Since the LFG Tool got introduced, it is until today practically nearly the exact same thing, like it was as it’s Beta Version…
Fact is, the LFG Tool is just a very weak band aid solution and absolutely doesn’t make usage in any kind of way from its potential that lies behind this tool, that could be soooooo much more
- overviewable
- useful
- helpful
- intuitive
- more complex (what you can do with it)
Instead it is just simply not overviewable, overwhelming pretty much at peak times, when hundreds of searching people spam their more or less unfitting LFG’s out.
Its often not useful, because in many cases you can’t really search very specificly, and when you search for something specificly, it gets shown then for a short while and gets removed from the LFG tool for whatever reasons, when nobody joins you after a while, because I think the reason is the LFG Tool simply would explode, if it would not automatically remove LFGs that got within time X no player response from simply too many LFGs for the tool to handle…
It’s often not helpful, especially when you get shown tons of things for something in certain areas, for that you absolutely aren’t searching -why? because the tool lacks a filter option…
Its not very intuitive, when theres just obne area for open world, that works basically as the category for nearly everything, while other segments of the tool ,like Personaöl Story, SPvP or WvW are pretty much not affected by the tool or there seems to be absolutely no reason for players to make any LFGs ever for these segments…so why have these segments in the LFG tool, when they are since tool relelease like 99,99% of the time unused by players, because of the game being too unintuiotive for them to realize, that these segments exist or the game itself beign too unintuitive for giving players absolutely no reasons for using these lfg segments at all, because the game spams anyways more than half of all lfgs under the open world category….
..and its not complex, the lfg tool could be soo much more and here we are and see, how ANet wastes all this potential as it seems so far, where I can hope only, that they will realize one day, how much better they could make their game, if the LFG tool would be just more complex to allow players to do with it more in the game.
There’s much more that could help us alot in regard of quality of life if the LFG tool would get improved.
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So what do I think is the “most ideal” LFG Tool?
Thats how I envision the most ideal (dont want to write perfect) LFG-Tool:
Basics:
The LFG Tool will be renamed and will be called after the change the *Community Managing and Organization-Tool (CMO-T)
- The new Tool will be splitted up into new Segments of Player Organization
- Party Finder (Looking for Group)
- Troop Finder (WvW/Raids)
- Guild Finder (Looking for Guild)
- Trade Finder (WTB, WTS, WTT) I = Item, S = Service (Works as Neutral Side that shows both Players that that they have given their parts, before it allows the trade, to prevent Scamming, the Trading Post is all good and fine, but it shouldn’t be the only official way to trade with other players)
- Using the Tool allows you now also to see Search Entries, that come from different Servers and are shown with a Server Change icon, if joining the Search Entry requires of you to change your Server Map Instance to the one of the Search Starter and the Servers get merged to create more dense Player Population.
WvW gets changed from WvW to FvF (Faction versus Faction) as thats the only way, that makes it possible to merge Servers together, therefore we must get rid of the ton lots of different Servers and make out of the lots of single Servers a one and true Mega Server practically where not players of different Servers play against each other, but instead players of different Factions battle agaisnt each other.
Example: Lannguage Flagged Servers will get merged, in case of German Servers for example, this would be Drakkar Lake, Elona Reach, Riverside and Kodash. Lets call these kind of merged Servers then “Super Server”
Turning the language flagged Servers into merged Super Servers would make the player density in the game alot higher, but the consequence would be just ,that the old WvW System wouldn’t functionate anymore and would need to be redesigned to a faction based system as well with 3 Factions.
Changing it to Factions would also solve the eternal Player Population Problem for GW2’s WvW too. Just saying.
CMO-T Sub Segments
Based on the new Segments, each of them will provide different Sub Segments that allow players to search alot more specifically for something certain, so that the search entry doesn#t end up like now in a kind of junk bin where absolutely everythign gets mixed togethe,r but in fact lands in a sorted list of search entries from people, that share with you the same reason of searching, so that players will see in a much more overviewable way when theres someone, who searches for the same thing like you, without gettign spammed full with tons of other search entries that have absolutely 0,000 nothing to do with what you search for …
The one and only exception for that rule (because a General Search Segment is always needed somehow into what everything lands that is totally unspecific for the game) is the simple "Party Finder Segment* that would work basicaly just like the current Living World Segment where practically everythign unspecific gets shown to you for what people are searching and looking for other people.
Sub Segments of the Party Finder are then:
- Dungeons (Sorted by all specific Dungeons like now)
- Fractals of the Mist (Sorted by Fractal Level Segments like now)
- Guild Missions (Sorted by Mission Types)
- Farming & Events (Sorted after Map Regions (Scroll Bar!)
The Troop Finder Segment will have just two Sub Segments and is made for game Content specificly only that requires more than 5 Players, like Raids and WvW, that make usage of the new Troop UI for that Content
- Raids (Sorted after Raid Wings)
- WvW (Here you will find Search Entries from Commanders, the only persons that will be able to make Search Entries here!)
The Guild Finder Segment is specificly for players, that are searching for Guilds to join.
This Segment will have its complete own and different UI, that allows it guilds by alphabetically order and by guild preference (PvE, PvP,WvW, PvX) to be filtered, so that peopkle which are searching for a specific guild type are able to sortate everythign out of the result list, for that they aren’t searching. GuildLeaders/Officers on the other hand are able to create in that special segment of the tool "Guild Descriptions under a limited text size, maybe under a pregiven form, under which searchign players get ON ONE VIEW the most interestign infos of a Guild directly by:
- Name of Guild and Shortcut (Blah Blah Blub [BBB] )
- Guild Symbol
- Guild Hymn (hear it on click)
- Guild Size (Number of Active Members, (Active = People which log in practicall daily to 1x in a week)
- Guild Hall
- Guild Level
- Guild Type (PvE, PvP, WvW, PvX)
- Guild Description (Insert Guild Leader/Officer Text to give Guilds a space, where they can specificly tell people, why they should join them… or how they can join them, if they have some kind of requirements to join them)
- Recruitment Person(s) (those you should talk to to join the Guild you want to join)
Simply said, that segment should just help players to find easier guilds that fit to them, without having to hang out for that here in the forums or on other unofficial websites.
What be do here, can work also just simply in the game directly with the tool working as a kind of blackboard for all guilds, where searching people can always look at…
No more need for map chat spammers and their guiuld recruit paroles that they repeat non stop everywhere. Let the players just inform themselves and give them a game integrated tool that makes this possible!!
The Trade Finder Segment would work over this tool just like a different form of the Trading Post.
Instead of working like Ebay where players either outbit themself for the highest undirect buy price where the direct buy price is the only much more expensive solution to get something you want directly, the Trading Finder Segment works different (still with an added Gold Sink in form of a Tax to use this Service for a guaranteed safe player trade, but thats something to calculate with rather, than taking the risk of getting scammed.
How does it work? its pretty simple, because practically it works exactly like the Trading Post by making usage of the same principle, but just in a different way that doesn#t require to outbit themself like on Ebay to artificially create demand and supply.
The Trade Finder Segment brings back what GW1 already provided.
Simple Direct Trading with other players over Search Entries where you clearly say other peoples what you either want to buy, what you want either to sell, or what you want to trade with other people for something else (works only with non accountbound items naturally)
By using the Trade Finder, the Game lets you clearly define what kind of either Item or Service you provide.
If you want to buy or sell something, the game will let you clearly define for the Search Entry what you want to buy/sell and for exactly how much of money you want to do that.
Example:
WTB Wings of Dwayna for 400G
Once I’ve activated that Search Entry in the Trade Finder Segment, the Game wants me first to click on the item I want to buy out of a list of buyable items unter the Weapon Section, Sub Section Bows, Sub Section Rarity ect.
Once I’ve decided for the Trade Finder what I want to buy, I have to type into the Tool for how much money I want to buy it. In this case ive to type into a shown type field the number 400 and click then ok for listing the search entry up in the Trade Finder.
Now comes the seller of my wanted item. clicks on the search entry, has the item in his/her inventory and clicks on the button “Sell” of that Search Entry and confirms it by clicking next on the Confirmation Question Button “Yes”
The moment the seller does this, the person who created the Search Entry will receive a Mail, that someone else requests to activate the “Trade Center” with you.
The Trade Center is a special UI, that works as a Neutral Side which clearly shows both players that
A) The Buyer actually see the Seller putting the wanted Item into the Trade Center, where he/she can check that its the right item.
B) The Seller actually sees that the Buyer forks over exactly the wanted amount of Money, or in case of a trade the wanted Item.
After both have done that, item and item/money disappear from both sides first and move into the Trade Center.
Now both players have to confirm a final time, that they want to make that deal.
In case that one side is offline, the deal will become official the moment when both sides have confirmed it, in the meantime stays either the gold or the item in the neutral Trade Center. Should whyever become one side of the deal become inactive, then the deal will break automatically after 3 days if theres not earlier a response from the missing side to cinfirm the deal and the other side will automatically receive from the trade center back its money/item.
Only when both players confirm, that they want to make the deal, the trade happens.
Does one side negate the deal, then both sides instantly receive back what they put into the Trade Center before it came to the final confirmation of both sides.
Was a deal made between players successfully, then the Trade Center will charge in a little tax from the Search Entry Creator for using the “Service” that works as the gold sink that the Trading Post has also too.
In case of wanting to buy or sell a Service, the System will work differently, because there is nothing that the paying side will receive back instantly. Theres only always one side who receives Gold and one side, who has nothing in its hands.
So buy/selling Services is more riskful for getting scammed, thats why in case of selling Services, players will receive here a “Reputation”, where Buyers can give the Service Seller positive feedback or in case of getting scammed or bad service naturally also negative feedback, where it works out like in Ebay, where the Service Seller can then add if he/she wants to the feedback also personell comments.
For all this to see, service buyers will be able to click besides of the Search Entry in the Trade Finder Segment an icon to let a window pop up that lets you see the reputation of the Service Seller, so that you as a potential buyer can see, if you have there someone experienced for example with thousands of positive feedbacks whom you can trust that he sells his service professionally, or if you see someone with lots of negative feedbacks, whom you rather should not pay for their “Services” when the result will most likely be either disappointing or in the worst case a scam that should result under a report into that players banning.
A reputation system also works perfectly as a visual preemptive system against scamming, because people then can quickly simply see, whom they can trust and whom not.
However, feedbacks can be only given out by buyers, when a deal was accepted by the Service Seller and the Service Seller actualyl received naturalyl the wanted money from the buyer. The feedback then can be given within a certain time limit and the comment option exists therefore to work against reputation maniplation, so that Service Sellers can comment on it, when someone tries to destroy a Service Sellers reputation by giving willingly them negative feedback without writing even something or writing down willingly lies
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What do you think of this?
Or am I the only one here, who believes, this game needs a much better Search and Organization Tool and a different Server/WvW System by now????
