LFX - why remove the tool?

[Jewsco]

LFG tool is amazing, I remeber spending hours looking for healers/tanks for raids. It got so bad that I just geared my paladin for tank and healing. This was on a high pop realm during wrath.
Idk why people are so against LFG, it's not what made the game bad. What made the game bad is the game being bad.

Now you are speaking the truth and that ain't allowed much better to scapegoat lfg than point out the real problem lack of content.
In mop we had 5 open world places to do things in added after launch thunder island, Dino island, landing zone Karasang wilds, battle field barrens and timeless island. We had one added in wod tanaan jungle. Think that says it all. Oh, and for an expansion that is raid or die we got one whole less raid tier. If that isn't shockingly less content I don't know what else to say and I didn't even mention scenarios.

[Lochton]

And that's being more social than now. People had to discuss who to CC what, do what, when, whatever - and people would notice these above-average players and try to get in a friendship in order to be able to group with them more often.
That's the "social" aspect people you describe want back. No one is asking for Random Joe to start talking about their children and pets and every tags along in merry conversation in /p.

Wasn't much talk about what to CC as soon as people knew the mobs, it would be an expected thing. Back then, I recall that social was much less than what I've experienced through LFD.

[Darkeon]

Wasn't much talk about what to CC as soon as people knew the mobs, it would be an expected thing. Back then, I recall that social was much less than what I've experienced through LFD.

Can't tell if serious, but I'm glad you had such positive experience - even if with random-people you will most likely never meet again, nor will impact your gameplay outside of that Dungeon Run.

[Lochton]

Can't tell if serious, but I'm glad you had such positive experience - even if with random-people you will most likely never meet again, nor will impact your gameplay outside of that Dungeon Run.

That is where you are wrong though. Many on my friendslist has been added through meeting them in the LFD system. It was the same in Vanilla, but it was more because it was needed to not fall dreadful at waiting for a group. The tool itself is much better than having people yell LFG/LFM till they find what they want/need, then have people discuss on who to go there, or worse, lose a member when almost there / ready to go.

[Bosen]

I never missed spamming,but I did have the extra perk of:"WILL SUMMON!"

[grandgato]

There is really no valid reason to remove either LFD or LFR at this point in the game. If players want organized content, it's there a plenty with awesome rewards and perks. And if they are content just to run matchmaking tools and solo content there is plenty of stuff to keep them entertained as well.

[Darkeon]

That is where you are wrong though. Many on my friendslist has been added through meeting them in the LFD system. It was the same in Vanilla, but it was more because it was needed to not fall dreadful at waiting for a group. The tool itself is much better than having people yell LFG/LFM till they find what they want/need, then have people discuss on who to go there, or worse, lose a member when almost there / ready to go.

The tool is indeed better than spamming /2 for two hours asking for an healer and a DPS - but the fact that you are interacting with random people, with little to no effect on your gameplay outside that specific dungeon, instead of having to interact and create bonds with people from your own server - that is what the people, who ask for the removal of these tools, are talking about.

Claiming it's the same as it was, before these tools were introduced, is going full on dishonest. People, in general, will always flock to the path of least resistance.

Now, I wonder, having in mind the above, in which scenario will there be more interaction in between people..
1. Where people were forced to interact with people from their server, in order to individually progress;
2. Where people simply press a button, are teleported to a dungeon with 4 other random people from all the servers and, once over, press the button again and get 4 new people.

[Turtlewithnoshell]

Now you are speaking the truth and that ain't allowed much better to scapegoat lfg than point out the real problem lack of content.
In mop we had 5 open world places to do things in added after launch thunder island, Dino island, landing zone Karasang wilds, battle field barrens and timeless island. We had one added in wod tanaan jungle. Think that says it all. Oh, and for an expansion that is raid or die we got one whole less raid tier. If that isn't shockingly less content I don't know what else to say and I didn't even mention scenarios.

Yeah, LFG was welcomed so much by players. How easily people forget...

[Aleks0410]

If the portal was removed, then maybe LFD could stay. But I'd rather see it go. There's a sense of commitment when you join a group through trade/world chat. It makes sense to go to a major city to find a group of people to conquer a dungeon.

In short, it's too menu'y. It's too convenient. I do agree cross realm is the big WoW-killer here though. If I had to chose between removing cross realm and LFx, I'd chose cross realm.

/flame shield on

[grandgato]

The tool is indeed better than spamming /2 for two hours asking for an healer and a DPS - but the fact that you are interacting with random people, with little to no effect on your gameplay outside that specific dungeon, instead of having to interact and create bonds with people from your own server - that is what the people, who ask for the removal of these tools, are talking about.

The content encouraging the social atmosphere you describe is still present in World of Warcraft, it's just not mandatory anymore.

People, in general, will always flock to the path of least resistance.

This would imply the challenging organized group content wasn't really that popular to begin with.

[Thelxi]

It should never have been added, but I do think it is just too late to remove them now.

[Jibjub]

I think it's just quicker and more evocative to say "get rid of LFR/LFD!" than "get rid of cross-realm." I would guess most people mean cross-realm when they say LFD/LFR -- though I could be wrong.

- - - Updated - - -

Making the world smaller in an MMO is, in my opinion, a cardinal sin. Another cardinal sin would be to make the character players a high-ranking, important figure (instead of a nameless and faceless traveler).

Blizzard broke many of my MMO cardinal sins with WoW, sadly.

[Ealyssa]

Can't tell if serious, but I'm glad you had such positive experience - even if with random-people you will most likely never meet again, nor will impact your gameplay outside of that Dungeon Run.

Its up to you to make this people impact your gameplay... You have a bnet list for that. I found a LOT of my list in LFD. I have now a guild again, but during whole MoP my schedules was not fixed enough to meet a guild requirement. I raided with the LFG, a few different groups, a few friends on bnet here end there. And after 1-2 months a nearly "fixed" group joined regulary.

I cleaned whole SoO with them, did the meta achievement with them. Some of them became my Challenge mode group.

It's really up to you to makie "friends" in this game. That they are from your server or another is now irrelevant (and actually a blessing, since 80% of my list are in UK servers, playing myself on french server because of some RL friends but the french community is really lacking).
Stop being socially akward and asking that Blizzard force again people to talk to you like 10 years ago. Now it's up to you to meet people and be a decent human being.

[Darkeon]

Its up to you to make this people impact your gameplay... You have a bnet list for that. I found a LOT of my list in LFD. I have now a guild again, but during whole MoP my schedules was not fixed enough to meet a guild requirement. I raided with the LFG, a few different groups, a few friends on bnet here end there. And after 1-2 months a nearly "fixed" group joined regulary.

I cleaned whole SoO with them, did the meta achievement with them. Some of them became my Challenge mode group.

It's really up to you to makie "friends" in this game. That they are from your server or another is now irrelevant (and actually a blessing, since 80% of my list are in UK servers, playing myself on french server because of some RL friends but the french community is really lacking).
Stop being socially akward and asking that Blizzard force again people to talk to you like 10 years ago. Now it's up to you to meet people and be a decent human being.

Again, glad you made plenty of friends too!

However, path of least resistance and all that will always put you in the minority, I hope you are aware of that.

[Froggy]

If these "pristine" realms are meant to foster a server community, I do feel that one of the things they must do is remove RDF.

[Deleted]

Sorry. I worded it badly. During most of the time I played wow I ended up working 3rd shift in classic thru wrath. So yea I feel the "lfr/lfd kills the community" argument is bogus.

Dont see any reason why should be game be cuttered for you. It is your problem that you wasting your time in work. Lets ruin game so people like you can get their shiny stuff while rest of the community will be alienated just to please players like you.

[Schattenlied]

The crossrealm shit is indeed a much bigger problem than LFG/R. It's hard to feel like you have a server community when you never see anyone more than once, because you are queuing into the same pool as like 10+ other servers. The lack of socialization comes more from the fact that you will very likely never see any of these people ever again than from the ease of group forming that comes from the LFG tool..

[Zandro]

I feel like this is the best way to give the feel of community. I've read a ton of 'Why LFG Sucks' and 'LFG ruined the social feel' and I've never really agreed. I think this is spot on, if we were to keep the tool, but get rid of the cross-realm queueing, then you'd keep the idea of the community because you would still see the people you ran with gallivanting around your cities, and could use it for guild recruiting and such. When I would raid hardcore back in the day, we recruited a lot of our new players by seeing them do well in a random heroic dungeon and then inviting them to join the guild to raid.

Great post, well said.

[Schattenlied]

Cross server is a problem

So you hate low pop servers?

Low pop servers can and should be merged into other servers, that is not a problem in the slightest.

[MoanaLisa]

Why? Because there is a distinct social difference between assembling your group for a dungeon run, picking and choosing who you run with and being slammed into a random group of people, even if they are from your home realm. That's why.