First impressions of ICC 5man instances

So here it is, the new patch! Was it all that it claimed to be?

First of all, I love the new lfg system. The whole idea of throwing in people from several servers is genious if you play on a low populated server like me. Now I can get a group even with my dps chars! And I don't even have to wait that long. I agree that most likely more people will be online using it now that it's all new and brand, and it'll settle in the next couple of weeks, but I didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes or so to get a group at 4 o'clock in the morning. That is at least quite promising. Only thing I think they could've changed is the fact that the instance is completely random. Since no one gets to chose, except the AI, it could actually pick something no one wants to do. Like Oculus. Chances are good no one would want to do Oculus. Getting a whole group together for something no one wants to do seems strange for a game that is supposed to entertain. I think you should at least be able to chose 1-3 instances you just don't want to join. That way you'll never get whole groups of people having to do something the evil AI has chosen for them but no one will enjoy.

Second of all (yeah this time I actually have one!) I digg the new instances. I've tanked and healed myself through them and had a pleasant experience both times. Their difficulty level increases quite much from one instance to the next and the last part - Halls of Reflection - is a major pain in the ass, at least on heroic. The first boss, Falric, is really really tough. He does a nasty aoe fear and reduces healing and damage significantly throughout the fight. His last percents of hp you'll hit and heal for puny amounts which can be really frustrating and surely make many people wipe on 1-2% (like we did once). Nothing I would pug really. But I like it! A little something to work with. And although the HoR was horrible to tank, with multiple ranged mobs everywhere, it was really fun to heal (I didn't do it with my main though, but with my resto shammy). But come on blizzard! Don't throw in those lame groups of ranged mobs without giving warriors some more ranged threat skills first! That's just evil...
The event where you run from Arthas is quite fun too, especially if you do it with two tanks like us and have him come nearly face to face by every ice wall. The groups get larger and larget too and I can say it was damn close by the last wall. I could smell Arthas in the end there... great fun ^^ Well that's just because we made it, it wouldn't have been any fun if we had wiped.
The music in there is crazy too, just listen to the rock (?) by the first boss in Forge of Souls.

Haven't tried the raids yet, but I will later today. If they are anything like the 5 man instances in feel and gameplay I'll enjoy myself greatly.