I am a veteran of WoW and some dabbling with EQ and Shadowbane before that. I have played at the top of the game (top 5-10% one of three guilds on my server who more then 2 bosses on Naxx), and at the most casual level. I am also a strong proponent of the LFG tool.
The reason I am stating this is to give context on my opinions.
Bioware will introduce the LFD tool, and while the community is polarized to the needs of one, they have confirmed it.
The goal of this thread is purely one to IMPROVE a tool that we have no say in. Please do not argue that the best implementation is none, that's not what this thread is for.
Blizzards implementation has it's strengths and weaknesses. The ability to kick is limited so it's not abused, how can that be improved? The anonymity makes certain players act without respect for others, ninjaing and being belligerent: How can that be improved? Blizzard has nerfed content to make it easier to do with an unorganized group: How can that be improved.
I have heard so many different opinions, and I am sure we have a lot of SMART players on this forum. Let's try to figure out changes in the LFG implementation that could improve it.
Here are a few of mine:
Optional server only flag. This would have the people that want the community feel to stay, it would force more respect onto the players. It would also filter those that KNOWINGLY go in to do wrong, since they don't care about their rep, they will always toggle this option.
Cross Server ignore list used to filter the ppl you never want to see again. This is not very feasible, but it's an idea.
Tiered "groups" of instances, ranked from easier, to harder. Players would get to tailor the difficulty they are interested in. Once again, even I can see the issues here, but it's something to think about. Maybe the hardest aren't in LFG since they would require a level of coordination you can't get. Maybe you need to do an easier one with your group and everyone needs to vote if they want to unlock the harder one's when finished since you know what you are getting into.
Rating sytem: Ebay style rating system that follows a player around, with comments. Automatic remover of "outlier" stats like a really poor rating or a really high rating to avoid "gaming" the system.
Please keep this post constructive. To those who want the LFG, even you can admit it has flaws that can be worked on. To those who hate it, it's coming, might as well try to make it a little more tolerable for yourselves.