1.3 LFG Tool - not cross realm (speculation)

[Valkirus]

LFG is a bad idea and will damage the feel of the game:rak_03:

 

Well, get ready for the game to be damaged. It is coming.

 

Serously, a cross server LFG tool even will not damage the game, but instead will improve it immensely. By allowing a more timely manner to get into group runs. Not everyone has hours and hours to play. Besides no one will be forced to use it.

[Delorae]

LFG not cross realm?

GG, 2hr queues.

That is all.

[BucMan]

Keep in mind though that one of the biggest things folks want is the ability to get a group without sitting at the fleet waiting for them. The single server tool WILL be a major benefit in that regard. The only difference will be the size of the pool.

 

Pre - the pool is limited to those who can see your spam.

 

Post - Pool limited to those of the proper level ANYWHERE on your server.

 

 

Not the largest possible pool, but many who are so ardently in favor of a cross realm tool over the rumored single server tool argue that it will be exactly like it is now which is not even remotely true.

 

Edit: Another benefit I think will be more folks wanting to do an instance since they won't have to go back to fleet without having the group already to go.

Edited May 14, 2012 by BucMan

[Eillack]

What is this "realm" of which you speak.....?

 

I wonder what type of refugee you are...

[chaosdefined]

Keep in mind though that one of the biggest things folks want is the ability to get a group without sitting at the fleet waiting for them. The single server tool WILL be a major benefit in that regard. The only difference will be the size of the pool.

 

Pre - the pool is limited to those who can see your spam.

 

Post - Pool limited to those of the proper level ANYWHERE on your server.

 

 

Not the largest possible pool, but many who are so ardently in favor of a cross realm tool over the rumored single server tool argue that it will be exactly like it is now which is not even remotely true.

 

Edit: Another benefit I think will be more folks wanting to do an instance since they won't have to go back to fleet without having the group already to go.

 

Not rumoured, verified.

 

We didn't say it'd be exactly the same, just not a big improvement for those on low population servers as it would still be drawing from a small pool, especially at non-peak times.

[Valkirus]

Not rumoured, verified.

 

We didn't say it'd be exactly the same, just not a big improvement for those on low population servers as it would still be drawing from a small pool, especially at non-peak times.

 

Very true. Some seem to think the times they play during peak times is the only times people should play. I happen to beleave the times you play are the times "you" pick. Everyone's real life situation is different and real life does ( or should ) come before some video game. This is were a same server LFG tool is going to suck.

[BucMan]

Very true. Some seem to think the times they play during peak times is the only times people should play. I happen to beleave the times you play are the times "you" pick. Everyone's real life situation is different and real life does ( or should ) come before some video game. This is were a same server LFG tool is going to suck.

 

There is no doubt some server culling will need to be done, I just hope Bioware hears that the problems with the LFG tool are the lack of population on some servers and fix that, and not change the LFG tool to fix a relatively temporary problem like Rift did.

[DarthTHC]

Whats the big deal? People wanted LFG, they will get it, people wanted transfers they are coming. So both problems will be solved in the near future. If you have no population atm, then just wait for the transfers and tada problem solved.

 

Cross server LFGs would take a LOT more time, and a lot of people (myself included) don't want that, so this is the best action for now.

 

Except they're also working on cross-server warzone queues so they'll have the tech in their back pocket.

[Kemosobe]

With no cross real play the LFG tool will do little good.

 

So you want Bioware to sacrifice community, which is something they have stated several times that they want, for your own benefit? Cross server LFG tool would destroy this game the same exact way it destroyed WoW.

 

Although I do not want a LFG tool period, I am willing to compromise with a single sever LFG tool to satisfy you anti-social people. I just hope this does not lead into any other simplifications for the sake of bringing in more people or keeping those who do not care about the game anyway.

[DarthTHC]

So you want Bioware to sacrifice community, which is something they have stated several times that they want, for your own benefit? Cross server LFG tool would destroy this game the same exact way it destroyed WoW.

 

Although I do not want a LFG tool period, I am willing to compromise with a single sever LFG tool to satisfy you anti-social people. I just hope this does not lead into any other simplifications for the sake of bringing in more people or keeping those who do not care about the game anyway.

 

Depends on your definition of "community". For some of us, who aren't exclusionary, it's "everyone who plays SWTOR regardless of server".

 

I wouldn't mind meeting more people!

[chaosdefined]

So you want Bioware to sacrifice community, which is something they have stated several times that they want, for your own benefit? Cross server LFG tool would destroy this game the same exact way it destroyed WoW.

 

Although I do not want a LFG tool period, I am willing to compromise with a single sever LFG tool to satisfy you anti-social people. I just hope this does not lead into any other simplifications for the sake of bringing in more people or keeping those who do not care about the game anyway.

 

It's ok, I don't know if you heard this, but they managed to work out that CRAZY EVIL VOODOO that the cross-server LFG was using to make people stop chatting on General!

[Kemosobe]

Depends on your definition of "community". For some of us, who aren't exclusionary, it's "everyone who plays SWTOR regardless of server".

 

I wouldn't mind meeting more people!

 

I wouldn't mind meeting new people to, but the cross server LFG tool will only bring in the kinds of people this game does not need. All they really need at the moment, in terms of fixing server population problems, is server merges and transfers.

[chaosdefined]

I wouldn't mind meeting new people to, but the cross server LFG tool will only bring in the kinds of people this game does not need. All they really need at the moment, in terms of fixing server population problems, is server merges and transfers.

 

Ok, so you're saying....Cross-Server LFG = BAD MAGIC

Server Transfers and mergers = GOOD MAGIC

[Urdnaxela]

So you want Bioware to sacrifice community, which is something they have stated several times that they want, for your own benefit? Cross server LFG tool would destroy this game the same exact way it destroyed WoW.

 

Although I do not want a LFG tool period, I am willing to compromise with a single sever LFG tool to satisfy you anti-social people. I just hope this does not lead into any other simplifications for the sake of bringing in more people or keeping those who do not care about the game anyway.

 

Are you kidding me?

 

People ruin community. People.

 

Community? You call a 30 peolple on fleet at 22:00 PM a community (out of those only ~10 being level 50). I remember in WoW, at 22:00, on my servers, there were the usual guild raids and the "letf-outs" were usually running PuGs. Not to mention daily HC or whatever. Point is that there was something to to. At 10 AM, at 10 PM, at 04 AM. No matter the hour, there was something to do (in regards to group play).

 

And on another note, while i do agree the this tool can be abused (and yes, it will be - in the sense that if it won't have good rules about who can roll on what, there will be "loot dramas") i never said that there needs to be a coss server LFG tool (while imho it will help more than it will hurt), i just asked if this 1.3 patch includes BOTH the single server LFG tool AND the transfers.

 

In case the transfers will come at a later date, and with a single server LFG tool i will unsub and wait for the transfers. For me there is no other choice simply because there is little to no one on my server to group up with, LFG tool or not.

 

As for stating that i'm expecting BW to sacrifice the abstract notion of community for my own sake... You clearly don't read the forums that much. People, dare i say a LOT of people, rage and whine and YELL because they are on dead or dying servers. Why? Solo content can be done SOLO, so the level of population on a server has no impact on that...

 

All those people are raging because they have no access to GROUP CONTENT - there's nobody to group up with. Will an automated system find them a group? Hell no, there's nobody on that server. How hard is it to understand?

[Kemosobe]

Ok, so you're saying....Cross-Server LFG = BAD MAGIC

Server Transfers and mergers = GOOD MAGIC

 

Server transfers/mergers still require people to not be A-holes because the server can put them on ignore and they won't be able to do anything. Sort of like I have done with a particular guild on my server due to ninja looting and other such stuff. Cross server LFG just allows people to click a button and not worry about anything because the people they get paired with will just have to put up with them or wait another hour.

[Drobu]

I said this in another thread and I will say it here. I've ran dungeons using the LFG and was in

a group with people from the same server. There was no friendly chat, nothing. We are there

to fill a role and play the best we can so everyone has an enjoyable time, not a wipefest. Stop

spouting this crap that it destroys community. These people, if it were cross server or same

server are not your buddies, you are using each other as an instrument to help each other

achieve gear. Plain and simple.

[Urdnaxela]

Server transfers/mergers still require people to not be A-holes because the server can put them on ignore and they won't be able to do anything. Sort of like I have done with a particular guild on my server due to ninja looting and other such stuff. Cross server LFG just allows people to click a button and not worry about anything because the people they get paired with will just have to put up with them or wait another hour.

 

The point is this:

 

If they release 1.3 with single server LFG but won't let people transfer from the low population servers then those people will benefit only so much from this tool simply because there are no people to group up with. As for the people on servers with good population the LFG tool will improve the already much better game experience (than of those from the low population server).

 

Want to see what will ruin community faster? People leaving because they are bored and the "tool" BW provides cannot be used (duuuh! there are no people to team up with) or some cross server LFG that, when voluntarily used (nobody asks you to use it - if you feel you can get a group now through the means that are now at your disposal then what will prevent you to use the same methods in the future?) might mean that you will meet some jerks.

 

EDIT: Yes, cross server LFG is bad. But dead servers are even worse. A lot worse. And while a LFG tool, cross server or not, can be refined so that it will prevent abuse, dead servers cannot be dealt with unless:

1) poople re-roll (start from scratch, leaving maybe 1 or 2 level 50 toons, legacy, time spent leveling and so on and so forth)

2) transfer

3) merges

 

That (cross server LFG tool is bad) is my opinion and i'm not saying that this is what destroys the community but it sure helps because people are inherently selfish and jack arses, and the anonymity a cross server LFG provides releases the player from a lot of constraints. Nevertheless, except some 10 (are there still 10?) servers a lot of them cannot even speak of a community (well... mini community?) because there are to few people.

 

And what's worse is that each day the numbers gets thinner and thinner.

 

Breathing (O2) is inherently bad for you, you know? It burns your cells. You oxidize. And, after a while, it burns more than what your body can replenish. You die. Still, you can't live without it...

 

This game looses people, it will choke. A cross server LFG tool OR a single server LFG tool coupled with transfers/merges will give it more air to breath. In the end, this game WILL die, and you know what? It will die because PEOPLE will LEAVE, no matter the reason. So the priority right now is not people leaving because of a poor community (which will eventually happen, cross server LFG or not, in case the game succeeds - funny how this happens, the more people you have, the worse the community gets DUH!) but people leaving because they don't have access to content that they play with - and not because of lack of skills.

 

So thanks for the LFG tool, but either make it cross server or at the same time allow transfers (or merges or whatever). Otherwise, thanks for nothing.

Edited May 14, 2012 by Urdnaxela

[Ripyouapart]

this MMO isnt gonna make it to patch 1.4. If you go to server selection screen during "Peak Hours", only 1 server is really populated now, The Fatman. I was on fatman at 2pm in the afternoon on a thursday and the populaion on Hutta was over 90, on HUTTA!. thats more people than are on fleet on a weekend on my server. Most of the other servers are Light population and a very few are Standard. Bioware/EA is already slitting their own throats with this wait and see attitude. people who really wanna play that bad are already migrating to that server and starting from square 1 because it beats sitting alone and yes i said ALONE on fleet at 8pm on any given night. Ironically my server is port nowhere, because thats exactly what it feels like. So its either give up and move on to the next mmo like TERA or GUILD WARS 2 or keep hoping this game will shape up and i dont see this game recovering from this. too many let downs right out of the gate and people are already either heading back to Wold of Warcraft or just moving on. It's a real shame too. ive been a star wars fan since i was 7 and saw star wars for the first time in 1977. the game itself is fun to play and i like the classes but lets be honest, EA/Bioware were fighting an uphill battle. the polish has worn off from the glow of the star wars franchise, now the game is being picked over for its technical flaws and lack of engaging end game content, lack luster warzones and now population is dropping like a rock in water.

[Katahn]

I think it is just a matter of time before we see cross-server LFG.

 

I don't like it, but it would seem the gaming populace has lost all patience for building groups the old-fashioned way. They don't want to feel obligated to a group that is forming - possibly because they worry another group might be forming that they will be excluded from by virtue of being in one that very well may never form. The nature of grouping is frantic and fast paced and by and large people don't stop to talk or have gotten so out of the habit (or never got in the habit) of reading the chat window they barely register a need to ever stop.

 

So mark my words that by this time next year we will very likely have some or all of the following (or it will be announced as coming):

 

* Cross-server LFG

* Companion customization kits (make Vette a healer, or Androniko a ranged tank for a cost)

* New races drawn from the most popular/iconic Star Wars races: wookies, rodians, togruta, cathar, nautolan, etc.

* Guild "castles" (capitol ships)

* PvP based space battles

 

Some of these I like, some I don't, but I am inclined to think they will all happen regardless of what I may like.

[Kemosobe]

* Cross-server LFG

* Companion customization kits (make Vette a healer, or Androniko a ranged tank for a cost)

* New races drawn from the most popular/iconic Star Wars races: wookies, rodians, togruta, cathar, nautolan, etc.

* Guild "castles" (capitol ships)

* PvP based space battles

 

1. Then all the remaining people who are staying because it lack a cross server LFG tool will leave.

2. I don't see that happening just because it is not needed and would be very awkward in a story sense. Just like making a Jedi Gaurdian a healer doesn't make any sense.

3. Unless they choose to completely ignore their whole story, which is the main focus of this game for those of you who forgot, they will not incorporate races that can not speak fluent common.

4. VERY possible and likely.

5. They need to have open space flight before that.

[Alavarius]

Bioware has indeed stated that the 1.3 LFG tool will NOT be cross realm.

[chaosdefined]

1. Then all the remaining people who are staying because it lack a cross server LFG tool will leave.

2. I don't see that happening just because it is not needed and would be very awkward in a story sense. Just like making a Jedi Gaurdian a healer doesn't make any sense.

3. Unless they choose to completely ignore their whole story, which is the main focus of this game for those of you who forgot, they will not incorporate races that can not speak fluent common.

4. VERY possible and likely.

5. They need to have open space flight before that.

 

1. Doubtful, most of them will use it and complain about it. If they do leave, the game drops 2% of it's playerbase.

 

2. I must have missed the big storyline about how Lord Scourge boasted about his tanking abilities...

 

3. Story is an addition to the game to distract from the grind. You're still just doing missions and levelling. You put too much stock in the story, it does not hold the foundations of programming. Also they have Twi'leck as a playable race. Have you met a 'common' speaking Twi'leck NPC yet?

 

5. Open Space flight, if they make it, will not be the game everyone wants it to be. For that they'd have to design an almost entirely new game. Unlikely to devote resources to that when it's just a minigame.

Edited May 14, 2012 by chaosdefined

[Hupa]

New races drawn from the most popular/iconic Star Wars races: wookies, rodians, togruta, cathar, nautolan, etc.

3. Unless they choose to completely ignore their whole story, which is the main focus of this game for those of you who forgot, they will not incorporate races that can not speak fluent common.

 

One could say that just because story wookies are way more important as a playable race than say rakatatas. I mean everyone remembers Chewbacca from movie but does anyone really remembers any rakatatas or siths (as in race)?

 

It's true that those "alien" races speaks some strange language but one could for example say that they has some collars which contains devices which translates their speaks to fluent commoner (if it really has to be wookie talk I'm going to go insane quite quickly

[Kemosobe]

1. Doubtful, most of them will use it and complain about it. If they do leave, the game drops 2% of it's playerbase.

 

2. I must have missed the big storyline about how Lord Scourge boasted about his tanking abilities...

 

3. Story is an addition to the game to distract from the grind. You're still just doing missions and levelling. You put too much stock in the story, it does not hold the foundations of programming. Also they have Twi'leck as a playable race. Have you met a 'common' speaking Twi'leck NPC yet?

 

5. Open Space flight, if they make it, will not be the game everyone wants it to be. For that they'd have to design an almost entirely new game. Unlikely to devote resources to that when it's just a minigame.

 

1. Mention at bottom.

 

2. Have not gotten him yet on my Knight as a Consular was my main, but there are certain companions that would not make any sense becoming a particular class.

 

3. Actually yes, I have run into a common speaking Twi'lek. A BUNCH of them in fact. In reality, the mayor person on Taris is a common speaking Twi'lek. You also have Mission Vao (or however her name was spelt) from KotOR who was a common speaking Twi'lek. The story does exist. Simply because you do not like it or care about it does not mean it isn't there.

 

5. True statement. Everyone is expecting a Star Wars Galaxies type space flight, and I just do not see that happening in this game. It is possible, but not very likely.

 

Now as for the cross server LFG tool. I have a friend who works at Gamestop. When people come in and buy SW:TOR, they ask her if the game has a cross server LFG system similar to that of WoWs. And they are not asking it in a good way seeing as they buy the game when she tells them no. Now, I may be wrong, but to me, this says that the people still buying the game do not want a cross server LFG tool. I also know about 30 people at my college who all stay on this game because it does not have a cross server LFG tool. Not to mention how many people go and complain on every forum post that asks for one. All the people who want a cross server LFG tool are already gone seeing as they have said so in their forum posts. The only people still remaining in the game are here because we like the fact that Bioware chose to not do a straight WoW clone. Yes, the game is a "clone" of WoW, but no more than WoW is a clone of Everquest. They are all MMOs and will all have certain concepts that are standard for an MMO, persistent world, lots of players, chat, etc. This does not mean that they should all have the same in game systems/tools.

Edited May 14, 2012 by Kemosobe

[chaosdefined]

1. Mention at bottom.

 

2. Have not gotten him yet on my Knight as a Consular was my main, but there are certain companions that would not make any sense becoming a particular class.

 

3. Actually yes, I have run into a common speaking Twi'lek. A BUNCH of them in fact. In reality, the mayor person on Taris is a common speaking Twi'lek. You also have Mission Vao (or however her name was spelt) from KotOR who was a common speaking Twi'lek. The story does exist. Simply because you do not like it or care about it does not mean it isn't there.

 

5. True statement. Everyone is expecting a Star Wars Galaxies type space flight, and I just do not see that happening in this game. It is possible, but not very likely.

 

Now as for the cross server LFG tool. I have a friend who works at Gamestop. When people come in and buy SW:TOR, they ask her if the game has a cross server LFG system similar to that of WoWs. And they are not asking it in a good way seeing as they buy the game when she tells them no. Now, I may be wrong, but to me, this says that the people still buying the game do not want a cross server LFG tool. I also know about 30 people at my college who all stay on this game because it does not have a cross server LFG tool. Not to mention how many people go and complain on every forum post that asks for one. All the people who want a cross server LFG tool are already gone seeing as they have said so in their forum posts. The only people still remaining in the game are here because we like the fact that Bioware chose to not do a straight WoW clone. Yes, the game is a "clone" of WoW, but no more than WoW is a clone of Everquest. They are all MMOs and will all have certain concepts that are standard for an MMO, persistent world, lots of players, chat, etc. This does not mean that they should all have the same in game systems/tools.

 

So a fraction of the playerbase like I said. I can not verify what the majority thinks, neither can you. However since WoW has Cross-Server and 10million subscribers, I'm willing to be there's a very small amount of people who would leave if it came in.

 

The only people? You're assuming you know a lot. I'm here because I like the game. I also like WoW. Am I the exception out of 1.3million (roughly) then? No.

 

You assume everyone thinks like you do. That's your first mistake. The second is accusing anything that uses the same features as WoW as being a clone of it. Oh no, that Ford car has four wheels and a radio, it's totally a Vauxhall Clone!

 

I like the story, never said otherwise. But the story can be changed, altered and ignored all BW like. You act as if the game would fall apart without it, you give the story far too much credit.

Edited May 14, 2012 by chaosdefined