. After all, it makes it easy for them to find a group and not spend too long looking for suitable players to do the dungeon with them. Despite this, Vigue commented that the decision to remove the feature in Wrath of the Lich King Classic was unanimous.

A New Tool is in the Works for WoTLK Classic

Making the Dungeon Finder unavailable for WotLK Classic isn’t the end. In fact, Blizzard stated that they’re looking at options to facilitate this need. WoW developer Keltoras divulged that they’d be extending the functionalities of the already existing group search tool, making tweaks here and there to make it more modern and easier to find.

Features to Expect in the Group Finder UI

The new Group Finder UI will bring a couple of features:

• Roles: By introducing roles in Lich King Classic, partial groups can broadcast which slots they have open. For solo players, they can specify which role they want to play—whether they’re willing to tank, heal, be the DPS, or do all of them. All roles will be open to all classes for now.
• A Fresh Coat of Paint: The Classic team will be rebuilding the UI to make it easier to read and more accessible than in the Burning Crusade Classic expansion. They’ll be using the Group Finder Code to enable a boost in performance and stability.
• Request Invite and Suggest Invite: Adding Request Invite and Suggest Invite will streamline the group formation.
• Solo and Multitask Listings: The best way to think of the Group Finder is that it can be a bulletin board of sorts, where you can do the activities you want to do and find like-minded people who want to do the same. With that, the developers will be supporting listings from solo players and half-filled groups. Moreover, if you’re unsure which dungeon to run, you can list yourself available for more than one of them.
• A Neat Bundle: The Classic team aims to make the Group Finding UI the one-stop shop for anything related to group-finding. As such, they decided to revive an old rule from the original Wrath of the Lich King and Burning Crusade, where sending messages in the Looking for Group chat will require you to be listed in the UI.