Of course I would only use GF with a full group, because that's the only way to dodge HS farmers at the moment. That's also what other people have told me to do if I want to dodge those people. It's not rocket science.

 

I kind of find it funny though, that you have a problem with me using GF with premades only, but you don't have a problem with HS farmers ruining the randomness or people dropping out from difficult fps. That kinda gives away that you have a problem with me, and you couldn't care less about the GF issues. But nice distraction from the topic, I give you that.

 

You misunderstand, I don't have a problem with your use of it. I did much the same thing when I was doing my progression raiding. I was just calling out the "lost 3 players from the queue', since that's not what happened. You can thrash around rationalizing and justifying all you like, and try to throw insinuations about my motivations, but that doesn't change the disingenuous claim made in your post.

Here's a couple of suggestions for you:

- get a 4th guildie to join the group temporarily until you get into the FP through GF and then the 4th can quit and be replaced by a companion. Often times, people don't have the time, or desire, to do an FP, but they're willing to enter and drop. Even if you want 4 people and no companions, you can continue to clear the trash while you requeue and wait for the 4th to show up**.

 

Lol - I had completely forgotten this one. We used to do it a lot for FP rally when we really needed the CQ points. It's only handful of fps you can't really do with a companion, and if those popped, we just came out and walked into something else instead. We couldn't q for a replacement as then it wouldn't have been a guild group, but it's an option now I guess. Cheers for the reminder.

Here's a couple of suggestions for you:

- if you don't care about the reward for selecting "all" through GF, just physically walk into the FP with the 2 or 3 people and use a companion to fill the other role(s). Losing the "all" reward would be better than not doing an FP at all.

- get a 4th guildie to join the group temporarily until you get into the FP through GF and then the 4th can quit and be replaced by a companion. Often times, people don't have the time, or desire, to do an FP, but they're willing to enter and drop. Even if you want 4 people and no companions, you can continue to clear the trash while you requeue and wait for the 4th to show up**.

 

 

Disclaimer - this of course needs to take into account which FPs are not comp-friendly and/or may require some companion micro-managing.

 

** Just the other day we had a 4th join the group just as we killed the last boss. That was probably their shortest FP ever. 😂

 

I've been that 4th player joining right before the last boss.

it's a fantastic feeling!

On the other hand, there's those LOS-aholics that slow things down by trying to LOS everything. 🙂

This made me lol so much. The last one of these I was in a group with was also "chat toxic" causing all the issues by trying to los everything, blaming everyone but himself, then rage quitting. Once he left, the rest of us finished the FP with my companion and it was a really nice run.

I wonder if the toxic twits do it deliberately so they can film the rage they get. If some genuinely have no clue, there should be a barrier to entering FPs via the GF such as having to complete a FP tutorial or x number of solo flashpoints first so they know the basics.

 

I will now only run Hammer Station via the group finder, I used to queue groupfinder for any random FP with a couple of rl friends when they played so we only had to deal with one rando, but now I just don't bother.

I've been that 4th player joining right before the last boss.

it's a fantastic feeling!

 

yes, sometimes it's great to hop in on the last boss

 

On a side note, everytime I see the title, I think it's someone complaining about their girlfriend....lol

"GF issues are getting out of hand" time to call in doctor ruth

The reality is that it is far easier to complete most FPs with a lvl 50 companion in the last slot than it is a bad player.

I don’t know if it is the recent influx of new players or what, but I have been seeing a much higher number of bad, toxic players in group finder the last week or two. Lower level players who don’t know fights and won’t listen when someone tries to explain them. People who think they know what they are doing but refuse to LOS, rush ahead to pull extra groups and cause wipes. It’s just brutal.

 

Then on top of that I’ve gotten Objective Meridian two days in a row as my random FP daily. I don’t mind it necessarily, but it takes three times as long as Hammer Station or Athiss, the fights are harder and the rewards are no better. Rewards need to be scaled to the length/difficulty of the FP. This would go so far towards improving quality of life. It would encourage people to try more FPs instead of just farming Hammer Station. As a result, people would know those fights better and it wouldn’t be so excruciating trying to run them.

This all started with 4.0, when they made it possible to blaze through the story and companions OP. One could feasibly just basic attack through everything and never die. This is exacerbated spotlit when there's a new influx of players. It's because of Onslaught, the latest Disney fanon Star Wars movie, and the pandemic. The game used to teach you how to play your class, as there were certain points in the game you could not advance beyond if you didn't know how to use a crucial ability. Dumbing down the game resulted in an increase in unskilled players in harder content.

 

They could dynamically scale the class missions so they are still challenging, or they could gate FPs behind the point you're at in the story. The latter is probably easier than the former for the devs to implement.

 

The rewards do scale up: They give more Renown Points. Most people don't pay attention to this though. It's probably not enough of an incentive anyway.

 

There is some FPs that really shouldn't pop if the group is legit new to game or MMOs, like Chiss and Umbara just never seems to work out if players are not flexible enough to be able to survive on their own for a moment and keep track of their teammates as well. They require multitasking skills new players usually just don't have out of the box.

 

Most of the time I have no problem having newbs in hardmode FPs if they type in they're new or need mechanics explained. I'll explain happily if you ask, in my experience newbies who state they are new are also able to read and follow instructions just fine with minimal wipes to mechanics. If the newbie cant play their class rotation properly though and we faceplant to boss enrage due to low dps.. there I can't help you, thats purely a case of "get gud" you need to solve yourself by either checking a guide, hitting a dummy with parse, or just experimenting what order of button presses kills things fastest if you're completely against hitting up a search engine I can carry a bunch, but not to infinity. If if we got trough just with my extra dps, that might not work out next time when im not there with you lol

 

Yesterday was a good example where I qued hardmode FP with someone playing their first healer role and even newer tank who was doing their first group content que (they were both nice enough to say they're new). I was explaining the tactics to first boss, but when we wiped pretty fast and tank was doing pretty much anything and everything but tanking, I was rolling my eyes and asked something snarky like "first time ever tanking in mmo?". What I didnt expect was that "yes" answer, the tank was new to literally every MMO ever, not just this one, so they didn't even know what a taunt was or what Tanks job was in a group situation. Oh boy. Imagine new tank starting their career in hardmode que, while not knowing what their buttons do.

Thankfully I was drunk and found the entire situation hilarious, don't see quite this new newbie every day that even readily admits they have no clue what they're doing, like literally none. So I make the most basic speech about tanks taking less damage that everyone else, so they need to make sure most mobs are hitting them instead of us so healer dont die to stress irl, taunts are needed to keep enemy attention, tanks need to move enemies to tactical positions and so on and so fort. Gave them defense stim and some medpacs and after they found their taunt ability we went again. Well, fortunately I was on guardian so I could do half of the mechanics meant for tank (classic case of get carried) but the he picked up on what he was supposed to do on tank fairly quickly now that he knew what tanking was. Go figure. Only wiped a total of 3 times in Czerka core hm with new tank and healer. Not bad. I clapped and cheered at the end, even though I'd say this was the completely wrong place to start learning what your buttons and role does rofl.

I commend you. I no longer have the patience for that.

 

I ask at the start of VM FPs if anyone's new. I'll explain the fights. I warn at the start of MM FPs that I have the expectation they're familiar with VM and if not, to go back and get some experience. Most of the time, people are honest about their inexperience in VM. Every now and then I get silence and they're exposed by the first boss or they outright lie and get called out when discovered.

 

This is the problem: Newbs are so afraid of being reprimanded or more commonly and worse, raged at, they'd rather attempt to hide, when it's nearly inevitable that their lack of skill will show at some point, because they are so damn afraid of exposing themselves, getting raged at or kicked immediately, so they just hope they can get carried and not discovered. They'd rather risk a blow to their self-esteem and being embarrassed for looking stupid than learning. I fear for our future as a species.

 

One time I got a queue for Red Reaper with a bunch of newbs. I wasn't paying attention to the queue and just entered the FP. (Yes, that's on me.) They were 3 DPS and I found out they each had just come off their starter planet...three. We were all new at one time, so I decided to give them a chance. The game needs new players to survive and grow.

 

After lecturing them about queueing for content appropriate to their skill level, I took the time to teach them their role. I explained target priority, interrupting, using CC, LoS, and of course, boss fights. What did I get for taking the time to give these guys a live tutorial? I got reported to a guild officer, because I got stern with them when they weren't listening. Ingrates.

 

That's the last time I take the time to teach someone the bare basics. Explaining the final boss's shield mechanic mid-fight, when it became apparent they obviously didn't understand the pre-fight explanation...I was ready to throw myself into the chasm. I'm not a schoolteacher. I'm here to relax and have fun, not work! That experience really soured me on teaching newbs more than just boss fights and encounter mechanics. I found a

. They can watch those and if they still don't understand something, ask questions then. Of course there's no time for this during an FP, so I just tell them to follow my lead, maybe explain an element or two of FP basics like target priority and LoS, but I offer links to the videos afterwards if they want.

 

Because just because a player is new here, doesn't mean they're new to MMOs or gaming? I mean, you go on to list yourself as an experienced player, and I know I was an experienced player when I arrived, so why should we be cut out of content based on being new here?

Because you are not ready. MMOs are fundamentally all the same, but they have things that make them different from one another, from a gameplay perspective. It's sort of like when you get a new car. You have to get a feel for how the vehicle handles, where all the controls are, and adjust your seat and mirrors compared to your old one.

 

 

I think it's game-wide. Meaning, it's not just FPs it's in PVP too. It's the playerbase, in general.

 

I See far more "bads" in PVP now than I think I ever have before. The skill differential from a veteran PVPer and a new player on the game is pretty massive and the skill level definitely has dropped big time in the past year or so.

 

When I have to start assisting DPS on enemy DPS because my heals are getting overwhelmed by incoming dps and my teams dps are incapable of hurting the enemy you know the dps are performing poorly.

 

I have had this happen btw. I don't even know how it's possible to do that badly on dps, but people are doing that now.

 

Maybe it's a matter of healing being so unpopular now with all the nerfs and crappy gear sets/tacticals healers got. DPS definitely are more fun to play now with great tacticals, great damage potential, great burst, great mobility, basically DPS have everything now so perhaps it's just a matter of lots of new DPS players now? I dunno.

DPS has always been the most popular role. Healers have always been in demand in group content. DPS are like the singer and lead guitarist of a band. They both can develop a huge ego, get all the attention, and think the group falls apart without them. The tank is the drummer. He or she dictates the pace of the fights and (usually) coordinates the group. Healer is the bassist. He or she is the life (literally) and soul of the group. They're the glue that keeps everyone together. You need all of them to succeed, but there tend to be more conflicts with DPSs than the other two...and it's a lot harder to find a good drummer or bassist than it is singer or guitarist.

 

HS farming and rewards/time consumed are both problems. You may not mind getting 156th HS in a row, but there are a lot of people who do, and will automatically drop the group if that happens. So that's one problem. The other problem is people dropping out because the FP is too difficult. One solution could be having the pop announce which FP it's going to be before people click accept.

 

I don't mind having better rewards for more demanding content, but I can live without it too. If the reward is too good, there will be more incompetent people going for content they aren't capable, and if it's not good enough, is that enough incentive? I wouldn't mind getting let's say... legendary embers from the more difficult and longer flashpoints.

Showing what FP will be rolled won't work. Players will just decline until it's something they want. They can already do this by selecting from the queue list, but then they don't get the weekly reward. Well, too bad. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

 

This isn't rocket science...

 

Providing the same reward for completing an instance with minimal cut scene time, short length (both zone as well as trash / bosses), easy mechanics, no bugs, and short boss fights as for completing an instance with a lot of cut scene time, long length (both zone as well as trash / bosses), difficult or annoying mechanics, bugs, and long / annoying boss fights is stupid.

 

Start with some easy changes such as...

 

Do a tuning pass to bring relative time and difficulty towards a similar average - no boss should take five minutes plus while another takes sub one minute, no boss should be able to 100-0 a player in seconds while another allows players to stand in bad without risk of death, no instance should have trash that can be chain pulled with minimal risk while another has normal mobs that can focus and 100-0 zerg down a player a seconds.

 

Put loot on EVERY boss in EVERY instance - there is no justification at all for some of the longer instances to have bosses that drop nothing.

 

Adjust end-of-instance rewards (tech frags / XP / etc) such that longer instances provide more rewards (KDY and HS will never take as long as one of the larger story instances).

 

But to reiterate - the MOST IMPORTANT thing they need to do is bring relative difficulty and general time to a similar average across ALL instances at the same difficulty level in the queue.

 

As for providing really challenging content for us veterans or gluttons for punishment - that is something that should be added outside the queue. We should not expect difficult content for vets mixed in with easy content for all in a shared queue system.

This is essentially dumbing down FPs. I don't agree with this.

Edited May 26, 2020 by Tofu_Shark

Because you are not ready. MMOs are fundamentally all the same, but they have things that make them different from one another, from a gameplay perspective. It's sort of like when you get a new car. You have to get a feel for how the vehicle handles, where all the controls are, and adjust your seat and mirrors compared to your old one.

 

I'm not? Interesting, so Taunts work differently here, or have different effects, well, they do in PvP? Nope, this is more "I want a perfect group every time, but can't be bothered to make one" than anything like a legit rationale. Just as you have no idea if a player is ready or not, neither does the game. So what does the game use to make the "Not Ready" determination? Some players are definitely not ready, others are, and some of them may even be better than anyone you know.

 

It's not like we can use gear for a determination of skill level, I've seen properly geared players that were carried to it by their guild, and had no clue about mechanics. I mean, if you don't know to move out of the laser in TBC, do you really have any justification for harping on other players. This is something I've actually seen happen, btw, not some hypothetical pulled out of thin air, and that's an empirical "you", not trying to single you out specifically. Achievement, nope, just as easily carried. So there's no reliable metric for the game to determine skilled or not. If you want total control of who's in your group, form a group from your guild/friend's list.

This is essentially dumbing down FPs. I don't agree with this.

 

I don't agree with your assertion, balancing tuning so relative difficulty is similar across all instances within a given queue grouping (e.g. vet vs MM) would not 'dumb down' FPs, nor would balancing rewards to length / time.

 

I certainly didn't say they should nerf all instances down to the same tuning point as the easiest / least challenging, that would be 'dumbing down'.

 

I simply stated that having two instances in the same queue where fights in one can be completed quickly while standing in bad while another takes minutes and has a high risk of failure and / or where the boss / mobs can 100-0 a player in seconds (unavoidable - I don't mean ignoring the mechanic) is poor design, and should be changed.

 

Personally, I believe instances such as HS and RR should be buffed a bit while SOME (not all) fights in SOME (not all) instances should be toned down (less boss HP, less 'lets put the boss into an immunity state for the nth time so the fight goes on forever' mechanics, less boss damage - especially in vet with no guarantee of tanks / healers, and again unavoidable damage, not damage like standing in orbitals or fire or whatever).

 

Also I'd be all for something like FPs that got progressively more difficult, but for the current content we have, that ship seemed to sail a long time ago when they decided to make everything have a role neutral version, scaled them all to the same level, and put them in one queue with the same daily reward.

 

I'd also support something like requiring completion (via legacy achievement) of story / vet mode of a given FP before being able to queue for MM, but again, they (developers) seem to want to make everything accessible to all players even if the players are not ready / qualified, so no idea if they would even consider something like this.

 

So since we have very little in the way of progressive checks to move up in harder difficulty, and since the game doesn't challenge players while leveling, and since flashpoint tuning is all over the place, I just queue up and decline over and over when its a bunch of lowbies (or sub 75s in MM, which I rarely queue outside of premade groups), and / or drop if its an instance I dislike because of tuning / length and / or because the other players are clearly new or worse, bads.

Edited May 26, 2020 by DawnAskham

Every time I read this header, i keep reading it as; Girl Friend issues are getting out of hand.

Every time I read this header, i keep reading it as; Girl Friend issues are getting out of hand.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one. ;-;

I'm not? Interesting, so Taunts work differently here, or have different effects, well, they do in PvP? Nope, this is more "I want a perfect group every time, but can't be bothered to make one" than anything like a legit rationale. Just as you have no idea if a player is ready or not, neither does the game. So what does the game use to make the "Not Ready" determination? Some players are definitely not ready, others are, and some of them may even be better than anyone you know.

 

It's not like we can use gear for a determination of skill level, I've seen properly geared players that were carried to it by their guild, and had no clue about mechanics. I mean, if you don't know to move out of the laser in TBC, do you really have any justification for harping on other players. This is something I've actually seen happen, btw, not some hypothetical pulled out of thin air, and that's an empirical "you", not trying to single you out specifically. Achievement, nope, just as easily carried. So there's no reliable metric for the game to determine skilled or not. If you want total control of who's in your group, form a group from your guild/friend's list.

I wasn't specifically talking about taunts. That's cherry picking. This whole thread is about there no longer being a way to gauge player skill until they show they don't know what they're doing nor train individually for group encounters within the game itself. I never said I wanted a perfect group. I just don't want total, complete, utter morons. If someone is inexperienced, I don't mind as long as they are willing to learn.

 

And no, you're new the to game. You may have MMO experience, so you know what a taunt, cleanse, DCD, etc. is, and you'll learn a lot faster than someone that's never played one before, but you still have to learn the nuances of the game. There's nothing wrong with that.

I wasn't specifically talking about taunts. That's cherry picking. This whole thread is about there no longer being a way to gauge player skill until they show they don't know what they're doing nor train individually for group encounters within the game itself. I never said I wanted a perfect group. I just don't want total, complete, utter morons. If someone is inexperienced, I don't mind as long as they are willing to learn.

 

And no, you're new the to game. You may have MMO experience, so you know what a taunt, cleanse, DCD, etc. is, and you'll learn a lot faster than someone that's never played one before, but you still have to learn the nuances of the game. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

Yes, I did pick just one skill, because I didn't want to start going down a list that could run to 4 or 5 pages, and also happens to be a skill that one of the posters you quoted cited as a tank not knowing about. As a NiM MM tank, I could spend an entire day on various mechanics, but for this topic, that's pointless. BTW, there was never a way to judge player skill w/out seeing them actually play, as I laid out in the post you quoted here.

 

There is, however, something wrong with saying "remove this because nobody that isn't on my approved list of experience, that I arbitrarily made up because there is no metric to know for sure in game, is allowed in my GF groups". GF is for everyone. If you want to control who's in your group, then form it, and then hit GF for a random x or y. Otherwise, just like everyone else, you're going to have to deal with whomever you get, in whatever way you deem necessary.

yes, sometimes it's great to hop in on the last boss

 

On a side note, everytime I see the title, I think it's someone complaining about their girlfriend....lol

"GF issues are getting out of hand" time to call in doctor ruth

 

That's why I posted:

 

My advice? Just don't get married.

 

I guess no one got it.

My issues are with the queue itself bugging out. Say for instance you have done HM TC on the week. Suddenly eventhough you can select it on your tab if you join a group that is trying to random queue for the bonus you will not able able to get TC to pop. Tried this with 3 different groups 5-15 minutes of attempts each time. Could not get the TC queue to pop until I left group and solo queued with only TC selected. They really need to just fix it to have that bonus as the standard and allow it to to selected and queued instead of playing queue roulette constantly.

Let us remember: These are the same exact people who cry for more content but continously farm only one instance. I'm tired of doing hammer station, and their "skills" make the garbage look appetizing.

I always said up front that I am new to GF and Vet FP when I started doing it a month or two ago and people always help. I have never played any MMO before but I did know common senses such as not to pull mobs and follow the "leader". People in general were very patient when I did try but made mistakes, I guess it helped that I do apologize if I do something stupid.

 

It's more fun when people do communicate. The first time I got Athiss, the team was great and taught me the boss mechanic, what's the best route etc. in great details. The second time I got Athiss, I was grouped with three people who were new to the FP but we were able to finish it without issue because we talked in the beginning of the FP so we can take it slow and I can pass on the things I learned from the earlier experience.

 

Much, much better experience than the silent "no brain cell, we leap at everything and die like Sith" type I've got in the past few days...

Every time I read this header, i keep reading it as; Girl Friend issues are getting out of hand.

 

I’m married with three kids. To paraphrase a famous poet, I got 99 problems, but a girlfriend ain’t one. 😂

I always said up front that I am new to GF and Vet FP when I started doing it a month or two ago and people always help. I have never played any MMO before but I did know common senses such as not to pull mobs and follow the "leader". People in general were very patient when I did try but made mistakes, I guess it helped that I do apologize if I do something stupid.

 

It's more fun when people do communicate. The first time I got Athiss, the team was great and taught me the boss mechanic, what's the best route etc. in great details. The second time I got Athiss, I was grouped with three people who were new to the FP but we were able to finish it without issue because we talked in the beginning of the FP so we can take it slow and I can pass on the things I learned from the earlier experience.

 

Much, much better experience than the silent "no brain cell, we leap at everything and die like Sith" type I've got in the past few days...

 

I got started the same way - communicated my newness, listened to others, played follow the leader, and used some basic common sense.

 

And that is all I ask of new players - no perfect play required, just communicate, listen, and follow.

 

But act an idiot (as in your example of 'idiot leaper syndrome') and expect to get called on it and / or kicked.

Edited May 27, 2020 by DawnAskham

On the other hand, I (dps) was in a VM flashpoint last night consisting of 3 dps and a healer. One of the dps was an obvious noob. He didn't seem to know exactly what he was doing and died fairly often.

The other dps reminded me of some of the not nice people posting in this thread. He seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time 'examining' the noob and complaining to him about not using all his skills, dying too often, etc.

At some point mid-way through the FP, the nasty dps started a vote kick on the noob dps, but coincidently, the healer dc'd. So there was only me to actually vote, and I voted not to kick.

Not surprisingly, the nasty guy quit when the kick vote failed. After some complications of waiting for the healer to reconnect and the 'can't queue' glitch, we ended up kicking the dc'd healer, and we got 2 replacement dps and finished the FP without much trouble.

 

The bottom line for me is that, much of the complaining about GF groups comes from a small group of toxic players.

There is no real problem with GF other than the lack of ability of some players to realize that it is a PUG, and to adjust their expectations accordingly. 🙂

Edited May 27, 2020 by JediQuaker

On the other hand, I (dps) was in a VM flashpoint last night consisting of 3 dps and a healer. One of the dps was an obvious noob. He didn't seem to know exactly what he was doing and died fairly often.

The other dps reminded me of some of the not nice people posting in this thread. He seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time 'examining' the noob and complaining to him about not using all his skills, dying too often, etc.

At some point mid-way through the FP, the nasty dps started a vote kick on the noob dps, but coincidently, the healer dc'd. So there was only me to actually vote, and I voted not to kick.

Not surprisingly, the nasty guy quit when the kick vote failed. After some complications of waiting for the healer to reconnect and the 'can't queue' glitch, we ended up kicking the dc'd healer, and we got 2 replacement dps and finished the FP without much trouble.

 

The bottom line for me is that, much of the complaining about GF groups comes from a small group of toxic players.

There is no real problem with GF other than the lack of ability of some players to realize that it is a PUG, and to adjust their expectations accordingly. 🙂

 

Group content is for groups of players working together to achieve the objective.

 

If a party member is willing and able to work together with the rest of the group, I don't have any issues.

 

But if someone isn't willing or able, for whatever reason, to work together with the group, I also don't have any issues vote kicking or dropping group myself.

 

I don't see this as mostly toxic players expecting perfect play in vet HS - but rather as players with similar views on expecting players to be willing and able to work with the group, but with differences of opinion on exactly what constitutes willing and able.

 

I honestly don't expect much from lower level or newer players in vet flashpoints, but I do expect them to work with the group and not run off on their own pulling trash and / or causing issues.

 

My expectation do go up though as the player's level / gear increase and as the difficulty of the content increases.

This is not about just being frustrated with PUGs. There are a ton of little things that annoy me when running group content. This is not about those little things. This is about people who are wiping the group repeatedly because they don’t know what they are doing and refuse to communicate.

This is not about just being frustrated with PUGs. There are a ton of little things that annoy me when running group content. This is not about those little things. This is about people who are wiping the group repeatedly because they don’t know what they are doing and refuse to communicate.

 

Then it's exactly about PuGs, because if you were forming your own group and this were happening, then it would be your own fault, right? That's the nature of a GF, doesn't matter where it is. Sometimes you're going to get the crème de la crème, and sometimes you're going to get a bunch of lemons.

Yes, I did pick just one skill, because I didn't want to start going down a list that could run to 4 or 5 pages, and also happens to be a skill that one of the posters you quoted cited as a tank not knowing about. As a NiM MM tank, I could spend an entire day on various mechanics, but for this topic, that's pointless. BTW, there was never a way to judge player skill w/out seeing them actually play, as I laid out in the post you quoted here.

 

There is, however, something wrong with saying "remove this because nobody that isn't on my approved list of experience, that I arbitrarily made up because there is no metric to know for sure in game, is allowed in my GF groups". GF is for everyone. If you want to control who's in your group, then form it, and then hit GF for a random x or y. Otherwise, just like everyone else, you're going to have to deal with whomever you get, in whatever way you deem necessary.

I never said that. I sympathize with the OP, but I don't think Group Finder should be changed because of the very high chance of winding up with one or more unskilled players. You're taking my post out-of-context, and I don't appreciate that.

 

No, there's never been a way to guarantee player skill. However, before 4.0, players were forced to learn certain aspects of the game before one could progress further. This could be circumvented, of course, by grouping up or power leveling, but the majority of people probably didn't. So the chances of winding up in an encounter with an unskilled player was lower than today. There does need to be a way to decrease the chances of winding up with an unskilled player in Group Finder.

 

I always said up front that I am new to GF and Vet FP when I started doing it a month or two ago and people always help. I have never played any MMO before but I did know common senses such as not to pull mobs and follow the "leader". People in general were very patient when I did try but made mistakes, I guess it helped that I do apologize if I do something stupid.

 

It's more fun when people do communicate. The first time I got Athiss, the team was great and taught me the boss mechanic, what's the best route etc. in great details. The second time I got Athiss, I was grouped with three people who were new to the FP but we were able to finish it without issue because we talked in the beginning of the FP so we can take it slow and I can pass on the things I learned from the earlier experience.

 

Much, much better experience than the silent "no brain cell, we leap at everything and die like Sith" type I've got in the past few days...

I communicate when I'm new too, but sometimes, the group ignores this and just does what they normally do. They really have no incentive in VM to teach someone, as anyone can easily be replaced by a companion if they quit, which I have been forced to do before. It's MM where they risk getting stuck without a fourth member. Most people when they teach only teach bosses. There's more to learning group content than just boss mechanics.

 

Now that I've found good keybinds for managing my companion, I find members easier to replace. It disappoints me greatly though that my companions on DPS are better than many of the DPS players out there though.

 

I’m married with three kids. To paraphrase a famous poet, I got 99 problems, but a girlfriend ain’t one. 😂

That song's not about being married.

Edited May 30, 2020 by Tofu_Shark

I never said that. I sympathize with the OP, but I don't think Group Finder should be changed because of the very high chance of winding up with one or more unskilled players. You're taking my post out-of-context, and I don't appreciate that.

 

No, there's never been a way to guarantee player skill. However, before 4.0, players were forced to learn certain aspects of the game before one could progress further. This could be circumvented, of course, by grouping up or power leveling, but the majority of people probably didn't. So the chances of winding up in an encounter with an unskilled player was lower than today. There does need to be a way to decrease the chances of winding up with an unskilled player in Group Finder.

 

No, they weren't. Players could just as easily be carried to their gear, and one might argue moreso, before 4.0 as they could be after. All of my character's main comps were fully equipped in endgame Raid Gear before the Yavin 4 gear ever hit the game. How many NiM raids do you suppose they ran while I was asleep? None of the examples I've listed occurred post 4.0. So that DPS sage that had all the right gear, and just stood in the laser in TBC? Some random noob carried to their gear by their guild, before 4.0. As for "taking your post out of context"? I replied directly to the part of your post that was directed at me. I snipped the rest out to keep it easier to understand. Everything I replied to is listed in the post I quoted, so no "out of context".

 

I communicate when I'm new too, but sometimes, the group ignores this and just does what they normally do. They really have no incentive in VM to teach someone, as anyone can easily be replaced by a companion if they quit, which I have been forced to do before. It's MM where they risk getting stuck without a fourth member. Most people when they teach only teach bosses. There's more to learning group content than just boss mechanics.

 

Now that I've found good keybinds for managing my companion, I find members easier to replace. It disappoints me greatly though that my companions on DPS are better than many of the DPS players out there though.

 

 

That song's not about being married.