Give me a legitimate reason to NOT have a LFD tool.

OMG like its hard to keep an eye on general or something. how did anyone ever find a group before WoW implemented the FindAChump system?

So, you haven't really debunked the arguments; you've just said you disagree with them. Some don't.

Personally, I think there's a lot of truth to the argument that LFD systems (at least as implemented in WoW and Rift) do hurt community. Not only do they remove the incentive to socialize by removing the need to have friends in the game for grouping with, but the way groups are slammed together and people are teleported right in front of the first fight removed any need to communicate at all. As a result, people generally don't. Those of us who've played in games with that type of LFD system know that in the majority of cases, you end up with a group that barely says one word to each other. They pop in, grind through their instance, and split up at the end without ever having connected in any way at all.

Personally, I think that's where the bad behavior in LFD groups comes from. It's hard to see other players as people in that kind of mostly unsocial setting. Also, the lack of a connection with those people makes it easier to treat them badly.

Now, I now a lot of people want a tool that makes finding a group easier. I haven't had any trouble myself, bu I know many have, and that the current LFG system is sorely lacking. However, if/when it gets upgraded or replaced, I'd hope that something is learned from the systems in other games, and I really think it's possible to build something better. In my opinion, just not having the teleport functionality would go a long way toward doing that. It'd give people a reason to talk before they start fighting. It may just be a simple "On my way, be there in two minutes," but at least it'd be something. That may be all it takes to make people in your group seem like actual people, and not just voiceless bots that seem more like NPCs than humans.

No surprise there, you demand to reduce my enjoyment so you can have your 'quality of life' improved - how thoughtful - sucks to be me I suppose eh.

Actually I am confident that I can factually state that WoW has less subscribers now than they did when they implemented LFD (although to be fair I'm not suggesting that that was the only cause)

Again, this is not true. Your example is no different than building a pug group outside of the fact that you are going around the time wasted sitting in the cities/fleets/towns trying to build said pug.

If you consider constantly typing "LF1M (class) then g2g" as interacting and creating a "community" then you are nuts. People still use general chat, people still interact with their guilds, people still do the special events. LFD does not hurt the community, its pure fallacy and fear mongering. I've seen it implemented in 3 different games, all of which have benefited from it. I watch my roommate play WoW running several dungeons while still interacting with people in the city and with his guild. The community is still there. I have watched my roommate run 5 dungeons in the same time frame it has taken me to get a group together and run 1 FP...Do you have any idea how frustrating that is? Then you look over and see the same thing going on in there trade chat as the fleets general chat. Nothing is different.

Think you missed the memo from some pages back. Community in this sense is not the speaking, it's the actual group of people. That group which is now diminished because some amount now use the tool instead.

Ok - how about no? It's a quality of life tool, it saves me a lot of time and I'm not giving it up. Your compromise is not a compromise I can live with. It's not an option.

No surprise there, you demand to reduce my enjoyment so you can have your 'quality of life' improved - how thoughtful - sucks to be me I suppose eh.

Actually I am confident that I can factually state that WoW has less subscribers now than they did when they implemented LFD (although to be fair I'm not suggesting that that was the only cause)

Nah thanks. I will just go ahead and work with the Cross-Server LFG-tool that is going to be implemented.

Glad you have come around though.

You're welcome.

WoW's subscriptions were falling LONG before the LFD tool was implemented. Simply put, the game is getting old, people are getting bored and the expansions haven't been that great. This is normal for MMO's that have been online for as long as WoW has. It's called diminishing returns.

The people who that dont want a LFG are trying to keep the little bit of MMO left in it still in it. We are not doing it for us but for the game as a whole.

The people who want a LFG only wnat a LFG for themselves, they dont want to be hasseled with looking for other people and just want to get an auto group so they can get the loot and be done with it.

The people that dont want the players to interact with each other like an MMO is suppost to be, and by doing so you will make friends (hopefully) and then you will be able to get a group made quickly and you will know that the people you group with are honest and are helping you instead of just caring about yourself.

Friends wont bail after one wipe.
Friends wont steal your loot for their companions
Friends wont sit and let you do all the work while they do nothing
Friends wont kick you when you have to go AFK for 2 mins (for whatever reason) so you lose the run
Friends will help you after you finish the instance with anything else you need.

We want you to make friends and the only way your going to do that is by having to group with people from your server.