LFG channel to return
Wow, this is honestly surprising to me. After having stated in no uncertain terms that the LFG channel would not be coming back, Blizz apparently changed their mind. From Drysc:We're making many improvements to the Looking For Group tool, most of which are still in production and can't yet be discussed. Player suggestions and feedback are playing a large part in the changes we're making and we want to emphasize that we are indeed making improvements.
The change we can talk about right now is indeed the return of the looking for group channel in the next major content patch. With it comes a rather significant requirement, and that is that you will have to be in the LFG system set to looking for a group or looking for more to see and use the channel. The global LFG channel will only be viewable and available for use to players while they are in the LFG system.
We hope to see the combination of the LFG tool coupled with the ease of use of a global channel help to improve the LFG tool and players use of the tool. Again we're making other improvements based on feedback and suggestions which we'll be able to discuss in the near future.
In my opinion, this is actually a really good move. It gives the people who want the channel back what they want, but at the same time it forces more people into the LFG system. In my opinion, the biggest problem with the current LFG system is that not enough people use it, and this should remedy that. What do you guys think?
[Thanks, Kyle]
Filed under: Patches
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mokojin Feb 23rd 2007 5:35PM
cool, thats sounds like a great idea.
Smithra Feb 23rd 2007 5:36PM
It's a step in the right direction.
The extra action required to join the channel will probably help keep the Chuck Norris discussion in the Trade channel.
I'd like to see some sort of warnings system implemented instead. Where you tag people for topics irrelevant to the channel (LFG, Trade, Guild Recruitment, etc.) Enough people tag you and you're blocked from that channel for 30 minutes or something. Instant Messenger has a similar function and I've only rarely seen it devolve into a warnings war.
Who's warning you should be available to you, so if you're not abusing a channel you can report them for harassment. And you should have to click OK to a message informing you of the seriousness of false warnings.
Strongmark on Arthas Feb 23rd 2007 5:38PM
Nice, I love it. This was my suggestion on wowinsider a few weeks back when we were all discussing it (I am sure I am not the only one who thought of it, not looking for credit, lol) but this is definitely a great medium for everyone and a good middle ground for people who enjoyed the new system and people who enjoyed the last.
slagar Feb 23rd 2007 5:38PM
why even use the current LFG system when it doesn't allow me to look for groups for quests and instances i have?
hopefully they'll fix that problem with the additon of the channel.
Acceptable Risk Feb 23rd 2007 5:40PM
Well, it's a bit better but not quite what the old channel was. I despised the old channel since it was 90% chatter 10% groups, but you couldn't argue with its effectiveness. Since it was always open by default, you could reach out to people who wouldn't necessarily be looking for a group. I'd have it open most of the time while I was out soloing in case someone was running an instance I might be interested in going to but didn't want to bother finding a group for on my own.
Now, that you've got to jump through hoops to turn the LFG channel on, you'll still see low usage numbers and plenty of people still spamming for group requests in General.
Why they can't just rip off Call to Arms, I don't know. They've cannibalized plenty of other public addons. Why can't they steal one that really adds some decent functionality for once?
Derbeste Feb 23rd 2007 5:52PM
I have to agree with Acceptable Risk.
The most effective part of the LFG channel WAS the chatter!
I know that I, personally, would turn on LFG channel while soloing just to see what people were talking about. Then I would see someone advertising a raid for AQ and thought....that sounds like fun....ok.
I mean....if you didn't like the chatter, you could always just leave the channel.
That being said, this really is a MAJOR step in the right direction for the LFG system as a whole. Right now it's just broken. I look forward to ANYTHING that will help the return of PUGs. They are the best way to meet new friends in the game. :-)
Rashal Feb 23rd 2007 5:57PM
Er.. this doesn't sound like a good idea to me at all.
To have to be using the LFG tool to be able to even see the channel means that those who are looking for more won't be able to broadcast their need for players to those that aren't in the channel. It doesn't really change anything other than you'll get more lower level people whispering you "What lvl is that?"
Alarius Feb 23rd 2007 6:04PM
This won't help one bit. The fact that people barely use the LFG/LFM system alone says that this LFG channel won't fly as expected. Though, they do admit that this is one of many changed planned ahead, let's hope that there are better improvements.
James Feb 23rd 2007 6:09PM
Me: Hey, thanks for joining our group. This makes 5, so we're ready to go. We can summon you.
LFG Loudmouth: Oh, dude, nah, I'm just here to run my big mouth in the LFG channel. This is the only way I can stay in LFG, so I just sign up for a dungeon, but I never leave Stormwind. You'll have to kick me.
Me: ...
Yeah, this is going to turn out fantastic. And if you think that this is farfetched, then you don't know the type of people who used to frequent (and ruin) the LFG channel. They need an audience, and this will bring the audience back, and it will again give them a forum to seek attention and be idiots. I seriously doubt this new prerequisite will really stop them, or even slow them down.
noizbot Feb 23rd 2007 6:17PM
Bad idea. A channel for LFG is an incredibly archaic idea and I celebrated its demise. You shouldn't have to spam a channel to get a group together, and shouldn't be forced to monitor spam to find a group.
The LFG Tool was still far from perfect. There's no legitimate reason to not let players pick more than three things, and there's no real reason to restrict players to only selecting from certain instances/zones/etc. Instead of correcting these issues Blizzard it seems Blizzard is creating a mess.
Oh well.. as long as you can be in the LFG Tool and NOT the channel it'll be okay for me. It's just sorta odd that Blizzard's usual elegance falters when it comes to a decent LFG mechanic.
Wakoo Feb 23rd 2007 6:19PM
I really can't wait for this......... I hate being in a major city wanting a group for an instance thats like on a different island, that I don't know my way to.
noizbot Feb 23rd 2007 6:27PM
Actually, yeah, this is much, much worse than before. You're going to have tons of people signing up in the LFG Tool in any random quest/instance, just to enable use of the LFG Channel, either to chat spam or to look for other things entirely, which is going to make the LFG Tool itself unusable.
Blizzard should either admit that they don't know what they're doing and ditch the LFG Tool entirely, or figure out how to make a decent system and leave the idiotic LFG channel in its grave. Instead we're going to get broken hybrid system. oh, fun.
James Feb 23rd 2007 6:36PM
@12
Yeah, you're right. The scenario I outlined probably won't happen. People who plan on spamming won't sign up for say, Scarlet Monastary-Armory. They'll sign up for some obscure elite quest in Desolace, and that will open the channel up for all of the abuse it had before.
StormC Feb 23rd 2007 6:45PM
Cannabalize the COH/COV group system.
--
People should really start using the LFG tool, its failing because of the low quantity using it. In other words people are lazy to just think/decide which instance they wish to go in the first place.
Sydney_Bristow Feb 23rd 2007 8:12PM
It's better than only having the LFG tool, but it's not as good as how it used to be when we only had global LFG channel.
The reason why, as people have said, is that you can reach out to people who aren't actively looking for a group - you'd be surprised how many people will join a group on an impulse, or if they're just walking around questing.
I never had any problems with spam before, because i had LFG channel filter mods, where I would just put in keywords for those things that I was interested in, and it would only show sentences that contained those keywords. For example, if i was on a level 37 alt, I would have keywords of "SM, scarlet, ZG, ony, and AQ." Then only sentences containing those words or parts of those words would show.
This would allow me to look for SM groups for my level 37 alt, while allowing me to keep an eye out for level 60 raids for my main.
corruptedend Feb 23rd 2007 9:48PM
IMO if they just had a moderator that blocked the offending accounts ,not the charicter, from using the LFG channel for something other than LFG for 24 hours that would solve the problem. Though I don't know who'd much enjoy that job. I've not yet been able to use the LFG tool but from what I've read about it, it seems like a good tool. But like acceptable risk said if you've been wanting to go to X instance for god knows how long but it's like pulling teeth trying to get a group together for it, it's like a breath of fresh air when someone says LFG X. my 2cents
Outlander Feb 23rd 2007 10:45PM
I think the combination is fine but as for misuse of channels I think that blizz should implement a global chat channel simply for all the crap that people use the other channels for - you can join it or leave it at your discretion - that would cut back on all the chuck norris crap and people lfg in trade and general . some people just wanna chat and a channel for that would cut down on all the nonsense and chatter in the other channels which are clearly for other purposes.
Poddo Feb 23rd 2007 11:52PM
JOY! I love LFG! I can't wait for it to come back.
Hugh "Nomad" Hancock Feb 24th 2007 8:43AM
The problem with LFG isn't a technical one, it's a social engineering one.
As mentioned above, people used to turn on the LFG channel not because they were specifically looking for an instance, but because they didn't really know what they wanted to do, or they wanted to see if anything interesting came up. Because it was invisible that you were viewing the LFG channel, there was no obligation imposed upon you for viewing it.
When you sign on with the LFG or LFM tools, by contrast, you're publically stating "I wish to go to X dungeon". Thus, when you turn on LFG, you're entering into a social contract saying that if you're invited, unless there are exceptional reasons, you'll come along. And that obligation is actually quite onerous if you're not *definitely* set on going to a dungeon today - if you're on LFG but just randomly decline invitations, you're going to feel like you're letting people down, you might get some nasty whispers, it won't be fun.
And that's why I'm rarely on LFG. In the old days, I'd be bimbling about in Ironforge, thinking "Hmm, I might go do some shopping in half an hour, or clean the flat, but let's just see if there's anything interesting on LFG". And then I'd see an invite to a fun dungeon, or notice that someone I liked was running something, or just like the way a message was phrased, and then next thing I'd know it was six hours later and we're lining up to take the Baron down for the second time.
But equally, sometimes I'd listen to half-a-dozen invites for dungeons my level, and think "naah, I'd rather make spaghetti bolognaise". And off I'd go.
The LFG channel suffers from a similar problem to software sellers who don't offer no-quibble refunds, as joel on software has discussed several times. By making it harder to *not* go on instance runs if you use this tool, it diminishes the number of people who will use it at all.
wowinsider.qsh Feb 24th 2007 11:42AM
The biggest things I saw complained about LFG was that you could only join instances/etc within a certain range of your level. A 60 couldn't LFG for say, SM.
The second complaint what that the system didn't factor in spec, and would consider any druid an acceptable tank, even if they weren't feral spec. The solution to this is quite simple, don't pick "auto add members" when you join LFG, search the system manually!
I'm glad they're forcing people to join if they want the channel. The channel by far has it's uses... but simply having a pool of people who are flagged as interested in getting a group makes forming a group much easier.