PoF bounties, 4 hours waiting in LFG for just one champion is too much

[Touchme.1097]

Dear ArenaNet,It became clear to me that most of the gaming community here doesn't like PoF maps and sitting in LFG for 4 hours waiting for players to join my squad just for one bounty champion has become unbearable. Why don't you just make normal bounties soloable and leave the group requirement only for legendary bounties?It has become easier to find a legendary bounty squad in LFG than non legendary ones because some professions can solo them but this is actually unfair on those players who play professions which can't solo all the normal bounties.Also please, don't make EoD like PoF with too much content built around groups because players like to get things done once and don't usually participate in that same event unless the rewards are seriously worth the time and the efforts like for the Meta events.

I am sitting in PoF maps waiting for a squad to do my bounties for my achievement and titles and I would love to have some fun but the way you designed these events are taking the fun out of them.

[Ayrilana.1396]

It's usually best to go for those achievements/bounties on days where the daily achievement is for a bounty on that map. I believe that I still occasionally see bounty trains advertised so they do happen.

As far as group content, I'm pretty sure Anet will continue to do group events and such since this is an MMO after all. What they could do better is make them rewarding enough to keep doing.

[Touchme.1097]

@Ayrilana.1396 said:It's usually best to go for those achievements/bounties on days where the daily achievement is for a bounty on that map. I believe that I still occasionally see bounty trains advertised so they do happen.

As far as group content, I'm pretty sure Anet will continue to do group events and such since this is an MMO after all. What they could do better is make them rewarding enough to keep doing.

I have spent all day trying to gather enough people to do a few bounties in the Crystal Oasis map. I managed to do it only because today's daily was a bounty on that map but I haven't seen any trains for normal bounties on the other maps today, so if they happen they don't happen often enough and the bounties are many.I am not supposed to wait hours for a bounty to be done and neither should you, we shouldn't feel forced to roll a character of a particular profession just to be able to solo group events, because they are designed around groups and also because it would be a miserable experience.Game=entertainment and fun, it's pointless to leave things as they are if their purpose as group event is too hard to fulfil nowadays.These bounties have to be soloable, leave the group ones for legendaries, but the non legendaries as group events are pointless to leave as they are for the sake of it and I am not standing on the side of leaving things as they are without a logical reason.

[Randulf.7614]

NA or EU? EU has been pretty busy this evening with a constant train of bounty runs in Crystal Oasis for at least the couple of hours I was in the map. I know NA has a lot more problems grouping Vs EU at least based on anecdotal info, but if on EU and still stumped, pm me and I can help

[Touchme.1097]

@Randulf.7614 said:NA or EU? EU has been pretty busy this evening with a constant train of bounty runs for at least the couple of hours I was in the map. I know NA has a lot more problems grouping Vs EU at least based on anecdotal info, but if on EU and still stumped, pm me and I can help

I am playing on EU servers, thank you for your offer, I will pm you tomorrow. To be honest with you EU or NA, I haven't seen PoF maps being full of life since my first day on GW2 which is last year. Every 10 minutes, no matter which PoF map I am in, I keep getting the volunteer message because there are not many players in those maps. This is the evidence I bring to you to back up my argument. If I didn't have to wait hours or all day just to get a bounty done I wouldn't report my feedback here.

[Randulf.7614]

If it helps, I saw 2-3 tags on/off in CO right now doing bounty runs before reset. There's also a ton of people gathering at the Amnoon WP for when the meta starts so maybe before/after reset is a good time to look.

I'll try and remember to be on in the evening tomorrow (Wed)

Sounds like you get a lot of bad luck or your home shard within the mega server is putting you in a low population one. I rarely have issues in PoF maps except during the weaker hours - they're not packed, but rarely empty either. Maybe Elon Riverlands when people stupidly leave after the Rock meta is done before Doppelganger turns up. That gets my back up a lot

[Firebeard.1746]

@Touchme.1097 said:Dear ArenaNet,It became clear to me that most of the gaming community here doesn't like PoF maps and sitting in LFG for 4 hours waiting for players to join my squad just for one bounty champion has become unbearable. Why don't you just make normal bounties soloable and leave the group requirement only for legendary bounties?It has become easier to find a legendary bounty squad in LFG than non legendary ones because some professions can solo them but this is actually unfair on those players who play professions which can't solo all the normal bounties.Also please, don't make EoD like PoF with too much content built around groups because players like to get things done once and don't usually participate in that same event unless the rewards are seriously worth the time and the efforts like for the Meta events.

I am sitting in PoF maps waiting for a squad to do my bounties for my achievement and titles and I would love to have some fun but the way you designed these events are taking the fun out of them.

1) There's usually active bounty groups on the days that the particular map has a bounty hunter objective in the dailies, so if you're patient, just wait for that day2) Do you have a public tag? It hasn't been that bad for me when I've started groups with mine.3) What time of day are you active? I have had more trouble in off hours, sometimes, but normally I haven't had to give up.4) Did you spam your guilds for help?5) Did you spam map chat for help?

[Touchme.1097]

@Randulf.7614 said:If it helps, I saw 2-3 tags on/off in CO right now doing bounty runs before reset. There's also a ton of people gathering at the Amnoon WP for when the meta starts so maybe before/after reset is a good time to look.

I'll try and remember to be on in the evening tomorrow (Wed)

at 30 minutes before the reset today there was one group advertised in LFG but that was just for the daily as I have already explained it in my previous message the daily was a bounty in CO today. I am currently gathering players to do bounties in Desert Highlands, Elon Riverlands and Desolation. I hope my feedback reaches the devs anyway because I don't wish it to anybody to wait half a day just to get a bounty done as I have experienced it while looking for group to do Xedra for my ascended back item collection achievement.

@Firebeard.17461) There's usually active bounty groups on the days that the particular map has a bounty hunter objective in the dailies, so if you're patient, just wait for that dayA: That day doesn't come regularly as we don't get bounty dailies every day but I agree with you it would make my search easier, it won't make things better though. The problem still persists, not enough players populating PoF maps to wait a reasonable time to get the normal bounties done, things need to change now.

2) Do you have a public tag? It hasn't been that bad for me when I've started groups with mine.A: No, I don't have one, I don't know what that is or how to get one.

3) What time of day are you active? I have had more trouble in off hours, sometimes, but normally I haven't had to give up.A: I'm in all day and evening, it doesn't make things better though.

4) Did you spam your guilds for help?A: Yes I did, their lack of interest is either because they have already done the bounties or they don't pay off enough to be worth doing them. Even being in 2 guilds doesn't make things better. The reason is explained in my first post.

5) Did you spam map chat for help?A: I do and I also get my message privileges suppressed by the system sometime because I spam in map chat regularly

[Mungo Zen.9364]

@"Touchme.1097" said:Dear ArenaNet,It became clear to me that most of the gaming community here doesn't like PoF maps and sitting in LFG for 4 hours waiting for players to join my squad just for one bounty champion has become unbearable. Why don't you just make normal bounties soloable and leave the group requirement only for legendary bounties?It has become easier to find a legendary bounty squad in LFG than non legendary ones because some professions can solo them but this is actually unfair on those players who play professions which can't solo all the normal bounties.Also please, don't make EoD like PoF with too much content built around groups because players like to get things done once and don't usually participate in that same event unless the rewards are seriously worth the time and the efforts like for the Meta events.

I am sitting in PoF maps waiting for a squad to do my bounties for my achievement and titles and I would love to have some fun but the way you designed these events are taking the fun out of them.

Whenever I am looking for a single bounty and I can't find a group already doing it, I will do one of two things.

I will either use my Mentor tag and announce in /m that "XYZ Bounty will be pulled at [target location] in 3 minutes". This usually gets enough people on the map to finish the champ. This method is calling upon those players who are helpful enough and already there, players who won't be looking in LFG either.

The other option is to Commander tag and LFG for a full Bounty Train for the map. Players are more likely to join a squad hitting multiple bounties rather than just one. Yes it requires a commitment to more time running the squad then just doing a single bounty but, I am sure you would trade your 4 wasted hours for 60 minutes of leading a squad and getting your stuff done and loot to go with it.

[Touchme.1097]

@Mungo Zen.9364 said:

@"Touchme.1097" said:Dear ArenaNet,It became clear to me that most of the gaming community here doesn't like PoF maps and sitting in LFG for 4 hours waiting for players to join my squad just for one bounty champion has become unbearable. Why don't you just make normal bounties soloable and leave the group requirement only for legendary bounties?It has become easier to find a legendary bounty squad in LFG than non legendary ones because some professions can solo them but this is actually unfair on those players who play professions which can't solo all the normal bounties.Also please, don't make EoD like PoF with too much content built around groups because players like to get things done once and don't usually participate in that same event unless the rewards are seriously worth the time and the efforts like for the Meta events.

I am sitting in PoF maps waiting for a squad to do my bounties for my achievement and titles and I would love to have some fun but the way you designed these events are taking the fun out of them.

Whenever I am looking for a single bounty and I can't find a group already doing it, I will do one of two things.

I will either use my Mentor tag and announce in /m that "XYZ Bounty will be pulled at [target location] in 3 minutes". This usually gets enough people on the map to finish the champ. This method is calling upon those players who are helpful enough and already there, players who won't be looking in LFG either.

The other option is to Commander tag and LFG for a full Bounty Train for the map. Players are more likely to join a squad hitting multiple bounties rather than just one. Yes it requires a commitment to more time running the squad then just doing a single bounty but, I am sure you would trade your 4 wasted hours for 60 minutes of leading a squad and getting your stuff done and loot to go with it.

I have tried the mentor tag on the other maps, it didn't make things better. It only made a difference in CO today because the daily was there today, but the other maps were quite empty and even after 4 hours gathering 5 players for a bounty has been a challenge. We are both not supposed to be put in this situation.

I can't get a commander tag at the moment because I can't afford to pay the gold for it but I hardly believe it would make a difference for normal bounties as I have tried to show both the mentor tag and sitting with a squad advertised in LFG for hours. Legendary bounties pay more so the commanders usually do a legendary train squad.

[Sylvyn.4750]

@Touchme.1097 said:I have spent all day trying to gather enough people to do a few bounties in the Crystal Oasis map. I managed to do it only because today's daily was a bounty on that map but I haven't seen any trains for normal bounties on the other maps today, so if they happen they don't happen often enough and the bounties are many.

I need a Champ in Crystal Oasis, but the groups were only forming to hit the legendary ones for the daily on NA...go big or go home I guess, don't bother with the Champs anymore.

[Khisanth.2948]

@Randulf.7614 said:NA or EU? EU has been pretty busy this evening with a constant train of bounty runs in Crystal Oasis for at least the couple of hours I was in the map. I know NA has a lot more problems grouping Vs EU at least based on anecdotal info, but if on EU and still stumped, pm me and I can help

That is also going to depend a lot of when you play

[DoomNexus.5324]

Yea PoF maps don't have great metas and the bounties are kind of.. badly designed. HoT maps are a mess and I still hate Tangled Depths (which I think was the reason why HoT was so disliked by many.. it's just bad for a story playthrough and needs some time to get used to it) but the meta events are good. They don't make the maps any better but gameplay wise they offer more grind-content which is good for long term fun. I'd happily go back and do some meta events but I am almost never going back to any PoF map because I simply don't know what I could do there that's worth my time.I wouldn't mind Anet reworking bounties a bit. At least tweak the numbers on scaling a bit so you can do them with a small guild squad or some friends.

[Mungo Zen.9364]

@Touchme.1097 said:

@Mungo Zen.9364 said:

@Touchme.1097 said:Dear ArenaNet,It became clear to me that most of the gaming community here doesn't like PoF maps and sitting in LFG for 4 hours waiting for players to join my squad just for one bounty champion has become unbearable. Why don't you just make normal bounties soloable and leave the group requirement only for legendary bounties?It has become easier to find a legendary bounty squad in LFG than non legendary ones because some professions can solo them but this is actually unfair on those players who play professions which can't solo all the normal bounties.Also please, don't make EoD like PoF with too much content built around groups because players like to get things done once and don't usually participate in that same event unless the rewards are seriously worth the time and the efforts like for the Meta events.

I am sitting in PoF maps waiting for a squad to do my bounties for my achievement and titles and I would love to have some fun but the way you designed these events are taking the fun out of them.

Whenever I am looking for a single bounty and I can't find a group already doing it, I will do one of two things.

I will either use my Mentor tag and announce in /m that "XYZ Bounty will be pulled at [target location] in 3 minutes". This usually gets enough people on the map to finish the champ. This method is calling upon those players who are helpful enough and already there, players who won't be looking in LFG either.

The other option is to Commander tag and LFG for a full Bounty Train for the map. Players are more likely to join a squad hitting multiple bounties rather than just one. Yes it requires a commitment to more time running the squad then just doing a single bounty but, I am sure you would trade your 4 wasted hours for 60 minutes of leading a squad and getting your stuff done and loot to go with it.

I have tried the mentor tag on the other maps, it didn't make things better. It only made a difference in CO today because the daily was there today, but the other maps were quite empty and even after 4 hours gathering 5 players for a bounty has been a challenge. We are both not supposed to be put in this situation.

I can't get a commander tag at the moment because I can't afford to pay the gold for it but I hardly believe it would make a difference for normal bounties as I have tried to show both the mentor tag and sitting with a squad advertised in LFG for hours. Legendary bounties pay more so the commanders usually do a legendary train squad.

It was less about the commander tag and more about making a full bounty train for the map. I believe players who are using LFG to find something to do are more likely to join a squad doing a meta or multiple bounties than a single event or bounty.

[Khisanth.2948]

@DoomNexus.5324 said:Yea PoF maps don't have great metas and the bounties are kind of.. badly designed. HoT maps are a mess and I still hate Tangled Depths (which I think was the reason why HoT was so disliked by many.. it's just bad for a story playthrough and needs some time to get used to it) but the meta events are good. They don't make the maps any better but gameplay wise they offer more grind-content which is good for long term fun. I'd happily go back and do some meta events but I am almost never going back to any PoF map because I simply don't know what I could do there that's worth my time.

Crystal Oasis, Elon Riverlands, Desolation and Vabbi all have popular metas but that would not help with OP's issue anyway. Metas do nothing for keeping a map active.

I wouldn't mind Anet reworking bounties a bit. At least tweak the numbers on scaling a bit so you can do them with a small guild squad or some friends.

scaling isn't anywhere as big of a problem as certain combinations of the random buffs and specific bounties' mechanics

there is also the one that often bugs out and starts to sink into the ground ...

[kharmin.7683]

Sorry, but your experience does not speak for most of the players. Consider, too, that the New Year celebration is going on right now which attracts a good portion of the population.

[Samnang.1879]

I--...Why would you even wait 4 hours for that.Just spam map chat, spam in Mistlock Sanctuary, there are always people who are willign to help...

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I've found that joining a squad that is doing other Bounties will often help out with a particular Bounty, if you just ask them.That's how I finished all the Bounties in PoF maps.

[Veprovina.4876]

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:I've found that joining a squad that is doing other Bounties will often help out with a particular Bounty, if you just ask them.That's how I finished all the Bounties in PoF maps.

Pretty much this. There's also usually some "bounty train" squad in LFG you can join and they usually do all of them.

I got most my bounties done by using the mentor tag and asking in map chat + LFG. People came and helped.It would have been way easier with a commander tag but i don't have one of those yet. Still, a mentor tag was enough.

[Kondor.2904]

I'd also add that it's helpful to put additional info in your map chat/lfg message, like "bounty required for this or that achievement/collection/item/mastery/title/etc". I tend to notice more people usually respond to that kind of announcement rather than plain "need help with x bounty", maybe some will check their achievements tab and realize they actually need it as well.

[Astralporing.1957]

Considering how lackluster normal bounty rewards are, and that elegy mosaics are limited to legendary bounties only, it's not surprising.

[Danikat.8537]

I don't know if this applies to you but if you're putting a group together for a specific bounty it helps a lot to say which one it is. I've seen a lot of vague LFG messages in PoF maps (especially Crystal Oasis), often just saying "bounty" and once literally just saying "lfg". That means anyone joining the group doesn't really know what they're committing to doing, which makes it hard to know if it's a group they want to join or not.

Also one suggestion I haven't seen mentioned (I might have missed it) is to ask your guild/s for help. Bounties don't need a lot of people, a group of 4 or 5 can do most of them and people are often more inclined to help their guild members. Even if it's not a guild that normally does PvE events together it's worth asking. If it is a guild that does PvE events together you could even talk to the leader or one of the officers about arranging a guild 'bounty night' where you get together and do a bunch of them.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:I've found that joining a squad that is doing other Bounties will often help out with a particular Bounty, if you just ask them.That's how I finished all the Bounties in PoF maps.

I agree, but I'd also point out that if they say they're doing all of them in a set order, or they have a few others to do first it's important to accept that. It gets really annoying when someone joins a bounty train and keeps going on and on about wanting to do the one bounty they came for and complaining whenever another one is chosen. Basically unless they say they've already done that one and won't be doing it again you just need to be patient.

[Touchme.1097]

@kharmin.7683 said:Sorry, but your experience does not speak for most of the players. Consider, too, that the New Year celebration is going on right now which attracts a good portion of the population.

I don't know where you get that assumption from but you don't represent the majority of players and even if your assumption had the slight of evidence to be considered valid the gaming community is not organized as the dictatorship of the majority, keep that kind of political system away from these forums, please.

[kharmin.7683]

@Touchme.1097 said:

@kharmin.7683 said:Sorry, but your experience does not speak for most of the players. Consider, too, that the New Year celebration is going on right now which attracts a good portion of the population.

I don't know where you get that assumption from but you don't represent the majority of players and even if your assumption had the slight of evidence to be considered valid the gaming community is not organized as the dictatorship of the majority, leave that kind of political system away from these forums, please.

I'm not the one who made the statement. You're the one who claimed to know what the majority of the community doesn't like without the slight of evidence to be considered valid.

@Touchme.1097 said:It became clear to me that most of the gaming community here doesn't like PoF maps and sitting in LFG for 4 hours waiting for players to join my squad just for one bounty champion has become unbearable.

The fact that many enjoy the New Year celebration might account for your experience in that the PoF maps may appear less populated. This might account for the lack of participation in the events that you seek.

I suggest joining a guild and getting members there to help. I saw where you said that you haven't been able to get any assistance from the two guilds that you're in. Maybe join one that will be more helpful.

[Crackmonster.2790]

A last option is a simply making your desperation clear in your LFG title - essentially asking for help. There are many people here willing to help, even if you ask in map chat most of the time several or more will show up to help if ask nicely and/or explain your situation. That's one of the amazing things about gw2, people are generally quite friendly and helpful in my experience, and the open world brings people together.