Party Search Feature?

Why does nobody use it? People here say it's unintuitive but it took me like 2 minutes of tinkering to figure out how to use it properly. However nobody uses it....even on Selbina, one of the most populated servers, I was the only one using it :X The feature itself, as a basic function, works fine. It could use some tweaks but it's fully functioning right now. But why does nobody use it?

Anyways, here are some suggestions for tweaks to do to it to make it a little easier.

1: Default it to search for 7 members of the creator's rank +/- 5 Levels so that you don't have to spend time doing it yourself.
2: Allow up to 6 different classes to be searched for (currently only allows one class or "all" per slot and max 4 slots)
3: Default the search to the current area.
4: Instead of "None" being the default for the search fields (Location, Type, Class), change it to "Any." Currently it searches for any but it says "None" anyways -- this makes it more confusing.
5: Allow the recruiter to choose up to 3 leves to recruit for.
6: Allow Behests to be an option to choose to recruit for, and have only people signed up for those Behests be able to join that party. *EDIT* Or better yet, make Behests auto-party.
7: Put up flags/symbols by usernames to show recruitment, along with "X/Y" to show how many members they currently have and how many they want total
8: Allow the "Search" to work like Recruitment, but it has the player auto-join groups that are recruiting their parameters (EX: Archer R15 wants to do Levequests in Dry Bone, so he puts "Archer, 15, Regional Levequests, Camp Dry Bone" into the search and it will automatically send a party-join request to the recruiters recruiting those parameters.
9: Allow the translate function to work in the recruitment messages. This would go a long way
10: Put Levequest names in the translator >_>
11: Instead of auto-joining a party when searching, send a join-request to the recruiter.

So what are your guys' ideas to improve the Party Recruit/Search feature? And why do you think it's not used?

Also, don't say "We need the recruiter from FFXI." That tells me nothing since I didn't play FFXI, and a lot of other people here didn't play FFXI. So describe the system rather than just naming it.

Yeah I never understood either. The function is stupidly easy to understand I think they're all just stupid/retarded.

i used to use the search function when the game first came out for parties and I remember it being sort of awkward that people could join the group without a invite from the leader. people would filter in and out of the party without anyone really being able to control it. people may have had better experiences with the search function then I did though

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Originally Posted by AuroraBorealis

i used to use the search function when the game first came out for parties and I remember it being sort of awkward that people could join the group without a invite from the leader. people would filter in and out of the party without anyone really being able to control it. people may have had better experiences with the search function then I did though

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That is strange. TIME TO ADD SUGGESTION NUMBER 11!

The current party system works, fine. There is nothing complicated about it at all... honestly it is more or less strait forward.

People simply refuse to use it because other people refuse to use it......

To put it another words no one uses it because there is never anyone using it so it does not work.

This is the biggest community problem in the whole game atm.. People demand square to make FFXI's party system again... but guess what if no one uses it it will 100% fail as well.

The only things wrong with the current system is the playerbase, this is why the party search feature has been on the back burner for so long... the existing one is fine.

A party seeking flag feature like XI is still better because there doesn't have to already be an existing party for the tool to work. You can just put up a flag notifying others that you want to party, and when the group does form they can find you. Sometimes just seeing a group of people with party seeking flags up is enough to spawn a party where one wouldn't have existed before. You can immediately see how many people nearby might want to play with you.

FFXI's system was simple and it worked. I'd rather they at least give us the option to do that rather than invest a bunch of time tweaking a tool that hardly anyone wants to use. Maybe if it was easier for people to form the party initially then more of them would be filling out the ranks with the existing tool afterwards.

/sea all 1-50 text display would be faster.
(brings up a menu from evryone Rank1 to 50) Limits you from showing everyone if your search is too large. /sea all 30-34 would be more realistic.

Flag up icons.
Player Leader Icons
Party Icons
Seek Leve Icons

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Originally Posted by Jaide

A party seeking flag feature like XI is still better because there doesn't have to already be an FFXI's system was simple and it worked. I'd rather they at least give us the option to do that rather than invest a bunch of time tweaking a tool that hardly anyone wants to use. Maybe if it was easier for people to form the party initially then more of them would be filling out the ranks with the existing tool afterwards.

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Its really a hassle to fill all the info in and search menu to menu of players for correct groups.
Its also quite useless right now since there i no real grouping what so ever.

A lot more people who play XIV in general and stuck around with it played XI than didn't play XI, that's evident by the poll, and the people I meet in game. The reason why we'd like it to be like XI's party search system is because it had more features, and more features than most mmos. We really want the search commands with it, the new party system is ok, but it relies on someone to have a party going on, XI's did not, people could start parties when they saw people with their flags up. This is a better system to many of us. Saying I didn't play Xi's so I dont know the system is kinda lazy though, I never played WoW and I look up sh*t on that crappy game all the time, if its an important point of comparison.

Although I agree that it is simple to use and understand, and that a lack of playerbase is a strong factor, I still feel the same ends could be acheived much more fluidly through re-implementation of the party flag and /sea functions. In the creation of a really effective party setup, you would want particular jobs to fill particular roles; and setting/re-setting the search parameters every 60min. would get really exhausting with this in mind.

Additionally, I remember some parties continuing hours after I'd disbanded and found someone to replace me. It seems like, with the current situation, that the parameters would constantly need re-settting and, with a larger playerbase, people would constantly be told "No, we're full." which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I really miss the individual party notes (seacom) you could apply to notify the leader what you were seeking beforehand, as well as being able to use the translator within it.

They did say this a couple weeks ago:

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Originally Posted by Rukkirii

We confirmed with the development team that along with the implementation of instanced raids, they will be looking into enhancing the convenience of the party member search system. A raid search option will be added along with a feature that allows players to indicate they are searching for a party outside of raids.

We are currently performing thorough tests to ensure there are no problems for implementation.

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http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ght=seek+party

Auto-Translate Feature in the Comment section would be very helpful. And even better if the Leves could be translated.

FF party search needs easier interface.