Guild Wars 2

Part 2

A modern, world wide, and automated dungeon finder

Now, let us first look at what this basically does, what does it change relative to our current situation with chat spamming and why it is better.

First off we have the problem of our current way of grouping only being zone wide in terms of who we can contact. As a world wide system instead of a zone wide this leads to a few things.

zone wide to world wide
- We are now connected with the entire playerbase who wish to get groups going for, lets say catacombs, instead of just anyone present in the same zone.

- In light of this we are now free to visit any zone we want in the world and do the content there while in the process of going from “I want to get a group going and do catacombs” to “I have a group and can now do catacombs”. So if you want to farm iron, mithril, continue your completion of a specific zone etc. etc. while in this process you are now free to do so unlike now.

Second, we had the problem (though not as bad as if we had used the LFG tab) of the potentially very time consuming chat spamming. Now how to this changes due to being automated.

manual to automatic
- Previously you’d have to type “LFG/LF(X)M Ascalon catacombs story/explorable”, possibly several times over a period of time. This process is simply automated, chat spamming is in a sense done by a program for you so you don’t have to chat spam, you are matched with people whos desires match your. Ascalon catacombs? Check. Story mode? Check. And from there your are automatically paired up with people who also want to do specifically AC and they want to do the story mode.

Heck this can be elaborated further, that much is obvious. For example we could if we wanted to, select a preference to have no more than 2-3 ( specific numbers not really important it’s the general concept) of the same profession unless unable to, in order to create a more varied group setup. It could exclude people who are blocked by you. We could go on about such examples but lets cut it short, the means to customization can certainly be implemented in many varied forms, that is the conclusion that we just saw some examples of.

And honestly people, hands on your heart now, why shouldn’t this process be automated? What on earth is there in the process of conducting manual chat spamming than you find so aluring and important that it simply cannot be allowed to be automatic and shortening the time between “I want to get a group going for AC story mode” and “I have a group and I’m now going to start doing AC story mode”?

This leads me to some “arguments” which are as common, as they truth be told, are outright dumb.

cont.

Part 3

No I don’t wanna

It ruins the community and isn’t social!
Now lets go back to what we took a look at earlier, what would the system change. It would be worldwide, basically anyone wanting to group would be connected to anyone else who wanted to do so regardless of what zone they are in. We can basically be anywhere we want in the world when we search for a group, now how does that affect the community within a game negatively, or at all for that matter?

Is it the process being automated? Well what would be changed would be that instead of chat spamming our preferences to these being input into a tool and them automatically match us with people who share them. So chat spamming is supposedly important for the community and/or a meaningful social activity.

Now how does manual chat spamming build a sense of community? Do we certainly feel we’re oh so connected and part of the same community because we say “LFG/LFM Twilight arbour explorable mode”, I know I certainly don’t, and if you can explain why it would using actual logic, please do. Is it a meaningful social activity? There is really no social interaction the process brings beyond someone saying “invite” to another person and them right clicking their name and clicking invite, maybe we add an “invite X” from a person already in the party but beyond that, the process brings absolutely no social interaction, and that can hardly be called meaningful social interaction at all.

You know what I’d consider more social than saying “invite” to someone? Actually playing together with people, something this system would make sure people can do faster than in our current system. And yes I know you people are out there itching to come in and scream “NO I SAW HOW IT HAPPENED IN WOW/RIFT/SWTOR etc. etc.” You know what? I was there, and it didn’t happen, all it did was make the grouping process faster and more convinient. Logically it doesn’t do anything negative to the community in fact it does nothing change it at all. And there is absolutely nothing positive about the current system in a social or community sense (unless you seriously want to argue chat spamming is a meaningful social activity that makes us all feel closer to one another) that it would take away.

People would just sit in a town and wait for their que to pop

Now lets look at this, why would I be sitting in a town as opposed to be in another zone doing content? Well, I can be sitting in the town because I need to, there is something I need there to do something, or something that forces me to be in the town despite me wanting to be out in another zone and do events/farm or whatever.

Well, we know it that isn’t the reason because with such a system we’d be free to be in any zone and do the content while the automated process matches me with other players. So the system clearly doesn’t create a need for me to be in a city for the grouping process to take place, which is what the system change afterall. And remember, this is actually a problem in the CURRENT system where we are focused into specific zones to have a reasonable chance to find people to create a group with.

Now why would I be in a city even if I don’t want to? Well here’s a reason, there’s nothing meaningfull to do outside the city, there simply isn’t any content out there that is interesting to do. However this isn’t something a grouping system affects at all, it’s merely a vessel to access some of this content (namely dungeon content). So regardless if we use chat spamming, the LFG tab or have an automated world wide dungeon finder, the content remains the same, and if the content itself doesn’t warrant interest, players don’t do it. No grouping system will make uninteresting content interesting.

This isn’t WoW and it shouldn’t be

This pops up from time to time and it baffles me how some people seem to say this very seriously. Now this would mean a game like Tera, is in fact just the same like WoW/rift/swtor etc, because it has a near identical grouping system, lets ignore the player collision and other actual gameplay elements that differ between them, it’s basically WoW/rift/swtor etc. because they both use a near identical grouping system.

GW2 would also become the same, despite weapon skillsets and swapping along with player combos etc. etc. in fact by the same logic GW2 is already the same thing because there are warriors which can use one handed weapons and a shield which they can block attacks with as well as hit their opponent with along with their one handed weapon. This is an actual thing they have in common in terms of GAMEPLAY as opposed to simply a grouping system. Does that make GW2 and WoW/rift/tera/swtor etc. the same games? If not, then neither would a grouping system.

Part 4
closure

Now I realise this post has been fairly long, though that is because I wanted it to be reasonably clear and demonstrate the problems and shortcomings of our current situation and how it could changed for the better which I also wanted to demonstrate through logic. And quite frankly if you don’t use logic and show the logic which lead to your conclusion, why should anyone listen to you over someone who uses logic, and present their logic which lead to their conclusion? Which again, is why it became somewhat long winded.

Finally I’d like to say this. If you despite all logic in the world and having no real argument to show for, just won’t accept the implementation of an automated worldwide dungeon finder and absolutely hate the mere thought of it. You are perfectly free and able to use chat spamming, though I don’t doubt you’d find yourselves to be very lonely in doing so. Because people don’t like sitting around and spam a chat to do a dungeon with, they want to do a kitten dungeon.

But hey, I guess not having to sit through tedius chat spamming for half an hour in a specific zone instead of quickly getting a group going as soon as I’ve set my preferences makes me so much more happier and makes me talk to people through sheer magic.

Thanks Yeni. Unfortunately I think anyone who actually needs to be convinced won’t read these threads and continue to spout their nonsense. I just hope Anet sees that the benefits outweigh any of their whining and does something with it after all.

Multiverse.5291:

I’ve been trying to find a group to do COE story for a week and a half now. I’m in two guilds (one small and another with 400+ people), I try map chat, I use the “LFG tool”, I sit in LA spamming LFM… blah. I feel like this game is going to die too soon without a streamlined process to find dungeon groups. Every player base for every MMO I’ve played greatly appreciated when one was added and every time it comes up in GW2 the groups I chat with unanimously agree it’s a need feature.

No no, according to the oh so wise people having to chat spam for a week without results make you feel oh so connected and friendly with the other players on the server. And it just makes you so much happier.

And here’s a question for Anet, do you think people who want to do dungeons like to have to sit around and wait before being able to do them, if at all? Are unhappy players more or less likely to continue to play? Are people who stopped playing due to being unhappy with the game more or less likely to buy gems or expansions?

I really wish they had a dungeon finder in this game, people might actually feel inclined to help others do a dungeon randomly even if they didn’t need it.

I have been trying to find a group for CoF story for like a week now and sit for like an hour in LA and next to the entrance trying to find one. Oh, and the fact that my messages get blocked after like 3 entries into the chat log (usually spread apart by like 30 seconds to 1-2 minutes) helps oh so much in finding that group… I usually just end up getting frustrated and quit for the day.

I’ve been stuck for weeks unable to do CoE story :/ I’ve even had a few times where I’ll join in the event to open it up, only to have all the others there leave for exploration, adding insult to injury.

Sollith.3502:

I usually just end up getting frustrated and quit for the day.

Yeah the tedious process just makes me not bother with it many times. With such a, wall if you will, before such a significant part of the games content, can one really expect players to be content and happy?

This is 2014, and players have come to expect certain features and functions, and rightfully so because what else should they compare GW2 to but the current and relevant standards?

I’ve seen some people state essentially that having to make people work for dungeons make them appreciate them more. And if dungeons are easy to get together, they’ll just crap all over people. I tried to point out in this thread that I haven’t noticed any difference in player behavior with or without dungeon finders in any MMO I’ve played. And I’ve seen them get implemented in at least three different MMOs post release while I’ve been playing them.

This really just strikes me as a “In my day we had to walk uphill both ways!” argument, insisting that kids today should do the same. Well, I’ve done plenty of walking uphill, thank you very much. I’d like to do some dungeons that don’t take all night to put together and don’t fall apart if one person disconnects.