Good evening. I would like to start off by saying that I am a satisfied player. I am here only to offer an idea with a smile. I’ve seen dev comments on improving the LFG and party finding system a bit, and am sure you already have something in the works, but I would still like to throw some things your way in the hopes that they may be helpful.
- Intro I tend to believe that the idea of not including an autoparty dungeon finder is due to the notion that it takes away a layer of the grouping experience. You never need to see the names of the people you group with. You never need to put in an effort into finding good people to play with. With a dungeon finder, you just click, and go. Good for chain running instances. Not so great for building a community.
- Idea This forms around the idea of allowing players to add themselves to a server wide (Or even cross server?) “Dungeon List” that shows which dungeons, and which modes / paths they wish to run. Player information could also be shown. Name. Profession. Level. Rating. (Voted by players at the end of a dungeon. Jerkfaces be kittened.) You could even go so far as to allow players to leave a small note that would also show in the list. Such as, “War and rng, ready to roll!” and so on.
- Function This tool could be under a current menu, it’s own new menu, or even a button on the minimap. Clicking the button brings the player to a screen that shows which dungeons they’ve run in the past, (Something I believe I’ve seen devs discuss.) with two buttons at the bottom. “Find Party.” and “Create Party.” Find Party brings the player to a menu that will allow them to browse a list of currently forming parties, and join them on the fly. Or, if no groups are forming, they may advertise themselves, and the dungeons they want to run. Check boxing which dungeons, modes, and paths they’re interested in. Create Party pulls up the player list itself. Where a group leader can browse the players interested, or form a party that can be actively joined.
I feel these two functions are important for various reasons. Firstly, allowing players who are interested in running a dungeon to merely click Find Party, and hit a few check boxes to advertise their intent is possibly easy enough, and inviting enough for players to actually use. I can add myself to the list, and continue on with my adventure.
Secondly, the Create Party screen will provide exactly what you want. Information about the person you’re grouping with. If you invite BahBahBlackKnight, and he’s awesome, you’re going to remember him. The next time you see him on that list, your’e going to grab him up. If you see someone who was a jerkface, or just has a low rating, you’ll avoid them.
This system has the capability of helping players find groups, while also assisting in building community, where an auto dungeon finder does not.
- Closing I realize this is a tall order. But these are the things I feel could make an outstanding LFG tool. I imagine some of these ideas are not new to you. But in the chance that I may touch on something that has not been considered, I feel justified in making my post. We’ve all seen LFG tools go unused. I feel this mostly comes down to ease of use, presentation, and convenience. Which how well you guys have streamlined the mmo experience, I have no doubt you could pull something like this off rather well.
Have an excellent night!
- Hunterdan