Suggestion: Looking For Group

Ashes needs a Looking For Group system. I'm sure the devs are aware of this by now and i can't be the first to make this suggestion but i would recommend looking at a system similar to what FFXI had (not FF Fourteen - Eleven!)

FFXI is an MMORPG that pre-dated Vanilla WoW by 2-3 years. In FFXI players had the ability to flag as Looking For Group. When a player flagged as Looking For Group it put a status icon next to your on-screen name. The status icon was a green exclamation mark which turned red when you were afk (i think). Here's an image various status icons that existed in the game (https://weyr.us/raven/icons/priority.gif).

Having an in-game visual icon that shows a player is LFG would be extremely useful in Ashes in my opinion. That way if you're solo you can go hang out around a levelling hotspot (like Oak Keep), flag LFG, and parties there can see the icon and invite you instead of having to spam in /global or /say or whispering them for an invite.

In addition to the visual icon, when you flagged LFG in FFXI it made it so players could search for you. FFXI had an extensive chat command system which allowed you to query the server population for various returns. For example you could sea how many players were online by typing /search all (or /sea all for short). You could then refine your search using various keywords. For instance if you wanted to see how many Warriors were online you would type /search all warrior (or /sea all war for short). You could then further refine your search by including level requirements in the query. For example if you wanted to search for warriors between level 30-35 you would type /sea all war 30-35. And then if you wanted to further refine your search to just look for warriors in that level range that were actively looking for a party and flagged LFG you would type /sea all war 30-35 inv. FWIW most players didn't specifically search for just for LFG players because those players would show up in the list of all available players with an icon next to their name anyway and the player population wasn't so large that you needed to define it. Plus alot of players that weren't flagged as LFG would join your group regardless if you asked them.

This system made it very convenient and easy to find specific players in the appropriate level range and role that you needed for your party so that you could message them and see if they wanted to join. But the system went deeper than that. Players could actually attach a message to their names that players searching for them could see. This was convenient if for instance you were LFG in a specific zone, or for a quest, or mission - you would put that information in your LFG message. Or maybe you're only interested in a specific party composition, again you put that in your LFG message so you aren't bothered by random players. And of course you could invite players using chat commands as well such as /invite player name. You could do many things with chat commands and i highly recommend the Ashes Devs look into what was possible in FFXI.

Also, if you didn't want to be bothered with party invites you could type /anonymous or /anon, for short, to hide your name/level/class from being searchable.

Anyway, based on my experience yesterday of trying to find a party i highly recommend Ashes Devs implement a similar system. Such a system would make it much more convenient to organize groups, find parties, find players, complete quests, etc than shouting in /global chat. Global chat is way too chaotic as is and shouldn't be used for LFG activities. If anything there should be a LFG chat channel in addition to a system like the one described above.

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

rikardp98

I would want more of a a simple LFG UI tool similar to what retail have and what classic wotlk had. This would only be a UI where you can put up your group and what you are looking for, and search for groups based on an activity and more. Nothing automated.

And this should probably be limited to node towns/cities or something.

kanoacl

Ah, here's a list of various commands that were available in FFXI: https://ffxi.allakhazam.com/commands.html

As you can see you could search for all kinds of things, you could search for specicic classes, level ranges, players in particular zones, specific races, ranks, members of a particular guild, and you could combine all these search functions.

It was a fairly extensive system and FFXI gave players the ability to create macros like in Vanilla WoW and you could combine a number of these kinds of commands into a single macro. It was a very good system but the game didn't do a great job of teaching players how to use it but it was really indispensable to playing the game effectively.

kanoacl

Here's an example of what the pop-up window looked like when using the player search command: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/2/2b/Seach_Comment_Guide_1.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20090526223226

As you can see it shows player names, classes, levels, location, race, alliance, rank and whether or not they're flagged as LFG.

The system was fairly simple. If you used chat commands to prompt a query a window would pop up on your screen with this list. But of course, chat commands weren't the only way to interact with all these systems. Obviously a menu system existed as well so you would hit a hotkey like tab, or esc (i forget what it was exactly) to open up the main in game menu where you could do different things. Here's a picture of what the main menu looked like: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/3/3a/Seach_Comment_Guide_2.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20090526223248

The main menu is the one on the far left and you can see the sub-menus descond from that towards the right. So you could examine your gear window, check your spell list, open your inventory, open your ability list, look at your party status, prompt a trade, etc, etc all through that menu using either the keyboard (using arrow keys/enter to navigate the menu) to bring up the related windows - or you could do all those things with chat commands and you could make those chat commands into macros/shortcuts to automate the functions further and reduce the amount of actions/keystrokes necessary (like ctril+i to open inventory or if you had a repeatable quest to turn in an item you could make a macro with the text /trade <target> and keybind that to ctrl+1 and that would open the trade window with whatever your tab-target was).

bloodprophet

Their intent is more local grouping.
No auto group.
No teleport to dungeon or group.

https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Group_finder

Smaashley

I'm pretty sure they won't implement a LFG system other than creating a chat for it. But I agree they should, because we're already doing it via the chat. So it would just simplify our job of finding groups.

CROW3

No LFG. Gotta actually form social groups.

Caeryl

The icon indicator is a nice idea for ease of communication.

No to that global search function though. Keep it local

rikardp98

CROW3 wrote: »

No LFG. Gotta actually form social groups.

LFG is still social, it's just bullet board where you can "advertise" what you are looking for.

We are not talking about a matchmaking system like wows dungeon finder or similar.

This is what classic wotlk implemented which was a great tool. Easy to use and social.

https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_entry_media/G37Z4TC8V1TZ1655241011076.png

Noaani

A system like the OP is suggesting (not the one from WoW - not even early WoW) would be really good.

A system to reduce friction of grouping with new people is always a win for an MMORPG, and as a general statement that is why I believe "something" is a good idea.

What the FFXI system (that is similar to what EQ2 had) has going for it is that it still requires players to talk to form groups. Everything is still in players hands. All it's doing is giving you a list of people rhat may want to join a group, and players still have to do everything themselves from there.

This keeps the social aspect in tact, which is very important.

The obvious issue with Ashes is that you shouldn't just be searching all players on your server - you may find someone wanting to group that is the role you need filled, but they are 2 hours travel away.

So, my thoughts would be that the search system (which also has other uses) should only return results for people in the same node cluster you are in (so if you are in a town node of a metropolis, it returns all players in thst metropolis and its vassals - but if you are in a town node thst is not a vassal of a metropolis, it only returns players in that node).

Making it so it only returns downstream results (so, the node and its vassal nodes) is also viable, as this keeps the notion of the parent node being a hub.

But yeah, it definitely shouldn't be global.

rikardp98

Noaani wrote: »

A system like the OP is suggesting (not the one from WoW - not even early WoW) would be really good.

A system to reduce friction of grouping with new people is always a win for an MMORPG, and as a general statement that is why I believe "something" is a good idea.

What the FFXI system (that is similar to what EQ2 had) has going for it is that it still requires players to talk to form groups. Everything is still in players hands. All it's doing is giving you a list of people rhat may want to join a group, and players still have to do everything themselves from there.

This keeps the social aspect in tact, which is very important.

The obvious issue with Ashes is that you shouldn't just be searching all players on your server - you may find someone wanting to group that is the role you need filled, but they are 2 hours travel away.

So, my thoughts would be that the search och system (which also has other uses) should only return results for people in the same node cluster you are in (so if you are in a town node of a metropolis, it returns all players in thst metropolis and its vassals - but if you are in a town node thst is not a vassal of a metropolis, it only returns players in that node).

Making it so it only returns downstream results (so, the node and its vassal nodes) is also viable, as this keeps the notion of the parent node being a hub.

But yeah, it definitely shouldn't be global.

The group finder in classic wotlk (the 2022 version) or the one in retail is also 100% in players hands. It's just a fancy bulletin board where people can list their groups. This could be for pvp events, PvE, questing, and much more.

Player can then contact the group leader for more information, or the group leader can contact a listed player.

If implemented, I think it should be limited to nodes and maybe even a node unlock achievement/perk.

FFXI system sounds similar but without the filtering of content and "thing" you want to do (at least from what I read, and maybe I missed something).

Noaani

rikardp98 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

A system like the OP is suggesting (not the one from WoW - not even early WoW) would be really good.

A system to reduce friction of grouping with new people is always a win for an MMORPG, and as a general statement that is why I believe "something" is a good idea.

What the FFXI system (that is similar to what EQ2 had) has going for it is that it still requires players to talk to form groups. Everything is still in players hands. All it's doing is giving you a list of people rhat may want to join a group, and players still have to do everything themselves from there.

This keeps the social aspect in tact, which is very important.

The obvious issue with Ashes is that you shouldn't just be searching all players on your server - you may find someone wanting to group that is the role you need filled, but they are 2 hours travel away.

So, my thoughts would be that the search och system (which also has other uses) should only return results for people in the same node cluster you are in (so if you are in a town node of a metropolis, it returns all players in thst metropolis and its vassals - but if you are in a town node thst is not a vassal of a metropolis, it only returns players in that node).

Making it so it only returns downstream results (so, the node and its vassal nodes) is also viable, as this keeps the notion of the parent node being a hub.

But yeah, it definitely shouldn't be global.

The group finder in classic wotlk, or the one in retail is also 100% in players hands. It's just a fancy bulletin board where people can list their groups. This could be for pvp events, PvE, questing, and much more.

Yeah, I know how it works.

It is the content filtering that is a negative here, not a positive.

If people can state that they only want a group for a given piece of content, they are putting g the content first, not the other players.

This is essentially WoW in a nutshell.

An LFG group shouldn't be what you use to get a group to run that quest you want to finish. It should be used to meet new people, make new friends.

Your only option should be that you are looking for a group, or you are not looking for a group.

Uncommon Sense

NO LFG window tab. No fast Travel

Optimize the chat box functionality. to make player to player communication easier, that is all.

If they want implement a notice board in nodes to advertise groups then I think that's a fair compromise.

Noaani

Uncommon Sense wrote: »

NO LFG window tab. No fast Travel

Optimize the chat box functionality. to make player to player communication easier, that is all.

Indeed.

The OP's suggestion (and what i'd like to see) are exactly this.

The suggestion is basically just a means to more easily find players that may be looking for a group, so that you can ask them if they would like to join yours.

rikardp98

Noaani wrote: »

rikardp98 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

A system like the OP is suggesting (not the one from WoW - not even early WoW) would be really good.

A system to reduce friction of grouping with new people is always a win for an MMORPG, and as a general statement that is why I believe "something" is a good idea.

What the FFXI system (that is similar to what EQ2 had) has going for it is that it still requires players to talk to form groups. Everything is still in players hands. All it's doing is giving you a list of people rhat may want to join a group, and players still have to do everything themselves from there.

This keeps the social aspect in tact, which is very important.

The obvious issue with Ashes is that you shouldn't just be searching all players on your server - you may find someone wanting to group that is the role you need filled, but they are 2 hours travel away.

So, my thoughts would be that the search och system (which also has other uses) should only return results for people in the same node cluster you are in (so if you are in a town node of a metropolis, it returns all players in thst metropolis and its vassals - but if you are in a town node thst is not a vassal of a metropolis, it only returns players in that node).

Making it so it only returns downstream results (so, the node and its vassal nodes) is also viable, as this keeps the notion of the parent node being a hub.

But yeah, it definitely shouldn't be global.

The group finder in classic wotlk, or the one in retail is also 100% in players hands. It's just a fancy bulletin board where people can list their groups. This could be for pvp events, PvE, questing, and much more.

Yeah, I know how it works.

It is the content filtering that is a negative here, not a positive.

If people can state that they only want a group for a given piece of content, they are putting g the content first, not the other players.

This is essentially WoW in a nutshell.

An LFG group shouldn't be what you use to get a group to run that quest you want to finish. It should be used to meet new people, make new friends.

Asking people if the are looking for the same content as you gets tedious for both the group leader and the people getting asked.

And even if you put a note saying specifically what you are grouping for, people will still ask you and keep asking. Yes this is "the social aspects", but it's not fun and it makes it so much harder to form groups.

In the LFG tool I can select the things I want to do, and either list my self and then do some crafting or something else, or I can start messaging other players that have listed for the same thing. 100% the same outcome (socially formed group), but a better experience for both parties.

I just don't see how filtering for content is a bad thing? I mean you have filtering all over the game, the spell book, the chats (guild chat and party chat) and the bags (artisan bags) are just s few (bad) examples. Filters are there for a reason, to make it easier to see and remove unwanted time looking for things, and for me asking marked players if they are look for the same content as me is unwanted time spent. Because it will be something like this, "brd?", "no". And then you ask the next player.

rikardp98

Uncommon Sense wrote: »

NO LFG window tab. No fast Travel

Optimize the chat box functionality. to make player to player communication easier, that is all.

If they want implement a notice board in nodes to advertise groups then I think that's a fair compromise.

LFG is not fast travel xD

LFG is not the random dungeon finder that matchmake you with other players. It's a bulletin board that you can use to list yourself or your group so other players can see you and ask to join your you them.

The LFG tool mm referering to is just that, a UI to simplify communication between players that want the same thing

Noaani

rikardp98 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

rikardp98 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

A system like the OP is suggesting (not the one from WoW - not even early WoW) would be really good.

A system to reduce friction of grouping with new people is always a win for an MMORPG, and as a general statement that is why I believe "something" is a good idea.

What the FFXI system (that is similar to what EQ2 had) has going for it is that it still requires players to talk to form groups. Everything is still in players hands. All it's doing is giving you a list of people rhat may want to join a group, and players still have to do everything themselves from there.

This keeps the social aspect in tact, which is very important.

The obvious issue with Ashes is that you shouldn't just be searching all players on your server - you may find someone wanting to group that is the role you need filled, but they are 2 hours travel away.

So, my thoughts would be that the search och system (which also has other uses) should only return results for people in the same node cluster you are in (so if you are in a town node of a metropolis, it returns all players in thst metropolis and its vassals - but if you are in a town node thst is not a vassal of a metropolis, it only returns players in that node).

Making it so it only returns downstream results (so, the node and its vassal nodes) is also viable, as this keeps the notion of the parent node being a hub.

But yeah, it definitely shouldn't be global.

The group finder in classic wotlk, or the one in retail is also 100% in players hands. It's just a fancy bulletin board where people can list their groups. This could be for pvp events, PvE, questing, and much more.

Yeah, I know how it works.

It is the content filtering that is a negative here, not a positive.

If people can state that they only want a group for a given piece of content, they are putting g the content first, not the other players.

This is essentially WoW in a nutshell.

An LFG group shouldn't be what you use to get a group to run that quest you want to finish. It should be used to meet new people, make new friends.

Asking people if the are looking for the same content as you gets tedious for both the group leader and the people getting asked.

Yeah, but the idea isn't to use this system to run specific content.

That is where you are looking at this from a WoW perspective.

The idea of a system like this is NOT about the content.

Edit to give you the reason; if a system like this is about the content, in a game like Ashes, it will almost never result in matches. The cross section of class, level, current node and intended content is just too small.

The idea of this system is to find new people, make new friends, and maybe then you could organize a group with people you already know to run a specific piece of content - not that Ashes is going to have nearly the same need to run specific pieces of content as WoW had.

rikardp98

Noaani wrote: »

rikardp98 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

rikardp98 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

A system like the OP is suggesting (not the one from WoW - not even early WoW) would be really good.

A system to reduce friction of grouping with new people is always a win for an MMORPG, and as a general statement that is why I believe "something" is a good idea.

What the FFXI system (that is similar to what EQ2 had) has going for it is that it still requires players to talk to form groups. Everything is still in players hands. All it's doing is giving you a list of people rhat may want to join a group, and players still have to do everything themselves from there.

This keeps the social aspect in tact, which is very important.

The obvious issue with Ashes is that you shouldn't just be searching all players on your server - you may find someone wanting to group that is the role you need filled, but they are 2 hours travel away.

So, my thoughts would be that the search och system (which also has other uses) should only return results for people in the same node cluster you are in (so if you are in a town node of a metropolis, it returns all players in thst metropolis and its vassals - but if you are in a town node thst is not a vassal of a metropolis, it only returns players in that node).

Making it so it only returns downstream results (so, the node and its vassal nodes) is also viable, as this keeps the notion of the parent node being a hub.

But yeah, it definitely shouldn't be global.

The group finder in classic wotlk, or the one in retail is also 100% in players hands. It's just a fancy bulletin board where people can list their groups. This could be for pvp events, PvE, questing, and much more.

Yeah, I know how it works.

It is the content filtering that is a negative here, not a positive.

If people can state that they only want a group for a given piece of content, they are putting g the content first, not the other players.

This is essentially WoW in a nutshell.

An LFG group shouldn't be what you use to get a group to run that quest you want to finish. It should be used to meet new people, make new friends.

Asking people if the are looking for the same content as you gets tedious for both the group leader and the people getting asked.

Yeah, but the idea isn't to use this system to run specific content.

That is where you are looking at this from a WoW perspective.

The idea of a system like this is NOT about the content.

Edit to give you the reason; if a system like this is about the content, in a game like Ashes, it will almost never result in matches. The cross section of class, level, current node and intended content is just too small.

The idea of this system is to find new people, make new friends, and maybe then you could organize a group with people you already know to run a specific piece of content - not that Ashes is going to have nearly the same need to run specific pieces of content as WoW had.

That's the beauty of filtering, you have the option to select content, or questing, open-world stuff and more. It's not limiting.

And there a more games that have a similar UI for making groups. FFXIV have it and ESO implemented something similar recently. So this isn't something bad form wow, this is one of those rare things that actually makes sense.

You say it's about finding new friends, but why limit it to a single tag and a unfriendly UI.

kanoacl

[/quote]
Yeah, but the idea isn't to use this system to run specific content.

That is where you are looking at this from a WoW perspective.

The idea of a system like this is NOT about the content.

Edit to give you the reason; if a system like this is about the content, in a game like Ashes, it will almost never result in matches. The cross section of class, level, current node and intended content is just too small.

The idea of this system is to find new people, make new friends, and maybe then you could organize a group with people you already know to run a specific piece of content - not that Ashes is going to have nearly the same need to run specific pieces of content as WoW had.[/quote]

So in FFXI the way the LFG system worked you couldn't flag yourself for specific content per se but you could attach a message to your name that others could examine before they messaged you. In FFXI when you flagged as LFG it just acted as another filter that players could search for alongside your specific class, level, race, rank, and allegiance. And it also added a little in game icon next to your name.

In reality, even though you could do it, no one ever really searched for specific races, ranks or allegiance. And the search function was mostly only used to look for players that were trying to get levelling groups. Even though you could attach a message to your name, most people didn't. And if you were looking for a group to do a particular quest/mission (which is where allegiance/rank were relevant) then most people used the local chat for that.

And for that matter FFXI didn't even have a global chat. The game wasn't an open world like WoW it was a series of connected instanced "zones" if you will. And as a result chat was localized to your zone even though there were different chat commands such as /say (which was for nearby players) and /shout or /yell (which would message the whole zone). For that reason when players were looking for groups to do MSQ missions or other quests they would usually shout in the main city which acted as a kind of central world hub. That city (Jeuno) was a quick way to get to most places in the game because it had a kind of airport with Airships that travelled between all the big cities and itself.

And btw, this system worked really well in FFXI at the time, and FFXI had smaller server populations than i believe Ashes of Creation intends to have. So i don't think it would be a problem finding players. It was never really a problem in FFXI although some classes had an easier time than others, like healers tended to be in higher demand - but that's always been the case in virtually every MMO i've ever played.

Anyway there's actually so much more context it's really hard to cover it all. I'm not advocating for something where players can literally select a quest from a drop down menu to LFG for. But in FFXI you didn't have quests like WoW/Ashes has. You did have quests but they served more of a world-building role as well as gating mechanisms that you needed to do to unlock certain things like a secondary job, unlock the ability to use a mount, unlock advanced job classes after level 30, repeatable ways to gain reputation which unlocked other things, etc. Quests were not a meaningful source of exp so players didn't really LFG for quests. But they did frequently LFG for the MSQ (missions) which as i described above mostly happened in the main city via the local chat channel by shouting.

So obviously Ashes is designed a bit differently. It appears to have a grindy levelling system alot more like FFXI than WoW, but it also has a quest-exp system which is more similar to WoW. So i see it as a kind of hybrid game design between FFXI/WoW. Because of that it does add complexity but my main concern would be serving the playerbase that wants to find a group to level/grind in a particular zone or at a particular level.

Another reason i think this is a good idea is because of how grindy Ashes appears to be. FFXI was extremely time consuming too. Hard to say from what i've seen so far from Ashes whether it will be more or less time consuming than FFXI, but when you have games like this, that require long sessions to make meaningful progress, and that don't have fast travelling, i think it's important to have LFG systems in place so players don't waste time. FFXI didn't have fast travel either but it did have semi-fast travelling. Still it often took 10-15 min traveling from the central city to wherever your group was going to level, and that's not counting the time it took to organize the party with the help of the LFG system. So all in it could easily take 30min just organizing a group and getting to a levelling spot and then you would often spend at least 2-3hrs grinding which often wasn't even enough time to get a single level/ Plus it had a more severe exp penalty system on death than Ashes has.

So... point is if Ashes is going to have a long grindy levelling process you really don't want players travelling 20-30min to a levelling spot only to find there's no groups there. If that happens people will feel like they're wasting their time. It's much better to have an LFG system that players can use to flag and find other players with or just put up while they're doing other things like crafting and gathering. At least that's my opinion. But again it does seem like Ashes is different than FFXI in the sense that solo-levelling may actually viable so it may not have the same problems.

Anyway i know it's a really nuanced and complex topic but i do think Ashes needs a little something more to make it easier to find groups or to find players LFG than the current way which is just shouting in global or running around the map to various hotspots hoping to find a group that is willing to accept your particular class/level.

Laetitian

rikardp98 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

rikardp98 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

rikardp98 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

A system like the OP is suggesting (not the one from WoW - not even early WoW) would be really good.

A system to reduce friction of grouping with new people is always a win for an MMORPG, and as a general statement that is why I believe "something" is a good idea.

What the FFXI system (that is similar to what EQ2 had) has going for it is that it still requires players to talk to form groups. Everything is still in players hands. All it's doing is giving you a list of people rhat may want to join a group, and players still have to do everything themselves from there.

This keeps the social aspect in tact, which is very important.

The obvious issue with Ashes is that you shouldn't just be searching all players on your server - you may find someone wanting to group that is the role you need filled, but they are 2 hours travel away.

So, my thoughts would be that the search och system (which also has other uses) should only return results for people in the same node cluster you are in (so if you are in a town node of a metropolis, it returns all players in thst metropolis and its vassals - but if you are in a town node thst is not a vassal of a metropolis, it only returns players in that node).

Making it so it only returns downstream results (so, the node and its vassal nodes) is also viable, as this keeps the notion of the parent node being a hub.

But yeah, it definitely shouldn't be global.

The group finder in classic wotlk, or the one in retail is also 100% in players hands. It's just a fancy bulletin board where people can list their groups. This could be for pvp events, PvE, questing, and much more.

Yeah, I know how it works.

It is the content filtering that is a negative here, not a positive.

If people can state that they only want a group for a given piece of content, they are putting g the content first, not the other players.

This is essentially WoW in a nutshell.

An LFG group shouldn't be what you use to get a group to run that quest you want to finish. It should be used to meet new people, make new friends.

Asking people if the are looking for the same content as you gets tedious for both the group leader and the people getting asked.

Yeah, but the idea isn't to use this system to run specific content.

That is where you are looking at this from a WoW perspective.

The idea of a system like this is NOT about the content.

Edit to give you the reason; if a system like this is about the content, in a game like Ashes, it will almost never result in matches. The cross section of class, level, current node and intended content is just too small.

The idea of this system is to find new people, make new friends, and maybe then you could organize a group with people you already know to run a specific piece of content - not that Ashes is going to have nearly the same need to run specific pieces of content as WoW had.

That's the beauty of filtering, you have the option to select content, or questing, open-world stuff and more. It's not limiting.

And there a more games that have a similar UI for making groups. FFXIV have it and ESO implemented something similar recently. So this isn't something bad form wow, this is one of those rare things that actually makes sense.

You say it's about finding new friends, but why limit it to a single tag and a unfriendly UI.

Whether it makes sense isn't the question. The question is whether it encourages genuine player interaction.

Filtering a list to find a nameless player to /invite, run content XYZ with, flame if they're not good enough, barely talk to if they are good enough, or finally maybe send a guild invite to when you're done - that's not social interaction. That's barely different from hiring an NPC.

Real interaction requires talking about your goals and expectations. Part of that is talking about which content you're interested in, and the big advantage of this requirement is that it encourages you to then further talk out how you want to play. Discuss what sort of damage you expect, what strategy you're planning on, what other players your group consists of, and how you intend on making the most of your party composition.

Preparation is everything if you want an interaction with a stranger to go well. Being incentivised/forced to treat them as people and figure out the details of how you want the interaction to go; that's how you end up having a good time. It's the opposite to the frustrated, toxic, implicitly implied DPS metre standards.

@thread:
Tags next to your name sounds fine. Anything automated or overly specific is a bad idea that will lead players to avoid the sort of genuine social interaction that will only benefit them in the long run.
Personally I think there shouldn't be filter lists. If there are node-wide lists of players with the tags, at least the tags should be as general as possible.

Noaani

rikardp98 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

rikardp98 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

rikardp98 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

A system like the OP is suggesting (not the one from WoW - not even early WoW) would be really good.

A system to reduce friction of grouping with new people is always a win for an MMORPG, and as a general statement that is why I believe "something" is a good idea.

What the FFXI system (that is similar to what EQ2 had) has going for it is that it still requires players to talk to form groups. Everything is still in players hands. All it's doing is giving you a list of people rhat may want to join a group, and players still have to do everything themselves from there.

This keeps the social aspect in tact, which is very important.

The obvious issue with Ashes is that you shouldn't just be searching all players on your server - you may find someone wanting to group that is the role you need filled, but they are 2 hours travel away.

So, my thoughts would be that the search och system (which also has other uses) should only return results for people in the same node cluster you are in (so if you are in a town node of a metropolis, it returns all players in thst metropolis and its vassals - but if you are in a town node thst is not a vassal of a metropolis, it only returns players in that node).

Making it so it only returns downstream results (so, the node and its vassal nodes) is also viable, as this keeps the notion of the parent node being a hub.

But yeah, it definitely shouldn't be global.

The group finder in classic wotlk, or the one in retail is also 100% in players hands. It's just a fancy bulletin board where people can list their groups. This could be for pvp events, PvE, questing, and much more.

Yeah, I know how it works.

It is the content filtering that is a negative here, not a positive.

If people can state that they only want a group for a given piece of content, they are putting g the content first, not the other players.

This is essentially WoW in a nutshell.

An LFG group shouldn't be what you use to get a group to run that quest you want to finish. It should be used to meet new people, make new friends.

Asking people if the are looking for the same content as you gets tedious for both the group leader and the people getting asked.

Yeah, but the idea isn't to use this system to run specific content.

That is where you are looking at this from a WoW perspective.

The idea of a system like this is NOT about the content.

Edit to give you the reason; if a system like this is about the content, in a game like Ashes, it will almost never result in matches. The cross section of class, level, current node and intended content is just too small.

The idea of this system is to find new people, make new friends, and maybe then you could organize a group with people you already know to run a specific piece of content - not that Ashes is going to have nearly the same need to run specific pieces of content as WoW had.

That's the beauty of filtering, you have the option to select content, or questing, open-world stuff and more. It's not limiting.

And there a more games that have a similar UI for making groups. FFXIV have it and ESO implemented something similar recently. So this isn't something bad form wow, this is one of those rare things that actually makes sense.

You say it's about finding new friends, but why limit it to a single tag and a unfriendly UI.

As pointed out above the reason to limit it is because the more you put in this system, the less is left up to players being social.

The goal of the system is to find the last player or two for your group, or to find a group if you have none. This is a finite process, so the more of it that is in the system, the less you leave to players.

Adding the ability to just state what content you want to finda group for in itself reduces the amount of social interaction by a good amount.

As soon as players have the ability to state they only want to run a given piece of content, it becomes easy for them to block out any notion of running any other content.

Child Item