Feedback request from James Ohlen - Group Finder

[Ramahospitality]

No for the game to last years it needs to allow players to actually experience the content and play the game. This mythical community you want to nurture and grow is a load of bs I'm afraid. You admit it doesn't exist in game and you want others to lose out on experiencing the game so you can make friends.

I'm afraid you're living in a fantasy world. No joke intended.

 

Communities help enable people to experience content, nuff said.

 

I'm done arguing with you, you obviously will not explain yourself and just believe your wrong and offer no argument to support your side. You've stated your opinions and conclusions but not your reasonings. This is different from faith, this is arrogance.

 

I'm done arguing with you to free up chat again for a serious debate where both sides can present their side of the argument without being called an idiot.

Edited April 19, 2012 by Ramahospitality

[chaosdefined]

I'm done arguing with you, you obviously will not explain yourself and just believe your wrong and offer no argument to support your side. This is different from faith, this is arrogance.

 

I'm done arguing with you to free up chat again for a serious debate where both sides can present their side of the argument without being called an idiot.

 

I've explained myself quite a fair bit, it's not my fault you're too busy dreaming of mythical communities to pay attention.

[Grimnoire]

Operations would be my preference but I feel that Flash Points are more important

[SuperGrunt]

Hello everyone! James Ohlen, Game Director for Star Wars: The Old Republic, is looking for your feedback on the game's development once again. This week, with the development team hard at work on the next Game Update, he's asking for feedback on a planned feature.

 

James takes feedback directly via his Twitter account (@JamesOhlen), but if you're not on Twitter, his question is below and you can give your feedback here which will be passed on to him. You can also cast your vote on a poll.

 

As always, we ask you to limit your feedback to the question at hand and keep your feedback constructive as well as on-topic!

 

Here is James' question for this week:

 

What part of a Group Finder feature is most important to you? Is it forming a group for Operations, for Flashpoints, for Heroics, for something else - or do you have no preference?

 

As a note; at this time the Group Finder feature in development is limited to searching on a single server only.

 

You can vote in the attached poll on these options.

 

As a reminder, you can follow James on Twitter @JamesOhlen. You can also follow our main account @SWTOR.

 

I would rather not have a group finder as I feel that is more detrimental to community then anything else.

 

I would rather see channels added to the game that grouped people by level, but that default to a new tab, and are server wide, with the same faction restrictions that are in place now.

[chaosdefined]

I would rather not have a group finder as I feel that is more detrimental to community then anything else.

 

I would rather see channels added to the game that grouped people by level, but that default to a new tab, and are server wide, with the same faction restrictions that are in place now.

 

What community?!

[Frozenshiva]

I've explained myself quite a fair bit, it's not my fault you're too busy dreaming of mythical communities to pay attention.

 

Ignorance is not a real explanation. But what do i care. Keep going at it. You're a role model to me... /sarcasm off

 

 

@ topic:

 

Personally i say yes to a LFG tool as long as its server based.

Cross server tools opens too many doors for player abuse.

Item stealing and verbal abuse (and not only) become common place in such an environment.

 

I understand not every player does this, but as long as even one every 4 people does it, it is enough to ruin the community and the run.

Anonymity on the internet breeds bad behavior.

As long as its sever based that anonymity is limited since you still have to take mind of the people around you.

Cross server LFG tools simply turn every individual into "the pretender"... if anyone remembers the show.

 

In short LFG i can live with, cross server no. With this particular tool the line between making and breaking the community is extremely thin. It's up to you to decide which goal you're pursuing.

Cross server to me is like going to play tennis (or other sport) on a real field in your country with someone from a different country, while they're still there. It's awkward and plain wrong.

[chaosdefined]

Ignorance is not a real explanation. But what do i care. Keep going at it. You're a role model to me... /sarcasm off

 

 

@ topic:

 

Personally i say yes to a LFG tool as long as its server based.

Cross server tools opens too many doors for player abuse.

Item stealing and verbal abuse (and not only) become common place in such an environment.

 

I understand not every player does this, but as long as even one every 4 people does it, it is enough to ruin the community and the run.

Anonymity on the internet breeds bad behavior.

As long as its sever based that anonymity is limited since you still have to take mind of the people around you.

Cross server LFG tools simply turn every individual into "the pretender"... if anyone remembers the show.

 

In short LFG i can live with, cross server no. With this particular tool the line between making and breaking the community is extremely thin. It's up to you to decide which goal you're pursuing.

Cross server to me is like going to play tennis (or other sport) on a real field in your country with someone from a different country, while they're still there. It's awkward and plain wrong.

 

You accuse me of ignorance when you fail to understand anything and then go on to talk complete rubbish? I would love to know when you lot ever expect this magical community to begin showing? In the meantime there's a large amount of paying players who want a game to play, not make friendships and chat buddies.

[chaosdefined]

How about we make one server and call it Magical Community Land and everyone who thinks Communities are more important than gameplay can go move over there, then the rest of us can play the game we're paying for.

 

Sound good?

[SuperGrunt]

Game has been around for 4 months, how long do these mythical communities take?

 

A community has already been established, it started when the website launched and we where able to start posting in the forums. It continues now, however some servers have smaller groups of people on them. This can be fixed now with the Server transfers, and helped by targeting some servers for incoming transfers, and closing some of the more dead ones now.

 

In my earlier post I said that they should add chat channels based on level to the game.

 

Also it should be noted that no one is being denied access to content, if you haven't joined a guild, or won't post in gen chat looking for a group, then you are just too lazy.

[Ramahospitality]

A community has already been established, it started when the website launched and we where able to start posting in the forums. It continues now, however some servers have smaller groups of people on them. This can be fixed now with the Server transfers, and helped by targeting some servers for incoming transfers, and closing some of the more dead ones now.

 

In my earlier post I said that they should add chat channels based on level to the game.

 

Also it should be noted that no one is being denied access to content, if you haven't joined a guild, or won't post in gen chat looking for a group, then you are just too lazy.

 

RIFT had those level channels and they were AWESOME. I'd love to see those.

[chaosdefined]

A community has already been established, it started when the website launched and we where able to start posting in the forums. It continues now, however some servers have smaller groups of people on them. This can be fixed now with the Server transfers, and helped by targeting some servers for incoming transfers, and closing some of the more dead ones now.

 

In my earlier post I said that they should add chat channels based on level to the game.

 

Also it should be noted that no one is being denied access to content, if you haven't joined a guild, or won't post in gen chat looking for a group, then you are just too lazy.

 

Ah yes, the age old "it's not my problem, deal with it" response. Yes it's really that simple.

 

Dunno if you can read, or bothered to, but did you not see the amount of complaints from people that have spent hours posting in General chat to no result?

 

That's not laze mate, that's poor tools for playing a game.

[SuperGrunt]

How about we make one server and call it Magical Community Land and everyone who thinks Communities are more important than gameplay can go move over there, then the rest of us can play the game we're paying for.

 

Sound good?

 

If all you want is to play a game, then maybe MMO's are not the right genre for you. Most people play an MMO to have fun with other people. Also the server type that you mention already exists, they are RP servers, however those players actually work together to build the community. Like I said if you just want to play a game then why are you bothering playing an MMO, let alone why are you posting in the forums of one? Those are community activities.

[chaosdefined]

If all you want is to play a game, then maybe MMO's are not the right genre for you. Most people play an MMO to have fun with other people. Also the server type that you mention already exists, they are RP servers, however those players actually work together to build the community. Like I said if you just want to play a game then why are you bothering playing an MMO, let alone why are you posting in the forums of one? Those are community activities.

 

You know what I love. This really makes me laugh. You go on about how MMO's are about playing with other people, then turn around and say you don't want to Cross-Server!

 

You don't want to play a game with players from other servers? Are you sure a MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER game is for you then?

 

Contradict yourself often?

Edited April 19, 2012 by chaosdefined

[SuperGrunt]

Ah yes, the age old "it's not my problem, deal with it" response. Yes it's really that simple.

 

Dunno if you can read, or bothered to, but did you not see the amount of complaints from people that have spent hours posting in General chat to no result?

 

That's not laze mate, that's poor tools for playing a game.

 

If you are looking for an Operation while sitting on Fleet with 5-12 people in fleet then chances are you aren't lazy, but there would be another word to describe that, at least half those people are going to be lower level.

 

Like I said adding channels based on level groups, like Rift has, and worked there perfectly. Till everyone got to end game and only found one raid with the joke of Rift pvp, as the only real end game activities most everyone loved that game, because of the community, and how easy it was to group up with people about your level, that wanted to do similar things to you.

 

Gen chat is the only universal chat channel in this game and it is restricted by which map you are on. The channels based on level groups idea would target who you where talking to, add to the number of people who would read your chat message, and help, if not eliminate the problem all together when coupled with targeted server transfers.

[SuperGrunt]

You know what I love. This really makes me laugh. You go on about how MMO's are about playing with other people, then turn around and say you don't want to Cross-Server!

 

You don't want to play a game with players from other servers? Are you sure a MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER game is for you then?

 

Contradict yourself often?

 

Read the post again, I said nothing about cross-server. I think that Cross-server is needed but only for PVP, and preferable either only for Ranked PVP, or with much firmer level brackets in place. However for a group content activity such as running a Black TalonEsseles Flashpoint, then there is no need to use a group finder, you just need to either A. send chat messages on fleet, or if that is low pop, try moving to DK/Coruscant and doing the same.

[Skyzen]

Stop asking about things you're planning to implement in a few month, better deal with your bugs and horrible 1.2 class balance - or there might be no one around to care about an LFG-tool at all...

 

Agreed. Words of wisdom.

[Laenaria]

One problem with forming a group out of guild for a Hard Mode is that the 50s are strewn all over the galaxy and there is no chat channel for us to reach everyone, so a group finder would allow us to get a group consisting of players from all over. Depending on the features it may also allow us to go into the flashpoint from, say Corellia while we're doing dailies, and then when we're done return to that same spot.

[llesna]

All of the above. The game should have launched with this ability to keep up with contemporary MMORPGs. Get this going for ALL of the above, then focus on cross server LFG or start to merge servers with more capacity on them (i.e., look at merging the two EU RPPvE servers etc.) Edited May 3, 2012 by llesna

[Deveron]

I've selected all of the above, but if I have to chose, I'd go with flash points first.

 

In regards to the cross-server controversy, I'd favor the ability to run flash points and group up during wee hours over the, in my opinion slight, loss of feel for community.

 

And I think there are easy ways to counter the downside of cross-server group making. All you have to be able to, is to add players from other servers to your friend list and communicate directly cross-server with them.

 

So just like in any one server setup (like Eve), you just have to weed out the jerks and then would have a great pool of people to play with.

[Vashforth]

I like the group finder idea but there needs to be some limits.

General limits

1. Its needs to prioritize same server. Allow us to choose if we want to Server only queue or cross server queue.

2. Reward less for using cross server queueing to balance the speed of getting a group with coss server queueing.

3. If same server queueing it should NOT teleport you to the given heroic, Flashpoint, or Ops..

 

Operation limits

Need a gear check bases on difficulty (HM and NM) (You should not be able to queue for a Ops beyond your capability.)

[Safing]

Two feature requests:

 

A) Observe Ignore lists

B) Allow differentation of people according to playstyles

 

Ad A)

I yesterday organized a PuG to do the false imperator and it turned out one of our damage dealers had absolutely no idea about his class (or was devious). When the fight started his Focus meter went up and never moved one focus point down before end of fight so he never used any focus consuming ability. We had to abort after several tries to explain to him what to do (because even in normal mode HK-47 seems to have an enrage timer) and he is now on my ignore list preventing that he will ever join a group I organize.

 

I guess others might have similar uses of their ignore list, maybe even containing me (see point B below on why). An Auto-Grouping tool which does not observe the ignore list and groups people together which already expressed the strong desire to never again hear from each other is doomed to failure. One can observe this e.g. in Lotro where the grouping tool spike for a few weeks after introduction but is nowadays largely unused for this reason.

 

Ad B)

When I search for groups I normally use wordy postings into General and the server-wide SNG channel like "Attention, Darth Malgus has declared himself "Emporer". Since he is the false one, members are searched for a mission to hand over a disaproval note from the Republic and ask him to resign. ((FP Level 50 ))"

The idea behind this is to discourage people to join who want to race through the FP (plus I like to write such things (in German)) as I tend to take the time, look around, do some remarks on the scenery, .... . Joining with what I call 'hectics' will be a bad experience for both sides.

 

For that reason it would be nice if an Auto-Grouping tool somehow would allow for players to specify their prefered playstyle (or specify no preference) and try to group accordingly. Albeit the implementaion itself would probably be simple (just a few checkmark buttons) I must admit I am lost at what styles should be offered as choice. "Fast completion" vs. "Take your time" seems a bit meager as choices.

 

Note that in principle a player could abuse the ignore list from A) to build up a B) lke feature for his playstyle. But I am not always opposed to racing through an instance as long as I know about it before and agreed. Building up an ignore list would prevent such changes of mind.

[Darthlemi]

Please incorporate a heroic missions LFG system and flashpoints LFG. LFR is not a fun experience.

[Newcs]

Have not read the thread, so not sure if covered.

 

-for a server wide group finder, enable it so people can be doing dailies on say Belsavis and they be transported to the flashpoint when their group is formed. After the FP is finished they then return to where they were.

 

-Cross Server Flashpoint server will enable those who play at odd times to sucessfully find a group. I much rather have that then the slight loss of community. I've had a lot of experience with a cross server dungeon finder and my experiences have been 99% positive and 1% negative. The cross server will also benefit the low population servers as well.

Edited April 19, 2012 by Newcs

[Slugamaniac]

Flashpoints are the big one for me. I don't technically need to run them anymore accpet to gear up companions but sometimes I just don't have the time to spam fleet for a KuS or LI heroic group. Same or cross server does not matter to me anymore since cross server will help the lower pop servers stay healthy.

[BlueSkittles]

As I've said on many other LFG forum posts. WE NEED A CROSS SERVER LFG!!! PVP is already starting to have long queue times on my server which used to have insta-queues. You've announced cross-server Warzones, so please don't make the same mistake with Flashpoint/Operations. If you make it same-server the queue times for getting a group for any Flashpoint, let alone wanting to run a specific one, will be hours and hours.

 

And in answer to the poll, I said all of the above but in priority: 1. Flashpoints, 2. Operations, 3. Heroic quests.