Duty Finder - Pause Feature

[Waeksyn]

Implementing a lock out for multiple withdrawal from duty finder is a welcome addition to reduce the annoying "seeking new member" spam. However, for many, the implemented solution is causing a lot of grief, especially for those who can't stay glued to the game (no bathroom breaks, no going to the kitchen to get a drink) for 30 minutes plus so as to not miss it.

I suggest implementing a "pause" feature on the DF. This would allow anyone to pause their DF progress without affecting their current position in the queue. Hit pause, take your bathroom break, come back and hit resume. While paused, parties continue to get filled by the highest active characters in the queue. While paused, you make no further progress in queue priority - but you don't start over again either.

There would need to be a timer on the pause to avoid abuse - say, 5 mins after which you would be withdrawn without penalty.

LOL - I almost missed my ST while focused on this message.

[Felis]

Already ingame


In the right lower corner

I suggest implementing a "pause" feature on the DF. This would allow anyone to pause their DF progress without affecting their current position in the queue.

It would affect everyone who is already grouped with the one who activated "pause"

It could work if the one on pause status get kicked the moment the DF find another replacement for this party.

[Lithera]

This could lead to an increase in queue times just based on how many people were paused at any given time but it isn't a terrible idea as long as the timer idea is applied so that you can't pause yourself indefinitely or anything. There probably should be a restriction that doesn't allow Pause if you're queuing as a partial party though. Queuing solo, the pause timer would take care of you holding up the partially formed party as you would drop out after the 5 mins or whatever OR hitting pause could remove you from it until you're back. Might slow your personal queue time a bit though.

[Odd]

As a PS4 player, I'm not affected by this. I just bring my controller with me if I have to leave the room, and the duty finder ready noise comes through the speaker on the controller.

However, I think this is a well thought out idea. You have my support!

[Ecks007]

Felis pretty much covered it.

Pausing your own DF que is not an option, as it would interfere with the players in the same que as you. Ultimately there is no reason why you can't just withdraw and que up again when you are actually ready to wait on the que. Don't want to wait on a long que, then don't que. If you don't mind waiting, and can see that you're going to be waiting for at least x amount of time (whatever the DF estimate is) then you are probably better off doing something you can do solo while you wait, or start chatting up with people in a Linkshell to pass the time. There are quite a number of things you could do solo while having you DF que going on in the background and still be productive. The best use of time if you are trying to level up a class/job would be to solo fates and/or do leve quests, as both would also at least be earning you experience while you are waiting on ques. Leve quests might even award you with a piece of gear that might actually turn out to be helpful to the class/job you are leveling up.

Also that lockout feature, I'm pretty sure, only counts for when the party has been matched up and you're on the confirmation window to enter the dungeon/instance. By this point, unless you are a tank or healer (sometimes) you will have had plenty of time to think about whether you have enough time to do the instance or not and could have withdrawn at any point before that confirmation window popped up and not have received a lockout timer.

[Waeksyn]

Pause would not affect anyone else in the queue. If you are paused, you are not available for a party and your spot is taken by those who are active. You could be removed from the display of the partially filled party if that is needed. When you un-pause, you get added to a party if there is room or get put with the next party, according to your wait time.

Withdraw is a big penalty to go take a leak when waiting 30 minutes or more for a party.

You would not be able to pause if the party had filled and you were being asked to confirm. The only options at that time would be confirm or withdraw. Pause would only be available while in "Readying Duty" phase.

I'm sure there are other fine details that could be added by the clever designers at SE.

[Ecks007]

Waeksyn. It doesn't work that way. Pretty sure that would be a coding nightmare.

Sure it sounds simple, but it's not.

Pay more attention to your game if you are going to que up on a job/class that has long que times. If you can't do that, find alternate means to gain experience.

What you want is a button to push that makes you feel like you get an instant que when in fact all you are suggesting is a way that would just prolong your que time even more in reality. In reality, a pause would pause your current place in que, but you don't want it to affect other players, so then you get passed up for another player who is not pausing his/her que and now you are yet again waiting for new players to fill identical que categories as you have selected, you have essentially just withdrawn and requed yourself only you would get passed up again and again as long as you had yourself "on pause". You would still be waiting for a fresh que no matter when you "unpaused", do you really expect to be bumped up to first in line when you stepped out of the line to go do something else? You're not getting your spot back, it doesn't work that way.

[NyarukoW]

...
Withdraw is a big penalty to go take a leak when waiting 30 minutes or more for a party.

When there is no commence, and you click withdraw during "forming party", there is no penalty assessed. You can always quit from the DF queue before it is ready to go and you give up your spot.

[Fyrebrand]

I can just imagine how many people will log in with no intention of playing at all, queue for a dungeon, let the queue progress for 20-30 minutes, and just leave it paused until they are ready to play later.

Then I queue for a dungeon, and can't get in because all these "paused" players are returning and pushing me further and further back.

This will never happen, OP. For one thing, it makes no sense. You don't have a set place in a queue. DF is not a single-file line-up where you take a number and wait til it's called. It depends on many dynamic factors that change depending on player activity. The number of people queued changes. Demand for certain party roles changes. Heck, even among DPS, the game tries to diversify parties with both ranged and melee. And then there is the complication of who is queued in a roulette versus who hasn't unlocked all dungeons yet, what duties are being queued for, etc. There is no way to save your imagined position at one time and then resume at another time.

[chitokai]

yea bad idea, seeing as people would pause it and cause longer wait times for others trying to play