Global LFG Channel Causes Mass Chaos
by Mike D'Anna 
Jun 21st 2006 at 8:00AM
We expect there to be some bugs & annoyances on patch day, but one little surprise that we didn't count on was the revelation that the Looking For Group channel is now global, meaning whatever you type on it can be seen by anyone, anywhere on the server. While the reasoning behind this is clear (to make it easier for players to form groups without having to be in the same area), the actual implementation of it has wrecked havoc on both the servers I play on. As soon as the servers came back online yesterday & players realized the channel was global, the spam began in earnest, and has not slowed down one bit a day later. Completely off-topic conversations from LFG have taken over the entire text window, making reading any other chat a chore. Being on a RP server only makes it that much more annoying...it's like everywhere is the Barrens now.
Hopefully, Blizzard will correct this well-intentioned yet tragically-flawed mistake soon, before I'm forced to stay off the channel forever. Have you had this problem on your realm? Report in....
Filed under: Realm News, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Shalom Jun 21st 2006 8:24AM
all you have to do is leave the channel when your not looking for a group.
Hildar Jun 21st 2006 8:27AM
Same thing on my server. The entire night was a constant barrage of immature spamming followed by more posts asking the spammers to stop spamming. So, the LFG channel quickly turned into a mess. Needless to say, by the end of the evening I had turned off the LFG channel completely.
Urlic Jun 21st 2006 8:45AM
I had the exact same problem last night. After waiting the 4+hours for the patch to finally download, I was pretty incredulous to the fact that when I spawned in Duskwood, I was seeing Barrens chat-worthy material. Fortunately my guildmates told me how to ignore the damned mess. To be honest, I thought the LFG channel was fine the way it was. If you wanted to do a quest or two in an area, get into that zone and hit up the LFG. And if you wanted a more widespread chat head to a major town. What they were thinking with this is way beyond me.
Chris Jun 21st 2006 9:01AM
This was pretty much addressed in test.
If you don't like the channel, leave it. There are several channels that can "spam" the main screen (WorldDefense is one). If you're not actively looking for a group, and don't want to participate in inane conversation, leave the channel. If you decide you want to form a group, rejoin. It's simple.
Should have Blizzard left the channel off by default? Maybe. But then no one would really know about it. (Do average people know about /join WorldDefense)?
spencer Jun 21st 2006 9:13AM
Move it to another tab. Problem solved.
SilentBob Jun 21st 2006 9:15AM
Yep, all over Alleria, but as it was stated earlier, you can always turn off the channel or move it to another tab.
LnD Jun 21st 2006 9:34AM
honestly id rather like to see a global trade channel aswell... sucks standing in your local city spamming WTS [insert name of item here]
Duwanis Jun 21st 2006 9:35AM
WorldDefense is hardly what I would refer to as an essential channel. LFG, on the other hand, unless you have a guild with a significant number of people that are a) your level and b) want to do what you want to do when you want to do it, is important for finding those last few members to get an instance run going.
@Chris - if you know that everybody's left the channel because of spam, is there any point to rejoining? Look at the meeting stones. Nobody uses them. Why? Because nobody uses them. If everybody just leaves the LFG channel then you'll have the same sort of results.
So making it a global channel has three possible outcomes, as far as I see it - first, it gets spammed to heck, but people put up with it for the sake of finding a group. Second, people become conscientous and don't spam. Third, everybody leaves the channel and resorts to other means (whispers, calltoarms, local general, what-have-you) for group-finding, giving up on the channel as being the latest-and-greatest version of Barrens General. Which do you think is more likely?
Duwanis Jun 21st 2006 9:37AM
@LnD - trade channels are global, considering that they're only available in capitals and they currently span all capital cities.
steve Jun 21st 2006 9:46AM
I have a different take on global LFG. Suggestions about just moving it to a different tab or turning it off assume that you can find a group instantly, or quickly, once you enable the LFG channel. I play three characters + an AH mule and like to keep LFG enabled all of the time when grinding solo to look opportunistically for groups, especially for instances and quests that may be a little out of the way (Shadowfang Keep, anyone?). And, I could see a global LFG really helping when having someone bail partway through an instance and you need to pick up another fifth. The problem is that with all of the spam, you can't really tease out the LFG and LFM messages mixed in unless you are only watching the channel -- it is scrolling too fast. I don't have a better suggestion, but I was pretty disappointed when I saw, as one poster described it, LFG devolve into global-barrens-chat :(
Cohber Jun 21st 2006 9:48AM
"Move it to another tab. Problem solved."
That's not the point, though;
Before Global LFG: I can have the LFG channel on in the background and watch for good groups I have to join without being spammed.
Now: I have two choices. 1. Leave it on and get spammed or 2. Turn it off and maybe miss some groups that I wanted to join.
Charnel Jun 21st 2006 9:53AM
The previous implementation (shared across cities, but otherwise local zone) helped filter it to relevant LFG requests. Yes, in a city you had to read requests that were for wrong levels, but once you got to your target zone, they were usually similar to your needs. Now, sitting in WPL tryin to find a 5th for your Scholo group, you have to wade through all the random lowbie spam, not to mention the many that are not related to LFG.
Of the different things to change, that was one that wasn't broken. Why did they 'fix' it?
I agree with the above poster about the meeting stones- ok idea, but didn't catch on. Perhaps they could learn a trick from DAoC and add a LFG flag to the user, and then group leaders could look to see who is available based on their criteria.
Duwanis Jun 21st 2006 10:00AM
The best alternative I've found so far is to use Call To Arms (http://ui.worldofwar.net/ui.php?id=937). It will automatically pull out most LFG/LFMs and display them for you. It's not perfect, because you still get messages like "STOP SPAMMING LFG" etc., but it's a nice medium between ignoring the channel completely and trying to filter it out.
Lyle Jun 21st 2006 10:23AM
LFG should be broken down into global and local, and as world defense is restricted to Rank 11 and above, worldwide LFG should be restricted to level 55+. LFG should switch off by default in BGs.
PsyClerk Jun 21st 2006 10:27AM
It would be great if Blizzard GMs would do some strict moderation of that channel starting off. I think it would cool down the idiots who use it for non-LFG purposes and then they could scale back moderation.
Right now, I leave the channel as soon as I log on. On my server, it was made worthless immediately. Has anyone managed to make a good group out of this channel that would not have been possible before?
Stephen Jun 21st 2006 11:03AM
Excellent! I've been needing to update my ignore list for a while.
scott Jun 21st 2006 11:41AM
Left the LFG channel shortly after logging in. If they intend on keeping it this way they either need to make it so you can ignore an unlimited number of people or a way to ignore everyone in a level range
Mat Jun 21st 2006 11:46AM
I agree with Duwanis, and I'm betting that it's local general that ends up becoming the go to channel for finding a group.
Void Jun 21st 2006 11:48AM
Final Fantasy XI LFG interface...nuff said...
George Jun 21st 2006 12:16PM
My problem with the global LFG is two fold (aside from the Chuck Norris chat that took over the LFG channel for a while on Uldum), it's intimidating when you have a flood of high end UBRS, SCHOLO, ZF, HU, requests and here you are, a low level character looking for a couple of folks to kill Hogger.
Also last night, on Uldum, a couple of people who were looking for Deadmines and VC runs were getting hassled by the 55+ crowd, and folks in Goldshire looking to kill princess had moved their LFG requests to more quiet general channel.
I'd like to see the option to join channels that are level appropriate. That way as a player with several mid to low level characters, I can tune out endless spam of high level instance requests. On the flip side if I'm feeling generous or bored, my level 43 character can help someone run VC by simply joining /LFG10TO20.