Newbie instance guide

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Newbie instance guide

Typically between the levels of 10 and 30 you will have your first instance experience. This guide is here to help you get ready for that, and is written specifically with newer players levels 10-30 in mind.

If you're a more experienced player wanting to learn how groups work together make sure you check out the Instance grouping guide.

About Instances

An instance is a private dungeon only for you and your party. This personal "instance" starts when you enter a blue^† instance portal, which is often already located inside a cave or dungeon. The drops, loot, and quest rewards are better than those gotten 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. The goal of World of Warcraft is whatever you want it to be, and doing instances is not required for leveling your character – some players go all the way to 70 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 members are learning how to play their class so you may feel more comfortable.

^† Portals come in other colors, but blue means parties of 5 characters or less. Lower level characters are unlikely to start in raid or Outland instances.

Gameplay Differences

Instances are large, multi-room areas (sometimes with scripted events) 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 will then be brought back to life at the inside of that portal - not at 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 it is a good idea to 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.)

Group roles

A balanced party typically consists of:

• A Tank, (usually a Warrior, a Bear form Druid, or a Paladin) whose job it is to keep the mobs attention on themselves.

• A Healer, (usually a Priest, Paladin, Druid or Shaman) whose job it is to stand in the back and heal the group (primarily the tank).

• The rest are DPS (Damage Per Second; typically Cat form Druid, Hunter, Mage, Rogue, DPS Shaman, or Warlock), whose job it is to deal out damage. This is everyone else not healing or tanking. The trick to being a good DPS is to deal out a large amount of damage but not so much as to get the mob more interested in themselves than the tank.

• 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 for [Polymorph] (also known as "sheep") or a Rogue for [Sap].

A note on Tanking and Healing: These skills are counterintuitive 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 can seem dull or unimportant sometimes standing in the back of the party keeping people alive. Needless to say, these jobs are key to a successful instance group.

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 these three DPS, if they also have the capacity to Tank or Heal, should be ready to assist in Tanking or Healing 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 any good defensive (like Bear form for druids or [Power Word: Shield] for priests) or threat-reducing skills (like [Fade] for priests) you might have for when a mob turns its attention from the tank toward you, since heals can generate a large amount of threat sometimes.

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. Only run away if you don't seem to be getting any heals and never too far. If you use mostly ranged attacks, try to keep at as far range as possibly. Rogues should use [Feint] to reduce threat or [Vanish] (if they have it) when desperate.

Pre-instance preparation

• Buy or cook food - one stack of 20 should do. This will speed up the downtime for you between pulls. If there is a mage in the party and they give you conjured food, eat that before the food you bought. 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)
• Repair - When durability gets to zero (red armor), armor loses all armor value and stat bonuses.
• Buy ammo - Use shot or arrows? Make sure you have at least a stack, more if you're a hunter.
• Empty your bags - There's plenty of loot in the early instances, make sure you have space for it. Sell all of your gray level items. 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.
• Buy reagents - For every spell you have that requires a reagent to use, try to make sure you have a few just in case.
• Visit your class trainer, if money allows. - If money is short pick up any "New" abilities first. If you cannot afford all the new abilities at your class trainer, then make sure you let your group know you aren't quite trained up.
• Get quests - look here on WoWWiki 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 you have around two hours free. An instance can zip by in 45 minutes for a seasoned group, or a group with a high-level helping, but a not-so-well experienced group might take a while, possibly even deciding to quit before the end. 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 first thing.

Most party members are understanding if you have to step away from the computer from time to time - we all have Real Life lives after all. If you do need to step away to get a drink, go to the restroom, change the baby, whatever, 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:

• Use the Looking for Group tool.
• Ask in the   [General] or trade channels.
• Ask your guild, if you belong to one.

You may find that busy times of day are better for finding groups. For example, finding a group on a Saturday afternoon is fairly easy, but finding one at 5:30am on any given day might be very hard. (But not unheard of.)

General Guidelines

Most of these are laid out in the Instance grouping guide, but here's a quick version:

• Never use fear effects in an instance unless decided on beforehand for a well-understood situation.
• Don't use any clickable "cog" or "gear" icon () objects without asking first - it might trigger a battle when people aren't ready. This also applies to containers which should usually be rolled on first.
• On death, do not release to the graveyard unless agreed upon by the party and NEVER rez at the angel unless you've cleared it with the group or you're planning on leaving the group.

Class specific tips

• Warrior - try to get a one-handed weapon and a shield. A Warrior's job is usually to tank in an instance and having a shield will make you be able to handle a lot more damage. Don't worry much about dishing out huge amounts of damage, warriors want to attract attention more than do damage. If you are the Tank, stay in defensive stance and use taunt and [Sunder Armor]. (Keep applying Sunder Armor - it stacks to five!) Ask who the main healer is and if that person gets attacked taunt that mob off of the healer. If you are not asked to Tank, stay in Battle Stance and use a two-handed weapon, if you have one. Try not to use Thunderclap or [Cleave] if you are fighting near a crowd controlled mob, as it may remove that crowd control.

• Warlock - Try to have at least ten soul shards in your bags when you get there. Offer everyone in the party a  [Healthstone]. Do not put your [Soulstone] on yourself, it should go on a Shaman, Paladin, or Priest because if they self-rez they can resurrect you and any other dead party members. Let the person you put the soulstone on know that if they die they ought to wait until all combat is over and then use the soulstone - and that if they release to the graveyard they'll have to walk back anyway. For your Pet, use your Imp so everyone gets the [Blood Pact] Buff, meaning more health for the whole party. Set your Imp to either defensive or passive, the right-most settings on your pet's action bar.

• Mage - Before the instance you should conjure plenty of extra water, and even food sometimes, so that you can give it to your groupmates. Let them know to use the food and drink you give them first, as it disappears when they log out of the game for over 15 minutes.

• Rogue - Have your poisons ready, and have your lockpicking skill ready - instances usually have locked doors or chests inside.

• Paladin - Be sure to cast your buffs on your groupmates at the start of the instance, and reapply them whenever they wear off. (Appropriate buffs for different classes)

• Druid - Be sure to cast [Mark of the Wild] and [Thorns] on all of your groupmates at the start of the instance, and reapply them whenever they wear off.

• Hunter - Make sure you have of Ammo, as your gun or bow is useless without it. Don't forget food for your pet, as they might die often. Set your pet to either defensive or passive, the right-most settings on your pet's action bar.

• Shaman - Put down your totems near where the tank is intending on battling.

• Priest - Be sure to cast [Power Word: Fortitude] on your groupmates at the start of the instance, and reapply it when it wears off.

Loot Rules

ASK about loot rules ahead of time. Every party is different, and it's up to the party leader to decide.

You may have learned a bit about Bind on Equip and Bind on Pickup in solo play, but being in a party adds a whole new issue. Most parties allow for open rolling on Bind on Equip items.

Most loot from bosses is Bind on Pickup, though, and this tends to be the best loot. Do not roll on items from bosses you have no way to use for yourself. You cannot mail these items to your other characters, and you cannot equip them, so leave them for someone else who can use them. Rolling on equipment that you cannot use and have not been told to roll for is called being a ninja looter and it is a quick way to make a bad reputation for yourself and your guild.