they need to add the waiting time on the Finder because it saves waiting soooooooo long when you don't even know the ETA would help BIG TIME Edited April 4, 2013 by tamaska

I'm not trying to troll or anything like that but...

 

Why is this still not X-server yet?

am a lvl 50 dps and its always hard to get on a group on the finder when you don't even know how long you gotta wait like all mmog games if your a tank or healer of course you get in right away but i really hate being tho 2 classes

and how would you even calculate eta when its dependent on people joining the queue?

Or they could put an updating number of how many people of your combat role is before you in that queue. I.e. You join the queue as dps for hammer station and Athiss. You see that there are 7 dps before you queueing for Hammer Station and 8 dps before you in Athiss queue. Soon the number updates to 5 dps before you for Hammer Station when 2 of them get to fp run. Then you could calculate a kind of "ETA" yourself. Edited April 4, 2013 by Seireeni

Or they could put an updating number of how many people of your combat role is before you in that queue. I.e. You join the queue as dps for hammer station and Athiss. You see that there are 7 dps before you queueing for Hammer Station and 8 dps before you in Athiss queue. Soon the number updates to 5 dps before you for Hammer Station when 2 of them get to fp run. Then you could calculate a kind of "ETA" yourself.

 

Just what I was thinking, although for under level 50 is would be difficult to really calculate since you have overlapping brackets of what FP people are able to queue for. For level 50 and up it would be nice to see when you queue that "46 DPS are ahead of you" and a periodic update.

am a lvl 50 dps and its always hard to get on a group on the finder when you don't even know how long you gotta wait like all mmog games if your a tank or healer of course you get in right away but i really hate being tho 2 classes

 

Make friends with tanks/healers. Problem solved.

Make friends with tanks/healers. Problem solved.

 

That or roll as one or the other.

 

My main is a healer, and my second most active character is a tank. I have lots of tank friends who ask my healer to que with them, and my girlfriend is my tanks pocket healer.

Edited April 5, 2013 by Radzkie

That or roll as one or the other.

 

My main is a healer, and my second active character is a tank . I have lots of tank friends who ask my healer to que with them, and my girlfriend is my tanks pocket healer.

 

like i said if you role a tank or healer your get right also some people don't like being tanks or healers but as a dps you don't know where you are on the Q list to get in that's the whole point of this topic to get them to make it show you the placement in the Q system so you know where you are

 

Think of it like the Raid / Dungeon Finder from world of Warcraft we need for this

Edited April 5, 2013 by tamaska

I'm not trying to troll or anything like that but...

 

Why is this still not X-server yet?

 

Because it would not fix a single problem -- you would still have too many dps and too few tanks / healers. It would actually make things worse for those currently on servers where the wait is tolerable.

Because it would not fix a single problem -- you would still have too many dps and too few tanks / healers. It would actually make things worse for those currently on servers where the wait is tolerable.

 

Tolerable really i waited over a hour and a half for one so no its really crap

Tolerable really i waited over a hour and a half for one so no its really crap

 

Read the whole post you quoted, I didn't say it was tolerable on every server. But X-server gf would make it intolerable on EVERY server, so it would screw those of us on servers where it isn't totally terrible. On my dps, queues are rarely longer than 30 mins (and often much shorter).

 

A cross server queue would not fix your problem, there would be a tremendous increase in the amount of dps lfg with an even proportionally lower amount of tanks / healers than there already is. The problem is not with gf, but with lack of players queuing in needed roles.

Edited April 5, 2013 by Likomg

Read the whole post you quoted, I didn't say it was tolerable on every server. But X-server gf would make it intolerable on EVERY server, so it would screw those of us on servers where it isn't totally terrible. On my dps, queues are rarely longer than 30 mins (and often much shorter).

 

A cross server queue would not fix your problem, there would be a tremendous increase in the amount of dps lfg with an even proportionally lower amount of tanks / healers than there already is. The problem is not with gf, but with lack of players queuing in needed roles.

 

Similarly cross server will cause many tanks and healers to stop queuing. For example I only really queue on my tank to scout the talent on my server for potential guildies. Otherwise I queue pre-made with guildies.

 

Cross server is not the answer. Cross server is NEVER the answer. Unless you're a DPS who just like whinging about their wait time and doesn't want to DO anything to change it.

Implementing an ETA timer for the group finder wouldn't be *too* hard (there are any number of possible implementations, the most basic is just adding a "time in queue" variable and using that to calculate the average at whatever interval is chosen), but I question the relevant value of it. While it's definitely nice to get a baseline expectation for the length of the queue, but it's hard to say exactly how that would speed up the queues (which is what the general desire it). It would likely make long wait times a bit more bearable (though it's just as likely to make queues longer than those listed even more annoying as said queue seems to stretch on even longer), but, if anything, it would likely make queue times *longer* (since it encourages people that are waiting to wait longer by telling them that they can expect a queue pop in XXX time).

 

I'm actually curious what exactly developers *can* do to reduce queue times. I know WoW implemented a system that provided bonus gold and a loot bag (with cosmetic items and consumables) if you queued up for a role with a certain level of current demand. I know it worked to reduce the queue times in the short term, but I recall someone saying that, after that initial drop in queue time, it bounced back, though I'm not sure how true it was (I never really played DPS so I never really had to deal with long queue times so I couldn't make a reasonable comparison; I also wonder whether the reversion to old queue times came from players decided the loot bags weren't worth it or because of some other reason to do with the reward structure needing to be increased to make it a viable form of reinforcement). It wouldn't be too hard to implement a similar system in TOR (though you'd probably have to deal with people queuing up for roles they aren't spec'd or geared for more than they already do), but I think you'd need to determine what the effects of such a system actually are over the long term.

Eh, most ETA's I've seen are hardly ever accurate... probably a lot more trouble than it's worth for the devs.

eta is tricky, most of the time its no heals or no tank around, hard to know when they gonna q

EA/BW should add a gearcheck-feature!

 

it's a bad joke when you queue up for more than an hour for lost island only to get a tank with 13,5k health

 

W

Edited April 5, 2013 by Wolvereen

am a lvl 50 dps and its always hard to get on a group on the finder when you don't even know how long you gotta wait like all mmog games if your a tank or healer of course you get in right away but i really hate being tho 2 classes

 

Do dailies while you wait for the finder to pop up and it will do so at the worst possible moment.

As many here, I'd be against cross server ques (as are BW, from many comments). It would do absolutely nothing to help (and would probably increase ninja looting massively). If 90% of people queued in GF are DPS then it's reasonable to expect similar numbers on other servers. It makes no difference if you chuck 50 tanks and 50 healers into your queue if 900 DPS follow along with them...

 

Cross server is not the answer. Cross server is NEVER the answer. Unless you're a DPS who just like whinging about their wait time and doesn't want to DO anything to change it.

 

Indeed. What DPS could do, of course, is not moan at healers and tanks if things don't go perfectly at all times. I have to be in the right mood to consider tanking an HM and, even then, I only tend to do it when I can't be bothered sitting in a queue.

 

It wouldn't be too hard to implement a similar system in TOR (though you'd probably have to deal with people queuing up for roles they aren't spec'd or geared for more than they already do)

 

That system sounds perfect (and fair - given the supply and demand) if the playerbase used it in the spirit it was meant in. I suspect you're right though. Imagine, after being in GF for an hour you're stuck with a "tank" in DPS gear who has simply changed his stance so he can get more loot and an instant pop from the queue. The forum servers would be in meltdown!

ETA impossible.

 

But ques would be nice.

Am I only healer in que waiting for tank? or am I 4th healer in a line?

If I'm a <insert number here> healer waiting for tank, I will relog to my tank instead. (same from tank perspective).

Yes, a number would be nice. I don't care too much on my healer or tank, but my marauder... the wait gets to be irritating frequently. I could start getting a good ballpark of eta vs. time of day with just the "how many are ahead of me?"

 

The problem isn't so much that I need gear (mara's almost fully optimized BH... which is great for another coupld days O_o), its that I actually LIKE running Flashpoints, and I like playing the marauder.... and there are only so many dailies to run through and so much time in the day (especially when you're also trying to gear up your tank).

Some kind of timer, or player counter would be a great idea. Also, I would love it if you can invite people (or be invited) with the group finder still ticking. Of course, speeding up the process a little more. It's annoying having to leave the finder, be invited/invite then rejoin from the bottom.

I'm not trying to troll or anything like that but...

 

Why is this still not X-server yet?

 

Because the silly devs didn't even think a group finder was needed any more than servers supporting large populations were needed.

 

They seem to be slowly shifting their mind set and acknowledging their mistakes, but it still seems they have these outdated notions about good game design and don't fully grasp the importance of robust social and grouping tools.

 

Also there are way too many shrills on the forums who will create endless 'the sky is falling - my server community will be destroyed' threads if they were to state cross server GF was coming soon.

 

And to the OP, i think we don't have an estimated wait for GF because the devs can't figure out how to estimate one.

Edited April 5, 2013 by DawnAskham

That system sounds perfect (and fair - given the supply and demand) if the playerbase used it in the spirit it was meant in. I suspect you're right though. Imagine, after being in GF for an hour you're stuck with a "tank" in DPS gear who has simply changed his stance so he can get more loot and an instant pop from the queue. The forum servers would be in meltdown!

 

The question would be how much more often would those occasions be than currently occur. Yes, you might get some DPS that queue up as a tank to get bonus loot but, if said loot is only given if/when you *finish* the FP (which is how WoW did it), it would prevent people from going in with the wrong spec/gear to some extent (since, if you're short a tank and the guy you get *isn't* tank spec or gear, you're not going to finish). Probably the biggest impetus would be providing a specific additional benefit to get people that *can* tank to *start* tanking (such as those people that could tank but are afraid to for whatever reason; additional reward would shift the risk:reward slightly in their favor).

 

The bigger problem, as I see it, from a developmental standpoint, is determining whether it would have a real, lasting effect upon the queuing role ratio. If the ratio remains the same regardless of changes (for example, if it ends up that the increased queuing of tanks and healers simply encourages the same proportion of DPS to become active queuers, the ratio would remain the same and the queue times would be largely the same). If the system is just as likely to cause *no* improvement to the queue, the system would just give extra loot to tanks and healers without really benefiting the DPS at all (which is a bit unfair since said tanks and healers are already benefiting from short queue times).

 

It's a question of determining what the devs can do to actually do to impact the activity ratio of given roles in the long term, and most of the solutions that can be come up with are low confidence at best. Unless you design the game itself around a ratio of roles that closely represents what is actually played (which would require significant ability to predict player behavior and role choices before said players have gotten to *make* said choices), you're always going to have problems like this.

I really don't get it...On my healers I have instant pop most of the time, if not 5 mins is usually about the max. On DPS, I go do BH dailies and it usually pops durning them, So less than 20 mins. There is a sweat time to que for HM FP on the server I am on. If I que early it takes 30 mins or longer and if I que late if takes forever, but durning that 2 hour window thing run pretty fast.

 

If it takes too long I look at friends list and guild members.