Breakfast Topic: Are you using the Looking For Group channel?
by Robin Torres 
Dec 10th 2009 at 8:00AM
Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a world... in a land... there was a zone-specific Looking For Group channel. Then Blizzard saw fit to make it realm-wide so that no matter where you were -- whether questing or gathering or hanging out in big cities -- you could have a channel to make group requests to anyone in your faction not in an instance.
The unintended, though easily foreseen, consequence was that Barrens/Elwynn chat spread to all zones like a plague. And Blizzard took it away, eventually, claiming that it was adding functionality by stuffing it in their new (at the time) LFG functionality. Some protested and created their own LFG channels, but most were satisfied to keep it in the big cities and take it to Tradechat, transforming it forever.
Blizzard has tried to clean up Trade Chat since then. They created the Guild Recruitment Channel, which was supposed to take recruitment spam out of Trade. But it only turns on automatically for unguilded characters, therefore preventing guilds from luring already guilded players away from their current home. And now they've brought back the Looking For Group channel, at least to the big cities, in the hopes of taking some of the group chatter away from Trade Chat. So far, I have yet to see it used.
Well, other than the time I used it...
I said "boo".
No one answered.
I suspect there is nothing that can be done to save Trade Chat. The damage is done. People are comfy there. And why split your requests across multiple channels when you can just use the same one for all? I submit that Blizzard should just change it to City Chat or Horde/Alliance Chat and be done with it.
Is the Looking for Group channel being used on your realm? If so, for what? Are you using it yourself? And if not, why not?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Gamer am I Dec 10th 2009 8:02AM
I haven't used it, but the only thing I've been doing that involves groups is the random heroics, and I don't need a channel for that.
Paultab Dec 10th 2009 10:11AM
Ran my first random Heroic last night and it worked perfectly. On a low-pop server like mine this new tool is a godsend. I plan to use it often!
Calybos Dec 11th 2009 6:36AM
The best use I can think of for it is those dungeons where the new Dungeon Finder won't let you choose it from the list (because you're too high level), but you still need to run it (because the quest is still green in your log).
Which is, thankfully, a somewhat uncommon situation.
blindlinus Dec 10th 2009 8:06AM
the new LFG system has a ton of flaws. like if you have a full roup and one person doesn'T pick a specific role (picks heals AND dps for example), you will be automatically removed from the queue. also, i think that the dungeon deserter debuff should be removed from the game. period. i understand it's purpose in BG's, it keeps people from hopping around and leaving what they feel is a losing game. the matches generally have a set amount of time they can last, so just leaving because things aren't going your way does deserve a debuff. however... some people are TERRIBLE at this game, and some people are woefully undergeared for the role they are trying to fill (i.e tank or heals). you can spend all day wiping on a boss with a bad group, so there should be no punishment for leaving a PvE group. for example what if you are in a fail heroic for a while, it's obviously not going anywhere and you can't get people to fill the remaining bosses, and then your guild wants you to go do something with them? you will get the debuff and essentially makes you useless for another 15 minutes. if theyare going to try to force us to suffer through playing with idiots via this debuff than this game has sunk further than i ever expected and it may well be time to stop playing.
peagle Dec 10th 2009 8:10AM
You outline a lot of issues and no real solutions other than removing the debuff, which is a necessary evil to prevent abuse. I recommend you follow your own advice and quit until a time when you are able to fairly evaluate a tool that has to overcome innumerate hurdles to be even half effective.
Scard Dec 10th 2009 8:14AM
Please note: the article is about the new LFG *channel* and NOT the new dungeon finder system.
I for one never used the old LFG channel, haven't used the new LFG channel and probably never will. Like was mentioned in the article, the Trade chat has forever changed and morphed into the current trade/LFG/guild recruitment/gold spam/whiner/lame anal joke channel.
Sleutel Dec 10th 2009 8:30AM
The debuff makes sense. Surely a 15-minute wait is a reasonable "price" to pay to get out of a bad group?
Kragragh Dec 10th 2009 8:42AM
If you don't like them, vote them out. What we have is better than what we had. You lose.
Foxfyr Dec 10th 2009 9:05AM
Blindlinus, if you were half as good as you think you are, you'd be able to carry groups through any Heroic you find yourself in. Granted, I've only had two days to test out the new system, but I have yet to find myself in one of the harder instances with anyone that truly didn't belong there.
I'm also reasonably sure the debuff you recieve for bailing on a group has no effect on you joining another group that is already formed. I think it just prevents you from using the LFG tool to hop around finding a group that is geared and skilled enough to drag your lazy butt through The Halls of Reflection. This debuff was made for people like you.
Gareth Dec 10th 2009 9:45AM
While the new dungeon finder system has its problems they're not the deserter debuff, that just stops terrible players from hoping from group to group until they find an easy-mode dungeon group (heroics are easy enough I'd say).
In some ways its done the game a favour, take for example my tank, I stopped playing mid way through Uldar on him so he "only" has 29k health, in the first group (Old Kingdoms) I got the "OMG! 29K!" from someone, fortunately the healer was made of sterner stuff and reckoned he could handle it. Miraculously we actually completed the dungeon very smoothly despite me not having a full set of T9, I put it just down to blind luck myself :D
So a positive point is this system forces people to actually experience things a bit harder now and then.
The biggest downside I believe though is long term, it does not add socially to the game since you meet people you cannot play further with. We shall see here though.
Aeternal Dec 10th 2009 11:37AM
Blindlinus, "if theyare going to try to force us to suffer through playing with idiots via this debuff..." -- So Blizzard is forcing you to use this new lfg system how? I mean if you and your 6k gs buddies are so awesome at this game, why in the world would you if need to use the random dungeon finder?
So blindlinus, you are either seriously confused about how this system works or everyone on your server hates you as much I do and no one will pug with you.
So which is it? You either don't know how to form a pug on your own, or everyone hates you?
You can still form pugs the old fashion way, this way you and your friends can kick anyone out of heroic uk that has less than 5k gs. No one is forcing you to use the new lfg. Your welcome for the heads up on this tasty bit of info.
Gareth: someone really thought 29khp wasn't enough to tank ok? 29k hp is enough to tank all of naxx25.
And I hate gearscore. I hate it. Worst addon ever made.
kia Dec 10th 2009 5:18PM
@Gareth:
"The biggest downside I believe though is long term, it does not add socially to the game since you meet people you cannot play further with. We shall see here though."
Don't forget, coming soon (with Cataclysm? or is it before?) is the ability to communicate and keep friends lists cross-server (and even cross-game), when the full functionality of battle.net's Real ID is released. http://www.wow.com/2009/08/27/battle-net-2-0-to-allow-cross-faction-communication/
blindlinus Dec 10th 2009 6:45PM
wow, lots of hate, lots of flaming. admittedly... lfg channel, not lfg system, that's my bad... chalk that up to early morning posting.
but back to the point: it's not the yellow debuff that prevents you from using the lfg system i'm complaining about, it's the gray debuff that prevents you from entering other PvE instances. i was in group with 4 guildies on patch day. instance servers were down. after a half an hour of trying to enter *any* instance we gave up and disbanded group to go do WG, and we were immediately hit with the debuff, although we had left queue and never even entered into an instance.
@peagle - you're right i do not offer any real solutions because i think just removing the debuff is enough. also, i'm not a programmer, i don't work for blizz, i'm just venting the same frustrations that i have heard from a number of people.
@kragragh - sometimes a group is full of fail, not just one person.
@foxfyr & aeternal - i have gotten people who were not up to par for H FoS. i had a tank who couldn't hold aggro on the first sets of trash mobs after giving him a 10 second head start to build aggro. i also had 2 tanks that were under the defense cap. also, i don't think i'm some kind of uber badass that can just plow through shit. i am merely a competent player who dislikes playing with very incompetent people. though i have not tried H HoR yet, i did H PoS last night and we wiped on scourgelord twice getting our strat down. the only pug was the tank, and though only had 25k health, nobody was judging him or blaming him for the problems. we got our shit together and decided that a holy pally getting the brand was too much of a hassle. i went resto as well and we rolled with 2 heals, that way when one healer got the brand they just stopped healing. made it way easier to deal with. and you're welcome for that tasty bit of info. oh btw, i don't have a 6k gearscore, i'm quite good at arranging pugs, i don't judge people based on GS, and i don't think there's anyone on my server that hates me with the exception of a warlock in a friend's guild who ninja looted gear to his friend. the reason he hates me? i got him gkicked from a pretty good guild. go ahead and flame me for getting a ninja what he deserves.
and yes GS is the worst thing ever. it doesn't count gems, chants or usefulness of stats for spec (i.e haste over crit for arcane mages). it also doesn't change the GS if lets say you go from resto to boomkin spec and remain in your resto gear. and finally, it can never measure skill or lack of.
and finally, if people ACTUALLY READ THE POST they would see that my concern isn't about gearscore or being able to kick people, it's about getting stuck in a bad group when you have friends/guildies calling and having to eat a 15 minute debuff (again, the gray one) before you can do any other PvE.
travis Dec 10th 2009 8:06AM
Yes, yes, and.... YES!
This is one of the best features that Blizz has ever added to the game. I now look forward to running the instances, esp the new ones, which are actually pretty fun, imo.
The only thing I wish they would fix is the fact you can't whisper anyone that's not on your server.
travis Dec 10th 2009 8:07AM
I take that back... I'm not using the channel, just the LFG system...
L2read... yea, I'm on it!
Nick S Dec 10th 2009 2:33PM
Despite several flaws, I agree - this is one of the best features Blizz has every implemented.
Darksoul1011 Dec 10th 2009 8:07AM
I personally forgot all about it. I was too busy wiping in Halls Of Reflection over and over.
I'm loving the ICC 5 mans btw.
As for the LFG chat, I will pop in there later today and see whats lurking about.
Odd Dec 10th 2009 8:09AM
I queue for a zone, usually Stormpeaks, to open the channel.
Zone lfg doesn't auto-add you to groups and you aren't whispered by people looking through the dungeon queues.
Then I ghost in the system waiting for anything interesting to come up.
Bjern Fita Dec 10th 2009 9:15AM
exactly what i (used to) do. love it.
hoping /lfg is used properly, but as a pretty well geared tank/healer I get instant random runs, or only go with guildies.
sorry random dps of my home server, can't help you anymore....
AltairAntares Dec 10th 2009 8:10AM
Before 3.3 at least it was fairy commonly used, though probably not as much as trade.