You started on Tython yes? I did 3 of the 4 start planets (Nal Hutta, Korriban and Tython) and Tython was the only one with major issues due to population because there's too many triggered objects in the early quests. They could have fixed (it got reported quite enough times I would think, I reported it twice myself during different beta weekends) this but I guess they instead chose to just limit the number of players on the planet...

I gotta agree that finding a group in EQ2 can be a royal pain, especially at lower levels (at least on the European server (there is only one English EU server left), I noticed US servers don't suffer this problem quite so much), however this is due to a lot of other problems the primary one being a dropping population (due in big part to serious neglect from SOE) and the fact that getting into the game is just really hard for a newbie (due to the fact that most of the people that are playing the game were the same ones that were playing 7years ago so everybody knows everybody else) So EQ2 has the inverse problem of WoW, a too tight knit community of regulars where it is really hard to break into, IF you get into it though you get a really nice experience (admittedly, most people give up before they get this far). Opposed to this is WoW's community where nobody knows or cares about anybody else. If I REALLY have to choose I'd rather go with the EQ2 way, but a way in between (like TBC-WoW was imho) would be best. The real challenge imho is not to make it dead simple to find a group (LFG tool), but to make sure that: There are enough people in low levels at all times (so don't make leveling stupidly fast possible) so there ARE people to group with, this is a big issue in WoW as leveling is too fast Get the reward/effort ratio for flashpoints right (don't give too much loot, but don't make running the dungeon pointless either) From what I've seen so far ToR has gotten things pretty much right. Of course, only time can tell so if anything this discussion is a tad premature. I still believe a cross-shard LFG tool is the wrong solution to the problem though.

No, someone from the "other" alignment just needs to win the roll.

Did you in all those runs pick the same LS/DS options? I seem to remember it being stated that the choices you make in a FP do affect what drops (unfortunately I can't look for a source for this as the beta forums got wiped )

As a matter of fact I did play tons of MMOs trying to find one that gave me the "TBC feel" again. Most failed in some aspect or other that I consider essential (bad community, bad mechancis, boring grind, technically lacking,...) Rift, in all honestly, was boring, I played beta, started off after launch but quit relatively fast, the game just didn't grab me. The community on my server was the same type as WoW, so I just went back to WoW for a little bit. But the atmosphere there really got to me, I didn't realize just how bad it was until I had to cope without my guild. Now, when I played ToR during beta one thing I noticed is that grouping was FUN, people were nice, could have a laugh when you messed up in some totally idiotic way, it was why I spent most of TBC in the LFG channel. Because grouping was FUN, sure I wasn't able to run 4dungeons/hour (or more) but at least I ENJOYED the ones I did and my friends list boomed. I didn't do all that much flashpoints (5 or 6 or so during 2 weekends) but I already ended up with a friends list of 4-5 people. This is just unfathomable in WoW, even in the entirely unlikely case you run into an actual fun group you can't do anything with them since they're more than likely from another server. Of course, corss-realm LFG isn't solely responsible for what, imho, is the downfall of WoW but I consider it a very big factor and I sure as hell hope it never makes its way to ToR. It just reduced the "community" on a realm to a bunch of no-names you ran into in Dalaran (or whatever your city of choice was), might as well have been playing with bots most of the time, just add a lot of profanity and tah-dah, your average WoW dungeon PUG.

That is only valid for the US, it's 8PM here, so peak hour in Europe is right about now

It's kinda evening here... Anyway, get the feeling early access staggering so far is more about "entitlement" than about actual technical reasons. *shrug* back to Skyrim I go.

Because a time seeded randomly generated number is always safer and it can't be stolen when someone takes off with the user database *cough* SOE *cough*

You're wrong, they didn't get rid of the LFG channel, they tied it to the LFG system. People DID use LFG, but mainly as a way to get into the LFG channel, because unlike Trade chat the LFG channel was GLOBAL. Imho it worked a lot better than the thing we have had to live with since WotLK for reasons explained in my other post

Yes. And guess what, it wasn't annoying at all, jump on the flight point, grab a drink, jump into the dungeon, and IF you needed waiting, talk to your group members, set up some tactics, tell jokes, make friends (this was THE way to recruit new people before LFG ruined everything)! Finding people on the realm was much easier (you ended up having quite a few on your friends list that you knew were nice), avoiding annoying (euphemism here) people was also easier, in fact, the real *****s tended to leave the server fast because soon nobody would group with them or even want them in their guild. I knew most of the active people on my realm. Then came Wrath of the Lich King with it's cross realm dungeon finder. Net results (some of them anyway): Nearly no talking in groups, no jokes, no stupid pulls "for kicks". Just rushing through content, the faster, the better. If people said "hi" at the start "bye" at the end you had a seriously social group. Ninjas ran rampant. Before LFG ninjaing meant that in no time you would not be getting any groups at all on that realm for a seriously long time. Now it just means getting booted from one group so you can start over with the next... Frustration of ending up in a bad group and the way people dealt with said groups (badly and often rudely), see also next point. Easier to quit and find an overgeared group than actually try to do the dungeon with the people you've got. Being a "quitter" earned you seriously bad rep back in the day, now it's standard procedure. Total lack of support for newbies, back in TBC people mentored newbies, took time to explain the tactics etc, nowadays they're seen as ballast and often kicked because "they suck" or because people just can't be bothered with even the most basic explanation of a bossfight. It heavily devaluated the rewards from dungeons. In TBC finding a group for MgT and actually completing it was a feat for most people, not to mention getting some of the neat loot from there. Now a dungeon is just a way to gain "dungeon points". It mostly killed the social aspect of the game outside of your own guild. Also after Wrath hit (or more correctly, when ICC was released) I moved realms, I raided there for like 6months. By the end of those ~six months when I decided to quit raiding I realized I knew NOBODY (no, I'm not being dramatic, literally NOBODY) on the realm even though I'm a fanatic "dungeoneer" and often pugged raids (even though I had no real reason to, being in one of the top guilds in the realm) and wasn't averse to PVP-ing either (though I despise arena). No, I'm STRONGLY (to put it mildly, basically it's something I'd quit playing over) opposed to any form of cross-realm LFG. EDIT: edited for lots of typos...

This is pointless. By the end people will have 5 companions and will basically be able to roll "companion need" on all gear. I vote that people can ONLY roll need on stuff useful to their AC, everything else goes to greed.