Mists of Pandaria Classic Won’t Have One Original Game Feature

World of Warcraft has made the decision to not include the Raid Finder in Mists of Pandaria Classic. This system was available in the original run of the expansion, but fans will not be able to use it in the World of Warcraft Classic – though the new Celestial Dungeons feature will help fill the gap LFR is leaving.

July is going to be a big month for World of Warcraft Classic, with the Mists of Pandaria Pre-Patch starting on July 1, and the expansion itself launching on July 21. Even modern WoW players have a reason to be excited, as they can earn the new Shaohao’s Sage Serpent mount by completing the Pandaren starting experience in Classic before the end of the month.

Related

World of Warcraft Classic Brings Back Huge Experience Buff Ahead of Mists of Pandaria Launch

World of Warcraft Classic gives players a massive boost to their experience gains all the way up to level 85 ahead of the Mists of Pandaria expansion.

However, fans should be aware that an important feature of Mists of Pandaria will not be returning in Classic. In a recent Blizzard forum post, WoW Community Manager Kaivax revealed that Mists of Pandaria Classic would not have the Raid Finder tool, even though it was in the original version. They explained the system was first introduced for Dragon Soul raid from WoW: Cataclysm in 2011, when raiding was a niche activity, pick-up groups were rare, and organizing weekly schedules was challenging. Nowadays, most Classic players do normal raids, leading Blizzard to make the difficult decision to Raid Finder from the second run of Mists of Pandaria.

No Raid Finder in WoW: Mists of Pandaria Classic

Of course, the lack of Raid Finder begs the question of how one will progress through the Legendary questline or earn LFR (Looking For Raid) tier gear. To fill this gap, World of Warcraft Classic: Mists of Pandaria is introducing Celestial Dungeons. An evolution of the Elemental Rune Dungeons from WoW: Cataclysm Classic, and the Titan Rune Dungeons from Wrath of the Lich King Classic before them, fans will be able to queue into these high-difficulty instances to face raid-level challenges and mechanics, utilize buffs granted by the August Celestials, and earn LFR gear. The Legendary cloak quest will also be adjusted so that progress can be earned through either Celestial Dungeons or raids.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Raids

Players are divided on this particular change in Mists of Pandaria Classic. While reception to the Celestial Dungeons is mostly positive, many are disappointed in the removal of the Raid Finder, as it increases the barrier of entry to exciting content and major story moments for those who are not a part of raiding guilds, and makes raiding with alts more challenging as well. On the other hand, many career raiders are happy to see it gone, as they saw LFR as an extra “chore” they had to complete each week to earn gear. Regardless of one’s stance, Celestial Dungeons will officially go live two weeks after the release of the Mogu’shan Vaults raid in WoW: Mists of Pandaria Classic, so likely some time in late August.

World of Warcraft

Systems

8/10

Released

November 23, 2004

ESRB

T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence (online interactions not rated)

Engine

Unreal Engine

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Cross-Platform Play

pc, ps

•