Guild Wars 2

Base Idea:
Create an instance in each dungeon which is the equivalent of an overflow, allowing any and all people looking for a particular dungeon to be removed to one location instead of multiple.

Example:
So, enter the fractals and you instead enter a lobby specifically for the Fractals.

If it did get to the point where there would be “overflows of these overflows”, then at least its concentrated, still easier then before.

I expect that there will always be people asking for more throughout Lion’s Arch and possibly outside each particular dungeon, but this would help eliminate the difficulty in finding people for low population dungeons on any server.
(Even if you don’t want other servers in your dungeon run, just sit outside the instance overflow and advertise there.)

This idea stems from the fact that I’ve always had the easiest time finding people when I have my party spread through as many overflows as possible. However I feel that could easily be fixed with something similar to my proposed system. Possibly less spam and a simpler time finding dungeon participants.

Right anyways, that’s the idea.
While the idea may sound understandable in my own head, it may be unclear to others.
Please leave feedback or any questions you might have.

I really like the idea of basing a LFG tool within the context of the game. For example, the difference between “Press V to open the Vendor Window” and having to actually find the Vendor NPC, see them, and interact with them seems vital to me in terms of a living, breathing world.
I really hope the path to the solution for players finding party members is:
- based within the world, with space and visibility, not just a UI Window
- accessible, and something ppl don’t feel hindered to use
- is sustainable and becomes established as the way for people to find others.

LFG Windows are a fantastic relief in the short-term, but in the long-term they quicken the sense the game is just numbers and variables. It’s like giving people a drug to make them hungrier than they really are so they care more about consuming than what they consume.
The Dungeon Lobbies in GW1 failed the last criteria as they became vacant ghost towns as the population moved forward through the released content. They also weren’t very accessible and often required the purchasing of special uncommon items to get to the entrance.

Love the suggestions. Much better then my idea of just having a sign up sheet for fractals of the mists (Select difficulty, and it finds you a party)

An extension of your idea Jex is to create a single lobby in the Capital Cities, such as a pub or lounge, or frankly every pub and lounge, where people lfg for dungeons can congregate. It could be either instanced so as to allow cross-server interacting (and even create a space where cross-server friends can just meet up regardless), or it could be non-instanced.
It could also be made that whatever feature it holds to help ppl connect (LFG Chat, a LFG Window, etc) is accessible once the player enters the lobby and remains accessible until the player leaves the city. That way people need to travel to the lobby to get access to the feature (therefore keeping the feature in-context and accessible) but can then get some freedom to move about and occupy themselves while organising themselves (sustainable). Their access would also remain after leaving the dungeon.

Unfortunately, tho, being able to teleport from a single, joint lobby into the dungeon could tend to distance the actual locations of the dungeons from players. I’ve used LFG’s before and played dungeons I never knew where they were physically located or what their purpose or story in the world was. Dungeons would become monetary entities to me before I even understood them as unique expressions of the world.

There are a lot of ways to improve upon the idea, but the core idea is something which I feel would improve grouping without possible complications or controversy. A quick simple solution is better then waiting to long and we miss out on both experience and community.

The reason the system is very bare and close to the original is to avoid whatever decisions are being made when it comes to a group finding system. I felt like this would be the most neutral but still very useful way to allow groups to more easily find each other. It really is no different then before except that you are talking to people who want to participate in the said activity/dungeon.

On the note of them being a successful gathering place:

- is sustainable and becomes established as the way for people to find others.

The Dungeon Lobbies in GW1 failed the last criteria as they became vacant ghost towns as the population moved forward through the released content.

I assume on the fact that it would be the only way to interact with other servers besides overflows (Hence Lion’s Arch might still exist as a open market to advertise) it would still have a rather strong presence. Each server’s population would be there, so unless no one was running it would be at least partially active.
But I have no real understanding on what the possible implications could be.

id much prefer a simple cross server LFG system (where you enter which dungeon/s you’re looking to do and which path/s, then either go and do other stuff -waiting for someone to contact you- or filter for similar people), i dont see the need for it to be as complicated (and; imo as not effective) as dungeon lobbies

I support this idea. Although my concern right now is not for the new dungeons, I find it increasing hard to find people to do old dungeons, and story mode requirement in order to do explore mode doesn’t make much sense any more.

FacesOfMu.3561:

I really like the idea of basing a LFG tool within the context of the game. For example, the difference between “Press V to open the Vendor Window” and having to actually find the Vendor NPC, see them, and interact with them seems vital to me in terms of a living, breathing world.
I really hope the path to the solution for players finding party members is:
- based within the world, with space and visibility, not just a UI Window
- accessible, and something ppl don’t feel hindered to use
- is sustainable and becomes established as the way for people to find others.

LFG Windows are a fantastic relief in the short-term, but in the long-term they quicken the sense the game is just numbers and variables. It’s like giving people a drug to make them hungrier than they really are so they care more about consuming than what they consume.
The Dungeon Lobbies in GW1 failed the last criteria as they became vacant ghost towns as the population moved forward through the released content. They also weren’t very accessible and often required the purchasing of special uncommon items to get to the entrance.

^Pretty much everything Faces mentioned. Dungeon lobbies should be as integrated as possible; more involved than just a ‘LFG window’. But at this point I’d almost be fine with anything. I miss being able to actually hold a conversation in LA without being interrupted by “lfg fotm lvl 2/4/6” all the time. Lion’s Arch isn’t a city anymore, it’s already a lobby in itself.

Linguistically Inept.6583:

id much prefer a simple cross server LFG system (where you enter which dungeon/s you’re looking to do and which path/s, then either go and do other stuff -waiting for someone to contact you- or filter for similar people), i dont see the need for it to be as complicated (and; imo as not effective) as dungeon lobbies

The idea itself is simple, all servers have a gathering point for each dungeon.
But the particular reason I don’t suggest a “Looking For Group System” is because many people cry out against it (I’ve seen it discussed and debated very often already). I wanted to suggest a neutral and acceptable system that could be implemented without much trouble.

rchu.8945:

I support this idea. Although my concern right now is not for the new dungeons, I find it increasing hard to find people to do old dungeons, and story mode requirement in order to do explore mode doesn’t make much sense any more.

There are still many people running the original dungeons and I believe with the use of the lobbies these people would be brought back together. It often just is because everyone is spread throughout different servers and overflows that you can’t always find additional members.

Overall its not a finished product, but a fix which could help to take some of the pain out of finding groups.

Since this post has fallen quite far, I feel I should bring it back up.

I honestly can’t continue this thought/idea farther then what it is simply because the near future is so open. I’m sure that there are changes being tested or at least thought up for the very obvious flaws the Guild Wars 2 Grouping systems have. Any more would be attempting to add additional complications for future updates.

Actually I agree with several things in here: Dungeons need something better than just spamming in guild, LA, or the local map chat… and the idea of a physical location to congregate isn’t bad either, but I think that to solve the issue of some dungeons falling defunct totally for lack of ability to conjure the groups, being able to queue up cross server and then go do whatever, similar to getting into a crowded wvw map. Though I think these places to go ‘que up’ should be located somewhere as physically close to said dungeon as possible.

Someone mentioned the story modes; It’s not that they are unimportant, but I have yet to do a story mode that wasn’t stupidly long and difficult compared to the worst of what I run into in explorer modes, also there is no real reward for suffering through it if you’ve already done it, and frequently everyone is cranking it up to nose bleed levels about only wanting level 80 characters for even the explorer modes.
And on a similar issue, My experience with the Destiny’s Edge guild has been as poor as that with Trahearne in my personal story and Kormir (i hope to spit on her godly corpse some time real soon) from gw1… they are a soap opera guild of drama machines who sound like a bunch of shattered glass ego nerds instead of hardened combat vets who were ultimate gladiators and lost a comrade in battle to the horrors of the branded, etc. While the zones the dungeons take place in are very cool, the story of those louts really doesn’t pull any interest or sympathy from me, especially for the duration and aggravation of story modes :/

As it is, I’ve never had much trouble finding a group. 10 minutes was usually the longest time with a bit of effort until fractals made 20+ different dungeons. Using the idea of entering the dungeon works the same as waiting outside of it, I’d hope that using the extreme gathering of every server and population would speed the process up. No need to do other things, your all ready to dungeon.

At this present time I’ve found another reason that such lobbies would be beneficial. Without overflows I don’t believe it is possible to join Fractals with other servers. And at the moment I do not have an overflow in Lion’s Arch. Yet another problem that I hope to see addressed when possible.

It is still just another localized area for people to stand around looking for a party though.

I love doing other things, dungeons, explore etc. but this would force me to go to the lobby to find a group, pretty much like how it currently is (stand outside the dungeon, or stand in LA)

There needs to be a more intuitive way of grouping that doesn’t involve cramming people into the latest hotspot to look for a group.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Global-LFG-UI-and-Feature/first

ability to sell items on the repair post wld be nice too. saves you trouble of going out to sell crap loots.

Zietlogik.6208:

It is still just another localized area for people to stand around looking for a party though.

I love doing other things, dungeons, explore etc. but this would force me to go to the lobby to find a group, pretty much like how it currently is (stand outside the dungeon, or stand in LA)

There needs to be a more intuitive way of grouping that doesn’t involve cramming people into the latest hotspot to look for a group.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Global-LFG-UI-and-Feature/first

Yes, I understand that my idea is still mechanically the same as before but I did that on purpose as previously stated.

Jex.8591:

But the particular reason I don’t suggest a “Looking For Group System” is because many people cry out against it (I’ve seen it discussed and debated very often already). I wanted to suggest a neutral and acceptable system that could be implemented without much trouble.

Continuing on your post is the fact that you wish to explore while waiting for a group to pass the time. This is supposed to remove the time it takes to find one, as everyone there wants to run the dungeon. If it’s taking time then the dungeon itself is dead and that is not a problem that can be easily fixed.

I want to see improvement and I hope that a simple idea could be implemented as something equivalent to a hot fix. I can understand the hesitance in bringing forth rapid change. Small constant changes would annoy people if they happen to often, large changes must be well thought out or they begin to cause general dislike for the product.