From today's patch notes: Players now receive an error when attempting to invite players manually as replacements for a Group Finder group.

It would be nice to have this as an option, tho. For example, if our random GF tank has to leave the group, but I have a friend or guildie who can come in and tank, it should be possible for us to invite them and they get "ported" into the FP to help us finish.

We've had a couple times now where a group member has to leave or gets DC'd, and their replacement (via the GF) is just NOT prepared for the content (Lost Island comes to mind), resulting in a failed group and wasted time.

Just my $0.02.

Oh look, our fourth guildie has come online.

/votekick

/invite

Oh look, our fourth guildie has come online.

 

/votekick

 

/invite

Now how is that possible? That would never happen, would it?

Oh look, our fourth guildie has come online.

 

/votekick

 

/invite

So? We can just leave the group and do that anyways. You aren't saving anyone. Allowing manual replacements is a must, especially if the tank leaves. You can sit in a half finished instance for over an hour waiting for a new tank, while your guild mate queues and ends up in a different group. That makes absolutely no sense. Allow us to manually fill.

Oh look, our fourth guildie has come online.

 

/votekick

 

/invite

This is exactly why we can't have manual replacements. It will be far too easy for guilds to grief others.

This is exactly why we can't have manual replacements. It will be far too easy for guilds to grief others.

We can already grief others. 3 ppl queue. 3 ppl leave group, invite a fourth, requeue. Same thing, 1 person got screwed. Manual replacements is a MUST.

We can already grief others. 3 ppl queue. 3 ppl leave group, invite a fourth, requeue. Same thing, 1 person got screwed. Manual replacements is a MUST.

THIS.

I hear what the other people are saying, but KiranK's logic is sound. The only potential drawback is time lost starting over. Since you can already votekick someone and get a replacement via the queue, it just makes sense that the game would allow you to invite a replacement.

This is especially important if say, your DPS is weak and you're doing a place like LI, or an Operation. Being able to cherry-pick a replacement instead of rolling the dice with group finder and hoping the next person is up to scratch seems like a no-brainer.

I hear what the other people are saying, but KiranK's logic is sound. The only potential drawback is time lost starting over. Since you can already votekick someone and get a replacement via the queue, it just makes sense that the game would allow you to invite a replacement.

That's the thing, though. You probably aren't going to kick someone to bring in your friend/guildmate who just signed on if it means breaking the group, getting auto-ejected from the instance, reforming, etc, etc...

Being able to manually invite makes it ridiculously easy to grief others that way. To me, that outweighs the convenience of manual invites. /shrug

but KiranK's logic is sound

No it is not!

We can already grief others. 3 ppl queue. 3 ppl leave group, invite a fourth, requeue. Same thing

/facepalm

They are not the same thing, and nobody is going to do what you suggest just to do another FP.

Doing that if you were near the end of a FP would mean that they would have to start over from the beginning in another one and do the whole thing all over again.

But if you were allowed to kick someone when you are right in front of the last boss and then invite a specific person as a replacement, that is a completely different thing.

Oh look, our fourth guildie has come online.

 

/votekick

 

/invite

I get your point, yes, but I disagree.

First of all you can easily circumvent the risks. For instance, don't allow to invite someone after a votekick, but allow that after a disconnect for instance. Votekick : deliberate decision. Disconnection : bad luck. You would already limit the possibility of such thing to happen.

No it is not!

They are not the same thing, and nobody is going to do what you suggest just to do another FP.

 

Doing that if you were near the end of a FP would mean that they would have to start over from the beginning in another one and do the whole thing all over again.

Well, you would have to find some ***** to do the first thing however, especially near the end of the FP where it takes a maximum of 10 minutes to finish it and get your guildie in another group.

And if you're just starting the instance, they will do it anyway.

Everyone talking about griefing/votekicking

I love that everyone immediately assumes the worst about people on these forums. I think it is far more likely you'll spend less time waiting around for a new tank after a DC or rage quit or the like if you can find someone on your own and invite. And let's be honest, I love the group tool I'll be buying my second piece of BH gear today because of it's daily reward, but it has some "unintended features" to say the the least. People being queued as tanks or heals or whatever when they aren't. So then you get stuck waiting around for 20 plus minutes hoping someone takes the queue. I have had plenty of queues cancel because people wouldn't take them form the beginning so I can only imagine how many people refuse an already started one. I think people will mostly use this for intended purpose of replacing member that DC or quit on their own. You could even use to it switch classes while keeping the same group members if that was a better plan i.e. Your on your 50 alt and maybe your DPS is a little low you could log switch to your 50 main and come back and help out for the remainder of the FP or just the one part you need help with.

Long story short, it boils down to the community. Are there griefers out there? Of course it wouldn't be the internet without them. Everyone remembers that jerk that always aimed for the eyes in waterfights, right? You either return the favor (let everyone know they are a griefer and to kick them) or ignored them until they left (/ignore is respected by the group tool I believe). It's our community and we can't expect BW to roll out/hold back a new piece of code because there is a possibility some might be a jerk, especially when I believe it will be used mostly as for good and not evil:).

Let's also not forget, being able to kick the guy in the group who won't stop standing in AOE's, showing Leroy Jenkins how it's done or needing on everything purple thing he sees regardless of specs and then not having to wait half an hour for the tool to find a replacement would be awesome.

TL;DR - Will jerks abuse this feature. Absolutely. But I believe it will far more often be used to replace DC's/rage quits/legitimate kicks than to kick people as soon as a guildie/friend wants in.

So? We can just leave the group and do that anyways. You aren't saving anyone.

Then leave the group and do it. By kicking someone, you're making HIM requeue. If you want a different group, YOU drop group and YOU requeue. Don't punish the other guy. Let him stay in the flashpoint or operation and when you all leave, he can get people to fill the roles you abandoned so he doesn't have to start all over.

We can already grief others. 3 ppl queue. 3 ppl leave group, invite a fourth, requeue. Same thing, 1 person got screwed. Manual replacements is a MUST.

The one person was going to get screwed by you anyway because you were out to screw him, not because the system was poor.