LFG-sytem in the making. But!

[Winfernal]

Damion Schubert mentions a LFG system is currently being designed.

Damion Schubert

Improving our LFG system is high on the list of features that Systems Design wants to add to the game. We want this to be good not just for helping people find Flashpoints and Operations to run, but also other multiplayer content like heroic missions. A key emphasis will be on advertising for specific role needs (healer, tank, DPS). This feature is currently in the design stage, and once this feature has moved beyond this to a development stage and has a firm ETA, I'll be coming back to you guys to give more details.

We've known we would need to revisit this feature for a while. In the level-up game, finding players isn't too rough because, with few exceptions, everyone in that level band is either on your planet or on the fleet. Once more and more players hit endgame, and are spending their time in more places, the need for this feature is going to increase. Note that right now, high level players have the opposite problem - there aren't enough other players up there to group with. This problem will dissipate as the game ages, and more players reach the later levels.

That being said, our design team doesn't philosophically believe that cross-server Flashpoints are good for the game at this stage in the game's lifespan. There is huge social pressure to not be a jerk that goes away when the odds that you will never see these people again is high. I'm not saying never - there may come a time in the future where we reevaluate this - but at least in the short term, we believe this will cause more damage to the community than good.

But!

A realm limited LFG system wouldn't harm the community. And it looks like they're agreeing with me there.

What do you think?

[Matt0193]

It's a commonly occurring discussion which often ends with either:

It's bad, it kills communities(debatable) and it ruins your enjoyment(A viewpoint) or It's the best thing ever.

Personally, I like that it helps to reduce times however I massively dislike it because of the anonymity that it breeds, and the troll-like behavior the poor design encourages. I'm all for a server-specific lfd tool, as I can, with greater success, root out all of the piss-poor players as well as all of the jackasses that you inevitably encounter. Take it to X-Realm and you'll find you can only ignore so many before your list is full, and even then you'll still find more than you can avoid.

Not to mention the benefits you can get by only making it single-server; You can pick out the good players and start to build a list of purely decent players, pretty much my Friends list atm, which you can then use to find groups for later; eventually circumventing the lfd tool as you'll have groups available instead of randomised groups. It also affords you more control, imagine a mostly non-droid flashpoint that picks two sentinels as well as an undergeared/inexperienced tank.

[Winfernal]

It's a commonly occurring discussion which often ends with either:

It's bad, it kills communities(debatable) and it ruins your enjoyment(A viewpoint) or It's the best thing ever.

Personally, I like that it helps to reduce times however I massively dislike it because of the anonymity that it breeds, and the troll-like behavior the poor design encourages. I'm all for a server-specific lfd tool, as I can, with greater success, root out all of the piss-poor players as well as all of the jackasses that you inevitably encounter. Take it to X-Realm and you'll find you can only ignore so many before your list is full, and even then you'll still find more than you can avoid.

Not to mention the benefits you can get by only making it single-server; You can pick out the good players and start to build a list of purely decent players, pretty much my Friends list atm, which you can then use to find groups for later; eventually circumventing the lfd tool as you'll have groups available instead of randomised groups. It also affords you more control, imagine a mostly non-droid flashpoint that picks two sentinels as well as an undergeared/inexperienced tank.

Exactly. Other than the lack of control, the server limited LFG is a valid option, compared to the x-server one. As you are on the same server as the others, so they would recognize you if you did anything "stupid". No anonymity. And you can add them later on.

[moff]

on the other hand james ohlen stated already that X-realm warzones are their top pvp priority, and that really really sucks
realm-LDF and realm-warzones are great, please NO x-realm!

[Dakia]

I'm all for it as long as they keep it server restricted. At least they have the same feeling about WoW's LFD that I have.

[wilbbailey]

I love it now we will 100+ threads from "hardcore" folks flaming "casual" folks.

[Winfernal]

on the other hand james ohlen stated already that X-realm warzones are their top pvp priority, and that really really sucks
realm-LDF and realm-warzones are great, please NO x-realm!

Yeah, but...

I'm getting tired of fighting emp vs emp non-peak time. Many servers are unbalanced, and x-realm warzones are... sadly, needed.

[Dundebuns]

Keep the cross X-realm out and it's fine. A realm limited system will build the community,a s people can then actively make good names for themselves, and people who are jerks make bad names for themselves

[ghostprotocol]

Meh. They'll put in all this WoW crap and everyone will leave just because of that. It's only a matter of time before they make it multi-server. Some people never learn anything.

[ohnoto]

Cross Realm PvP has generally seemed to be fine by the community. However, when it comes to PvE, it seems like a sore spot. Doing cross realm where players are just doing them solo to get the benefits of using the feature does take away from grouping with those that you know. Sure you could group with those you know, but then you lose out on extra rewards.

I do like the comments that he said about this upcoming feature because it does appear to elude to that it will be single server only, and I'm happy about that.

[Cairhiin]

on the other hand james ohlen stated already that X-realm warzones are their top pvp priority, and that really really sucks
realm-LDF and realm-warzones are great, please NO x-realm!

I totally agree with you on this. Vanilla pvp was so much fun because you had nemesis, as you fought them on a daily basis. It created healthy rivalry. However, having said that. I think the real problem with SW:TOR at the moment is that their is a huge faction imbalance on some servers and cross realm Warzones could help out the Empire. I play Republic myself so I don't care so much but I can see how currently it must be annoying to be Empire on one of those imbalanced servers. Playing Huttball all day might not be fun for everyone.

[Atelniar]

Yeah, but...

I'm getting tired of fighting emp vs emp non-peak time. Many servers are unbalanced, and x-realm warzones are... sadly, needed.

May have something to do with the fact that most people on republic side level during their story and not through much PvP until they actually reach the end game? The current imbalance in who you meet in PvP has something to do with the ratio of players on each faction but it has much more to do with what stage the game is at and most of the playerbase are only now pushing 50 I think. On my server though we never had the issue as Republic side. I have actually done the voidstar and alderaan, but only once have I ever been in huttball and that was against imps.

We don't know how big the imbalance is on each server in fact none of us actually have any numbers at all. BioWare does though. X-realm warzones are generally shit btw. Fucks up the PvP community completely. Same as PvE. I hate it, feels like I play freaking MW online with random people. It's probably a bigger waste of braincells trying to understand their natural behaviour than it would be to study ants up close and personal. At least fellow realm players give a shit about others from the same realm and work together sometimes. X-server is not needed if they manage to balance up the servers well, or to put it bluntly: it wouldn't have been needed if we weren't sith fanboys yelling "unlimited powah!" or picking sides based on having small advantages such as Inquisitor lightning > project.

If there is a imbalance in total, X-servers will only solve one thing: faster queues. It will reduce the quality you spend in the warzone as it will be just like in WoW in terms of social behaviour and you won't make new friends at all through PvP then. You can solve queue issues by maintaining control over servers. Why do you think Blizzard implemented cross-server functions? It was because they never wanted to merge or maintain server populations again to save time and resources. That is probably why they pushed it through the most as we players bitch either way. We're like the unwanted dog, wagging our tail or barking all the time.

[Nino]

i have always like the idea of same server LFG as in most of the people i have seen post about the subject

i never thought cross server was bad in concept just that some people feel like since they will never see the ppl they play with from another server
again it gives them a "get out of jail free" card to be a dick

its true that ppl feel like they dont have to police themselves as is over the internet due to the anonymity it provides
then in game play this is only exasperated

but with that said my experiences with the SWTOR community so far has been good and it seems people on my server were and are fed up with that type of behavior

[Profyrion]

Damion Schubert is quite possibly my new most favorite person ever.

[Deleted]

I totally agree with you on this. Vanilla pvp was so much fun because you had nemesis, as you fought them on a daily basis. It created healthy rivalry. However, having said that. I think the real problem with SW:TOR at the moment is that their is a huge faction imbalance on some servers and cross realm Warzones could help out the Empire. I play Republic myself so I don't care so much but I can see how currently it must be annoying to be Empire on one of those imbalanced servers. Playing Huttball all day might not be fun for everyone.

they have said they are going to add more Inter factions games/warzones.


But i really do like his community line, makes me think TOR just might have a pretty cool future if the Devs are thinking about communitys not just how fast they can get people into instances and decked out in gear.

[Sephiracle]

I'm glad they realize making it cross server will do more bad than good.

[vizzle]

I don't think anyone actually opposes a LFG system that is realm limited and NOT INSTANT TELEPORT. I would love an LFG system similar to WoW's pre-LFD system.

[Deleted]

Its amazing how everybody keeps praising Bioware for their support of realm community when the game doesn't even have official realm forums...

Spaming trade chat to makes groups = good community right? /facepalm

[Winfernal]

Its amazing how everybody keeps praising Bioware for their support of realm community when the game doesn't even have official realm forums...

Spaming trade chat to makes groups = good community right? /facepalm

Relax there, mate. I'm not praising anyone. It's just a step in the right direction. Spamming in trade chat shows better community than anonymous LFG groups with people you probably never meet again, anyways.

[Dhrizzle]

I don't think anyone actually opposes a LFG system that is realm limited and NOT INSTANT TELEPORT. I would love an LFG system similar to WoW's pre-LFD system.

Instant dungeon teleport would sorta work for tOR. Most (all?) of the instances involve taking a shuttle from the fleet, so taking a shuttle to the fleet first shouldn't be so immersion breaking.