Dungeon Finder Needed Badly

Not saying you are wrong. But you are the only one I've seen spouting this. And I would think saving face or risk losing 300-500K subs would have me going after the subs, from a business perspective. If it was 5,000 subs, I'd not risk it. But that's enough to fund an entire AAA MMO 6 months after launch.


Edit: It appears Rift merged servers 9-10 months after launch. I don't think 7-8 months after launch will make much difference.

In an interview with PC Gamer yesterday, Lead Designer Daniel Erickson said this on the subject of server merges:

“Nothing is off the table when it comes to making sure our communities are strong and active on each server. That includes server merges, but that is certainly not the first thing on the list."

Which tells me they want to open up transfers first(why would anyone move to a light server is beyond me, unless entire guilds move for an easier time to getting server firsts). But Mergers are not top priority. Once they get the transfer system up and running it will make merging a lot easier.

Which is true, however there is still no word on how soon we can expect transfers, and the longer they take the more I worry for the health of the game.
Even if they just said "We hope to have transfers going within the next few months." that would go a long way to pleasing a lot of people, even if 'a few months' is more like 6 or 7.

Well, the Asia/Pacific Theater is already getting that going, so I would actually be surprised if NA and Europe doesn't have it up and running before the summer is over. Besides, if you don't have a working transfer system, you can't tell people to move to another server because there will be consolidation.....heh

Let's be honest, cross-server is a workaround or a bandaid to cover over the real problem: low server populations mean a single-server group finder won't benefit people on those servers. So I completely understand the fervent desire to get a cross-server LFG tool because circumstances outside of their control bar them from fully participating in all of the game's features.

Unfortunately, it is a very bad fix. It doesn't address finding groups for anything that isn't 100% instanced and won't work for operations beyond "Story Mode". Even assuming all of the additional features and safeguards it would need to be comparable to a single-server tool on a well-populated server, and that isn't an insignificant set of technical hurdles, it still won't fix all of the problems.

The fix for low server populations is server transfers and merges. Its as simple as that. All you have to do is offer free transfers from severs that are overpopulated (faction dependent) to those that are lightly populated. That isn't a merge and once the APAC transfer issues are worked out I would expect this to happen pretty shortly thereafter. If it happens that even after this that there are still too many low-pop servers then you start working out the details of server merges in a slow and controlled fashion. Make a change, let the player populations adjust and then see what has to happen next.

Did you get bored and decide to restart the argument from the beginning? I thought we'd done all this

As I posted in the other thread a Looking For Group queue system (LFG) is needed in The Old Republic because it's really hard to find group for flashpoints and in some cases heroic missions. The LFG system would make more people do flashpoints all over the game also instead of just The Esseles or The Black Talon. There will also be done more heroics missions because some people doesn't do them because of the fact that they need to spam the general chat and wait until someone is on the same mission. Also I would like to propose that all heroics without much story into it should be share-able if the players are over a certain level. This will make more people play together at the same time in a group. This is an MMORPG after all, not an RPG (singleplayer).

LFG Tool

Pros: Find groups faster

Cons: Content nerfs
Ninja looter (yes they happen on occasion without LFD but the community of the server can enforce that)
Under geared players
Players who have no concept of group play (healer playing dps, players attacking everything in sight, dps thinking they can tank)
Players who think they are uber and insult new players.


Hmmm, list seems a bit longer in the cons then pros department. And for those who argue "if you don't like it, don't use it". People, no matter how much they say they won't use it, will take the path of least resistance.

The funny part is the people crying for x-server LFG because of being on a dead server will still be, on a dead server also the LFG system already in place works. It's just players are too stupid or used to being coddled and hand held to use it. Learn to RPG. This is not a PS3 or 360 game.

Today , 04:14 AM | #1
EDIT REPORT POST QUOTE
I would absolutely love that the levelling process for each class involve the whole game such as during your class story you were send on progressively difficult space missions ,you were asked to craft certain items to help fight the enemy and you were actually sent into player versus player to actually confront the opposite faction with a event or object ives needed to be accomplish that fed into your story .
Having a meeting with your growing family of companions at the holo terminal and having to complete specific flashpoints using your companions with all this feeding into the legacy and story.
This could be used to train players in all the aspects of the game and provide a challenge that you need to overcome as you level ,adding a feeling of accomplishment to the levelling process.

I don't want to have to get to endgame to feel like I'am playing a challenging and fun game ,i want to experience these feeling whenever I log in ,and I feel the above points could help in that respect .

Also to address the lack of flashpoint groups I feel that a comprehensive lfg tool linked to the specific mission be implemented with a timer you can activate were say after 2 minutes one of your companions can be used ,4 minutes 2 companions until such time that even if you can't get real players to group with then the level difficulty of the flashpoint be tuned to the amount of companions you need to use .
Or your companions are boosted based on how many you have to use through lack of real players wanted to complete the said mission during your window of playtime.

Getting groups for level 1-49 content will always be difficult unless there can be a pvp type queueing system or something like the above implemented . Even relax the reliance on tank healer dps composition for the 1-49 pve content.
the flashpoints themselves can then be used to enhance and add to the story ,since there will be a way for every single player to complete them .

Queue for a group mission or flashpoint knowing that once the timer is up you will actually be able to complete the challenge even if it ends up just you and your companions ,at least you can experience all the content that has had so much work put in to create .
There is currently a large chunk of this effort from the developers going to waste ,I hope my ideas help .
I would love to see these creative people rewarded by knowing all their hard work is being experienced by as many players as possible ,these type of creative people thrive on players enjoyment of the content they put their soul into .
http://olderrepublic.enjin.com/