What happened to LFG(roup)?

[Vallar]

Hello everyone,

Short version:
I don't know why there aren't many LFG and the server looks like no one is doing groups that much anymore, so I am looking for a solution to this.

Long Version:
I recently dinged 22 and had to park my main so I could run with the guildies, in that case, I made another toon that I am running now in the times where everyone is offline.

Well, as the thread said, I am almost always on the LFG looking for a group to the point that I end up for let's say... 2 hours sometimes without anything because it is dead.

Such the case, I turned to the forums to fill the downtime and I thought someone might point me to the right direction. Has the server gone quieter than before? 3 years ago, I had to scroll 2 times through the list of LFG at any given point in time, ever since I came back it is not the same.

Are there private channels/bots or something that people join to group rather than the LFG?

Thank you very much in advance.


PS: If this is the wrong section of the forums, I am sorry, to my own logic this seemed to be a good fit.

[Gkar]

Long Version:
I recently dinged 22 and had to park my main so I could run with the guildies, in that case, I made another toon that I am running now in the times where everyone is offline.

Well, as the thread said, I am almost always on the LFG looking for a group to the point that I end up for let's say... 2 hours sometimes without anything because it is dead.

No one I know ever looks at LFG. By chance do you mean LFM?

Assuming you mean LFG - ignore it, that feature has never been used.

Assuming you mean LFM - I notice you seem to say you sat for 2 hours... during that time did YOU post a group? There seem to be a lot of passive people out there all looking at the list and yet few willing to hit the "create group" button. Post your group, odds are it will fill.

[Vallar]

Oh, I am sorry, I thought the LFM is called LFG; that is my bad. Yes, LFM is what I am after.

Yes, I did try multiple times and sometimes I end up with 1 player joining then after 10-15 minutes of wait, they would leave since the wait got too long. And no, I don't post requirements other than the normal; trapper needed or healer is welcome. That sort of stuff and I always prefix with "All are welcome"

[Qhualor]

There's a lot of possible reasons.

Certain servers are busier than others.

CC has been going on, so events can take away potential quest grouping.

Time of day/month

Dungeon scaling has made it a lot easier to short man/solo

Seems to be more channel grouping than plugging these days

Decrease in population

DDO continues to grow and players are spread out more

Expansion will be released soon and some of those threats of leaving might actually be true

[Vallar]

There's a lot of possible reasons.

Certain servers are busier than others.

CC has been going on, so events can take away potential quest grouping...

I see, but if there is "channel grouping" are these channels public? What are the requirements or how do one joins them?

[mostoasty]

I see, but if there is "channel grouping" are these channels public? What are the requirements or how do one joins them?

You have to already of run everything somehow and be experienced enough to keep up.

[kierg10]

I see, but if there is "channel grouping" are these channels public? What are the requirements or how do one joins them?

Channels are run by players, you just gotta get lucky and run with people who want you in their channel I guess......

[Qhualor]

I see, but if there is "channel grouping" are these channels public? What are the requirements or how do one joins them?

when i say channel, i mean guild, alliance or some form of private friends channel. anyone can start up their own channel and invite others with a password. my guild has one with a bunch of guilds and we use it to form groups when we want to run something or just hang out and talk about whatever.

[Rakuda13]

Oh, I am sorry, I thought the LFM is called LFG; that is my bad. Yes, LFM is what I am after.

Yes, I did try multiple times and sometimes I end up with 1 player joining then after 10-15 minutes of wait, they would leave since the wait got too long. And no, I don't post requirements other than the normal; trapper needed or healer is welcome. That sort of stuff and I always prefix with "All are welcome"

So grab two hires and go,the more people see your LFM the more people will join you. There are very few quests you cant do with just two people,and if you add two hires the list of quests is even smaller that you cant do.

[kierg10]

Also another problem for the LFM panel is that a lot of people will just solo and occasionally pull in a friend if it is needed for the quest......I know that is what I have done this life on Ckarlock.....

[Vallar]

So grab two hires and go,the more people see your...

That is what I thought at the start, but in reality that doesn't happen that frequently. Example, I tried recently to create a group for Tempest Spine -- which by my memory was the easiest to fill, specially on elite. I spent a good 30 minutes before someone joined and quit after 10 minutes of wait. Tried again, for 19 minutes no one joined so I took it down. Tried a third time and I got two people in the first 3 minutes and they left after 25 minutes (no one else joined during that time). That is during different times, of course.

As for getting hires, point is I could just go play any single player; heck there are a couple of D&D single player games. I come here for the M"M"O part. I release midway through most quests because I get bored doing long quest I have done before alone.

Private groups seems to be "private" not like other MMOs. I thought it would be the same, that you have to achieve a certain level or have done X quests or Y quests to join the "private" channel. It seems it is different here.

At least now I know how it is and I don't have to wonder anymore. Thank you guys as always you are the primary source of information!

[davyscy]

A couple of reasons really:

A lot of people call us "elitists", but those of us who's been around for a while really have seen a sharp deterioration of the people we get from our LFMs, many of them are literally more useless had they just stayed in the beginning and piked. I can go into a huge, long discussion about the cause of it, ranging from XP stones to a truly entitlement generation, but that's another topic for another thread. Thus, even in a life where I have no one else to TR with, I seldomly post LFMs because it simply isn't worth the headache that comes along with it.

Another thing, perhaps related to #1, is that a lot of people simply do not join a lfm unless it's nearly full or under way. Thus, for contents that you can at least get started on, do so and put "IP" (hopefully, next to BYOH) and people will come sooner or later.

A third thing is that a lot of groups are filled with channels. After all, why risk lfm when you can access up to 4 fairly consistent pools of people via channels.

Last point is somewhat related to epics: the creation of the epic norm/hard/leet difficulty really lets us players solo a lot of contents at lower difficulties if we are really bored instead of LFMing stuff. True, the best gears come from EE, but if we are just farming for commendations, relics, tomes or even ED xp, why not just solo EN or EH?

[MeliCat]

Also when you lfm make sure you comply with the new bravery bonus needs - so before you would have lfmed Tempest Spine with the maximum level of 13. Now to let people get their bravery bonus (BB) it needs to be a maximum of 12 on elite.

Could just be time of day etc.

I am really not looking forward to level 28 and what that is going to do to the lfm panel.

[Vallar]

I wouldn't mind getting in a group with 38 deaths (it happened more than once anyway) as long as it is fun and the quest being done, I don't mind. As for the elitist reputation the server has, I never knew about it when I started out but I have seen many situations that does confirm this. Though in all honesty, I am pretty sure other servers has the same -- I don't see a sign "Elitist Players Go Here" next to Argonnessen.

The game isn't an XP/minute for me and I am here to have fun, regardless of what might "fun" mean to some, for me is just having a good time. I can however understand that some don't have THAT much free time.

In either case, I am not fretting about the quality of the players in all honesty, we all started at some point in time.

Melicat, yeah, I do that with the level restriction. But might I ask what will level 28 do to the LFM? Can't be worse for sure?

[TrinityTurtle]

I see, but if there is "channel grouping" are these channels public? What are the requirements or how do one joins them?

Some channels are public and announced on the forums or by word of mouth, example being Defense on Sarlona that has been mentioned all over the forums. It's a less friendly channel now than when it started, but there are still great people in there with the cranky ones.

Other channels are private and you get into them by impressing/befriending people in the channels in runs, not so easy to do. Example, my private "Friends of Turtle" channel that is just for people I have run into that are genuinely nice players and I keep the channel so they can keep in contact with each other and play when I'm not around. To get in there you'd have to catch me when I'm pugging and impress me with your people skills and ability to comport yourself in a group with manners and treat other players like human beings whether they're brilliant or stupid. (This is not a plug ofr my channel, it's an example). Another would be my guilds channel that we give out to people we'd like to run with again who aren't in our guild if a player proves his game skill to my guildmates (I'm only marginally involved in this channel, I have no earthly idea what my guildmates want for members I confess, an am guessing it's game skill based on who I see in it).

[Vallar]

Some channels are public and announced on the forums or by word of mouth.

Thank you very much for the explanation. Yeah, that is essentially what I was after; someone would provide the name of the public ones. It seems however it is different case in Argo -- all are private. Hopefully, I would run into the right people at the right time in the right place.