LFG tool wont change that. nerfing and simplifying everything till it becomes a brainless experience, like it happened in wow, would.... but i hope that will never happen

Your statement reveals your lack of business sense. WoW has about 11 million accounts, and I suspect the company president is laughing all the way to the bank at his/her detractors.

I've learned to play without a LFG tool and just play by myself

Passed up about 8 different HEROIC quests on Balmorra because I couldn't find anyone over the past week...so I decided to move on. Not sure why it was difficult to find ppl, because I play during peak hours (around 8pm PST, just not for very long), and I'm a healer. Go figure.

A LFG tool has zero downside IMO...at least for same server searches. No idea about cross server tools.

There's so much to do while solo in this game that I'm sure many people don't even bother to group (there's no incentive to).

The desire for a LFG tool is to remove the cumbersome process of getting X people together, heading to Y location and doing Z. No one wants to spend (a lot) of time getting a group together, and many people don't want to be 'trapped' in Fleet waiting for a group to form. PvP is easier simply as you can go out, do quests and queue/PvP whenever to break up the play time.

I'm curious now if a LFG channel exists on my server, as that's a good idea to help alleviate the trap issue, but I certainly don't want a wow-esque LFG tool. The result I saw was anyone with a decent network of friends/acquaintances would get as many together as possible, tolerate the PUG player(s) as needed and play. However, many players I knew skipped the PUGs entirely. You can argue that LFG didn't do anything to wow, but I think you can look at how changes following the tool reveals that Blizzard had to keep enticing the system to the point it penalized guild/friend groups simply as they didn't 'pug' players. LFR pretty much is the pinnacle of 'gimme' in this regard.

Aside, still the best laugh of general: "Group LFM Tank & Healer".

I recognize people want to show up, and play 'anything' in the game, but I get the impression people don't want to invest into a community by talking, networking, grouping. If putting that effort out is too much, then you're getting exactly what you've worked for - nothing. I'm having a blast, doing Ops, PvP, etc. with a group of 15-20 people. Open up, say "Hi, nice to meet you.", run a flashpoint, and whisper the solid players if they'd like to run another or if you could add them to a friends list. Look them up politely later for other groups. It's not that hard.

Get out of your shell people. You'll be amazed how competent playing and being polite will get you networking.

I want lfg so i can be social with more people. you anti social types that want to live in a gated community are holding me back from meeting more people.

I do not care if i never meet them again they are people just the same and i enjoy meeting them!

Sat on my butt yelling in /1 in Fleet 'DPS lfg for any HMs' for about 5 hours straight on Friday. Didn't get into a single group. Whispered immediately to two different group leaders when they advertised that they were looking for 1 more DPS. First said sorry full, so did the second except he admitted that he took an Assassin dps guy instead cause he didn't want to compete with me for gear after I asked him how someone else managed to beat me at whispering to him as quick as I could. He then suggested that I should respect to tank if I want an easier time finding groups...

In the end I decided to try out PvP because there was nothing else to do.

I don't know if a LFG tool will improve on that experience significantly; but it's gotta help because you can't really do worse then have people be unable to get into a group for generic PvE content.

The desire for a LFG tool is to remove the cumbersome process of getting X people together, heading to Y location and doing Z. No one wants to spend (a lot) of time getting a group together, and many people don't want to be 'trapped' in Fleet waiting for a group to form. PvP is easier simply as you can go out, do quests and queue/PvP whenever to break up the play time.

You started well and showed your understanding of the issue at heart. You had my vote, until...

You can argue that LFG didn't do anything to wow, but I think you can look at how changes following the tool reveals that Blizzard had to keep enticing the system to the point it penalized guild/friend groups simply as they didn't 'pug' players. LFR pretty much is the pinnacle of 'gimme' in this regard.

Just exactly how did WoW "penalize"guild/group play because they didn't PUG? Blizzard Devs gave incentives to people for playing certain roles (e.g., Tanks) becasue tanking was (and is) a thankless task, with the majority wanting no part of it. There's nothing wrong with providing incentives to promote the less popular classes and roles, especially when the game is designed around the 'Holy Trinity' and one of the three is in short supply.

Aside, still the best laugh of general: "Group LFM Tank & Healer".

Yup, I agree with you. A workable solution is to institute a cross-server LFD/LF Ops tool.

I recognize people want to show up, and play 'anything' in the game, but I get the impression people don't want to invest into a community by talking, networking, grouping. If putting that effort out is too much, then you're getting exactly what you've worked for - nothing. I'm having a blast, doing Ops, PvP, etc. with a group of 15-20 people. Open up, say "Hi, nice to meet you.", run a flashpoint, and whisper the solid players if they'd like to run another or if you could add them to a friends list. Look them up politely later for other groups. It's not that hard.

Most people's first instinct is to go to friends and guildies for grouping. But that didn't work for WoW (a game with 11 million accounts), what makes you think it will work in SWTOR? The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again, and expect different results, right?

Get out of your shell people. You'll be amazed how competent playing and being polite will get you networking.

Dude, I'm in TOG (one of the largest guilds) and it's not easy to get groups going for FPs, Heroics, and Ops. The root cause isn't lack of social networking, it's lack of people wanting to do the same things at a particular timeframe. The LFD tool solves that problem by empowering people to do the things they enjoy, at the time of their choosing. It's a win-win for all but the "you got to play it my way" crowd.

I'm 50 and I've never run into difficulty finding a group. Also after doing fps I added people as friends so I can inv them at later fps. After turning 50 some guy who I grouped up with for dailies invted me to a guild now I'm doing ops and hms with them. Also I can do hms with pugs too because there are tons of people lfg and I have a full friend roster.

I approve of this thread.

Ok so a couple of things I am noticing on this topic that people keep bringing up that if you put in a little time to learn it you would find out that its a lot more useful that people make it out to be.

1) If you go to /who and type LFG in the search box it will bring up every person in the game that is LFG.

2) You can turn on LFG in the botton left of the /who panel and add a comment of what you are looking to do etc. as well.

3) Every planet has a place that you can take to transport you to the fleet where the flashpoint entrances are allowing you to do dailies and quest while LFG.

Using the tools given to me I find groups for FP and Heroic missions with relative ease. It takes little to no effort to pull up /who and search LFG. If you are 3/4 members ask someone to do a quick GC in the fleet for 1 more. A lot of times people wont join newly starting FP runs and only want to join that are near full.

Best thing to do is spread the word about the /who LFG and teach people how to flag up for LFG. Its easy and frees you from sitting in the fleet like people are complaining they have to do. Simple process log on, type /who click the Looking For Group? box add a comment of what you are looking for then go do whatever until someone sends you a messege. Don't want to wait for someone to look for you? look for your self /who LFG read some comments invite people that are looking for same thing and fill in what you need with GC.

Honestly people need to be made aware of tools that are there and I think that is the main problem. If everyone flagged up for LFG then no one should have an issue finding a group.