Dungeon Finder Needed Badly

[Darnu]

It's almost amusing how the same Anti-LFG people who are complaining that LFG tools destroy communities, are the same ones who are acting incredibly arrogant, rude and anti-social towards the Pro-LFG group.

 

and in-game not just forums.

 

I'd been playing for only a couple of weeks (started in Feb) when I saw the first "no pugs, we hate pugs" etc posts in General. Well can't really get geared to get into a guild without a dungeon tool...

 

And before you point out the obvious - no I can't stay end-game with my guild. THEY QUIT

Edited March 15, 2012 by Darnu

[chaosdefined]

Sadly I fear this game may end up dying out before it has a chance to improve, all because Bioware were too short sighted and listened to the idiot elitists instead of the people who actually wanted to help the game succeed.

[Touchbass]

This worries me. I haven't played Mythic or know too much about it (somehow I missed that one) but I fail to see how they missed that 6 hours minimum playtime when levelling up, which is what we're all doing, is a surprise and something they could have missed. Surely they would have realized that when levelling people do it as quickly as the content allows and play as much as is necessary to see/do as much as they can? Especially when it's all new?

 

Have they never been an MMO player in a guild with other people and seen how much people play especially when there's new content out? I understand there are a lot of raiders who do only log on for their scheduled times and other than that very rarely, but surely they've played other games like Rift, EQ GW, Aion, or even *cough cough* world of warcraft? And from talking to players they know that when people aren't playing they're working/looking after family (which kind of gets done pretty easily while playing an MMO)/playing other games and sleep gets a lower priority? And why most people don't play seriously much on weekends hence most guild activities are during the week? Except schoolkids which this game doesn't allow?

 

so much of what they've said screams they don't really understand MMORPG players etc and the reasoning that it's their first is a little silly. Not too many companies have/will ever attempt more than one because of what's involved in creating/making/maintaining them.

 

Edit: had friends that play (ok you got me - played) Skyrim. Took them about 9 hours total to finish the story. Don't think that's a good model for Bioware to look at... for ummmm ANYTHING for an MMO.

 

Honestly the whole thing screams that BIOWARE has no clue what they doing. Relying on 3rd party companies? Even if there 200 hour thing was true, it'd be up by now and 1.3 with the dungeon finder is NO WHERE IN SIGHT ... BW is being disingenious

Edited March 15, 2012 by Touchbass

[Touchbass]

Single-server LFD that doesn't port you to the flashpoint is fine.

 

I want to be able to find a group for Cademimu while I continue doing missions on say Tatooine. I don't want to have to fly to the Republic Fleet to find a group.

 

Only when I've found a group, then I'll fly to the Republic Fleet for the flashpoint. But in the mean time, I would like the freedom to do missions on planets.

 

Do you mean with a port? Just imagine doing PvP but with having to go to Catina or the fleet to "join a warzone queue/group". An automatic port is one of the key cornerstones of a system cause it allows you to budget your time successfully and plan your time out.

 

I find people when there is no port often default the work to the leader and just quest anyways forcing him to travel about whisper players, really broken mechanic.

[Nitewolfe]

Do you mean with a port? Just imagine doing PvP but with having to go to Catina or the fleet to "join a warzone queue/group". An automatic port is one of the key cornerstones of a system cause it allows you to budget your time successfully and plan your time out.

 

I find people when there is no port often default the work to the leader and just quest anyways forcing him to travel about whisper players, really broken mechanic.

 

I agree porting to the zone is a must for the system to work.

Without porting the system is just begging to fail. Means you still have to hang around the fleet instead of out doing stuff. No the emergency pass is not good enough it has to lon of a cool down to be useful other than 1 time a day and the fleet shuttles on the planets dont help.

It also means having to run all the way back to where you were after the zone. Making players think twice before queing for a zone.

 

I can also see groups kicking players when they see that the player is all the way out on voss with a good 15 min trip just to get back to the fleet to enter the zone.

That or i can see the group falling apart because of the wait for players to get to the fleet.

Edited March 15, 2012 by Nitewolfe

[jedioptimus]

So i just came back to the game after a month break, i was excited to get back in and do some HMs. I take a look at the LFG tool thats in the game now, 1 level 50. This was at 8pm eastern as well. The problem i am having is i dont have a hour to sit around and spam LFG LFG LFG in general chat just so that i might get lucky and get a group together which would most probably fall apart due to waiting on finding others.

A LFG/Dungeon finder would really just help people out in the long run. It saves time for all of us who only have 2 hrs to play before they have to be at work.

[JoyProtocol]

Just wanted to chime in - back in my WoW days, I really enjoyed the cross-server LFD tool. It really helped me enjoy all dungeons, and do so in a timely fashion without staring at the capital city walls and spamming in /1

 

However - I have had several cases where I grouped up with absolutely amazing people, but there was no way for us to keep playing together.

 

I don't really have a solution to that, but I wanted to mention this as a variable.

 

(And yes, nowadays I would get them on Vent or Skype or somesuch. I didn't think of it back then, and it's not the same.)

[chaosdefined]

On the loading screen for a planet and the tooltip is telling me about how I can queue up for a Warzone anytime I want, anywhere by the click of a button.

 

Not to rub it in my face or anything.

[Nitewolfe]

Just wanted to chime in - back in my WoW days, I really enjoyed the cross-server LFD tool. It really helped me enjoy all dungeons, and do so in a timely fashion without staring at the capital city walls and spamming in /1

 

However - I have had several cases where I grouped up with absolutely amazing people, but there was no way for us to keep playing together.

 

I don't really have a solution to that, but I wanted to mention this as a variable.

 

(And yes, nowadays I would get them on Vent or Skype or somesuch. I didn't think of it back then, and it's not the same.)

 

Now days in wow you would add them to your friends list via the real id and you could que up for randoms with them and even chat with them via cross server tells.

[Nitewolfe]

On the loading screen for a planet and the tooltip is telling me about how I can queue up for a Warzone anytime I want, anywhere by the click of a button.

 

Not to rub it in my face or anything.

 

No kidding.. I upsets me every time i see that.

[Touchbass]

No kidding.. I upsets me every time i see that.

 

Yeah, Bioware really doesn't want to make money. Did you see that article when the developers were confused about how much playtime people have on thier characters? Also hilarious how they blame the 3rd party researchers for the mistakes. They honestly thought people wouldn't rush to 50 within 1 month? It takes literally 2 weeks to hit 50, what where they thinking?

[Nitewolfe]

Yeah, Bioware really doesn't want to make money. Did you see that article when the developers were confused about how much playtime people have on thier characters? Also hilarious how they blame the 3rd party researchers for the mistakes. They honestly thought people wouldn't rush to 50 within 1 month? It takes literally 2 weeks to hit 50, what where they thinking?

 

It takes less than one week my best is 4 days. But then leveling in these games is one of the things i excel at.

 

Its not that i rush there its just how i play. After the first time its so easy due to already knowing the most effect route. Oh and my first time was months before release. So i had plenty of time to prefect leveling

 

For BW to be shocked that people leveled fast just shows lack of understanding the player base.

Holiday release where people had tons of time off. Massive beta invites before release so a lot of people already had their choices layed out before release. Highly anticipated release that anyone should had forseen unusually high play time per session.

So many things that BW should had seen coming with just a little market research.

But then this is the normal for bw and swtor.. So many statements from them of.

We didnt know the players would....

I ask this how did they not know? Over a decade of mmo to study and they didnt know?

They seem shocked that a lfg system would be the number one complaint from level 50's (there own statement). Lets see maybe thats why even older games and scrambling to add modern lfg systems (most of them cross server).

Yet even now knowing that lack of a lfg system is the number one complaint they say they are months out from having one then shoot themselves in the foot by making it single server.

 

They didnt know guilds would want guild banks or taxs...

They didnt know the players would want a customizable UI...

 

Next up is them stating to EA they dint know the players would leave if they didnt put in what the players expected..

We all know how well that has worked for other studio's under EA's belt.

[chaosdefined]

I bought the game at the end of January, I levelled up an Assassin to 31 but then got bored of the class so rolled a Merc instead. Currently up to level 26 but the problem is I'm going quite slowly on the levelling now. I find myself getting a little bored of the grind. Then last night I was lucky enough that some players on Alderaan were looking for a dps for Cademimu and I had so much more fun running that Flashpoint!

I want to be able to level on a planet and queue up for a Flashpoint to break up the monotony, why was that such a lost concept on the dev's?

[tkinnunzero]

I want to be able to level on a planet and queue up for a Flashpoint to break up the monotony, why was that such a lost concept on the dev's?

 

I think it's because while there are more and more post-WoW MMOs being released they are not being made by post-WoW developers. Throwing out possibly everything you know about making social games is understandably hard, but I guess that's why you have upper management.

[Nitewolfe]

I think it's because while there are more and more post-WoW MMOs being released they are not being made by post-WoW developers. Throwing out possibly everything you know about making social games is understandably hard, but I guess that's why you have upper management.

 

Speaking of socializing i think part of the issue is that now more of us socialize via other internet social forms such as facebook and twitter.

More and more i find that i view online games (mmo's) being for gaming and do my socializing via facebook. I even socialize with my friends from other games via facebook.

So its not just a post wow era of mmo's is post other forms of online socializing.

Its some thing i think Blizzard and trion are onto with how much they are tieing the games into other social media. Like in rift i can set it up to post things to my facebook automatically it can also automatically tweet to my twitter account and i can in game upload game videos right to my youtube account. I can also see ingame tweets from anyone i am following. Its pretty cool actually.

Blizzard is more on the line of making there own facebook for gamers but still its trying to do more with social ingame via out of game social media.

 

Honestly i am excited about the future of online gaming. Its just going to take devs that can see outside the box and break this old mold of single server socializing.

[Touchbass]

They're relying on alts/leveling to sell their game (hence legacy first patch) when they aren't even giving proper tools to help people level who don't enjoy pvp as a break from grinding quests? If I didn't take happen to PvP I would of unsubbed along time ago, really hard getting your second alt up

[Completeness]

- macros

- ui customization / addons

- cross realm dungeon finder

 

These are essential features of a mmo.

 

SWTOR feels like a single player game to me. It may have great quests and story, but I don't play mmo games for quests. I hate quests.

 

Bioware spent a lot of effort in questing. It is fully voiced, nice story, animations, etc. But I just hit space to skip it all. Why? Because a mmo is all about PvP for some or co-op PvE for others like me. mmo is not about solo questing!

[Kaeltahs]

It has become quite apparent that most people currently playing the game agree on the fact that some form of inter-server queue is much needed. Most contemporary gamers are used to the modern group assembling system provided by MMO's such as WoW, Rift, and many others, which one would expect developers of Star Wars: The Old Republic to quickly implement in order to remain competitive while servicing the needs of their players.

 

"LFG" (looking for group) on channel 1 (general) can be quite frustrating and noneffective due to many factors such as that in servers (example: Jedi Covenant) the chat reach is restricted to whatever location you are currently in, people often chat about off-topic matters that can make communication difficult, dissonance can arise from players looking for HM's (hard modes) and those looking for a group for the regulars, and finally, because people want to focus on advancing the game instead of sitting around for sometimes hours hoping to find people with the same goals.

 

The current group-finding system is very poor, as one must search through comments (not fully displayed) on the social section in hopes to find someone that wants to embark on the same flashpoint or heroic group quest, and also because just as the general chat, the range is limited to those who are currently playing in the same area (for example: if you are on Taris, you can only chat or view on social the people that are currently on Taris, who are not necessarily the people interested in doing the same flashpoint as you).

 

Dungeon queue (flashpoint queue in the case of SWTOR) systems are a modern approach to group assembly that greatly service player needs, and effectively allow the gaming population to more rapidly engage their goals, as often most of us that play only count on a limited amount of time per session to enjoy the game. Developers should be considerate of these issues and concerns previously mentioned, as it would greatly improve the slightly outdated system currently in place while meeting the expectations of their subscribers.

 

Happy St. Patrick's day to all!

 

Sincerely,

 

--R.

[Wolfgang]

I have not read the entire thread yet, but I have been very disappointed in my inability to find a group to do flashpoints. My first toon was fine but I have only been able to do about 2 flashpoints since then. I have stopped playing some of my toons because I have not been able to find a group to do Boarding Party.

 

I want to do the flashpoints, I think they are great fun. But I can never find a group. I do play on two different servers at all times of the day and night, still no luck finding a group. Please fix this problem so I can continue having fun!

[Wempsey]

I LOVE this game but, it's getting really frustrating not being able to do any group content.

 

I'm certainly not going to sit in Fleet spamming LFG messages for 2 hours.

 

I sure hope the Devs add a LFG tool soon.

 

Either that or consolidate servers...

 

I wish you guys could have ALL of WoWs players but, that's just not happening. As a result there are some low population (even medium or standard pop.) servers where, unless you are a regular on some sort of team, you are basically shut out of group content. It sort of compounds itself as people get frustrated with the lack of group content and just cancel their subs.

 

I happen to love the quests story lines and do not plan on cancelling anytime soon but, I do think you could grow this MMO a lot with a solid LFg tool even more so than adding content or game changes.

[Miscai]

I am afraid I am in the the camp that is strictly against cross-server dungeon finder. I have had nothing but the absolute worst experiences with cross-server groups. The reason for this is simple:

 

There is huge social pressure to not be a jerk that goes away when the odds that you will never see these people again is high. I'm not saying never - there may come a time in the future where we reevaluate this - but at least in the short term, we believe this will cause more damage to the community than good.

 

When you have cross-server it does nothing but bring out the worst in people for the simple reason that there are no consequences whatsoever for being a jerk since you are likely never going to see the people you are grouped with again. I think the cross-server dungeon finder was by FAR one of the absolute worst things WoW ever did. I cannot count the number of times someone has dropped group suddenly after the first or second boss because the item they wanted didn't drop. I have also seen people drop because someone in the group didn't have the "right" gear or spec. I've seen groups kick people for the same reason.

 

Cross-server dungeon finders are not nearly as perfect as proponents try to claim. I have spent just as much waiting in the queue for a cross-server group as I have just advertising LFG. I regularly spent 2-3 hours queued for the dungeon finder in WoW before getting a group. Same goes for waiting for a group to be filled out after someone dropped, especially if the healer or tank was the one that dropped.

 

Personally I think part of the issue with grouping in most current MMOs is partly due to the fact that you can only group with people in your faction. This means that you only have half the server pool as possible group mates. Games didn't always do this. In the original EQ you could group with anyone on the regular servers regardless of alignment. Not only did it make grouping easier, it was also great for roleplaying. I have yet to do anything that comes close to caliber of roleplay that we did in Everquest - it's just not satisifying or inspiring to only be able to roleplay with those you are supposed to be aligned with.

 

I would most definitely be for same server LFG where you need to worry about the reputation you are developing. I would also be for cross-faction LFG for the PvE content. Actually the only reason I am not for it for PvP as well is because, unfortunately, the player population of most MMOs today has degenerated to a much lesser maturity level than we had back in the EQ days.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Miscai

[Krazed]

I like the LFG, makes it easy when I only have an hour or 2 to kill and want to get FP done. Not a fan of spamming in general chat.

[Moricthian]

The longer BW takes to implement a usable LFG system the more subs they will lose. Let's just see if they learn from other MMO's like WOW and Rift or ignore what they've done like they have been doing. I love bioware but their inability to implement features like a LFG tool and duel spec really makes me doubt their ability to handle an MMO.

 

What good is puttting out new flashpoints when nobody can get a group to play them?

[Esproc]

You want add ons, you want macros, you want LFG tools (there is one there that no one uses and I will say I do use it and that it leaves much to be desired, but it is there), and you want all the Bells and Whistles "that all the other MMOs have", but not all of the other MMOs have them.

 

If that is truly what you want, well, why are you not there instead? Just curious, because I am of the camp that does not want all that stuff added into the game.

 

This is SWTOR and although it has similarities to every other game, it is not those other games.

 

Fix the current server LFG system, fine, do not ad x-server LFG tool, please.

[Kynesis]

Salient point - content is worthless if we can't / don't participate in it.