What exactly is broken with the Group Finding Tool?

Trollwut · April 2015

Hi folks!

I'm playing since Beta, with a break, and I never really have done the Dungeons, as I'm more into PvP.
Now I'm bored and want to complete them.

Very often I hear that the Group Finding Tool is broken or doesn't work correctly.

But by now I'm just searching with it about 20 minutes and get into a group. For me, it works, I guess. It just feels like being on a low-population WoW freeshard, hehe.

So what is really broken? Should it search more quickly? Does it assemble four tanks in a group?
Or is simply nobody using it, because they heard "it's broken" and they simply believe a lie?

s7732425ub17_ESO · April 2015

It's not broken. There just simply aren't enough people using it or players don't set their preferences properly (tank, DPS, or heals), so it has a hard time forming groups.

IMO this needs to be a lobby based system instead of a black box.

Amsel_McKay · April 2015

Trollwut wrote: »

Hi folks!

I'm playing since Beta, with a break, and I never really have done the Dungeons, as I'm more into PvP.
Now I'm bored and want to complete them.

Very often I hear that the Group Finding Tool is broken or doesn't work correctly.

But by now I'm just searching with it about 20 minutes and get into a group. For me, it works, I guess. It just feels like being on a low-population WoW freeshard, hehe.

So what is really broken? Should it search more quickly? Does it assemble four tanks in a group?
Or is simply nobody using it, because they heard "it's broken" and they simply believe a lie?

20 mins is too long for players of this generation... it must be instant.

Drazhar14 · April 2015

I think part of the Undaunted Initiation quest should be explaining to players how to set their preferred role and use the LFG tool.

OrphanHelgen · April 2015

I have tried it lately myself, and it seams like you wont get a group until the group are complete with 4 players, filling all the roles.. It is also "broken" because no one use it. I think no one is using it for two reasons:
1 - They think its broken so they dont use it.
2 - They dont want a random player. Like if you want to do a quick city of ash veteran run, you dont want a first time player VR12 or something right?

stefan.gustavsonb16_ESO · April 2015

Some people report it as working sort of OK, like you. Some end up in incomplete groups of two or three people. However, many others say that it fails to ever get them into a group , which is my experience.

There are posts in this forum about experiments where four or more people of compatible levels and a suitable selection of roles (at least one tank, one healer and two damage dealers) have waited in a small crowd outside a dungeon and tried using the LFG tool to be grouped with each other, but with no luck.

ZOS has admitted that the tool is not working as intended, but we have seen no attempts at fixing it for several months.

Chatting people up, either in the guild, in /zone or outside the dungeon, and using manual grouping is the only grouping method that has ever worked for me. Not that I've tried using the LFG tool a lot, but I have tried it.

Ley · April 2015

I think there just aren't enough people using the grouping tool, for starters. I Also think that if they allowed cross faction dungeon grouping, this problem could be minimized because we'd have a larger player pool to group with.

lihentian · April 2015

not sure if its broken, but i rarely find any group with it... it never completely fill a team. So i think it might be broken?? which i why i totally give up on it.. until further notice are given...

p.s. is ZM could confirm if its broken or not.. might shed some light on the matter.. i have seen many queue in other games.. but none of them have this issue.. we are on a mega sever it should be no issue finding group.. (hint GW2 never have any issue with their queue)

Nestor · April 2015

If more people used the Group Finder, it would probably work better for those who use it.

However there are so many other ways to get a group going that it's easy to avoid it and get grouped up.

1. Guild mates (best most reliable source)
2. LFG in Zone Chat
3. Pugs
4. Standing around like a wallflower outside the dungeon waiting for someone to ask you to dance
5. Group Finder

Slashz · April 2015

It's broken for me, sometimes when you search for a party, you get stuck endlessly and even you can't cancel the searching not sure if it's a UI bug or it trigger when you zone in and out of too many areas, and sometimes when you get into a full group the LFG tab you will be still "searching" even tho you already in a full group, and stays like that even after you leave the party.

However relogging always solve that problem for me.

Ace_SiN · April 2015

The problem is the Group Finder is barebones. I can't select multiple dungeons and que up for them and there's no option to que up with any level, despite dungeons scaling. This leads to problems where I have to hope more people are queing up for the one dungeon I chose instead of the other 2 of equal level. if I could join lower levels(which doesn't seem to be the case via the group finder) then I could find groups for rhe dungeons I missed easier.

Trollwut · April 2015

Guys, really... I made a simple question and you started a discussion for seeking one to blame...

Thanks for the answer!

Valymer · April 2015

Searching using the Finder for 4 hours during primetime and finding no group for the DAILY PLEDGE = broken.

That's all you need to know.

Deheart · April 2015

I think people need to stop saying its broken just because no one uses it. It is not Broken, it is just unused.

The more people falsely report it broken, the less people actually try to use it, and the less it works for those who do actually use it.

Valymer · April 2015

Deheart wrote: »

I think people need to stop saying its broken just because no one uses it. It is not Broken, it is just unused.

The more people falsely report it broken, the less people actually try to use it, and the less it works for those who do actually use it.

I'm sorry, but player testing has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it is horribly broken.

ZOS has also admitted that it isn't working like it is supposed to.

How much more proof do you need?

onlinegamer1 · April 2015

To answer the original question, the thing that's broken with the tool is its design.

1985 called, it wants its group finder tool design back.

"Role based auto-matching/filling" is an ancient concept and has no place in modern Group Finder tools. Given that MMORPGs are social games, players don't want to use ESO's archaic and outdated Group Finder. We want a modern Group Finder tool design. You know, a tool that:

For a group leader:
- Let's someone start a group (they are the group leader)
- Lets them mark which Dungeon, and which mode (normal/Vet)
- Lets them indicate what roles they want (Tank, DPS, Healer)
- Lets them set level requirements (Min and Max acceptable) i.e. "Min: V11 Max: V14"
- Lets them post a comment, like "Experienced only" or "learning run, anyone welcome"
- Can alter the parameters at any time (min/max level, roles needed, even dungeon or mode)

Then, as someone who is LFG, we want:
- Bring up a list of all available Groups (all listings from the above Leaders) (unless the Leader has me on ignore, then I don't even see their listing!)
- Filter the list by: Dungeon, Mode, and "Meets Requirements" (the reason I might want to see groups I DON'T qualify for is if I have Alts which DO qualify, and if I'm willing to swap to that alt to join).
- Click on the Group I am interested in, and click "Apply to Join"

Then, as the Leader again:
- I see all "Join Requests"
- I see character name, class, level, role and a flag indicating if we are in the same guild(s) or not.
- I can click "Accept" or "Decline" to add them to my group or decline their request.
- Once the group is full, the listing automatically de-lists, and we are all teleported to the dungeon.

Simple.

Example from DDO (Dungeons & Dragons Online) (slightly modified for ESO)

Heromofo · April 2015

onlinegamer1 wrote: »

To answer the original question, the thing that's broken with the tool is its design.

1985 called, it wants its group finder tool design back.

"Role based auto-matching/filling" is an ancient concept and has no place in modern Group Finder tools. Given that MMORPGs are social games, players don't want to use ESO's archaic and outdated Group Finder. We want a modern Group Finder tool design. You know, a tool that:

For a group leader:
- Let's someone start a group (they are the group leader)
- Lets them mark which Dungeon, and which mode (normal/Vet)
- Lets them indicate what roles they want (Tank, DPS, Healer)
- Lets them set level requirements (Min and Max acceptable) i.e. "Min: V11 Max: V14"
- Lets them post a comment, like "Experienced only" or "learning run, anyone welcome"
- Can alter the parameters at any time (min/max level, roles needed, even dungeon or mode)

Then, as someone who is LFG, we want:
- Bring up a list of all available Groups (all listings from the above Leaders) (unless the Leader has me on ignore, then I don't even see their listing!)
- Filter the list by: Dungeon, Mode, and "Meets Requirements" (the reason I might want to see groups I DON'T qualify for is if I have Alts which DO qualify, and if I'm willing to swap to that alt to join).
- Click on the Group I am interested in, and click "Apply to Join"

Then, as the Leader again:
- I see all "Join Requests"
- I see character name, class, level, role and a flag indicating if we are in the same guild(s) or not.
- I can click "Accept" or "Decline" to add them to my group or decline their request.
- Once the group is full, the listing automatically de-lists, and we are all teleported to the dungeon.

Simple.

Example from DDO (Dungeons & Dragons Online)

This is what we need but sign up for multiple dungeons at once

onlinegamer1 · April 2015

Heromofo wrote: »

onlinegamer1 wrote: »

To answer the original question, the thing that's broken with the tool is its design.

1985 called, it wants its group finder tool design back.

"Role based auto-matching/filling" is an ancient concept and has no place in modern Group Finder tools. Given that MMORPGs are social games, players don't want to use ESO's archaic and outdated Group Finder. We want a modern Group Finder tool design. You know, a tool that:

For a group leader:
- Let's someone start a group (they are the group leader)
- Lets them mark which Dungeon, and which mode (normal/Vet)
- Lets them indicate what roles they want (Tank, DPS, Healer)
- Lets them set level requirements (Min and Max acceptable) i.e. "Min: V11 Max: V14"
- Lets them post a comment, like "Experienced only" or "learning run, anyone welcome"
- Can alter the parameters at any time (min/max level, roles needed, even dungeon or mode)

Then, as someone who is LFG, we want:
- Bring up a list of all available Groups (all listings from the above Leaders) (unless the Leader has me on ignore, then I don't even see their listing!)
- Filter the list by: Dungeon, Mode, and "Meets Requirements" (the reason I might want to see groups I DON'T qualify for is if I have Alts which DO qualify, and if I'm willing to swap to that alt to join).
- Click on the Group I am interested in, and click "Apply to Join"

Then, as the Leader again:
- I see all "Join Requests"
- I see character name, class, level, role and a flag indicating if we are in the same guild(s) or not.
- I can click "Accept" or "Decline" to add them to my group or decline their request.
- Once the group is full, the listing automatically de-lists, and we are all teleported to the dungeon.

Simple.

Example from DDO (Dungeons & Dragons Online)

This is what we need but sign up for multiple dungeons at once

You can. Just click to join multiples, the first one who accepts you auto-removes your other requests.

ZOS_UlyssesW · April 2015

Hi folks.
This thread is being closed as the OP has had his question answered and has requested we close the thread. If you would like to continue discussing the group finder tool, there is another active thread here. We encourage you to head to that thread to continue your discussion.

The Elder Scrolls Online

What exactly is broken with the Group Finding Tool?

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