gw2lfg.com proves there should be an in-game cross server LFG tool that works correct

[Valeron]

currently you hit Y (your contacts list) and then select the Group Search tab.

[Zeek Daniels]

Slightly off but can anyone explain to me how the in-game LFG "tool" works? I seriously can't figure it out. What do I press? Or what...

press Y and change your status from online or away to lfg. It should then show ppl around you that are also listed as LFG. I dont think its the entire map but in your immediate area tho i could be wrong. It isnt very useful if you ask me because if it is for ppl in close proximity then /s or /m is a way better function for finding a group because the ppl in your immediate vacinity of lets say a dungeon entrance are already known to be looking for a group or in a group and you can just ask those ppl with /s to join them, dont really need the lfg icon and list.

[Vorondil]

Lazier than going 5 years without one at all? ;-)

perhaps that's cause there were always plenty of ppl to group up with in trade? I never had an issue forming a group to farm heroics, I actually remember making lots of ingame friends due to it.

[Fencers]

Slightly off but can anyone explain to me how the in-game LFG "tool" works? I seriously can't figure it out. What do I press? Or what...

There is no feedback other than the icon for LFG. Next to your name is a drop down. One of the options is "Looking For Group".

Once you join, if anyone else is also using the tool you would be able to see them flagged as well.





I actually used the tool twice in beta successfully. But the only two people who used it both times were me and one other guy. So we found the same person twice on consecutive days because he was the only other person who could figure out how to use it.

The current tool is poor for two reasons: 1. it's buried in a social tab sub menu 2. there is no way to really see what people want to do.

Are they LFG dungeon/de/jp/guild? You just don't know. But if they are smart enough to know how to use the tool, perhaps that is winning in some small measure.

[nevermore]

Ah cool thanks. Didn't realise I had to change my status to LFG... This is pretty dumb
Did ANet make an intern do it or something? lol

[Fencers]

Ah cool thanks. Didn't realise I had to change my status to LFG... This is pretty dumb
Did ANet make an intern do it or something? lol

Well, "flagging" yourself for LFG via GW2's tool isn't all that different than as a dungeon queue tool. Such as WoW or Rift.

I mean you are flagging yourself as looking for a group. Technically. Key difference is accessibility. Also the obvious fact that one flags as BLANK looking for group to do BLANK in other games.

[draykorinee]

It does need one, I have tried 3 nights now to do AC story mode using lfg website it just doesnt work, and no I havent sat outside spamming lfg AC because im enjoying exploring the world. This isnt 2008 and I dont want to spend my time in cities spamming in trade to find players, i've resigned myself to trying to find a bigger guild and see if anyone can help especially with these new guild features.

[Gilian]

I am not max level yet and only done a hand full of dungeons but everytime I look for a group I get one in just a few minutes.
A good LFG tool is ofcourse very important but I really don't need or want a WoW-like LFD tool.

when enough people stop playing they will fix it. gw2 needs some endgame pve for it to even be fun. i mean basically you buy the game to level to max then stop.

In WoW: Only 1% raids so making raids is a waste of money/time. They have to cater to the majority.

In GW2: No PvE endgame! This game sucks!


I bought GW2 a few weeks ago. I did my research and I know there is not much PvE endgame and I am fine with that. You only pay once for the game for the standard price (every game costs € 55 - € 60) and you get many hours of gameplay with it. Besides that you can PvP as much as you like.
Why do people keep having expectations that are never going to become true? I think it was pretty clear from the start that GW2 was more about PvP.

[Edge-]

I think it was pretty clear from the start that GW2 was more about PvP.

While PvP does play a bigger role than most other MMO's, it's not "more about" PvP. They've actually struck a pretty good balance between the two, providing a pretty good scope of activities on both ends and working on supporting them in tandem.

The misconception is that because this game actively supports PvP rather than passively supports it, that it's PvP focused. It's not.

[Theodon]

Heh. A former developer for Everquest once said the same thing. In the interview he cited several examples of grouping tools across multiple games that were met with less success than Warcraft's LFD. And according to this developer when they did market research on it the overwhelming sentiment was that WoW's LFD made grouping more desirable because it did all of the work at the push of 1 button.

So you are on the money about this w/r/t WoW LFD tool it seems.

I thought that was a fascinating piece of information.

Have no real strong opinion on LFG tools myself.

Fast and simple; I think that suits WoWs content for LFR and LFD perfectly. The content itself is often done more than once and many desire it to be done quick, and with minimal fuss. Having a LFG system that didn't just give the click-and-go experience in that scenario wouldn't fit with the current content consumption system.

Saying that however, there are some situations where I personally wouldn't want to just be randomly assigned people via a queuing system. Things such as challenge modes, pre-made raids for heroic or even normal content, and achievement hunting in both raids and dungeons. You want to know the group doesn't have a major weak link in the form of someone being woefully unprepared or undergeared.

I also think developers need to expand on that type of system by adding additional features, such as player rating (be it personal or global) where you can even leave feedback, so you can build up a portfolio of great healers, tanks, and DPS, or people you've developed a good social rappor with. I don't recall a LFG system that has incorporated both the features of manual control and those additional features; it feels like they've always stopped short.

Both systems have their place and I think both should be available. The type of content should reflect which system is used to get people together for a group.

Doing that with a web-based system would be pretty awesome, but it adds an additional hurdle for people to jump over of having to alt-tab out of the game and open up a web browser window, which doesn't sound like much of a deal, but you know people are going to find it tiresome soon enough. For that reason I think a LFG tool should remain ingame.

[NotValidAnymore]

The thing about WoW's LFD tool does all the work, so players end up being lazy.

They need to design a tool that does half the job, preferably the most technical parts, so that the tool and the players can meet halfway.
I think that's a good compromise.

[draykorinee]

The thing about WoW's LFD tool does all the work, so players end up being lazy.

They need to design a tool that does half the job, preferably the most technical parts, so that the tool and the players can meet halfway.
I think that's a good compromise.

only lazy thing is it ports you to the dungeon, this is not for lazy reasons it's because you can't just zip from a to but like in Gw2. Nothing is lazy about wow lfd, can you imagine 25 people all trying to get to a raid with hs on cool down in the middle of silverpine first. To call it laziness is just cheap it's purely down to the travel implications, gw2 does not need this because you can 'lazily' port right outside from anywhere.

[Prag]

What's wrong with a 3rd party site being THE tool? It works well and isn't malicious. You're using a 3rd party site to bitch about it, probably learned a lot about the game from a 3rd party site.... What's the big deal? Let ANet work on shit that matters.

[Fencers]

Worth noting that Guild Wars 2 does automatically port players into the dungeon or fractal if a party member enters. Caveat is that one needs to be in the same zone as the dungeon to get the automatic join.

However, there are two aspect that make that caveat functionally pointless and trivial;

1. One does not need to be at any specif waypoint in said zone. ANYWHERE in the zone will do to get the automatic port.

2. One can portal to any known waypoint in the world instantly, from anywhere so long as they are not in combat. It literally takes 3 key clicks to do so; M key to open world map and double left mouse click on desired waypoint.

Now, it can be said that technically it is more "work" or rather, effort, required of the player to find any indiscriminate way point in a given zone. Yes, that is fair.

Though the notion one is lazier in using 2 key clicks of LFG queue versus 3 key clicks in Guild Wars 2 is somewhat absurd.

[NotValidAnymore]

only lazy thing is it ports you to the dungeon, this is not for lazy reasons it's because you can't just zip from a to but like in Gw2. Nothing is lazy about wow lfd, can you imagine 25 people all trying to get to a raid with hs on cool down in the middle of silverpine first. To call it laziness is just cheap it's purely down to the travel implications, gw2 does not need this because you can 'lazily' port right outside from anywhere.

It's not just the porting, it's the extremely minimal required communication as well. There's a reason you get a lot of mute players in there who never say anything, or "cool kid" trolls who just nick gear they don't need without a second though. Some reasons why I don't play WoW anymore.

Quite frankly, using a 3rd party website is good too. They do that for non-LFR raids in WoW as well.

[Fencers]

It's not just the porting, it's the extremely minimal required communication as well.

There is probably less required communication in GW2 group formation, to be honest.

Once the group shouter replies to a PM the usual response is a query of fractal level and/or "class?" and "ping gear or kick" for speed clears.

No one has to ask for a tank or figure out who is healing. There is no loot discussion or rules set beforehand- as loot is personalized. There isn't a single thing to communicate in GW2's dungeons that is out of the ordinary of any random PUG group in any game I have played.

Can you name anything specific to Guild Wars 2's dungeons which facilitates greater or more verbose communication than dungeons as seen in AoC, LOTRO, Rift, Tera, DDO, World of Warcraft, The Secret World, Radiant Arcana, The Old Republic, Allods or Aion?

[NotValidAnymore]

I guess I just assumed people would communicate more if they didn't let the in-game tool do all the work for them.

I kinda miss the old WoW days. *nostalsigh*

[Achaman]

the site is fine so sod having one ingame

[Lane]

I guess I just assumed people would communicate more if they didn't let the in-game tool do all the work for them.

Not really, especially since you can just /join someone's group. Technically the times I've used it there has been more communication than I experienced back in Wrath heroic speed run days, but nothing that really amounts to anything. Hi, new here, thanks for group, etc. is about it.

[Valeron]

There is probably less required communication in GW2 group formation, to be honest.

Once the group shouter replies to a PM the usual response is a query of fractal level and/or "class?" and "ping gear or kick" for speed clears.

No one has to ask for a tank or figure out who is healing. There is no loot discussion or rules set beforehand- as loot is personalized. There isn't a single thing to communicate in GW2's dungeons that is out of the ordinary of any random PUG group in any game I have played.
?

Right. Although the last time I played wow and used their auto dungeon finder, no one said a word, ever. I said hello a couple of times and I was promptly met with silence. So you may be correct in that GW2 has less communication, it's pretty hard to be less than 0 (no negative numbers here, mathematic experts)