One of the many standards in all RPGS is the
dungeon. Dungeons are places of adventure, danger, and gold,
where players get to battle monstrous beasts and magical beings,
as well as gain experience and gain powerful items. Many games,
such as Dark Age of Camelot, choose to have only a few set
dungeons that are known by the players as a place for getting
such and such weapons and armor (I.E. The Tomb of Mithra, one of
the five dungeons in the mainland of Albion). In the World of
Warcraft, however, Blizzard decided to take a more ‘randomized’
approach to dungeons. These are called micro dungeons.
Micro Dungeons
Ranging from small, unknown mines to haunted tombs and bandit
caves, there are more than one hundred micro dungeons scattered
throughout the world of Azeroth. These dungeons, almost randomly
placed (you can have more than one ‘Haunted Mine’), are designed
for centralized groups. When you enter any of these micro
dungeons, there will not be any long loading times (in fact
Blizzard states that the transition is seamless), which explains
the ‘micro’ part of the dungeon. Micro Dungeons look like they
were designed more for the experience rather than the loot.
World Dungeons, however, are an entirely different matter.
World Dungeons
A haunted castle? The tower of a long dead magician? World
Dungeons can be thought of as micro dungeons of a much grander
scale. These places of slaughter and adventure are geared
towards epic encounters, where dozens upon dozens of players can
team up and fight the real monstrous beasties. A safe
speculation would be that the monsters encountered in the past
three WarCraft games (for example, Dreadlords or Crypt Lords)
will be fought and killed in these world dungeons. A few
examples of world dungeons include Medivh's Tower, the Westfall
Deadmines, and the Scarlet Monastery. World Dungeons will have
meeting areas where players of different groups and guilds can
meet and fight as one big group. To avoid long waiting lists,
kill-stealing, and the other problems associated with epic level
dungeons, Blizzard has introduced "instancing" to some of the
key areas and encounters in world dungeons of Azeroth.
Instances
"Instances" are your own copy of a key area of a dungeon, for
private group adventures. Instanced zones discourage some of the
online RPGer’s pet peeves, such as griefing and kill stealing.
According to Blizzard, monsters in the instanced zones are
typically more powerful and will require a different set of
tactics than the players used when fighting in the micro
dungeons. Instanced zones will allow a certain group or guild to
have their own private, dungeon adventure within a bigger
dungeon adventure. Once your instance is established, you will
be able to invite friends into it to help complete the area.
Known Dungeons
Click here for Dungeon Maps with World location and level range.
About
Redemption
