"Content Finder" - Please be careful

[Evenstar]

First of all I really want to say "great post". People may agree or not, but this is the way a post should be! Giving an opinion with examples and no /cry sentences at all!

Dungeon Finder got good and bad sides, as all things have. It makes you wait less, but it also attracts a lot of idiots for the reasons you mentioned. There is no social control, so people just act like total ass hats.

[Cycloptichorn]

And, let's remember that a lot of the people who use this feature are those who can't find regular parties and groups themselves due to their poor behavior and rudeness.

Dungeon Finder is like a concentrator for bad players to get together with each other; a tough situation to consistently enjoy. But, it'll hardly be REQUIRED, so if you don't like it, I guess you don't have to use it...

[Evenstar]

Because of the reasons mentioned in this topic I actually never ever used the DF in WoW. I always did runs with my guild or no runs .. I just was not capable of dealing with random people that were complete jerks 90% of the time.

[Frein]

In all honesty, the reason why WoW grew so much in WotLK(expansion in which the dungeon finder was released) was solely because of the Dungeon Finder. The majority of people who play MMOs play it to enjoy content and the Dungeon Finder made the content so accessible. The FFXIV devs want to make a good game, but they also want people to play their game. Content needs to be accessible for the game to grow. The developers realize this. The Content Finder is coming. People need to learn to deal with it.

The thing is, WoW didn't have a good LFG tool, so people had to shout for groups before DF was added.

[FestAkos]

The thing is, WoW didn't have a good LFG tool, so people had to shout for groups before DF was added.

That's a pretty good point. A good LFG system doesn't need to be cross server but I have yet to see a game implement one that's worth mentioning. WoW's Dungeon Finder is seriously the best solution.

WoW is currently in the process of developing a Raid Finder which will work like the Dungeon Finder. And with it they are instituting new roll rules such as tanks can only roll on tank gear, healers only on heal gear and DPS only on DPS gear. This will almost completely abolish ninja looters in these systems. The problem of jerks being jerks is unsolvable in all honesty. There is seriously no way to solve it other than not joining random groups.

I'd seriously be all for a LFG system that was not cross server as long as the wait time was as short as a cross server system would be but that simply isn't possible. Accessible content is what sells games. And FFXIV being more popular means more money to develop more content faster, best servers and a better overall experience.

[Frein]

The problem of jerks being jerks is unsolvable in all honesty. There is seriously no way to solve it other than not joining random groups.

It actually isn't. If the server community is strong enough, it will automatically police its members. If this is your goal, you should absolutely not dilute the populations by letting people jump outside their server.

Perhaps it's just me, and I realize we live in a "must get everything NOW!" time, but I'd rather wait for something worth waiting for than immediately get something not worth getting, even if it slows down my progression within the game.

[Zumi]

Only the FFXIV community would argue against something like the dungeon finder. Its a simple fast way to get a group together and not have to shout for hours on end in town and never find people.

Dungeon finder is one of the best features WoW has. Gives players a choice on how hey want to level, they can do quests for exp or they can use dungeon finder get exp that way. Before the duengeon finder existed people had to spam the trade and general chat to try and recruit people to do some basic 5 man dungeons. Could be looking over an hour to find everyone you need.

FFXIV currently has no good way of putting a party together to do anything. I have got level 34 gladiator started playing FFXIV at the CE launch have never joined a single party. Due to the fact the game has no way of finding other people to play with. Most of the main towns are pretty much ghost towns you see people around crystals a lot but a lot of people are pretty antisocial and won't talk to you. If pull all the 30 leves in Gridania then go to the crystal to do them and see other people there and say, "anyone want to team up to these faster," 9/10 times you won't get any response from people.

With cross server content finder there will always be people around your level to do instances with which in turn will make leveling and finding groups much less painful and leveling should be a lot easier.

[Wolfie]

Only the FFXIV community would argue against something like the dungeon finder. Its a simple fast way to get a group together and not have to shout for hours on end in town and never find people.

Arguing against user friendliness and accessibility improvements has been a common theme in the SE MMO community. Where have you been?

[HoolieWho]

Only the FFXIV community would argue against something like the dungeon finder. Its a simple fast way to get a group together and not have to shout for hours on end in town and never find people.

There is a middle ground between auto-grouping and having to shout for a group. That middle ground is populated by useful seek/search tools. Yes, these tools require some initiative on behalf of the people who use them, but good tools can minimize the effort involved. Let people seek for the content they want, with their character resume on display and let party leaders advertise openings. This is the system I want.

An auto-group option if fine for those who want to be in parties formed by such a system, but I'd prefer a mechanism based on communication between prospective party members utilizing tools more sophisticated than /shout.

[Misteyes]

There is a middle ground between auto-grouping and having to shout for a group. That middle ground is populated by useful seek/search tools. Yes, these tools require some initiative on behalf of the people who use them, but good tools can minimize the effort involved. Let people seek for the content they want, with their character resume on display and let party leaders advertise openings. This is the system I want.

An auto-group option if fine for those who want to be in parties formed by such a system, but I'd prefer a mechanism based on communication between prospective party members utilizing tools more sophisticated than /shout.

Exactly.

I want a party search feature, even a cross realm one, maybe even one that automatically alerts me when a party for my level is available and gives me a list of people to send whispers to (or gives whoever checked the "I'm willing to lead" box a list of people to send whispers to). I want to be able to meet people, and be able to pick those same people again (or avoid them) if I see them on the list in the future.

I just don't want to automatically be grouped with random strangers, cross realm, with no recourse if they decide to abuse the group. No matter how many failsafes are in place to prevent specific, game mechanical abuses, I'd rather be grouped with people who don't want to trod the rest of the party into the dirt.

Short of that, I want forming a party to be as quick and easy as is possible. That's why I say, "Please be careful" and not, "Don't do it."