Average wait time: Less than 5m.

[Iscah]

So what purpose does this estimated wait time serve if it says I'll have to wait less than 5 minutes on average, but it actually takes longer than 8 hours?

It isn't serving its purpose in that case. It is temporarily broken due to lack of data. The calculation doesn't seem to be designed for the scenario where less than one instance-worth of players have successfully queued in whatever span of time it keeps track of.

Knowing it does that makes the difference between it being "broken because it's broken" and broken in specific circumstances. It works well for things like roulettes or busy duties, not so much for low traffic areas.

I assume it was designed in the early days of the game where people were less spread out, or (as with many things in this game) they simply failed to consider the possibility that people might not run it constantly.


To be clear, I'm not making excuses for how it functions, just explaining why I think you are getting those results from it.