LFG Group Member "like" button. Community building tool.

[TickerDS]

So one of the big complaints people have about LFG/LFR is that you are running with complete randos each and every time. This makes it harder to build community relationships.

I was thinking, perhaps they could add a "like" (yeah, lets not call it a like button, but) button of sorts for running group finder things, be it world bosses, random instances, LFR, island expeditions, questing, or whatever else uses the tool....heck, even just in random moments around the world or mythics or raiding pug groups you can do it too. You don't commit to being their "friend" or having to actively seek them out later...you just have an option to put them into a pool that you would not be opposed to seeing them again.

Say you run an instance, and you find a really good healer...or you joke around a bit and get a bit of a vibe that you might get along with a player(s). At the end you get a chance to thumbs up that player...that data does not preclude players you do not choose from being in your group in the future.... and only impacts you and does not lower or raise anyone elses status in the game.

With that bucket that you start filling up with players, the game automagically filters them into your next LFG, LFR, Battleground or whatever thing you queue into when they are also in said queue. You also see some notation/symbol of a group they are in when you are scrolling through lists of pre-made groups for pug raid groups and the like to slightly influence you in that direction. Maybe the tech can be designed so those players are more likely to show up in cities you are in...or in phased/sharded areas of the world you are in.

This is not something you will see right away.... heck, depending on how much you play you might not see much at all at first....but slowly, over time....the system will start to give you repeat experiences with players.....and due to having to randomly be doing the random things at the same time...you will start to see players that have similar play habits and times as you. This gives you a natural way to start forming a community of your choosing.

Lots of potential issues with this type of system, like what if you dont want to see a player again--the sheer size and randomness of users and what they might be doing in the game at any given time, do you do it character based -- or account based...and much more.......but I think there is something in the idea that could be a basis for a system that could help.

[quite an expert in wow]

I don't see how adding someone as a friend is bad (pointing at "you don't commit to being their friend"). I've never had someone deny me when I asked if they wanted to be, so we can play later.

Your idea feels like a solution for something that is already solved. Just build your own group of trusted players. There's absolutely no need to play with different people day in, day out. Unless you choose for it yourself.

[MrExcelion]

It could work for island queueing (which has short queues already), but I don't think players run enough queued content to build a real like list, much less having the stars align and your liked person queueing up. In the case of LFR, the queue is just popping when it can without any constraints, can be long enough as is for DPS and you'd see people liking everyone for faster queue times. Wowprogress did implement a like system on their site for m+ and nobody's using it. In a world where everything is queued (enough to build a list) and queued content had short queue times, it'd be more feasible.

Like you said, could be merit for just the manual tool search. Giving priority in queues is probably off the table, as would be seeing them out in the world (adding constraints to the sharding system).

There currently is one constraint on the queue system, and that's if you put someone on Ignore, they won't show up in your queued groups. What the system does there is make you take the hit with slower queue times, but it's the price for keeping the ignored player out of your group.

To add onto your idea, when you like someone, it could show you a community they're recruiting for or some other message they want to leave. Communities need the player cap upped though, as do guilds, and removing some of the other restrictions.