Your experience with the group finder?

[InvalidID]

That's great for you but that's probably not the average wait time for most people.

I used it 3 times so far..

 

1. about 1 hour, group broke up because we wiped on the 1st boss, couldn't requeue

2. about 1 hour 30 min

3. about 1 hour, one in our group couldn't click on a certain panel, so he had to relog, which means he automatically left group. Reinviting him wasn't possible, so we had to get in queue to find a replacement. Ironically he got thrown back into our group again, but it took like 20 minutes til we could continue. I guess there's not so many people in the system to begin with, so if you're unlucky, you don't even get 4 people together. Cross-server would help a lot.

 

edit:

 

4. about 2 and a half hours in queue, then tank leaves because he has never done the flashpoint before. Half an hour later group breaks up.

 

Honestly, big mistake not to go cross-server. Having a tool is useless if there aren't any people to begin with.

I was considering resubscribing, because I hoped the group finder would finally give me something to do, but all I did was wait hours at the fleet for nothing. I'm not gonna continue paying, if all I can do is waste hours doing nothing.

Really? What server are you on? All my queue times on fatman have been pretty close to instant, but I have only done story mode ops with it.

Edited July 10, 2012 by InvalidID

[TheBetty]

Recruit a couple of mates into the game and get them to roll tank & healer. Insta queues That's what I did.

[Nindoriel]

Really? What server are you on? All my queue times on fatman have been pretty close to instant, but I have only done story mode ops with it.

 

Tomb of Freedon Nadd

[Skidrowbro]

In all honesty I think less and less players are using the group finder now because of the horrible experiences they have been having. I personally have stopped doing FP's because of how incompetent players are. Healers dps'ing, tanks not using their tank form. It has gotten pretty bad, at least on Jung Ma. Edited July 10, 2012 by Skidrowbro

[GarySkiffen]

I've found it usless in helping find groups,havent been able to find one yet over several days, and it seems u cant play solo as in maps rated level 35-38 u need to be atleast lvl 40 to kill mobs mobs during quest, and the boss's have 45,000+ hit points compaired to my 6,500.

Maybe if u actually made the game lvl rated to match, as im under the impression that the mobs are group rated n are harded when in group. I feel if a map is rated lvl 35-38 the mobs should be in line with the people playing, I doubt many lvl 40s have 45,000 hit points, let alone have to face 3 lvl 40s all with over 40,000 HPs all at once

Edited July 10, 2012 by GarySkiffen
adding comment

[Skirata_Kal]

In all honesty I think less and less players are using the group finder now because of the horrible experiences they have been having. I personally have stopped doing FP's because of how incompetent players are. Healers dps'ing, tanks not using their tank form. It has gotten pretty bad, at least on Jung Ma.

 

On Harbinger, especially during peak time, the queue's aren't bad at all and every group I've had so far has been at least decent.

 

My sage was on an Athiss run yesterday where the healer bailed after the first trash pull (despite having no issues on that pull). The lead requeued us to get another healer and then we proceeded to 3 man what we could while we waited. Even though my sage isn't spec'd for heals, he does have a couple of heal spells and a bubble. We got the first boss and then cleared trash to the 2nd boss. We were actually doing ok on the 2nd boss until the tank got knocked down into the courtyard where a bunch of trash mobs were (I told them we should have cleared it lol). The other dps dropped group at that point. The tank, who had lead, requeued us again and shortly after, two more people joined us and the rest of the run went smooth from there.

 

Last night, my healing Scoundrel was in a HM False Emperor PuG that went so well I kept asking "Are you sure we have this on Hard Mode?"

 

So overall, I'm happy with the groups I've had via the new tool and the wait times have not been bad at all (I grab daily, queue and am usually in the fp by the time I get to my quest area or soon after lol). The one notable exception is getting a PuG for Lost Island Hard Mode that can do LR5 lol.

[Eldrenath]

Well, like with anything else in an MMO, Your Mileage May Vary.

 

But for me, the group finder has been awesome. I've only used it on a new toon I'm leveling, but it works great for me. I pick what I want to queue for, then go about playing until my FP pops. I've really enjoyed it. I LOVE running FPs in groups, but I hated standing around at fleet hoping to get lucky. Now I can run around and play, and when the group forms I go do that--no longer am I standing around at fleet no playing and staring and chat. My only gripe at the moment is that I'd like to get transported back where I was after the FP. Certainly not a deal-breaker for me, more of a minor annoyance.

 

I was vehemently opposed to a group finder before (well, really a cross-server version). While I still don't dig the cross server idea, I was 100% wrong about not having a group finder at all. I'm very much enjoying it, and as a result finding the leveling process more fun.

[Temad]

It is useless pre-50 for heroics which is a massive oversight.

 

Even if it wasn't useless for heroics it would have to be X-Server at least pre-50. All my characters are now transfered to new "higher" population servers.

 

Tattoine, Alderaan etc never break 40 and are often in the 20s prime time. 75 is not big enough pool for a LFG system to work consistently let alone 40 or less.

 

X-Server in some form is going to be needed. It isn't a discussion point anymore the numbers will force it.

[Paleran]

I wonder how many of the people that are complaining about long queues have been trolling groups enough to get /ignored by most people who regularly use the tool.

 

Personally, on my DPS char, my wait hasn't really been longer than a half hour at peak times (on Corellian Run).

 

And for those clamoring for cross-server, understand that this does NOTHING to help queue times. NOTHING. The RATIO of tanks/healers to DPS is what matters for queues to pop, not the number of people queuing. Whether you have 10 people queuing as DPS that you are behind or 10000, you still need 10 or 10000 tank and healer combinations to also queue.

 

The lone exception to that may be lower-level instances that not as many people will be doing, so having a larger population to pull from might mean shorter queues just because the number of instances being run will be low.

 

Cross-server will NOT help level 50 HM queues *in* *the* *least*.

 

Math is hard, y'know?

[Necrosov]

My experience is that most players are greedy *********** and roll needs on all items that are upgrades to only my character. 2/3rds of the time some noob juggernaut tank rolls on my marauder medium armour or a sorcerer rolls on my +strength lightsaber - and they always win too. What's up with that? Should I just ninja everything too?

[Temad]

And for those clamoring for cross-server, understand that this does NOTHING to help queue times. NOTHING.

 

Actually if 40 people are on a given planet and 2 are looking for your particular heroic not only will X-Server make the queue time faster....it will make them possible

 

I really don't think people understand the numbers at play here.

[Skirata_Kal]

Cross-server will NOT help level 50 HM queues *in* *the* *least*.

 

Math is hard, y'know?

 

It did help considerably in WoW, especially after the Battlegroup restriction was lifted (my dps queue went from normally 40 minutes to 15 minutes by the time I quit the game). Sometimes reality defies simple math With that said, I'm happy with the single server tool we currently have since it was coupled with a server merge (let's be honest and call it what it was), at least for the time being. And you may be right about some of the complainers being on ignore lists. The other day, my Sage was in a queue. Just as I entered the queue, another dps of similar level was complaining about having been in queue, for the same fp, for 45 minutes. 5 minutes later, I was in the fp and he wasn't in the group and was still complaining. Very few people were responding in general to his complaints which in and of itself is unusual for that server. That's just one case that may have another explanation, but it certainly has to be considered as a possibility. It's also possible that some of the complainers are on light servers and haven't accepted the merge yet.

[Temad]

And for those clamoring for cross-server, understand that this does NOTHING to help queue times. NOTHING. The RATIO of tanks/healers to DPS is what matters for queues to pop, not the number of people queuing. Whether you have 10 people queuing as DPS that you are behind or 10000, you still need 10 or 10000 tank and healer combinations to also queue.

 

I see this ridiculous argument a lot as well. The ratios of Healer, DPS and Tanks on any given server, at any given time who are queued up can be significantly different. This difference makes x-server unquestionably more effective at drawing a group then one pool that is constant.

 

This was proven quite clearly in WoW and Rift.

[Paleran]

First to WoW's queue times: the battlegroup restriction was not what caused your dps queue times to go down, it was the perks they started throwing to tanks/healers that did that. More badges/satchels/etc.

 

Second: to those who still don't agree with me, I don't think you understand human psychology. Most people don't like being responsible. Face it, healers and tanks get the brunt of the blame when a group wipes. Pugging as a tank will suck more often than not, and depending on how thick your skin is, you might even give up on it totally (I'm very close myself). The RATIO of tanks/healers to dps on every server is going to be very, very close. Sorry, but statistics don't lie.

 

Again, cross server will not help queue times for highly desired content (i.e., level 50 HMs. planetary quests are almost useless to begin with, so why queue for it?).

 

Something else that *will* help queue times? Dual spec. I would queue as a healer on my merc, but I'm primarily a RDPS for our guild op runs as we have enough healers.

[SajmanPeetee]

Cross server helps during off-hours and lower levels. During peak times, since the pool is large enough the cross server would not change anything, but at 2 AM when you're trying to run SM Athiss on your Healer Commando but there are no tanks on your server queueing, it would help.

[MasterKayote]

I see this ridiculous argument a lot as well. The ratios of Healer, DPS and Tanks on any given server, at any given time who are queued up can be significantly different. This difference makes x-server unquestionably more effective at drawing a group then one pool that is constant.

 

This was proven quite clearly in WoW and Rift.

 

Except WoW jumped straight into x-server with their auto-queue lfg. Any previous iteration was horrible and no one used it. Rifts queue times were still fairly long even for tanks, at least back before I left.

 

Here, where tanks get instant queues while DPS gets an hour+, its all about the ratio. A ratio that, even if you were right, will only ever help some servers SLIGHTLY while hurting those with a healthier tank population.

 

Bioware needs to even that out by implementing dual spec like they should have done WITH the tool, or give greater prizes to those roles that are in short supply .... not jump on the cross server bandwagon.

[Skirata_Kal]

First to WoW's queue times: the battlegroup restriction was not what caused your dps queue times to go down, it was the perks they started throwing to tanks/healers that did that. More badges/satchels/etc.

 

Second: to those who still don't agree with me, I don't think you understand human psychology. Most people don't like being responsible. Face it, healers and tanks get the brunt of the blame when a group wipes. Pugging as a tank will suck more often than not, and depending on how thick your skin is, you might even give up on it totally (I'm very close myself). The RATIO of tanks/healers to dps on every server is going to be very, very close. Sorry, but statistics don't lie.

 

Again, cross server will not help queue times for highly desired content (i.e., level 50 HMs. planetary quests are almost useless to begin with, so why queue for it?).

 

Something else that *will* help queue times? Dual spec. I would queue as a healer on my merc, but I'm primarily a RDPS for our guild op runs as we have enough healers.

 

Most tanks/healers (I was a healer on my main btw) laughed at the perks. Those did VERY little to increase the number of tanks/healers. And many of those tanks/healers quit queueing when they got their desired goal. Yet the queues still stayed low. Statistics may not lie, but they don't always have the whole answer and they can be manipulated and twisted, especially if you don't take all the variables into account (it was the instructor of a college level Statistics Calculus class that taught me that btw). Real life results don't always conform to the stats sheet.

 

You are right about needing a thick skin to be a healer and a tank, though, which is why they're not as numerous as dps. I also agree that dual spec would help.

[PainOfDemise]

I've had a great time with the group finder on my 50. I haven't had any issues with grouping up when using it. My lower level is a bit different. It seems a lot of people do not want ot use the group finder at lower levels and they just resort back to asking in general chat for groups.

 

Eventually I will end up getting a group together for the instance I was waiting for, but it does take a LOT longer to do at lower levels it seems.

[Jebei]

I'm loving the LFG. I probably ran 3 flashpoints before 1.3 and i've done at least 40 since then. If they had this at lanuch the game would have 50% more people but that's water under the bridge.

 

The only change I'd like is an NPC in the fleet/Ilum that gives you the option to return where you were questing. Right now you need to choose between questing and running flashpoints and it is limiting people from running them (especially while leveling).

[Skirata_Kal]

Except WoW jumped straight into x-server with their auto-queue lfg. Any previous iteration was horrible and no one used it. Rifts queue times were still fairly long even for tanks, at least back before I left.

 

Here, where tanks get instant queues while DPS gets an hour+, its all about the ratio. A ratio that, even if you were right, will only ever help some servers SLIGHTLY while hurting those with a healthier tank population.

 

Bioware needs to even that out by implementing dual spec like they should have done WITH the tool, or give greater prizes to those roles that are in short supply .... not jump on the cross server bandwagon.

 

WoW did jump into xserver, that's true, but initially it was restricted to battlegroups (in principle, somewhat similar to the megaservers we have now). When the battlegroup restriction was lifted, the queues went down considerably. There's just no getting around that fact.

 

I do, however agree that dual spec would help and as I said before, I'm content with what we currently have in game. I was more vehement in my support of Xserver back when it appeared that Bioware was absolutely opposed to mergers and they were only talking about transfers, where MMO history clearly shows that voluntary transfers never help fix pop problems. Now that we know what those 'voluntary transfers' really were, I'm not as vehement and am ok with what we have and I happily resubbed

[Skirata_Kal]

I'm loving the LFG. I probably ran 3 flashpoints before 1.3 and i've done at least 40 since then. If they had this at lanuch the game would have 50% more people but that's water under the bridge.

 

The only change I'd like is an NPC in the fleet/Ilum that gives you the option to return where you were questing. Right now you need to choose between questing and running flashpoints and it is limiting people from running them (especially while leveling).

 

Agreed. On the one hand, it is nice to end up on fleet for a quick turn-in of the daily, but it would also be nice to be able to get back to the quest area quickly too. One of the devs did say they're working on something but there's no eta.

[Jebei]

Most tanks/healers (I was a healer on my main btw) laughed at the perks. Those did VERY little to increase the number of tanks/healers. And many of those tanks/healers quit queueing when they got their desired goal. Yet the queues still stayed low. Statistics may not lie, but they don't always have the whole answer and they can be manipulated and twisted, especially if you don't take all the variables into account (it was the instructor of a college level Statistics Calculus class that taught me that btw). Real life results don't always conform to the stats sheet.

 

You are right about needing a thick skin to be a healer and a tank, though, which is why they're not as numerous as dps. I also agree that dual spec would help.

 

Dual spec would have a lot as most classes have options to take another role.

 

One big different people forget between WoW and SWTOR is the 5 man vs 4 man group. I personally like the 4 man size better but for dps in SWTOR you will need 50% more tanks/healers queueing to handle the same number of DPS (3:1:1 ratio vs 2:1:1)

 

I think the loot rules will make tanks/healers less available pretty soon too. I like the fact in SWTOR that it is more likely I can get usable loot but once I get my full set of Rakata, I'm only doing my daily on my healer. In Vanilla WoW I think I ran UBRS twenty times until I got my chestpiece to drop. I'm not sure players will put up with that anymore though.

[MasterKayote]

The only change I'd like is an NPC in the fleet/Ilum that gives you the option to return where you were questing. Right now you need to choose between questing and running flashpoints and it is limiting people from running them (especially while leveling).

 

This here is another big reason. BIG!

 

Im actually leveling 2 tanks right now, both around level 20. One of them I level with a healer friend even. Yet every day we decide if we're going to run an FP before we get started on questing or skip it altogether. Why? Because the incompetent fools at Bioware neglected to apply the same tech they already have with wz's to the LFG tool, thats why. Most of the time, we just skip queuing up because we're already in a planet.

 

If I could queue up, run the fp and pop back where I was, Id probably queue up multiple times. Thats already 1 tank that just at least tripled his participation.

 

TLDR: What the tool needs is dual spec, ports to original location, and more incentives for classes in low supply MUCH more than an xserver implementation.

[Nindoriel]

My server has a pretty decent population. I just waited two hours for an ops group, only to have one person leave immediately and the group leader standing there lethargically. When asked to requeue he only responded with illegible nonsense and did nothing. He finally left with "**** you mom stupid american boy", which seemed to be the sign for everybody in the group to pull everything at once and leave. Back in queue again, probably another 2 hours. If this was cross-server, I bet anything, queues would take around 15-30 minutes. I'll try for a few days, but only to see the content. And that is really the problem. If it was less painful to find a group, I, and others, would probably stay.

 

Now people say cross-server destroys the sense of a community, and that people act like ******es because there's no real consequences for them. But this tool is restricted to our server and people still act like idiots. And I can't really learn anything out of this. It's no use to scribble down the name of these 7 persons, because that list will only grow. And what should I do if I waited 2 hours for the next group and one of them is in there? Leave? Hell no, I'm gonna cling to that group like grim death.

[Skidrowbro]

Duel spec will cause more.problems. Look at rift with its multiple souls system, people queuing up as something they have no intentions of doing.