Grouping Tools - Population?

Wizzo91

Hello,

I've been inactive for about 3 months - just logged back in yesterday for the first time.

Usually I quite enjoyed veteran dungeons and never really had a problem finding a adequate group in under 30min. Since yesterday I've been searching and searching for hours for a group to run Dragonstar Arena or City of Ash.

Result: I did not find one singe player or group - not even one player!

Did the population drop drastically or does nobody run the mentioned dungeons?

Thanks.

EDIT: I'm on EU Server..

zaria

Most dungeon runs are the new undaunted pledges, that is an veteran and a normal one. Far harder to get an group outside of this two runs.
On the other hand its easy to get pledge runs so my tips is to just wait until your dungeon comes as active and enjoy others while waiting.

Wizzo91

zaria wrote: »

Most dungeon runs are the new undaunted pledges, that is an veteran and a normal one. Far harder to get an group outside of this two runs.
On the other hand its easy to get pledge runs so my tips is to just wait until your dungeon comes as active and enjoy others while waiting.

Ah ok thanks. Could you go more into detail how this system works? I could research... but would be happy if you'd explain

Nazon_Katts

You can read more about Undaunted Pledges here: http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/2014/12/11/introducing-undaunted-pledges

Wizzo91

So it does seem there was a huge population drop in the last 3 months. Very hard to find a group.

Nazon_Katts

It's not necessarily a population issue, but rather thanks to a self-sufficient character design. The right combination lets you solo all but trial content, so why group?

Edith says: Well, unless you're facing Craglorn content, that's been locked to three or even four party members, no matter how easy said content should have been.

Aett_Thorn

Also, OP, how are you looking for these groups? The group finder tool is notorious for not working well. However, if you go to the right zones for those dungeons, you should be able to find a group pretty quickly.

Nazon_Katts

Aett_Thorn wrote: »

Also, OP, how are you looking for these groups? The group finder tool is notorious for not working well. However, if you go to the right zones for those dungeons, you should be able to find a group pretty quickly.

If it's about dungeons, then yes, just parking yourself in front of the entrance and utilizing /z chat will serve you best, tho 'quickly' is measured in half an hours. It does work best on lower lever instances, tho.

Next up are pledges. But don't hope for just running your task, but rather prepare for helping others till yours does pop. Generally, that ain't bad, but it ain't easily finished dailies either.

Finding a group for the content one would like to tackle still remains a gamble and a daunting task. With the near to none rewards for most group endeavors (except a few, with a slim chance on [relatively] OP item drops), the apparent single player design remains dominant.

With the upcoming end level changes (CS) the question ain't how... but why would you want to group?

zaria

Nazon_Katts wrote: »

Aett_Thorn wrote: »

Also, OP, how are you looking for these groups? The group finder tool is notorious for not working well. However, if you go to the right zones for those dungeons, you should be able to find a group pretty quickly.

If it's about dungeons, then yes, just parking yourself in front of the entrance and utilizing /z chat will serve you best, tho 'quickly' is measured in half an hours. It does work best on lower lever instances, tho.

Next up are pledges. But don't hope for just running your task, but rather prepare for helping others till yours does pop. Generally, that ain't bad, but it ain't easily finished dailies either.

Finding a group for the content one would like to tackle still remains a gamble and a daunting task. With the near to none rewards for most group endeavors (except a few, with a slim chance on [relatively] OP item drops), the apparent single player design remains dominant.

With the upcoming end level changes (CS) the question ain't how... but why would you want to group?

Recommend joining one or more active pve guilds for dungeons, makes it far easier to get an group, the veteran dungeons are also pretty hard and can be hard to do with randoms

PBpsy

Most COA and DSA runs will be done in guild groups. They both require quite a bit more cohesion,skill and commitment from all the members in the group in order to succeed even normal mode.Even some of the older dungeons are quite a bit harder then 3 months ago due to the scaling changes , many people will not PUG them. I only once succeed a COA hard mode run with a PUG and it was after doing a Vet pledge before which showed that the group could handle it. It is however very easy to get a Vet Pledge group dungeon going in whatever zone your Undaunted enclave is and asking if people need you.

Not much of a population drop I would say compared to 3 months ago.

You have an extremely slim chance of ever finding a COA or DSA group if you do not have at least a couple of end game pve guilds or a large list of contacts.Even with that it may take some time and work on your part to form the group.

Rosveen

Wizzo91 wrote: »

Result: I did not find one singe player or group - not even one player!

You will never find just one player with the changed LFG tool. It doesn't create a group at all until all slots are filled.

Maybe you're grouping tool is just broken. It doesn't work very well, there were many reports about it. Try grouping for daily pledges in your capital zone and see how it goes.

Alphashado

Wizzo91 wrote: »

So it does seem there was a huge population drop in the last 3 months. Very hard to find a group.

There isn't any noticable decline in population over the last 3 months. If anything, the population seems to be picking up. Especially in the lower level zones. Seems like there is a lot of new players to the game lately, likely due to news spreading of upcoming changes like the Champion system and the justice system. There also seems to be a large amount of people returning that left at an earlier point.

The problem is the LFG tool. It has been utterly destroyed by several attempts at "fixing" it from ZOS in the last few months. There have been several patches making changes to it and it's hard to pin down exactly when it started, but it worked much better 2-3 months ago than it does now.

This thread says it all. http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/140238/is-lfg-fixed-yet/p1

Wizzo91

Thanks for the comments guys.

I've constantly been searching for groups the last for days - in the zone were the dungeon is, in the "large cities" and with the grouping tool. No chance.

I am also in 2 larger PvE groups.Also only people that want to get the dailys "over with" as it always seems.

I only find groups for the daily pledges. I want to run more dungeons than two a day. Does not seem possible.