[Suggestion] Group system rework

The group system should be reworked in my opinion. I liked the Guild Wars 1 group option and I see some issues with the current Guild Wars 2 group options. So my suggestion would be to make the group system more like in Guild Wars 1. Here is what I believe needs to be changed:

• Group Leader alone decides who can join or be kicked.
• People need to apply to the group leader to join. He can either accept or decline. (That is for the lfg menu)
• After leaving a group the Group Chat of when the person was still in group should still be visible.
• Add a looking-for-group chat in general maps.

Here is some concice explanations:Someone that creates a group should be in full control of it. He invests time to look for people and has an idea who and what he wants and what not. As a side note to that - but not as the main reason - it would reduce the defamination of certain players and mass-blocking of groups after vote of kick. The affected player might just be angry at the group leader or might even recognize a reason for him being kicked and accepts it. Group Leaders feel more responsible for their group.It is basically the system they had in Guild Wars 1. I think it was good and the new system has some flaws.

It might be a big change after so many years and Guild Wars 2 is already an old game. But with the upcoming release of the Cantha-Expansion, I think it might be a great opportunity to finally adress the group system and its flaws.

What do you think?

I think (actually know) that having a 'leader' of the group used to be in-game. It caused a lot of issues, and was changed to what we have now.

Yea you had group leaders going afk, forcing people to finish dungeons on 4 people or start over from zero. (kicking group leader closed the instance for all. )Not always you want to do that 30+ mins in back in the day.

Ok that is actually true and valid. There might be good reasons for both systems, however I still prefer with a group-leader. Maybe there is another way to solve that issue with afk-group-leaders. Also why do they make it that you cannot see group chat after leaving a group? If there have been bad language or anything or bad behavior which might be bannable and someone gets treated badly, he should be able to make a screenshot of the chat later on, don't you think?Not only that, even in general gameplay, someone writes something important in the chat, then you leave the group and you can't read it anymore. Or let's say you liked someone in the group that you might wanna befriend, but later after leaving the group you no longer can see his name and have no chance to contact him or her.That is just a very strange decission to make the chats of the group disappear after leaving.. .

@Xelara.9132 said:1 - Group Leader alone decides who can join or be kicked.2 - People need to apply to the group leader to join. He can either accept or decline. (That is for the lfg menu)3 - After leaving a group the Group Chat of when the person was still in group should still be visible.4 - Add a looking-for-group chat in general maps.

1. I don't think there's a correct solution if we account for sour/toxic people that want to ruin the enjoyment of others. What you suggest works FOR YOU because you aren't that kind of person. In the end, it seems ANet chose the least problematic of approaches: the democratic one.

2. This already happens in (non open) squads, so for that type of content it's already covered. ANet hasn't given this much more attention to party making. Perhaps they just hope people read the lfg requirements and respect them? This has worked for me so far.

3. I don't think anyone will disagree here. I suspect it's a limitation of the way ANet has coded chatting channels and parties. Perhaps they can't keep the party's log without new messages of the party still showing up? There's some really sloppy coding at parts which they can't seem to fix, after all. :/

4. Isn't there a lfg section already for central Tyria? Or what do you have in mind? Personally, for the most part I don't need a party while in the open, but often I run into events where I need help, for those I just set an apple and ask for help in map chat, more often than not I get more than enough help.

In the end, even though it's always possible to improve the game's finer design details, the current party system has worked quite well for a good chunk of the populace, to the point where there aren't many posts like OP's. The OP doesn't like that the current system is more egalitarian rather than managed by an actual leader, but as others have mentioned, there are historical reasons it is so.

One thing that happened with 'Leaders of Groups' was that the Leader would kick everyone right before the end of the instance and then invite their friends or guildies to reap the rewards.

As for chat, I don't know; could be a technical issue.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:One thing that happened with 'Leaders of Groups' was that the Leader would kick everyone right before the end of the instance and then invite their friends or guildies to reap the rewards.

That is actually something they could adress by making the group chat still available after leaving. Because then people would still see the names of group members and could make some forum post with screenshots. People would learn fast that this kind of behaviour does have consequences. I have experienced this kind of forum dramas from other games and for me it is just part of the game community. I almost enjoyed it as much as the game to be active in forums with the community. But then GW-2 is much larger regarding population than some smaller mmo's. Maybe they just don't wanna deal with that kind of drama...Sadly, because in my opinion it adds to the community feel and player interactions...

That kind of thing is not allowed on the forums. (Name and shame.)

What about chat-link for looking for group? Like Build-Links so people can click on it, see who is in the group and just apply?

I think that was something they had in Guild Wars 1 as well. The system was so much better there.

I feel there is really something missing in the group system in GW2. As if it is an unloved/unwanted kid that has not been treated with the proper respect.. . As if A-Net doesn't want players to interact properly... .

As for the group leader options, maybe they can make the invite someone to group leader-based and only go the democratic way when it comes to kicking. What do you think? I think that might help a little bit.

So here based on the response my updated suggestions:

• Invite to group only by leader accepting an applicant or by actively inviting.
• Kick out of group stays democratic.
• Make group chat available after leaving a group.
• Make lfg chat-links availabe. So people can write their lfg-links in chat on a map or in guilds. (this last one should be available for all group members, so they can post to their friends, but still only the leader can accept an applicant)