New Group Finder needs global zone chat notifications

Twohothardware · November 2023

One of the biggest reasons the new Group Finder isn't being used more, in my opinion, is that there are no notifications when new groups are created, and after players check the Group Finder for a group without success a few times, they give up looking.

You also have the issue of the listings being split up into multiple categories, and normal vs. veteran, where you can't check them all without going through each one individually. It's more work than just going to Craglorn and posting lfg in zone chat.

My suggestion is that there should be a global notification in the chat window when new groups are formed and the option to disable notifications if you don't want them. It would be just like the new notifications in Cyrodiil when players are killed. This would make it much easier to know when groups are available and would draw more people into checking out the Group Finder.

Thoughts?

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Kevin

NeuroticPixels · November 2023

I don’t want automatic alerts for everything that gets listed.

Being able to watch for keywords would be nice. Getting automatically alerted for postings that contain a keyword we’re “watching” for could be helpful. But also potentially abused. We’d need a way to blacklist specific players’ listings.

But I think the biggest improvement that could be made is the ability to link our posting in chat. The same way we can link to our guild’s recruitment page in chat.

NeuroticPixels · November 2023

Twohothardware wrote: »

My suggestion is that there should be a global notification in the chat window when new groups are formed and the option to disable notifications if you don't want them. It would be just like the new notifications in Cyrodiil when players are killed. This would make it much easier to know when groups are available and would draw more people into checking out the Group Finder.

I gave it more thought. And actually, a designated chat channel (/gfinder ?) that we could choose to join/leave freely could definitely be helpful. I think it should only be system messages, though. No player chat. It just posted links to new group finder postings as they became available, consisting of the post’s title, and clicking on the link took us directly to the post to easily and quickly put in our invite request if we were interested.

There’s so many ways the group finder could be improved.

valenwood_vegan · November 2023

As long as this could be disabled, I think it's a good idea that could help bring more activity to the group finder!

It would be even better if it could be controlled in some way beyond just enabled / disabled, because I hate chat spam and would just leave it turned off if I was getting notifications for all types of groups (most of which probably wouldn't be the type of group I was looking to join).

Necrotech_Master · November 2023

i see stuff getting listed very frequently in the premade group finder

the categories i see most used is trials, endless archive, zone, custom, and arena

groups are automatically de-listed as soon as the group fills, and small group stuff like endless archive likely gets delisted very quickly which is why it looks empty a lot

i would actually be more concerned if there were 100s of groups listed but not filling lol

Twohothardware · November 2023

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

i see stuff getting listed very frequently in the premade group finder

the categories i see most used is trials, endless archive, zone, custom, and arena

groups are automatically de-listed as soon as the group fills, and small group stuff like endless archive likely gets delisted very quickly which is why it looks empty a lot

i would actually be more concerned if there were 100s of groups listed but not filling lol

Maybe on PC. I've not personally found the Group Finder to be useful since its release on console. There's never more than 3 or 4 listings, and they don't usually fill up from the group finder.

For example, I tried to make a group earlier for Bastion Nymic in the Zone category. I waited like a half hour and didn't get one person to join. I posted in zone chat on the Telvanni Peninsula and instantly found three people to join.

Most players are just not paying any attention to the new Group Finder tool. A global notification system when new groups are created would help change that.

wookiefriseur · November 2023

I've used it a bit and it is useful, but it needs a lot of improvements.Some ideas (including stuff that was already mentioned in here):

looking for keywords
show all first, filter manually (normal+veteran, pvp stuff, roles)
integrate with zone guide and group quests,so you can quickly search/create from quest journal (including undaunted pledges)
have your text and filters from last time, the next time you create a search (so you don't have to set it all again)
being able to browse other listings while you have an open search running
highlight friends and guild members in listings
add global chat channels for group finder

I feel like some of this stuff will end up as an AddOn first (if the API allows it) until it is properly integrated into the game 1 year later.

Billium813 · December 2023

I use the Group Finder tool quite a lot and I think it's really useful as is.

One big issue is that it's directly competing with the Dungeon Finder for "Dungeon" Groups. It would be nice if there was some overlap where players that meet the groups criteria could be pulled from the Dungeon Finder queue to the groups. It seems like it can take an awful long time for a Dungeon post in the Group Finder to populate.

But the biggest issue atm is that the CP filter doesn't work on creating posts. It's the single best feature of the whole Group Finder tool and it doesn't even work atm. It would also be nice to be able to place further restrictions, like achievements, on groups, but I would settle for getting the CP restriction back and running. I just want to create a group for Vet HM DLC pledges and not have to vet everyone that applies.

Twohothardware · December 2023

Destiny 2 just added a new Fireteams Finder in-game a few days ago that lets you search and create listings for groups in any activity. I just checked it out and it's filled with available groups for every category of content.

Much different than the case for the Group Finder on ESO where currently on PlayStation NA I checked every category and difficulty and there is exactly two groups. One under Vet Dungeons and one under Vet Trials. Nothing else has a single group.

So either ESO's Group Finder needs a load of improvement to get players using it or the end-game player population is in dire need of Crossplay to increase the number of players looking to run activities.