Average wait time: Less than 5m.

[Claustrum]

It isn't serving its purpose in that case. 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.

OK!

So why does the game tell me it'll take me less than 5 minutes to find a group to do an activity, yet it takes more than 8 hours to find that group?

[Iscah]

OK!

So why does the game tell me it'll take me less than 5 minutes to find a group to do an activity, yet it takes more than 8 hours to find that group?

You may not have seen my longer edited post above.

Basically it is broken, but predictably broken in some circumstances, while working correctly in others.

I am not justifying this, only observing it.

[Claustrum]

You may not have seen my longer edited post above.

Basically it is broken, but predictably broken in some circumstances, while working correctly in others.

I am not justifying this, only observing it.

But you're defending the current system which gives average wait times which don't reflect the actual wait times of players. It kinda sounds like you're justifying it.

[Iscah]

But you're defending the current system which gives average wait times which don't reflect the actual wait times of players. It kinda sounds like you're justifying it.

Which part of what I've written is defending it, rather than simply explaining how it currently works (or fails to work)?

If they want to fix it, great.

[Claustrum]

Which part of what I've written is defending it, rather than simply explaining how it currently works (or fails to work)?

How is that not a defense? That's an appeal to nature, which is a defense. Did you not mean to defend it? I will give you a chance to revoke your defense if you want.

[Canadane]

How is that not a defense? That's an appeal to nature, which is a defense. Did you not mean to defend it? I will give you a chance to revoke your defense if you want.

An explanation of how something works isn't a defense for, nor an argument against it. It's just facts as is.

[Claustrum]

An explanation of how something works isn't a defense for, nor an argument against it. It's just facts as is.

During the server problems at the launch of Endwalker, let's pretend I made a post complaining about how hard it is to log in, and how it should not be that hard to log in. If someone replied with "Well, SE doesn't have the hardware to make it easier to log in.", then they are explaining why it is hard to log in. They are also implicitly telling me that it doesn't need fixing because that's just the way things are.

If I'm saying "system X is broken", and you're saying "system X works like this", then you're working in defense of system X. If, however, you say "yeah, system X is broken. This is how it works right now, and I wish it'd change." then you're advocating for change of system X.

I hate how broken our brains are politically. We keep getting people who tell us that they're "just stating facts" when they have an obvious reason behind why they say what they say.

[Hasrat]

OK!

So why does the game tell me it'll take me less than 5 minutes to find a group to do an activity, yet it takes more than 8 hours to find that group?

I'd say here lies your own misinterpretation.

The system isn't telling you how long you will wait to find a group.

The system is telling you how long you will wait in queue. There's no guarantee it will find a group.

[LilimoLimomo]

So why does the game tell me it'll take me less than 5 minutes to find a group to do an activity, yet it takes more than 8 hours to find that group?

I believe this is the core issue: you have misinterpreted what "Average Wait Time: Less than 5 minutes" means. It does not mean "you will have a group in less than 5 minutes."

Because there's nothing that the devs can do to tell you how long you will be in the queue. To do that they would have to predict the future. Specifically, they'd have to know how many people would join the queue, and when, and whether they would abandon or not, etc. There's simply no way to know this.

So they try to give you the next best thing: the average wait time. But remember, the average wait time is not an estimate of how long your queue will take. If when you join the queue there's only 1 other person queued, and they've been waiting for 4 minutes, then that means the average wait time is less than 5 minutes. I hope you can see why that in no way indicates that you'll get into a game promptly. And that's why over time as you stay in that queue without getting a game, the average wait time will generally increase, because your wait time is a meaningful part of that average.