Dungeon Finder

[Murugan]

First, I can do without the condescension to "my generation". Do you even know how old I am? I've been playing games for over 20 years, I'm not an impatient 13 year old who needs to get talked down to by the grown ups about how great the good ol' days were (they weren't, and nostalgia is an evil thing). I have a job, I have friends, I get out, and that is EXACTLY the reason I want these changes--I want to have fun in this game in a timeframe that doesn't invade time spent with my friends or my responsibilities. If the game tries to make me choose, the game is at fault because you should never put a game before real life.

I would, in fact, contend that it's just the opposite. The game forcing you to spend hours putting together a group, getting to the target area, and possibly having nothing to show for it because you didn't get through by the time limit all exclude those of us with busy schedules who are still gamers in a way that other games don't. Games, especially these days with gamers who are older and have families, should accommodate those who don't have 8 hours to spend on a single xp party but still want to actually play the content they're paying good money for.

Now I'm not opposed to making the dungeon finder single server, but it can also lead to some issues. For instance, if you're still learning your class (which you will be doing the mid-level dungeon) and you don't do well the first time, you'll get blacklisted by them even after you learn how to play. This is part of why I liked the dungeon finder in WoW, I could take on a new role for my paladin (playing tank when I'm used to DPS, for instance) and not worry about how idiotic I look to people I'll need to deal with later. Then when you learn your class and the dungeons, you run with your guild.

It has absolutely nothing to do with time. A proper party search function (which really only needs a party seek function/seeking for party list right now as well as a better comment box with auto translate functionality) would work just as fast a dungeon finder without the need to have the server randomly put people together.

Also accountability does not automatically mean someone is "blacklisted" for making a mistake while playing. In all my time playing FFXI I never once did this to someone, and I always formed parties myself if I could not find one quickly (I still do). People are fully capable of understanding others limitations in pick up groups, if they truly can't deal with that then they will play exclusively in statics anyways.

With automatic dungeon finders instead of getting help to learn how to play your class in a party you are more likely to have the people simply abandon you there and requeue to try to find a group with someone who does know how to play (unless the content is so broken that it doesn't matter how you play). They'll still tell their linkshellmates about you, and they'll still laugh at you only maybe you can hide behind the chance that you'll never run into each other again. But I don't think that that sounds like a very good solution to your problem though.

You should always care about how you look to others, you are sharing in their time as well. Your time is so important to you that you want to place all these limitations on the game, well chances are other people value their time just as much and don't want it wasted by you so that you can "not worry about how idiotic you look" before you play with your linkshell. Next time you don't know how to play your class in a certain situation ask for some pointers, 9 times out of 10 in a pick up group people will be more than willing to help you out. Especially in a game like FFXIV where most people play multiple jobs.

[OJtheLIONKing]

First, I have to get ready for work soon, but I'll post once more.

It has absolutely nothing to do with time. A proper party search function (which really only needs a party seek function/seeking for party list right now as well as a better comment box with auto translate functionality) would work just as fast a dungeon finder without the need to have the server randomly put people together.

Not really. What you're proposing basically exists in FFXI already, which is exactly the game I was referring to. No doubt, it SHOULD be implemented in XIV because they shouldn't force people to use a dungeon finder, the game needs a better party search anyway, and it'll help those who avoid a dungeon finder or just want a group for something else stand out from the crowd. However, it is inadequate for putting parties together in a timely fashion. In ideal conditions, it took me 15-20 minutes to put together a party and get to the destination in FFXI, which is close to the max time you would have to wait in a dungeon finder with a similar queue time to WoW. Having to find members like that is a large reason why FFXI encouraged such unhealthy super long single session xp parties, as well. Lastly, although it's not as bad as FFXI, there is class elitism in this game and it will grow when they change the battle system. I don't think anyone who ever played a dragoon or a puppetmaster in FFXI before a year or two ago would want a return to that party system.

Also accountability does not automatically mean someone is "blacklisted" for making a mistake while playing. In all my time playing FFXI I never once did this to someone, and I always formed parties myself if I could not find one quickly (I still do). People are fully capable of understanding others limitations in pick up groups, if they truly can't deal with that then they will play exclusively in statics anyways.

I didn't do it either, but it doesn't mean it doesn't occur. In any case, this also applies to dungeon finder pugs. I am perfectly able to form a group of people I know or a static if a dungeon finder exists, and indeed I think most would prefer to run entirely with people they know, but the reason pugs exists is because this isn't always possible.

With automatic dungeon finders instead of getting help to learn how to play your class in a party you are more likely to have the people simply abandon you there and requeue to try to find a group with someone who does know how to play (unless the content is so broken that it doesn't matter how you play). They'll still tell their linkshellmates about you, and they'll still laugh at you only maybe you can hide behind the chance that you'll never run into each other again. But I don't think that that sounds like a very good solution to your problem though.

I don't want to make assumptions, but have you played WoW? How recently? Although problems do exist (particularly after they launched the recent troll dungeons), most people are willing to help someone who's new or going through their first time. There are griefers and jerks, but despite the preconceptions people have about WoW players, random dungeon groups are surprisingly friendly. The WoW team foresaw the potential for the jerk problem, put a fairly long cooldown timer on randoms, and it works--most people are willing to work with their group rather than have to wait 15 minutes then another wait on top of that to requeue. What you say just isn't really true.

To paraphrase Yoshi-P, there should be as much time spent actually doing stuff in the game as possible, as opposed to preparing to do stuff or moving towards stuff. I want to play the game, not spend an hour putting together a party to walk to a dungeon to spend 30 minutes actually doing the thing I want to do.

[Murugan]

First, I have to get ready for work soon, but I'll post once more.



Not really. What you're proposing basically exists in FFXI already, which is exactly the game I was referring to. No doubt, it SHOULD be implemented in XIV because they shouldn't force people to use a dungeon finder, the game needs a better party search anyway, and it'll help those who avoid a dungeon finder or just want a group for something else stand out from the crowd. However, it is inadequate for putting parties together in a timely fashion. In ideal conditions, it took me 15-20 minutes to put together a party and get to the destination in FFXI, which is close to the max time you would have to wait in a dungeon finder with a similar queue time to WoW. Having to find members like that is a large reason why FFXI encouraged such unhealthy super long single session xp parties, as well. Lastly, although it's not as bad as FFXI, there is class elitism in this game and it will grow when they change the battle system. I don't think anyone who ever played a dragoon or a puppetmaster in FFXI before a year or two ago would want a return to that party system.



I didn't do it either, but it doesn't mean it doesn't occur. In any case, this also applies to dungeon finder pugs. I am perfectly able to form a group of people I know or a static if a dungeon finder exists, and indeed I think most would prefer to run entirely with people they know, but the reason pugs exists is because this isn't always possible.




I don't want to make assumptions, but have you played WoW? How recently? Although problems do exist (particularly after they launched the recent troll dungeons), most people are willing to help someone who's new or going through their first time. There are griefers and jerks, but despite the preconceptions people have about WoW players, random dungeon groups are surprisingly friendly. The WoW team foresaw the potential for the jerk problem, put a fairly long cooldown timer on randoms, and it works--most people are willing to work with their group rather than have to wait 15 minutes then another wait on top of that to requeue. What you say just isn't really true.

FFXI was time consuming not because of the party search function (though FFXIV lacked a party leader searching for members function which this game has), but rather class imbalance/much longer curve/length of travel/the way you had to change jobs/and a myriad of other reasons why FFXI was more time consuming than playing FFXIV.

The reason pugs exist is because that isn't always possible, but what you are proposing is destroying pugs and replacing them with random automatic groups. A randomly assigned group is not a pick up group.

I have played Rift which is virtually the same game. I also played Vanguard, EQ2, and World of Warcraft before any of its expansions. That doesn't sound like a better solution than pick up grouping though, and in fact it just makes it even worse when you are stuck with someone who is deliberately attempting to ruin your experience.

People are fully capable of forming groups on their own in a quick and effective manner, it is what we as human beings do best in fact, without this ability we would be completely lost. What they lack in FFXIV is the proper tools to aid them in doing this, what we need is information. Information about who wants to group, the ability to quickly communicate through effective comments advertising specifics that can help group formation, and better tools to facilitate multi language grouping.