~+~ Group Tool - Suggestion ~+~

Emperor

At this point I'm pretty sure everyone agrees the grouping tool in this game could use some work. That being said, let's jump right into the suggestion.

What if Zenimax revamped the system to put players in multiple "pools". These pools would be visible to all players and one player could be in up to 5 pools at one time. The player looking for a group could simply look through the pool list and see what other players are doing at that time. For example, you could see there is a pending group of 3/4 players to do dragonstar arena. The searching player could then simply click on that pool and a whole 4 man group would be formed. If there aren't near full groups like that then the player could select up to 5 pools to be placed in.

Most of the time when I am looking for something to do I am willing to do multiple things and I would like to know what other players are interested in doing so I don't have to wait an hour for something no one else is doing anyway. This system would provide much more information to the players and make grouping much faster since you can select more than 1 activity at a time.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here is an excel version of what this might look like. Obviously this example doesn't include everything, but you get the idea.

Emperor

nevermind, i figured it out

Emperor

I added a picture to explain my idea in the original post.

Emperor

Any feedback on if this would be useful would be appreciated

Jando

I was about to start my own thread about my dissatisfaction with the current state of the grouping tool, but i did a search first and found this thread.

I hereby REVIVE you!

Thanks, OP, for starting this thread. I think your idea is great.

Dear ZoS,

One thing you can do to help PC players deal with the incredibly disappointing fact that there will be no new content for months, is to make the current content more accessible to players.

It's too hard to find a group and something needs to be done about it.

In additional to a total revamp of the LFG tool. I highly recommend cross faction PVE grouping. There is no reason this shouldn't be done. It's completely supported by the lore.

Razzak

It's a good idea and I support it. And if not this one, than something similar. Anything that would make grouping tool do it's job, really.

KiriX

Agree. Good idea!

Jando

How do you guys think different levels should be handled. I notice that's not really represented in the OP's grid. Should there just be another column for leader level?

NewBlacksmurf

Emperor wrote: »

At this point I'm pretty sure everyone agrees the grouping tool in this game could use some work. That being said, let's jump right into the suggestion.

What if Zenimax revamped the system to put players in multiple "pools". These pools would be visible to all players and one player could be in up to 5 pools at one time. The player looking for a group could simply look through the pool list and see what other players are doing at that time. For example, you could see there is a pending group of 3/4 players to do dragonstar arena. The searching player could then simply click on that pool and a whole 4 man group would be formed. If there aren't near full groups like that then the player could select up to 5 pools to be placed in.

Most of the time when I am looking for something to do I am willing to do multiple things and I would like to know what other players are interested in doing so I don't have to wait an hour for something no one else is doing anyway. This system would provide much more information to the players and make grouping much faster since you can select more than 1 activity at a time.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here is an excel version of what this might look like. Obviously this example doesn't include everything, but you get the idea.

Great intent but a system like this will have better success with less information.

All people care about is:
-ETA
-what benefit is there for me to do this (there should be an added benefit/incentive for PUGs in the LFG tool)
-how many dungeons or encounters can I queue for at once. (a random dungeon is great for some but there is also a need for a specific encounter to complete quests)
-Are the people in this queue dugeon capable (measured and limited by class/armor/weapon skills)


On the screen
-On the screen they just want to queue for a specific encounter or a random encounter. What am I waiting for
-As time passes, what is grouped (tank, healer, DPS, etc) 3/4, 2/4, etc.
-When its time to go...let me know where I'm going and when I need to say yes/no


Just my opinion BUT all this goes again people perception of "play as I want" so...hey maybe some day ZOS will fix the tool and figure it all out.

People make fun of WoW a lot but their process works.

EsORising

This is such a simple fix but I don't know what the hell is going on. So they can make the champion system in a few months but they can't put people in the same group. It is so weird to me and doesn't make sense why no one is on this. I get so confused when i use the grouping feature... It doesn't seem to work. It puts me with some random person then i have to find the rest or something. I'm not even sure it works right or if someones going to be added or what. 1.6 doesn't seem to change anything either.

Jando

EsORising wrote: »

This is such a simple fix but I don't know what the hell is going on. So they can make the champion system in a few months but they can't put people in the same group. It is so weird to me and doesn't make sense why no one is on this. I get so confused when i use the grouping feature... It doesn't seem to work. It puts me with some random person then i have to find the rest or something. I'm not even sure it works right or if someones going to be added or what. 1.6 doesn't seem to change anything either.

The reason they spent all of this time on the Champion System is because it is the grind mechanic that will allow them to sell subs/xp boosters.

I wish they would realize that none of that matters if players can never find a group. IMHO fixing the LFG tool is probably the most important system in the game.....yet, they basically ignore it because they don't see it as a direct revenue stream, like the crown store, for example.

Gidorick

geoffreyb14_ESO wrote: »

EsORising wrote: »

This is such a simple fix but I don't know what the hell is going on. So they can make the champion system in a few months but they can't put people in the same group. It is so weird to me and doesn't make sense why no one is on this. I get so confused when i use the grouping feature... It doesn't seem to work. It puts me with some random person then i have to find the rest or something. I'm not even sure it works right or if someones going to be added or what. 1.6 doesn't seem to change anything either.

The reason they spent all of this time on the Champion System is because it is the grind mechanic that will allow them to sell subs/xp boosters.

I wish they would realize that none of that matters if players can never find a group. IMHO fixing the LFG tool is probably the most important system in the game.....yet, they basically ignore it because they don't see it as a direct revenue stream, like the crown store, for example.

If that is the reason they are not fixing grouping, it's VERY shortsighted of them.

Jando

With the coming console release the LFG tool will need to be much better. Console players will not be able to spam in chat for groups - which is the way PC players currently deal with the current LFG tool failure.

Anyone think that they will address this soon?

TheLaw

This is a fantastic idea. Add in a section for notes/additional requirements and you're golden!

helediron

That suggestion is quite close what DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online) has, and there it works great. It is group leader-centric. A player adds a new entry to public LFM list.

In ESO the list could have:
- Target like dungeon or area
- Visibility (hidden, public, zone, guild x, friends)
- min and max level of members
- comment
- autojoin option

Everybody can browse the LFMs and can filter and sort them by target and level. They can click "Request to join" the group and also whisper to leader. The leader get notifications from new requests unless they have autojoin on. Leader see their level and roles and can pick the members. When the group is full the LFM is hidden.

Sample LFMs are like
Leader Target Levels In queue
FooIsThere AA Vr8..Vr14 7/12 (Join) (Whisper)
Learning AA, three more newbies welcome, need two vets, starts 21:00 GMT
DasMagnus DSA vet Vr14..Vr14 3/4 (Join) (Whisper)
Vet DSA farm, fastrun, know it, LF1M hybrid healer and go

Many players dislike the automation randomness in current tool. The DDO system is completely player-driven and very popular. Players soon learned leaders and vice versa. There were elites and casuals. When i opened an LFM, certain people joined and i liked to join their groups. We made friends. The whole system was very much community boosting.

infraction2008b16_ESO

I feel what really needs to happen is a daily reward for queuing in group finder (on top of pledges), group finder itself should give you a silver key for doing a random normal dungeon, a gold for doing a random vet, and another gold for doing any trial.

Jando

helediron wrote: »

That suggestion is quite close what DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online) has, and there it works great. It is group leader-centric. A player adds a new entry to public LFM list.

In ESO the list could have:
- Target like dungeon or area
- Visibility (hidden, public, zone, guild x, friends)
- min and max level of members
- comment
- autojoin option

Everybody can browse the LFMs and can filter and sort them by target and level. They can click "Request to join" the group and also whisper to leader. The leader get notifications from new requests unless they have autojoin on. Leader see their level and roles and can pick the members. When the group is full the LFM is hidden.

Sample LFMs are like
Leader Target Levels In queue
FooIsThere AA Vr8..Vr14 7/12 (Join) (Whisper)
Learning AA, three more newbies welcome, need two vets, starts 21:00 GMT
DasMagnus DSA vet Vr14..Vr14 3/4 (Join) (Whisper)
Vet DSA farm, fastrun, know it, LF1M hybrid healer and go

Many players dislike the automation randomness in current tool. The DDO system is completely player-driven and very popular. Players soon learned leaders and vice versa. There were elites and casuals. When i opened an LFM, certain people joined and i liked to join their groups. We made friends. The whole system was very much community boosting.

That sounds really cool! I would love to have something that robust in ESO.

TheVindelator

I'd love to see something like this.

I think it'd be nice to if you could get notifications or see something in chat when there's a group forming for something you've marked.

"Like 3/4 fungal grotto group needs healer" or something.

Maybe even rewards for accepting it.

Jando

ZoS...you need to fix the LFG tool before console launches. How in the world do you expect those people to find groups????

Gidorick

helediron wrote: »

That suggestion is quite close uwhat DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online) has, and there it works great. It is group leader-centric. A player adds a new entry to public LFM list.

In ESO the list could have:
- Target like dungeon or area
- Visibility (hidden, public, zone, guild x, friends)
- min and max level of members
- comment
- autojoin option

Everybody can browse the LFMs and can filter and sort them by target and level. They can click "Request to join" the group and also whisper to leader. The leader get notifications from new requests unless they have autojoin on. Leader see their level and roles and can pick the members. When the group is full the LFM is hidden.

Sample LFMs are like
Leader Target Levels In queue
FooIsThere AA Vr8..Vr14 7/12 (Join) (Whisper)
Learning AA, three more newbies welcome, need two vets, starts 21:00 GMT
DasMagnus DSA vet Vr14..Vr14 3/4 (Join) (Whisper)
Vet DSA farm, fastrun, know it, LF1M hybrid healer and go

Many players dislike the automation randomness in current tool. The DDO system is completely player-driven and very popular. Players soon learned leaders and vice versa. There were elites and casuals. When i opened an LFM, certain people joined and i liked to join their groups. We made friends. The whole system was very much community boosting.

Honestly, the fact that we don't have these sorts of options almost a year later baffles me! These should be standard features.

Jando

Gidorick wrote: »

Honestly, the fact that we don't have these sorts of options almost a year later baffles me! These should be standard features.

I agree.

Also, the fact that ZoS doesn't realize that LFG is perhaps one of the most important systems in the game, and that currently it is a total failure, baffles me.

I've heard some really amazing things about the FF14 LFG tool. ZoS should take some cues from that.

Jando

ZoS...Please address the LFG issue .

Jando

Zos...Please comment on the LFG issue....is something in the works??

Edda

The current tool is a pain in the backend! And I use it almost every day, mostly for dungeon groups. I hate that I can only select one or ALL dungeons when looking for a group. Then, even when I do select the one dungeon option I still end up in groups not specifically intending to do that one. I don't know if it's a problem with the how the tool works, perhaps it groups me up with any dungeon parties, or if people are using it wrong. But it's annoying and I am in the habit of leaving groups that are not going to do the dungeon I was actually LFG for. Which I'm sure is making those ex-group members hate both me and LFG tool since they probably also waited over an hour to get a group in the first place

Jando

So I was really hoping that ZoS was going to do a serious revamp of the LFG tool for ESO on console release. I figured that they must realize how important this is to consoles (and the game in general). Nope. They made it a little bit prettier, but no serious improvement in functionality.

ZoS...Grouping up is one of the most important things for MMO's. Don't you get that?????????????

For the love of Stendarr...take this seriously, and fix it!!!!!!!!!!!

ssewallb14_ESO

This is always how I thought a group tool should work, one with actual verification that people are using it. I don't have to wonder if I'm wasting my time or not. This style of group/game finder has worked great in countless games for basically ever.

Yattaq

Jando wrote: »

So I was really hoping that ZoS was going to do a serious revamp of the LFG tool for ESO on console release. I figured that they must realize how important this is to consoles (and the game in general). Nope. They made it a little bit prettier, but no serious improvement in functionality.

ZoS...Grouping up is one of the most important things for MMO's. Don't you get that?????????????

For the love of Stendarr...take this seriously, and fix it!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you on a high level character that you copied over, or are you on a new character that you're leveling? I've been getting <10 minute queues as a DPS between levels 10-20. On my vet character it's different, but a tiny fraction of the population is at that level.

doggie

I think they'll have to do something more to the group finder than just to make sure it works with the current queues. The problem seems to be lack of tanks/healers so dps get several hours waiting time.

The problem is that the dungeons reward so little both in exp and loot that few wants to do them again. So I think they have to increase loot/exp atleast for tanks/healers to get them to run the dungeons over again.

It can for example simply be solved by adding a semi rare drop on the last boss that's usefull for tanks /healers, or increase the exp if you sign up to tank /healer.

Doing something like that is the only option to reduce the queues on console.

Rika_shinozaki

Ff14 has a great party tool. You can pick the dungeon/trial/raid (the 3 types of party duties). You pick what you want to do, you make the party comp you want, set the description to anything you want, could be "lf tank for t13 learning" or "lalafell party at ×,y housing" sometimes it's used for selling things too. It's used for most anything, and I prefer it that way, don't have to see every guild spam recruitment messages in char, or see people shouting over a 30 minute time frame with nevery finding a group. You can also be pretty much everywhere open-world and see every party recruiting, and what they're doing and expecting.

Jando

Rika_shinozaki wrote: »

Ff14 has a great party tool. You can pick the dungeon/trial/raid (the 3 types of party duties). You pick what you want to do, you make the party comp you want, set the description to anything you want, could be "lf tank for t13 learning" or "lalafell party at ×,y housing" sometimes it's used for selling things too. It's used for most anything, and I prefer it that way, don't have to see every guild spam recruitment messages in char, or see people shouting over a 30 minute time frame with nevery finding a group. You can also be pretty much everywhere open-world and see every party recruiting, and what they're doing and expecting.

You're not the first to bring up ff14 LFG. ZoS should listen to you and really take a look at that.

Jando

Yattaq wrote: »

Jando wrote: »

So I was really hoping that ZoS was going to do a serious revamp of the LFG tool for ESO on console release. I figured that they must realize how important this is to consoles (and the game in general). Nope. They made it a little bit prettier, but no serious improvement in functionality.

ZoS...Grouping up is one of the most important things for MMO's. Don't you get that?????????????

For the love of Stendarr...take this seriously, and fix it!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you on a high level character that you copied over, or are you on a new character that you're leveling? I've been getting <10 minute queues as a DPS between levels 10-20. On my vet character it's different, but a tiny fraction of the population is at that level.

I am a PC transfer, yes. But the problems i'm seeing are happening while leveling another alt. On my level 15 DK dps, i waited over 3 hours for a healer on 2 separate nights. Everyone is complaining.