The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 46: Random Queue Testing

Lowbie Diaries BannerWelcome to a project, experiment, challenge or whatever you wanna call it. Normally experiencing the content with well-geared toons, I figured it would be quite interesting to approach the game from the perspective of a casual player. How does it feel starting from scratch and build up a character without the help of your mains? How long does it take until you are geared enough for the latest endgame content? Welcome to the Lowbie Diaries, it should be fun!


Like mentioned before in this series, the random queue is a perfect feature to test my lowbie against. It’s a casual way to get into runs, and to earn daily ADs. Obviously I was most interested in the epic queues. You shouldn’t run into any trouble in the normal dungeon and skirmish queue (other than bots and people porting out of the Underdark skirmishes, because ‘too long’). The epic one however has been controversial as very easy and fast content is paired with more difficult one. A group that can rush through Epic Temple of the Spider might stand no chance in Fangbreaker Island for example.

Unlocking Master Spellplague last month finally enabled me to get into the epic queues. That’s already one of the main cons of the system. You really need to grind your way up to Module 11 to even be able to get into runs. You can obviously queue into dungeons individually, but that doesn’t make too much sense imho. So this really needs to be revised and one easy fix would be to just move FBI and mSP to a different queue. Anyway, I made it and deliberately queued into the epic dungeons daily to get a good feel for the system.

Queue Times

The first thing I noticed was queue times. If the role bonus is a healer, the queue almost pops instantly. While that’s good, it can take a couple minutes in other cases. It kinda works for DCs though, but waiting times for DPS are probably that much higher. That being said, the epic trial queue doesn’t pop at all. I tried a few times, but soon ran out of patience and switched queues. I think the only way to get into a trial run is by queuing early in the session while doing your dailies. Having nothing else to do than waiting for the queue it horrible. The same applies to the epic dungeon one, but as said it usually pops fairly fast.

Content Difficulty

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As expected, the runs I was getting into were pretty easy overall. We usually had mixed teams, but even with bad 8k DPS most dungeons are easy to run. That instantly changes when you get into Fangbreaker Island or Master Spellplague. Most players don’t even attempt these with a pug. I had two runs that already vanished at the first campfire and a third one after wiping to the first mob. Players just ported out using VIP and logged onto a different character. And I’m not the one to blame them. Random queues are about quick runs and quick ADs. Nobody wants to suffer through a one-hour FBI or mSP with undergeared plebs. That might sound harsh, but unless the devs change the structure of the queue, it’s unlikely to change.

This also means that everything Mod 10 and beyond remains premade territory. You need to get lucky to even get into a pug run and then it’s still very unlikely that you group will be able to finish it. Despite this major flaw, my lowbie so far has a good time with random queues. They do what they are supposed to and deliver daily runs and ADs without much trouble.

That’s it for today. See you next time!


The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 41: Farming the River District
The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 42: How to Adjust to Changes as a Lowbie
The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 43: Tackling Events Like Portobello
The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 44: Random Queue Difficulties
The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 45: Abandon Fey Weapons for Module 13?


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3 thoughts on “The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 46: Random Queue Testing

  • January 24, 2018 at 1:11 pm
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    Maybe the epic random queue is a way to sell character slots 😉

  • January 24, 2018 at 4:58 pm
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    I was hoping to see more data in terms of testing. How many easy dungeons VS FBIs? How many successes VS Quitting? Overall time spent on alts now VS prior. Did you just try a cleric or DPS?

    As someone who spent a half hour on an alt in IG before failing… they can keep the extra AD. Thirty minutes with nothing to show for it is not worth the chance of an easy run.

  • March 31, 2018 at 2:55 am
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    MSP and FBI should absolutely be moved to a separate tier. I actually find MSP to be more difficult than T9G. Plus, I actually HATE the Spellplaque dungeon. I will often port out and switch characters if I get qued into it for my basic dungeon, because the boss glitches out so often.

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