Feb 4, 2012

Posted by in Blue Milk & Cereal | 21 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: Do You Have Trouble Finding A Group

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

While browsing the official forums, you never know what you’re going to find. Sometimes it’s a one-off weird question, and sometimes it’s a recurring theme that shows up ten times a day. One of these recurring themes, it seems, is players not being able to find groups to do Flashpoints or Heroic content with.

Some people blame the lack of an automated “tool” to build a group for them. Some people blame low faction populations. And some even blame single player gamers for being a large part of TOR’s audience and being completely averse to grouping at all.

Personally, I haven’t had this problem. I’ve been able to do all Heroics at the time they were given to me with just a few quick shouts to the zone chat. Plus, I’m in a good guild and I believe that the best way to play social games like this is to make friends. Odd concept I guess. I haven’t searched for a group in over 5 years in World of Warcraft!

Anyway, just wanted to check in with the AAJ Army on this topic – do you find yourself struggling to get groups for things? Let us know, and tell us about what faction and server you’re on as well!

Do you usually have any trouble finding a group?

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  1. I used to have loads of issues on my old server (Eye of Ashlanae EU, Republic) but I rerolled on Red Eclipse EU (Empire). Fleet population changed from ~30 to 200, it’s awesome!

  2. I have everything I need from hard modes and I would say I pugged about 40% of those runs with relative ease. I was ahead of the levelling curve because I could play so much, so names stuck out and it wasn’t hard to whisper a few of the friendly names I saw during the levelling process and get some groups going!

  3. My server is mid-sized to heavy (depending on time of day), and there’s never been any shortage of people looking to PUG for flashpoints or heroics. Just need to keep an eye out in general chat and not be afraid to send a whisper and ask. :)

    Even seen quite a few last night looking for dps, not just healers or tanks, so it’s nice to see that people are concerned with a balanced out group, too. :)

  4. unfortunately yes, republic side is very unpopulated compared to sith side on my server…

  5. ScytheNoire says:

    Ya, finding groups for anything from Heroic quests to especially Flashpoints is damn near impossible. And I play on a pre-launch server on both sides. This game needs to ditch Heroic quests and get an LFG Flashpoint tool badly.

  6. Lady Republic says:

    Mostly I run things with guildmates, so it hasn’t been a problem at all. Ultimately I think this is one of the most important functions that guilds really fill, in terms of a social niche – people to talk to, and a ready pool of folks to run things with if you want to do PvP or PVE. Maybe I’m biased (ok, I know I’m biased), but I figure if people are having a hard time finding groups, LFG isn’t the answer – finding a guild and joining it is. Better for the server communities as a whole (because LFG just brings out the jerk in a lot of people), and you might even make some friends along the way. ;)

    There are plenty of guilds out there to suit almost any playstyle – if you’re someone who leans towards the “not wanting to talk to folks much, just grind” – then look for one of the bigger guilds where it’s easy to come and go as you like. If you’re someone that needs a lot of grouping help or hates to solo level, then maybe look for somewhere smaller, where people really get to know each other and look for that. But really – it’s a great option to find people to do stuff with.

    The unfortunate side of LFG tools is that it makes it really easy, for whatever reason, for people to act badly – especially if it’s a cross-server one. Personally, having seen what happened to another game I played – I desperately hope TOR never introduces LFG for the same of server communities as a whole. Worst case, I think free server transfers are a better solution than LFG.

    • Yeah, you are spot ono. fniding a guild that shares your playstyle is key to enjoying mmos. It really solves 99% of problems such as groups, elitism, damage meters, combat logs, min/max, spec choice,…etc

      All of these types of “hot point” issues are irrelevent when you find and join an appropriate guild.

  7. It is my biggest gripe with SWTOR at the moment, having to stand around for hours, twiddling my thumbs LFG when I could be out questing and LFG if only there was something as simple as as a global LFG channel.

    I mean really! Just a channel that is a default global would be the smallest solution, or at least a tool that allows you to find others who are also looking for a flashpoint.

    • Nothing is stopping anyone from creating a LFG Channel though. Make one, advertise it, have your guild advertise it. Too easy.

      • We’ve made an LFG channel on Begeren Colony. 99% of the time it’s dead silent.
        I generally don’t post there because it’s just not relevant to the area I’m in, I can just post in the zone’s General. It’s only practical use is in LFM for hard modes but again, it just hasn’t caught on – everybody still trots back to the fleet to spam general.

        I think many people like me have simply given up looking for groups – we may throw out the occasional LFG comment in general for whatever zone we’re in or while on the fleet in the vain hope that there just happens to be enough people in that zone, reading general for the few seconds the comment is up who have the time and inclination to dedicate the time to finding enough people – let alone people we know or simply have a clue.

        Begeran Colony is listed as a ‘standard population’ server but there are rarely more than a dozen people in a given zone, most zones have only a handfull on average. At peak times the Fleet tends to hover around a hundred people.

        Guilds made a big difference in WoW and I imagine on other swtor servers but average guild size, even for the ones trying to build teams for Operations is just tiny, maybe a dozen regular members of various gear levels and experience.
        Through friends that I’ve made, I’ve found a total of two guilds which are currently running Operations.

        The single player experience of SWTOR is great and I think will sustain it for a while yet, but ultimately an MMO without group activities is redundant.

  8. Finding groups in a game is just like going to a party. You’re never going to have fun and accomplished much of anything if you are a shrinking violet. Find a guild, make some friends, ask people around you, ask people that you ‘find’. I’ve managed to kill a world boss on planet when there were only just enough people on that planet to fill the op. (I was/is just bit head of the leveling curve. So it was pretty common to hit planets with less then 30 on it.) I simply sent people whispers, they whispered a few buddies and before you know it we all picking through some purple gear.

  9. When I want to run flashpoints I want to run flashpoints not sit and spam chat or try to talk the guild into doing it. Even in guilds it’s hard to find people who want to run 8 straight flashpoints. I dont care about Using flaspoints to find friends I do that outside of flaspoints when I can just chat with people. I have 3 level 50s now almost on my 4th because I would rather play the game then sit and spam chat.

    If I get to my 6th 50 and there is no hint of a flashpoint finder I will find a new game.

  10. Usually one or two guildies will want to come along after that I’ll /who fleet and ask individually classes that fill what ever roll I need after that If they’re even remotely competent I’ll add them to my friends list so I’m always expanding the number of tanks and healers I’m friends with.

    Makes finding a group really easy
    Unfortunately I could see how low pop servers still have a problem

  11. KnightJay says:

    I have trouble finding low level groups for flashpoints late at night but anyother time of day I find a group pretty well

  12. Dirtyshadow says:

    Too much content at low levels, you can completely skip any form of grouping and still keep pace with the class/planet solo quests till 50. Especially if you have a good companion combo.

    The lack of a tool, is a problem, cause so many mmos and games have matchmaking systems… the lack of one is a glaring obvious failure imo by bioware. The worse of it is the system they did put in instead of any sort of even a proper listing is pathetic. /who and put a comment is like so 1990s its pathetic. Would be nicer if the who list had functionality where you can specificy a lot of options, no just post one lame comment that no one actually reads. Even WoW before they added the whole automated LFG tool, had a very good manual LFG tool that worked well. SWTOR doesnt even have a good manual LFG tool

    The lack of a decent LFG tool (manual or auto) has forced people to choose doing it the “old fashion way” (spam the hell out of channels) or “cant be assed”. Which gives the introverted and extroverted gamer problem and too many of us are introverts :P If there was a decent tool, there would be a lot more groups running around and a lot less people playing solo… which is ironic given that mass multiplayer games are being played more solo play.

    Small guild vs large guild, smaller guilds dont necessarily have the class balance and numbers to constantly do group runs, especially when people level at different paces. That creates a certain amount of group depression especially when pugging.

  13. The group size of 4 is one of the factor why it’s so hard for dps to find a group. I still prefer to be 5 in a group anyway.

  14. PaublotheUnicornSlayer says:

    Unfortunately, it’s very hard to find groups on my server. I play on Nathema, on Empire side usually, and it’s incredibly difficult to find people to group with. It’s even worse on Republic side.

  15. I do not have trouble finding a group but that’s because I only run with my husband and guildies. Between questing, space combat, and PvP, I’m generally of higher level than the planets I’m questing on. Maybe when I hit 50, it may be tougher, as our guild is tiny (6 people), but that’s something I’ll worry about when I need to.

    If I do group with random people, it’s generally to avoid fighting over a named mob or something.

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