The current find/setup party system is great

[Krausus]

I very much enjoy the current system it allows the party leader to set things up without putting all the work on them to form a party. I worry that people that want the XI flagging system only want it to be lazy and not have to actively seek out a party. I would say have both but I think if they add the flag system people will just get lazy and not use the party search system.

Edit: Actually what would be nice is an auto join feature, you flag yourself, if you fit the criteria of a party searching then you auto join said party.

[Dubont]

Most people don't use the party function because they don't know HOW to use it. It's not bad and it is actually a whole lot better than the "flag" from 11. Here's a vid on it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soOp-7DCmBs

I suggest that the Majority of the naysayers watch it.

[Malakhim]

As a leader , this party feature is horrible.You have no idea who /when will join.You dont know if its posible to make a party. You have 0 control.How is this good ? I dont understand it.Leader NEEDS to make their party , is what leadership is about , about leading.Not about siting there and hoping whatever you get is worth a damn.

It is a huge waste of my time to have to communicate over and over again what the goal of the party is as well as the level range, location, etc.

It's much easier just to launch out a party recruit that will stay open for long while, while being able to specify ALL the parameters to the party.

We're looking for x classes.
We're looking for x number of classes.
We're looking for x rank.
We're going to be at x location.
We're going to be doing x thing.

After reviewing all this information, a person can decide whether or not they want to tag along. The party then plots out the course of action. If nobody wants to form a party, then I'll know it wasn't because I happened to run searches at the wrong times or places. It'll be because nobody was looking to group.

I'm sure much more people would use this had SE not given us a crap instruction manual for the game.

[Len]

I agree that it's a great feature, but like most things in Final Fantasy XIV, needs fine tuning.

The location option needs to be simplified into The Black Shroud, Thanalan, La Noscea, and Coerthas; it's cumbersome to have to be incredibly exacting in your search to yield any results.

There would also be instances where results would be displayed for some players and not others, making it a pain to gather.

[Kazimir]

I'm sorry, but that statement right there is just flat out wrong. A good UI should be intuitive and user-friendly. Calling people stupid because the UI is poorly designed is just completely ass-backwards. The fact that people were able to form parties just fine with FFXI's UI is proof that it isn't people that are the problem. The problem is the interface.

The UI may not be very simple but it isn't that unfriendly. I'm sorry but if you can't figure out how the menus work than you are the definition of stupid. But as I also said, people are too lazy to figure it out for themselves, and I believe that is the majority reason as opposed to just stupid.

Also the reason why the search function was used so much in XI was because you had to in order to find a 6 player group because of the type of party grind the game was based on, not to mention the fact people were spread all around Vanadiel where as in XIV everyone just sits in Thanalan. In XIV you can just pick up leves, go to an aethryte, and ask for a party, or just get a 3 person group going with a couple other LS members.

It really doesn't have that much to do with the UI. If we were forced to use the party search menu to find others fast enough to level, people would use it and figure it out, but that's not the case.

[Seif]

I sort of liked it too. (yes past tense because I can no longer find pt members through it as population almost disappeared)

I guess one could always argue that it doesn't argue as intended because nobody uses/knows about it.

[Zkieve]

It is a huge waste of my time to have to communicate over and over again what the goal of the party is as well as the level range, location, etc.

It's much easier just to launch out a party recruit that will stay open for long while, while being able to specify ALL the parameters to the party.

We're looking for x classes.
We're looking for x number of classes.
We're looking for x rank.
We're going to be at x location.
We're going to be doing x thing.

After reviewing all this information, a person can decide whether or not they want to tag along. The party then plots out the course of action. If nobody wants to form a party, then I'll know it wasn't because I happened to run searches at the wrong times or places. It'll be because nobody was looking to group.

I'm sure much more people would use this had SE not given us a crap instruction manual for the game.

No UI is gonna replace a good conversation with someone to know if he is what your looking for.What if the person that joins is not what im looking for ?Okay you like to get random people to join your party , but what about those who dont want this ?should we suck it .Im gonna say the same i said for the agro indicator .Options and customization is how it should be .If you whant to make parties this way , be my guest. I rather sea and ask in 5 min and decide if its the time or not, then go on with my life and try later instead of wasting my time and those who do join if theres is no garantee we will have a full party.

You asume with the flag feature you would have to wait hours to make a party . This is wrong.In fact . You dont even have to invite them until you have all members needed . That is the beauty of a flag . No real waiting .

Typical party scenario in FFXI with a flag .
/sea all healer. /tell party?
sure
Okay let me see what else i can get and ill let you know.

/sea all tank /tell party? got a healer .
ok.
1 min let me find dd

/invite tank and healer.

/sea all (melee debufer job)
invite . win .

All done in 5 min.Or in case you didnt find it . go do somethin else and try later.


Now lets look at current system.

Put party member sea up. input parameters.
wait.
wait.wait.wait.

2 people join.
wait wait wait.

1 person leaves .

wait wait wait.

You really do not see the difference ?What exactly is good about this system ? honestly.

Please stop saying is because people dont understand it .

Is not rocket science .

[Kazimir]

Typical party scenario in FFXI with a flag .
/sea all healer. /tell party?
sure
Okay let me see what else i can get and ill let you know.

/sea all tank /tell party? got a healer .
ok.
1 min let me find dd

/invite tank and healer.

/sea all (melee debufer job)
invite . win .

All done in 5 min.Or in case you didnt find it . go do somethin else and try later.

Now we both know that's not true. It's more like:

Check party flags, see 1 tank and 10 DD.

/tell tank Party?
No response......probably afk taking a dump. I'll ask again in a few minutes.

/tell DD's Party?
DD's > Sure!
/invite DD's

/sea all healer
/tell random healers Party?
Healer > No thanks I'm busy doing blah blah blah

Unknown DD sends you a tell > Are you making party?
You > Yeah but we're full on DD

/tell tank again > Party?
Tank > Sorry something came up I have to go ^^;

Wait 10 minutes

New tank flags LFG
/tell Tank > Party
Tank > Sure!
/invite tank

Wait 5 minutes

Healer flags LFG
/tell Healer > Party?
Healer > Yes but I'm partying with my tank BF lolz only if he can join

You > FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU

[Zkieve]

Now we both know that's not true. It's more like:

Check party flags, see 1 tank and 10 DD.

/tell tank Party?
No response......probably afk taking a dump. I'll ask again in a few minutes.

/tell DD's Party?
DD's > Sure!
/invite DD's

/sea all healer
/tell random healers Party?
Healer > No thanks I'm busy doing blah blah blah

Unknown DD sends you a tell > Are you making party?
You > Yeah but we're full on DD

/tell tank again > Party?
Tank > Sorry something came up I have to go ^^;

Wait 10 minutes

New tank flags LFG
/tell Tank > Party
Tank > Sure!
/invite tank

Wait 5 minutes

Healer flags LFG
/tell Healer > Party?
Healer > Yes but I'm partying with my tank BF lolz only if he can join

You > FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU

why would you invite dds before you find the most rare classes first ? i think you need to learn how to make parties effectively bro . lol.If you dont see healer or tank available dont bother then and go do somethin else.This isnt any diferent from the current system.At least with flag you KNOW there is nothin avaliable , while with the current system you have NO IDEA WHAT IS.

Anyways , at least there you have control of whats happening . Unlike with the current system you do nothing . You just stand there and hope you get the members.

You keep missing the point of the comparison between the two system for some reason.

[solracht]

You can take that approach with the current system too: go do something else if you don't see a party forming up to full within minutes, because there clearly aren't enough people around. That's basically the approach you took with the flag system, why not repeat it here?

I don't like the current party system either, but you can't defend the flag system because of something you did when you could be doing the same in our current one. You're seeing differences because you want to.

I'm sure they'll add flags sooner or later, enough people seem to want them.