Group Finder and the negative impact on social cohesion and atmosphere of an mmo.

DeathHouseInc · October 2017

I think I've played 6 months now? Feels like a good bit and I still don't even have my friends list hotkey memorized....

I love being able to find a quick group, but I do not like how it is easier to do than make a group with my own guild mates. Putting a group together by asking is more of a chore and people are more likely to go the easy way imo. I think this causes the game to lose a lot of social cohesion that is important for games to build in order to weather time and not be another revolving door mmo.

I would like to see group finder get more attention. I think one thing that would help would be to be able to tailor group finder to search within the guilds you are a member of or even a specific one. A basic feature I would think and something I believe would be a very positive benefit for the game as a whole. I realize that you can just ask, but it is not as simple and most people have to be looking at the text as it flies by. I would like the option to be able to both of things at the same time if I so choose. I would also like to see features expanded upon in the future like this one.
Custom group finder for guild/s where you can make groups for world bosses, quests, whatever.

Guilds feel really hollow in this game. I noticed a similar thing in SWTOR and forced faction guild games in general.

Girl_Number8 · October 2017

Get in the right guild, problem solved.

My guild does dailies everyday and trails every week.

Rawkan · October 2017

Girl_Number8 wrote: »

Get in the right guild, problem solved. My guild does dailies everyday and trails every week.

It's actually hard finding a guild with both active and nice people.

PhxOldGamer68 · November 2017

Hang out in Craglorn or any Capitol City and you'll see guilds recruiting all the time - new and established. That's how I found my current guilds.

Juju_beans · November 2017

Rawkan wrote: »

Girl_Number8 wrote: »

Get in the right guild, problem solved. My guild does dailies everyday and trails every week.

It's actually hard finding a guild with both active and nice people.

Means you'll have to shop around and try out some guilds to see if they are really what they advertise.
Use the guild forums here to read about the guilds and ask for an invite. Try them out for a while and either stay or leave and continue your search.

May take a while but once you find your guild then you're set.

SHADOW2KK · November 2017

Never used group finder personally, never will either.

Rather play with people I know, and who can work well in a team than randoms.

Kali_Despoine · November 2017

Guilds only work when u use them. If your in 5 guilds and don't use anyone of them you are the problem.
I have been running a small guild for sometime now. I have seen friends come and go. I have also seen strangers in my guild come and go as well.
Don't be a stranger be a guild mate.

Loc2262 · November 2017

An unintrusive and automated way to ask in all your "contact lists" (guilds, friends) for certain dungeon runs would indeed be a nice thing.

Manually typing LFG in all those places can be tedious.

Alchemical · November 2017

Loc2262 wrote: »

An unintrusive and automated way to ask in all your "contact lists" (guilds, friends) for certain dungeon runs would indeed be a nice thing. Manually typing LFG in all those places can be tedious.

They had something like this in WoW, but most people I know spammed it for ERP hook ups.

Maybe I just had terrible friends.

Shamelessly ripping off FF14's Party Finder system would be great though. You CAN random into a dungeon, or you can just make a lobby and wait for other people to join in, and set requirements like level/CP/Roles n such beforehand. I would just drop into parties for stuff I didn't even need to do because I was bored and it was so easy to use.

Linaleah · November 2017

I didn't start using groupfinder until very recently. I still don't use it for vet dungeons, only normal. finding a good guild wasn't THAT hard. it took a bit of time, but its supposed to take a bit of time, it took me a long time to find a guild I liked in WoW as well, back before groupfinder ever existed in it or otherwise. in some ways, groupfinder can make it easier to find a guild. you meet someone nice in a random dungeon, you get to talking, you end up joining their guild. I did it that way in quite a few guilds. in ESO though I found most of my guilds via forums. right here. recruitement forums. so... as convenient as groupfinder can be, if your guild feels hollow its becasue you haven't found the one you click with yet. and groupfinder existing didn't actualy make it harder.

Loc2262 · November 2017

The "party finder" system sounds good. I'd suggest you can create a party or look for those that your friends/guildies have created. Or list yourself as "available for ..." and see who else did the same.

Finding a "good guild" isn't hard, that's right. But for me, I often like to look through my friends list and see who of them is online/available for e.g. dailies. Asking them individually is tedious.

Runefang · November 2017

All you need to do is type into guild chat "Looking for X to run X". I normally get a response or three. Then we join group finder for the rest if needed.

Anybody not looking at the chat is generally busy doing stuff and won't want to join me anyway.

VaranisArano · November 2017

My perspective on this is a little skewed. I main a tank, so when I want to hop in a random normal dungeon or pledges, I can get a queue pop in less than a minute and carry even pretty bad groups to completion. Group Finder works just fine for me, and I appreciate the added challenge of random groups as I might get a bad, average, decent, or great group.

However, when any of my guildmates are asking for players for a dungeon, I'm invariably on my DPS character in farming gear instead of something that would be useful for them. So I don't help out guildies very much.

Jiandao · November 2017

I do my pledges on my tank usually and so can get instant queue pops. In that sense, forming a pug can be quicker, but the quality of the group can be a mixed bag to say the least.

In my guilds it's never a problem getting a group together and it's usually a lot easier to complete the dungeon, more fun and more rewarding.

There are lots of nice things that would improve the group finder that have been around in other games for years. In theory. In practice, pretty much every time ZOS have tinkered with the group finder in the past they have introduced new and painful problems to the whole experience. So I'd rather they just leave it as it is.

MudcrabSammich · November 2017

PhxOldGamer68 wrote: »

Hang out in Craglorn or any Capitol City and you'll see guilds recruiting all the time - new and established. That's how I found my current guilds.

That's quite true but I can't help but get the feeling that a lot of guild invites are just so you fill out their ranks, not for much else.

madeeh91rwb17_ESO · November 2017

Group finder is one of the best tools in this game. And works just fine if you are not looking for elite players for turboing through HM vet dungeons.

Dunnn · November 2017

I often use the Group Finder but I make use of my guild's voice chat channel where I can talk and socialise with them whilst we're off doing our own things, or even if some of them are doing a trial or PvP!

Turelus · November 2017

Rawkan wrote: »

Girl_Number8 wrote: »

Get in the right guild, problem solved. My guild does dailies everyday and trails every week.

It's actually hard finding a guild with both active and nice people.

Not that hard if you tell people what you're looking for and have a chat with the guild leaders/recruitment officers before you join.

The forums are a great place to make initial contact with guilds and from there you can talk about if you'll fit that guild and if they'll supply what you want out of a guild.

Girl_Number8 · November 2017

Rawkan wrote: »

Girl_Number8 wrote: »

Get in the right guild, problem solved. My guild does dailies everyday and trails every week.

It's actually hard finding a guild with both active and nice people.

It was harder for me to make 3 such guilds. Start one yourself for what you want. Make it active and friendly that's the solution to your problem.<3

Tan9oSuccka · November 2017

The group finder has its purpose. Pick your Vet Dungeons carefully and have fun.

Exclude DLC Vets and any dungeon with a teamwork mechanic. This will completely confuse Randoms even if you explain to them.

98% of Finder Randoms: attack the boss, attack the boss, attack the boss.

Kel · November 2017

DeathHouseInc wrote: »

I think I've played 6 months now? Feels like a good bit and I still don't even have my friends list hotkey memorized....

I love being able to find a quick group, but I do not like how it is easier to do than make a group with my own guild mates. Putting a group together by asking is more of a chore and people are more likely to go the easy way imo. I think this causes the game to lose a lot of social cohesion that is important for games to build in order to weather time and not be another revolving door mmo.

I would like to see group finder get more attention. I think one thing that would help would be to be able to tailor group finder to search within the guilds you are a member of or even a specific one. A basic feature I would think and something I believe would be a very positive benefit for the game as a whole. I realize that you can just ask, but it is not as simple and most people have to be looking at the text as it flies by. I would like the option to be able to both of things at the same time if I so choose. I would also like to see features expanded upon in the future like this one.
Custom group finder for guild/s where you can make groups for world bosses, quests, whatever.

Guilds feel really hollow in this game. I noticed a similar thing in SWTOR and forced faction guild games in general.

Not a day has gone by when guild chat isn't asking someone if they want to run something. If your guild feels hollow, start asking in zone chat about guilds that regularly run the content you want to do. You get easy, quick groups and they get another member down for whatever. That's a win/win. If it's that hard for you to put together a guild group, you are definitely in the wrong guild. It might take going through a few guilds, but they are out there.
Ask around in zone chat. Actually talk to the person recruiting you, tell them what you're looking for. You may be suprised.

MakoFore · November 2017

dungeon finder is crap in this game, compare it to the matchmaking in games like dOTA and you have something that was broken from day one and people have walked by it not wanting to deal with it.

i had a post a couple days ago- and the current system leads to arguments, fights and frustration. i went in to a dungeon, half done- want4ed them to kick me so i didnt get the timer penalty, the leader wouldnt- said i had to help him finish - i might have but he was rude- and i only had an hour to play. we ended up unnecessarily being rude to each other and generally spoiling each others day. things like this are a system of a broken finder - that need to be addressed.

have a system where we see exactly how many people are queuing for each dungeon at that time- so we know which dungeons are a waste and which we can find people in. even if its a rough heat chart that shows - oh theres are alot of people queuing or pledges, for dlc ones- not so much, i dont even see the rpbolem with having a transparent quee- where we can see for example:
DD TANK HEALER
Dark shade caverns I II I I
Dark shade Caverns II III II I
White gold tower IIIII II I

like the pop reader for pvp. the finder is obviously too slow, not everyone has the time to find a guild, some can only play like 20 minutes a day- and just want to log in - run a dungeon and then log out.

Fischblut · November 2017

I noticed since Clockwork dlc less and less people use group finder (also not many are even asking in zones for dungeon groups)

I also noticed that generally people who queue for vet dungeons know what they are doing. Generally

I say it again: don't be afraid to queue for dlc dungeons as well. I did many of my dlc vet runs with finder groups. Weird that people get separated as "those who use finder" and "those who run with guilds". We're all the same...

I used and use finder very often, I had bad stories of course (just as I had them with guild members) - but there are many good ones. When you just complete dungeon

Few fresh stories from today.

I had old pledge Falkreath Hold on my tank, and since I have never done it on this character, I decided to queue for normal for skill point. Got in fast, but group was very new, and dds liked to use Snipe and Wrecking Blow

I'm pure tank, I will debuff boss and buff allies, but almost all damage depends on them... I explained every boss mechanic, they all listened, and in the end we completed the dungeon. We generally had only one disaster moment - dds and healer kept dying on Draugr boss cause they didn't really get cleanse mechanic and there were too much bodies during each explosion phase. I tried everything I could - rushed to urns and cleaned all I could reach, but there were so many adds, and than nasty boss. I kept resurrecting people, but boss kept doing his explosion, and as fight was going on for long time, lot of adds kept spawning and dying, and my pitiful attempts to cleanse all this mess were not very successful. So in the end I mixed resurrecting, dodging, blocking with fiercely piercing and low slashing boss till I finally killed him

Was fun anyway, and I'm glad that we could all complete it - those people were very glad and grateful too. Now they know this dungeon, and next time it should be better. It was positive run overall, and I rarely see people who respect tank and let him charge into the fight first. These new people had respect

I queued on my dd for normal Spindle II. Got in rather fast, group was ok, except leroy dd - healer said that he never was in that dungeon before, but when I started explaining mechanics, other dd already aggroed Praxin

It was normal dungeon, so red circle only almost one shotted healer cause he didn't know what to do when it spawned around him

Overall was nice run.

Then I queued as dd for vet Direfrost. Got in almost instantly. When I said hi to group, I also said that last boss requires lot of breaking free - to see their reaction and decide if it will be fun

No reaction... In the end, it was a bit fun cause other stam dd and tank sometimes had no stamina to break free... But overall it was very nice run.

Then I waited half a day in queue for normal CoS pledge for skill point as I haven't done it on my stamblade before. Nobody answered in zone chat as well. So when I had like 1 hour play time left, I decided to try vet queue... Got in during first few minutes - as replacement for Kephidaen

Other dd replacement joined just at same moment. Tank and healer were nice people and agreed to regroup and reset dungeon so we could get first boss. The group turned out to be awesome

Also was great to work with another stamnb, and fighting Dranos Velador was never so easy and smooth before

It's been long time since I experienced something as positive in this game - thanks to group finder and those nice people who weren't afraid to use it for vet dlc dungeon

In the end I told them that it was worth to wait whole day just to find a group like this. This inspired me very much.