Give me a legitimate reason to NOT have a LFD tool.

[Niyenna]

I think the current LFG tool would be much more widely used if it wasn't zone specific. I really think the right first step is for a server wide channel and list of who's lfg and for what.

 

It isn't zone specific. It defaults to everyone in your current zone. You can take that out and type in any search parameters (even as generic as "lfg") and it will search your entire server.

[darkcerb]

I've never advocated a x-server tool. I've only ever asked for an Aion style server-wide LFG tool.

 

Very well, lets go your way.

 

Why argue against a perfect compromise a cross server tool that has the option of only searching your own server?

 

Feel free to also answer why low pop servers and pub side should accept your server only option with only the comfort of knowing your comfortable?

[Shadowkai]

We aren't against a server-wide tool, just a simple global LFG chat channel would do the trick. We're against the ridiculous notion of putting in a system that does EVERYTHING for you, without trying to make things better with simpler tools that helps the mentality of players instead of destroying it.

 

Actually, plenty of folks in this thread are against ANY LFG tool, which I find odd.

 

A global channel would certainly be a step forward, although it's certainly the MINIMUM they could do to address the issue.

 

And I'll say it again. Aion is the model here. Great tool, doesn't port anyone anywhere, isn't x-server, doesn't do "everything" for you, it's just really nice to have so you can continue to PLAY the game while you build groups for group content. It doesn't "destroy" anything.

[Blotter]

Let's reduce it to brass tacks...

 

BW: Here's a nail and a hammer.

 

Complainers: I demand a nail gun!!!

 

That is all.

[Senatsu]

Actually, plenty of folks in this thread are against ANY LFG tool, which I find odd.

 

A global channel would certainly be a step forward, although it's certainly the MINIMUM they could do to address the issue.

 

And I'll say it again. Aion is the model here. Great tool, doesn't port anyone anywhere, isn't x-server, doesn't do "everything" for you, it's just really nice to have so you can continue to PLAY the game while you build groups for group content. It doesn't "destroy" anything.

 

It's strange that some people are blatantly against any tool of any kind to help gather groups. I'm all for a helpful tool, but LFD is going too far.

 

I was rather surprised that there was no global LFG channel. I figured if you ticked the LFG button on the Who window, it would put you automatically in a global chat channel, a bit disappointed that they didn't have it at launch.

 

The Aion tool is certainly the perfect mix between the system right now and the LFD system in World of Warcraft. Keeping the system as it is now would be just idiotic on BioWare's side, but jumping straight into an LFD type system would be equally reckless.

 

To be totally honest, if Blizzard focused as much on content right now as they did in vanilla/TBC and they knew what would happen if they added the LFD tool, I doubt they would have done it. I have a feeling that Blizzard realizes the benefits of it, but regrets what it's long and short-term destructive implications were.

 

Maybe I'm putting too much faith in Blizzard here, but I at can at least hope they regret it to some level.

Edited February 15, 2012 by Senatsu

[Moricthian]

It's funny to me that people reduce the discussion to Pro-LFGers don't want to work for loot. loot should be awarded for doing flashpoints not the process of finding groups.

 

If you clear the flashpoint, you get loot. How you get to the flashpoint is irrelevant.

[darkcerb]

Let's reduce it to brass tacks...

 

BW: Here's a nail and a hammer.

 

Complainers: I demand a nail gun!!!

 

That is all.

 

If we're talking current lfg system vs cross server tool its much closer to:

 

BW: Here sharp rock 'nd big rock

 

Complainers: I demand a nail gun!

[harpuax]

Actually, plenty of folks in this thread are against ANY LFG tool, which I find odd.

 

A global channel would certainly be a step forward, although it's certainly the MINIMUM they could do to address the issue.

 

And I'll say it again. Aion is the model here. Great tool, doesn't port anyone anywhere, isn't x-server, doesn't do "everything" for you, it's just really nice to have so you can continue to PLAY the game while you build groups for group content. It doesn't "destroy" anything.

 

To put our previous argument to bed and set my opinion on the feature in question let me just say I DO agree with you.

 

I AM in favor of a Aion style LFG tool, that offers you choice on how you want to build a group. I am NOT in favor of an automated system that does everything for you and offers you no choice. If it is a tool and not automation, I do not mind it going x-server, because you have the choice to pick people on your server or others.

[DarthKhaos]

I would agree, but also know its absolutely the most ridiculous thing to wait for 45min to find a healer to run with your group, or that 4th person.

 

The other day I was hanging out in the fleet, you know, for 2 hours being a dps waiting for a group to join for a hard mode. When I saw a post LFM DPS HMs. I jumped on it, thinking I wasn't typing fast enough. They invited and my two hour wait finally came to an end. They said they have had difficulty finding a DPS all night. I was like WHAT? I've been here for 2 hours reading chat, doing shout outs. They were off in Ilum doing dailies and some pvp, doing shout outs there.

 

Point is, no one wants to hang out in one area to communicate with everyone else for something as trivial as finding another member to run a flashpoint with.

And this is why I've been advocating for people to actually USE the current tool. Even as crude as it is you can easily see WHO is looking once they flag themselves. I've logged onto my server and while chatting with friends see people asking over and over in chat for a healer or tank or something. I open up the LFG Tool do a search for LFG and sort by level. Oh look a level 36 healer or a level 50 tank flagged LFG and they're in Huttball. I inform the person and they go either "I never bothered checking that." or "I didn't even know that thing existed." I see people in fleet spamming LFG over and over and over yet they refuse to take a couple of seconds to check a box and copy and paste the same thing they're repeating in General into a little box.

 

• It WILL allow you to be anywhere in the game and find players to party with.
  
• It WILL allow anyone in the game to find you to party with no matter where you are in game.
  
• It WILL make it easier to find a party once used by the game community.
  

 

 

• It will NOT create the party for you.
  
• It will NOT notify you when a player "Flags" themself LFG.
  
• It will NOT teleport you to the Flashpoint or Operation.
  

 

These are just some of the things I mentioned in the guide of how to use the current LFG tool the link is in my signature.

[darkcerb]

Why argue against a perfect compromise a cross server tool that has the option of only searching your own server?

 

Feel free to also answer why low pop servers and pub side should accept your server only option with only the comfort of knowing you're happy?

[Moricthian]

And this is why I've been advocating for people to actually USE the current tool. Even as crude as it is you can easily see WHO is looking once they flag themselves. I've logged onto my server and while chatting with friends see people asking over and over in chat for a healer or tank or something. I open up the LFG Tool do a search for LFG and sort by level. Oh look a level 36 healer or a level 50 tank flagged LFG and they're in Huttball. I inform the person and they go either "I never bothered checking that." or "I didn't even know that thing existed." I see people in fleet spamming LFG over and over and over yet they refuse to take a couple of seconds to check a box and copy and paste the same thing they're repeating in General into a little box.

 

• It WILL allow you to be anywhere in the game and find players to party with.
  
• It WILL allow anyone in the game to find you to party with no matter where you are in game.
  
• It WILL make it easier to find a party once used by the game community.
  

 

 

• It will NOT create the party for you.
  
• It will NOT notify you when a player "Flags" themself LFG.
  
• It will NOT teleport you to the Flashpoint or Operation.
  

 

These are just some of the things I mentioned in the guide of how to use the current LFG tool the link is in my signature.

 

If we can somehow convince everyone to stop committing crimes, our society would be better.

 

While trying to get everyone to use the current lfg tool is a worthy vision, its just not realistic. We need a better solution.

[Gungan]

There already is a mechanism for people to find other people, regardless of their location or current activity. A LFG tool is for people who expect groups to spontaneously form.

 

Except it blows. It can't filter by class/role/flashpoint/quest/warzone. The comment cuts off at 15 characters. You can't browse existing groups looking for additional members, and it's completely unintuitive to use.

 

Do you not understand that it takes 2 weeks on some servers to get a group together for a normal level 50 flashpoint?

Edited February 15, 2012 by Gungan

[harpuax]

If we can somehow convince everyone to stop committing crimes, our society would be better.

 

While trying to get everyone to use the current lfg tool is a worthy vision, its just not realistic. We need a better solution.

 

And unfortunately less than 1% of the population even come to the forums to see this stuff. While I stand behind what DarthKhaos is trying to do, it just isn't getting out to the masses.

[DarthKhaos]

If we can somehow convince everyone to stop committing crimes, our society would be better.

 

While trying to get everyone to use the current lfg tool is a worthy vision, its just not realistic. We need a better solution.

Then why are they complaining? It's just like crime. If you are hiding a thief in your basement you shouldn't complain about crime. So if you're not using the current LFG Tool you shouldn't complain it's hard to find a party because you're not doing everything that can help you find a party. Also I have always stated that the current tool needs work. It's extremely crude and stuff. However while BioWare works on a new one (which doesn't happen over night) use what is available to you to make your life easier.

 

That I can live with, and I actually love that tool. Perfect compromise between WoW's LFD and SWTOR's current system.

What you think about this?

http://i.imgur.com/GC5SR.jpg

To see the thread this came from go to http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=191286

[Pink_Saber]

It's strange that some people are blatantly against any tool of any kind to help gather groups. I'm all for a helpful tool, but LFD is going too far.

 

That's how I feel about it, too. I actually don't see many people, if any, who don't want to see this game's LFG tools improved, bu there certainly are a lot of people who don't want a WoW-style LFD tool.

 

I'd be one of those. Even though I haven't had any trouble finding groups at all, I'm sure some people have, and that the current tool is pretty unpopular. I think it could be made a lot better without crossing the line into the kind of thing that Blizzard implemented.

[Trolltar]

It isn't zone specific. It defaults to everyone in your current zone. You can take that out and type in any search parameters (even as generic as "lfg") and it will search your entire server.

 

But there's still no server wide chat channel, right?

 

But thanks, i would have never figured that out. Maybe the current tool should be a little more user friendly?

[Senatsu]

It's funny to me that people reduce the discussion to Pro-LFGers don't want to work for loot. loot should be awarded for doing flashpoints not the process of finding groups.

 

If you clear the flashpoint, you get loot. How you get to the flashpoint is irrelevant.

 

It's not, exactly, the amount of work people have to put in (not to me at least), it's the mentality changes in each player when they realize that they can queue up, kill 1 boss that drops their loot, leave after it and queue again if it didn't drop. The fact that they don't need to speak at all, that they (at least in WoW) get benefits for using the system and the simplicity of teleporting you directly inside. It's also the matter of the astronomical chance that you will ever see the same people again, which will increase the selfishness and complete disregard for anyone else in the group. I'm not saying all people does it, but enough to warrant people being careful when considering a tool like this.

 

Also, if you combine several of those like; low chance of meeting them again, selfishness, ease of queuing and lack of any effort put into making the group - it will cause people to complain that content is too hard.

I saw regularly in Cataclysm many posts about heroic dungeons being too hard for PUG groups, when in fact it was the mentality of the players that were used to everything being AoEable. And if you weren't able to AoE down every pack in WotLK, you were so bad you were asked to unsub. Even more douchebaggery.

When you wipe in WoW, lots of people start leaving. No one can refute that. This is a combination of low chance of meeting them again, selfishness, laziness, ease of queuing and no effort put into making the group. Since people see that you can just leave the group and be teleported back to your location before you pressed "Accept" to the queue, you won't meet anyone again and they don't want to risk wiping again because it will take time getting back to life; they will leave the group and requeue, hoping for a new and better group that never wipes.

This also contributes to people whining that content is too hard. So the Devs will nerf and content designers will design new FPs to accomodate these people.

[zarnakrider]

guys i didnt played any dungeons and im lvl 35 and WHY THE HELL THERE IS SOCIAL POINTS I HAVE "2" POINTS.

[Niyenna]

Based on the number of replies to this thread by people who don't understand how the current LFG system works, it might be safe to say that the majority of the playerbase doesn't know how it works, or how to use it.

 

Perhaps a comprehensive guide (available in-game would be excellent) on how to use the current tool would encourage more people to use it.

 

The only difference between the current tool and something like WoW's or Rift's tools is that this one is not automated (and not cross-server).

[DarthKhaos]

But there's still no server wide chat channel, right?

 

But thanks, i would have never figured that out. Maybe the current tool should be a little more user friendly?

Check out the link in my signature to find out what the tool can and cannot do. After you do tell your friends.

[harpuax]

But there's still no server wide chat channel, right?

 

But thanks, i would have never figured that out. Maybe the current tool should be a little more user friendly?

 

You can make one. Type /cjoin LFG in chat. Many servers have done this themselves and it is helping some. Not a perfect solution but better than nothing.

 

And yes, no one would disagree the current tool needs to be allot more user-friendly.

Edited February 15, 2012 by harpuax

[Moricthian]

Then why are they complaining? It's just like crime. If you are hiding a thief in your basement you shouldn't complain about crime. So if you're not using the current LFG Tool you shouldn't complain it's hard to find a party because you're not doing everything that can help you find a party. Also I have always stated that the current tool needs work. It's extremely crude and stuff. However while BioWare works on a new one (which doesn't happen over night) use what is available to you to make your life easier.

 

 

What you think about this?

http://i.imgur.com/GC5SR.jpg

To see the thread this came from go to http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=191286

 

People like me, who do you use it, absolutely have a right to complain. I flag myself and there's usually only 2-3 other people flagged on the republic fleet. And you can't really blame everyone else either because they pull up /who and only see 2 people flagged and its clear its a waste of time. The system was faulty back in beta and its faulty now. People told BW that it was terrible they just decided other aspects of the game needed their attention. We'll see how long it takes before an effective LFG tool gets to the top of their to do list.

[Fredder]

plain and simple, i played WoW for 4 years. i let my buddy play on my pc while i played skyrim. hes never played wow or any other mmo. he lvled himselft to lvl 15 then stood around in Org queing for LFG till lvl 85. he didnt see the world he didnt know his class, he didnt see the game for what it was. basicly if LFG comes into play theres no need for ppl to go quest and see the game, they can have everything handed to them via LFG. kinda like a microwave i want it fast and now. LFG will be a fail idea and will kill the game.

[Moricthian]

Also, if you combine several of those like; low chance of meeting them again, selfishness, ease of queuing and lack of any effort put into making the group - it will cause people to complain that content is too hard.

 

You need to support this claim with more than just anecdotal evidence.

[Niyenna]

But there's still no server wide chat channel, right?

 

But thanks, i would have never figured that out. Maybe the current tool should be a little more user friendly?

 

I definitely agree that the current tool could be made more user friendly. I was very frustrated with not being able to read people's LFG comments until I realized you could read it all by mousing-over the LFG icon next to their name.

 

Flagging for LFG and typing in a comment is just as easy as queuing for in a dungeon finder, and groups can be formed with a few whispers instead of chat channel spam.