Why is it so impossible to get people to go to the lower level elite zones? Ragefire Chasm & Wailing Caverns to be specific. Been trying for 3 days to get enough people to go but it seems everyone is chicken shit to do them?

Did they change them recently?

Mostly because they're a waste of time, in general.

The loot that drops off the Fanglords (in WC) isn't so bad for the level, and the event that the Tauren starts after you've killed them (waking the sleeping guy and fighting off the waves of mobs that charge him while he's performing the ritual) is both fun and worth seeing; I wouldn't consider those two quests, at least, a waste of time for folks in their low 20s (Ragefire's kind of a waste of time, except to get a feel for what elite mobs taste like). The big problem that I see with getting folks to go to the low end instances now is that progression happens so fast in WoW that many of the level 20 folks you see hanging around the Barrens these days are already on their 3rd or so alt, and are just levelling up and aren't interested in seeing the eye candy again...

Also, with lower level toons that are new to WoW, the players aren't used to the difference between normal and elite dungeons, and try to head into them with a pickup group when they are orange/high yellow like they would their normal quests and proceed to get owned really hard; after a few really ugly meltdowns they get gun-shy.
The easy soloability of most normal quests can make it difficult to 1) switch gears for an instance and 2) get to know people that you can rely on via your day to day grouping that you'd trust when it comes time to do one...

The best suggestion I can make to you is 1) to not give up, but to expect to do these quests when they are green or low yellow at best and 2) to group around and try to get to know some folks you can rely on/call on when it's time to do an instance. I've only recently (at 50) started to do such myself, after two months on the server...

Regards,
Nydia

wailing caverns can turn into 2-3 lvl's for an hour of work, i admit the items given to melee type characters for that quest isn't worth shit, but the crescent staff is very bad ass at that lvl, also items dropped in the instance is a joke unless you are fighting that living elemental at the end which is like a 28+ elite mob and always drops a god damn shield

the deep fathom ring is wicked awesome for casters

What's funny is that the WC golem drops a staff that is not as good as the staff you get as a reward for killing the 4 druids on the way to him.

It's not so much that lower level instances aren't worth it, there are plenty of high level ones that aren't too. The primary differences are that the "good" ones have more uniform NPC levels, less crap to clear through to get to what you care about, and generally don't involve trolls or quillboars.

The really successful ones like SM have minimal clearing to get to the instances, and instead of one big long clear past 500 greys or an end boss 10 levels over the starting guards, you have 4 separate instances for each level range.

Sunken Temple is sort of the same way because you only have to go down to the highly annoying pit of Refuse if you want to (which occurs exactly once).

Fast leveling and the total lack of grouping incentive in WoW certainly exacerbates the "problem."

Wailing Caverns and Ragefire Chasm just plain aren't worth it. They're too much hassle for crappy dungeon design and not very impressive loot. Sure, the exp is decent, but you'll be bored all the way through them. At least I was.

Compare them to the Deadmines, The Stockades or Shadowfang Keep (all lowlevel) and they can't compare in the least. The rewards, experience and pure fun factor of the recently mentioned 3 are all pretty awesome. Alright, The Stockades aren't exactly a marvel in dungeon design, but the reward (with 5 quests in the log) is absurd for one clearing. An hour's work for like 10k exp, plus items.

Blizzard simply fuxxed up the first 2 horde instances. If you ever try out an alliance char you'll find there isn't any shortage of players wanting to do the Deadmines.

I enjoyed WC and RFC, but you're right, they don't compare to SFK. That zone rules.