As one of those people frustrated with party members unable to find the entrance to ICC 5-man instances, I thought that the requirement to find the dungeon entrance yourself before grouping for it was a good plan. I've changed my mind. I believe it is a partial fix to the wrong problem.

The particular problem it addresses is exactly what I described: not knowing how to get back to the instance so you could revive and continue playing. Unfortunately, it becomes an attunement issue with all the baggage we have seen from previous attunements (except for heroic Magister's Terrace).

The very first dungeon I did, in 2005, was Deadmines. The run back was horrendous; I had nightmares for a year. The minimap representation was just detailed enough to get you lost. I remember learning to turn after a certain number of paces, etc. Often I had to blushingly ask a party member to give me directions. It got better over the years, but it can still be frustrating. In real life, I don't get lost even in strange cities -- I orient by the sun and always have a real map that has markings on it.

BFD was similar, as were Maraudon and BRD. There is no long, complicated run back for Stratholme, Scholomance or Dire Maul. BC had no punishing run backs. ICC 5-man entrance was the first nasty one, and it could have been solved by a slightly better design of the entrance ramp.

What is the run back for? Well, a wipe is a wipe and should be suitably rewarded. The run back is a time out, an opportunity to reflect and maybe to share tips and experience, if it were possible to type while zig-zagging through a maze of passages all alike. I presume that this is how all MMORPGs did it. I would prefer the run back to, perhaps, losing gear or experience points. However, we see dramatically less "reward" in BC and LK, so Blizzard has been rethinking the mechanic.

Another aspect of dungeon discovery is finding out what the dungeons are and how to get into them. For a first time player, perhaps unfamiliar with what dungeons are, the question itself doesn't even get asked. The game uses quests from local NPCs to direct players to the dungeon entrance. The normal game quest-map mechanic doesn't work here, since you don't see a marking on your map to show where the instance might be located. Also, you have to do the quests in the area to get the quest, since the instance-quest is often the culmination of one or more quest chains.

So, if you are on the other continent, or left the zone before getting the pointer quest, you won't discover the dungeon. At level 36, on my Arcane mage in Western Plaguelands, I was invited to a random dungeon. The only dungeons available to me were Scarlet Monastery ones. I looked at the list and also saw locked instances: 3 Maraudon instances, Dire Maul (East) and Uldaman. After running SM, I decided to discover the other ones. Uldaman ... well I couldn't get there from here. I ported to Darnassus and proceeded to run down Kalimdor and got the entrances for 6 dungeons. This took more than an hour, and I wouldn't have had a hope in the world of finding them except for years of experience in the game. This means that more than half the leveling dungeons would not be available to me while I leveled, and even that was possible only because of defaulted discoveries.

Later on, I got the entrance to Scholomance and Stratholme (Live) because I knew about them. I forgot about Stratholme Service Entrance and had to go back and get it. I was able to get the Uldaman entrance because there is a back door just southwest of Fuselight, which gives you the entrance discovery. I won't be able to get Zul'Farrak since I haven't done the quests in Kalimdor, but I will be able to do BRD and BRS because those are easy to discover, if you know exactly where to go and when. I would be unlikely to go to Sunken Temple unless there is a very strong breadcrumb trail.

I noticed that Scarlet Monastery requires no discovery. I wonder if the same is true for Stockades, Wailing Caverns and RFC. This would certainly help the opposite faction enjoy some nicely designed instances. However, it begs the question of the solution to the run back. (I know the run back for SM is trivial, but you get my point).

Dungeon discovery is fixing the wrong problem. The game has changed in 6 years, and the run back is not the punishment/reward it once was. Just fixing the graveyard and navigation would open up many more dungeons to new players and even for returning players.

We removed the dungeon entrance area discovery requirements for all pre-Cataclysm dungeons this beta patch.