LFG System is Unfriendly (as a New Player)

[TheDark.7956]

I should qualify myself a bit when I say this. I'm not exactly a new player, in as much as I'm a noob player. I've owned GW2 since release and I've returned to dabble every year or so and at every major expansion, but until this year with the release of EoD I've had a hard time staying engaged because a lot of mechanics went unexplained for me.

 

Example: Combos... As far as I know this was never tutorialised, you'd have to somehow "get it" or read about it on the wiki. Or Defiance bars. I had no idea what a CC ability was, or even what that meant. I digress, but I was a noob.

 

With EoD I returned and found that the new content and UX improvements improved my experience hugely. There's more tutorialisation of higher level mechanics. There's also heaps of great content on YouTube made by the community, helping new players to understand the mechanics/stats/builds in great depth which has been really helpful.

 

After a concerted effort, I'm finally "getting it" and by and large I'm finding the game, the story and a lot of the modes really fun. For the most part random strangers in the open world are really helpful, sometimes even really generous and kind!

 

However...

 

The LFG group system for strikes (at least, haven't tried many other modes yet), suffers what I'd characterise as "late-stage community syndrome". What is this exactly? It's the new player experience of stepping into a game with 9 years of developed meta, acronyms and shorthand, and "the way to play" is so well trodden by the extremely experienced community, that it becomes sadly, a bit hostile. (League of Legends is a sad and striking example of this).

 

I get it, most people are here to grind out their dailies/weeklies and get on with life. And there's a lot of unsung heroes in the community that really do reach out or try hard to be helpful or answer questions. But unfortunately there's equally the smarmy, sarcastic or outright mean types that want you to know the game, or get the hell out.

 

I can't help but feel that if I was a less interested player I would've been pushed out some time ago.

 

A suggestion for how this could be improved, is tags could be built into the LFG tool in some way, so that the group names could become less of a series of three letters acronyms. Perhaps those common abbreviations/acronyms could be tags for the LFG listing with hover-over tooltips to give explanations to players who don't know it yet. I know its basic to most of the high level players, but this is one of the barriers that really throws noobs like me. And walking in unwittingly, not knowing "the rules" yet and being treated like I'm being a jerk kinda just ruins my day.

 

I just want to remind the people that might be more on the impatient side, that it's a good thing that noobs are joining because it's a sign that you're in a growing community. And that's a very good sign for the long term health of your favourite game.

 

I half expect to get flamed now. But thanks for reading. If you have any resources that you think might help me onboard, I appreciate it.

[Cuks.8241]

Non automated grouping tools are always confusing for new players. While I fully support the tag system this game is quite complicated and changing in this regard. 

I means you have the basic dps, alac (alacrity provider) and quick (quickness provider). But after that it gets complicated because there are many acronyms for specific subroles or builds or encounter specific roles. cdps, pdps, hmech, hfb, qhfb, hscg, bs, alaren, qfb, cqfb... 😁

Maybe an ingame wiki dictionary would help. 

I know this is not a general solution but your best bet is to just ask in chat in one of the hubs. 

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

This may be helpful?  https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Abbreviations

[Hotride.2187]

Absolutely understandable.

The ones I know, that should be red flags to a new player:

exp - experienced, e.g. groups that speedrun dungeons (lots of skips and fights you just have to know)

cm - challenge mode

kp, li, ufe - kill proof, legendary insight, unstable fractal essence, asked to show you know your business (the higher the requested quantity is, the more you supposedly know your business)

For raids best to join groups tagged as "training", for easier but still demanding content best to join "chill" runs. Though best to practice your build in open world metas first.

There are a lot of abbrevs for meta builds, you probably want to check a few out at whatever the newest website is (metabattle right now, but it might change at some point). If you dont understand the abbreviation you probably arent playing the requested build.

You can filter tags with "-", e.g. "-cm" will hide groups that want to do challenge modes.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Hotride.2187

[Farohna.6247]

No, you're correct on many things are not well explained or tutorialized in game.  And LFG can be a confusion of abbreviations and requirements.  Hopefully you haven't had too many rude people in groups, always feel free to ask your guild or even maps what it might mean or if you join a group and ask, and it's not something you fulfill a role for, them apologize and to heck with them if they're rude.

Also best to look for training groups or ones that say noob friendly, no requirements.  A lot of people are also learning and no one starts out as a vet...which is something experienced players need to remember and be patient with.  People have to start somewhere.  Be kind, be helpful, offer suggestions...you don't have to carry people but be courteous, someday that person may be up to your level and be fun to play with.  

[Holykitten.3064]

I came back to Gw2 after a 14-ish month break a couple months back, and I was dumbfounded trying to get back into the Fractal/Strikes/Etc content, as either the abbreviations had changed slightly, or new ones appeared, or I had just forgotten them. 

The wiki for abbreviations helped me a lot, and then the more I got stuck in the easier it was. Now I'm back to enjoying the game like I used to. 

[phandaria.4891]

Absolutely true.

But don't be afraid to ask, I've seen many players are helpful in strikes. Usually only groups with "EXP" tag are quite dismissive of newbies.

Map chats are usually helpful as well, although you will find trolls everywhere.

That being said, Arenanet could have spend some thoughts to improve LFG Infrastructure, at least to help newbies onboard harder content like raid, strike and DE Meta.

Edited April 26, 2022 by phandaria.4891

[Kuya.6495]

I really hope Anet is working on improving the LFG and adding in depth tutorials in game before the steam release. It would go a long way to improve the reception of the game and increase its longevity. While we're at it, the spvp mode and wvw mode also need in depth tutorials.

[Ashen.2907]

Agreed. Unfortunately asking a group looking for "alac" what that abbreviation means demonstrates that you are probably not going to be able to fill the role. I am of the firm opinion that it is a good idea to have a seperate team composition build for your favorite characters and that a team play tutorial or guide, perhaps a tab within LFG that breaks it all down, to help put them together would be helpful.

[Danikat.8537]

Honestly I just assume any group using acronyms I don't understand is one that wouldn't want me, and one I wouldn't want to join.

If I don't see one I can join I start my own and say something like "My 1st time, not sure what to do" or "Everyone welcome" and wait for other people to join. Usually it's other players in a similar situation and then we figure it out together, sometimes it's people who do know it and are willing to help.

[Farohna.6247]

42 minutes ago, Danikat.8537 said:

Honestly I just assume any group using acronyms I don't understand is one that wouldn't want me, and one I wouldn't want to join.

If I don't see one I can join I start my own and say something like "My 1st time, not sure what to do" or "Everyone welcome" and wait for other people to join. Usually it's other players in a similar situation and then we figure it out together, sometimes it's people who do know it and are willing to help.

I assume the same.  If I have no clue what it means, probably not something for me.  I happily will join a group advertised as we have no clue what we're doing, and lend a hand if I do.  Fractals are a great way to acquire skills, terminology, and gradually more difficult content.  And people are pretty nice to learn with.  

[Ashen.2907]

48 minutes ago, Danikat.8537 said:

Honestly I just assume any group using acronyms I don't understand is one that wouldn't want me, and one I wouldn't want to join.

If I don't see one I can join I start my own and say something like "My 1st time, not sure what to do" or "Everyone welcome" and wait for other people to join. Usually it's other players in a similar situation and then we figure it out together, sometimes it's people who do know it and are willing to help.

Solid response. I tend to only join groups advertising, "everyone welcome," or, "casual," or something of the sort. If I want something closer to a serious or hardcore run with dedicated roles and such I go with my guild. Our guild leader, upon learning the requirements for the turtle and such asked several of the guild members who are a bit more min-max inclined to practice as a core group so that we could be ready to help less instanced content oriented guildies get what they wanted without having to go through LFG. Its been fantastic so far. People are getting their turtle without having to feel self conscious about joining via LFG and those of us forming the core get the fun of helping out our buds.

 

[Labjax.2465]

I think the pushing of strikes is making it all the more clear how badly this game's LFG tool needs attention. Strikes are by design casual time investment group content, but the tool does not match that at all. Where in other games, you can queue up for such a thing and jump in when it's ready, you have to navigate an unwieldy UI with a ton of different categories and somehow work out how to form or find a group. If you're an inexperienced player with it especially, you could spend more time figuring out how to get a group going than you do playing the content. Which is just a mismatch in pacing. If this game wanted to do slower paced, that's fine, that's a design choice, but strikes don't match that and neither does most of the rest of the game.

LFG also needs some attention in relation to maps and metas, but that's like several problems tangled up in each other.

[Orthonen.9470]

You can just join the group and ask, really it's not a big deal. It's only a problem when you join and lie about your role.

Edited May 3, 2022 by Aridon.8362

[morpheus.6489]

The LFG system in this game is extremely basic compared to any other mmo. All Anet needs to do is go play ffxiv for 5 minutes and see what a developed group finding system looks like. There is a ton they could to improve it but they won't because they don't see the money incentive to do it.

[SlayerXX.7138]

On 4/26/2022 at 7:05 PM, TheDark.7956 said:

I just want to remind the people that might be more on the impatient side, that it's a good thing that noobs are joining because it's a sign that you're in a growing community. And that's a very good sign for the long term health of your favourite game.

There is a fine line between hopeful and delusional. People could be more patient, but I'm pretty sure it is not gonna happen. I got kicked out of my own group 2 times because i explained mechanics cause i saw low AP in the group.

Honestly a compressed Strike acronym list should be enough to smooth things out. There are enough guides for the encounter itself.

 

On 4/27/2022 at 12:37 AM, Labjax.2465 said:

I think the pushing of strikes is making it all the more clear how badly this game's LFG tool needs attention. Strikes are by design casual time investment group content, but the tool does not match that at all. Where in other games, you can queue up for such a thing and jump in when it's ready, you have to navigate an unwieldy UI with a ton of different categories and somehow work out how to form or find a group.

Yes the game is not designed for 10 man content without a tag. But the LFG tool is fine for what it is. They could split it in Open World and instanced content. Even then you are looking at 20+ categories. Clicking Strikes-> join group seems easy enough. Its mostly acronyms which confused things. Queuing up doesn't work as Strike alone are so varied in difficulty and team composition that is an impossible task to design a que for that. WOW has a que up for almost everything, besides mystic(hard) dungeons because they too are to varied in difficulty. 

 

I can be very patient with new players, but i would never join whisper of jormag Strike que if i can help it. Noobs can kill me. Don't want that if i aint ready for that.  We have a que but whisper of jormag is hard so nobody did use it even at launch. And Everything below jormag is more or less free to join right now. 

Edit: I do agree Lfg is confusing but there is no easy solution without the help of outside resources.

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by Albi.7250

[mythical.6315]

Will new players really be doing strikes?  At what point does someone stop being a new player?

Edited May 5, 2022 by mythical.6315

[DarcShriek.5829]

It's not just new players that have problems with LFG.  It really needs some improvement.