The new seek invite function

[Doho]

they need to add a proper search function and flags on top of this system first of all. secondly, introduce sp chains and you'll magically start seeing pick up groups banding together to hunt monsters. it's too simple.

[Zhinse]

I think the common problem with the system is that people don't want to understand it.

I'm not saying that we should be content with what we have now, And I think we should use this thread to constructively contribute ideas and complaints since it is climbing in page count.

While I pretty much understood the system and all the buttons as soon as i saw it, it seems the party menu is just intimidating to people rather than broken. One of the things that does not exist in this game that FFXI had is the classic JRPG "Help!" bar, which scrolled by the description of everything you put your cursor on. That along with the visual additions that I've added would greatly improve not only understanding of the party search function, but would also raise awareness and lower the intimidation factor of the game and function.

[Zhinse]

A quick mock-up:

http://imageupload.org/?d=8ABE9C821

Yeah I suck at design, sorry for that. Yeah this won't work with a gamepad, but again, they announced we would have two different interfaces. But that's an idea.

Great Mockup! Visuals really sell the idea. The Bugs and problems I see with your idea is that once you get all 7 battle classes, the massive grid itself would scare people off. Second is the actual results you would get from that search could be confusing.

With the comment box, the player can just say what roles he or she wants the play in a party.

[Deceptistar]

why cant they just go with the FFXI filter method where:

-you can change your search comment without 'closing' the whole thing
-you can look at more than 5 pple at a time
-it lists the areas they are in
-it allows you to use auto-translate in there
-it allows little colored dots that specify what your looking for and compare with other seekers, than a whole pulldown menu that singles pple out and possibly miss a good seek.

[CoolBlitz]

SE, Can we please have a tutorial page for the new seek invite function you added?

Thanks,

[Nipa]

Great Mockup! Visuals really sell the idea. The Bugs and problems I see with your idea is that once you get all 7 battle classes, the massive grid itself would scare people off.

Thanks but it's only an adaption of one of the best group finders existing, the EQ2 one:
http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/6...window1pr4.jpg

I've done a second version, that should be more complete:
http://b1.ge.tt/8b29NI6/2. LFG.png

Changed the orientation of the box and added the second part of the LFM. As for the size of the grid, since the jobs are only shown when a player is actually having that job, when a player starts the windows won't be really filled up. After months of play it will become cluttered, but the player will have had all the time to get used to it.

It still doesn't solve the case of a 7 jobs player who open the tool for the first time after 6 months of play though (which may be a real current problem...).

Second is the actual results you would get from that search could be confusing.

Easy answer: don't show the played jobs in the LFM result, but only the roles the player can handle on the rank set by the group maker. Have all the job show on a mouse-over of the player, of course.

Again, EQ 2:
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/8...window2jn5.jpg

[kukurumei]

Basically the party match system sucks so much you have to wonder if that person was fired and didn't bother to assign a new individual.

Considering how little actually coding it takes to redesign it with a much more friendlier GUI and better filters, it's a wonder why it hasn't been done after a year.

It's just a glorified database flagging filter...it shouldn't be hard at all.

[Serio]

I have sent feedback to SE in the past about this issue also. Nobody in Wutai that I've seen uses this feature, not even now with the new seek invite function.

So here's the things I find wrong with the current system:

-Can't edit comments or parameters.
-Searching for invite seekers uses a class filter, rather than a rank filter. Actually, a rank filter should just be added because it's really practical.
-"Purpose/Location: none" should be "all," and encompass all fields rather than it being an independent field. In fact, "all" should be on all filter options including class and rank.
-"Location" can be abolished if auto-translate was added to the comment section. (optional)
-WTF is the Local Levequest option for really?
-You can't just use "Name" to search for a player, unless they are seeking. Even then, you must have specific parameters set (Which would be fixed if "Purpose: all" was added).
-A /invite command would be great as a quick way to seek invite.

[Davorok]

On Day 1 of Patch 1.18 I got a couple of PT invites (for my ARC) out of the blue because they wanted me for Toto-Rak. I declined as I had not completed the req. quests yet. I took my time, did all the available quests from all 3 Companies, then set myself to "Seek Invite" till the 20 minute timer ran out but not before doing a Search which only returned myself as "Seeking".

Then I created a Seek Members for Toto-Rak "room" but again the timer ran out before anyone responded and this time a "Search" returned no results as not even I was seeking a PT anymore.

It does seem as though it would work (clumsily) if people used it but it stinks anyway so please add this to the Fix-It List, even prioritize this as more PT content becomes available.

[SuzakuCMX]

This morning I saw 2 people using the feature.

Both JP again :[

It seems only JP use it, and even then, they can't find anybody on it.