By making the dungeons difficulty so high, players have started putting together groups and then entering dungeons (i.e., Fangbreaker Island, Svordborg). These two actions alone have rendered the queue system useless. Thanks a bunch, developers. Other players now have no choice but to sit in queues for hours on end hoping to get in, all the while spamming the chat system begging for invites to a group. What will be the next way in which you can continue to further destroy what was a great game just 12-18 months ago?
I look forward to hearing the ploys of the developers... Anddddd go!!!
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Comments
We've argued for awhile now for Higher Tier & harder content & we've got it in FBI & MSVA, but that comes at a cost. You need certain characters all performing their individual tasks something you generally don't get from a random group.
If you're in an Alliance then accessing this content shouldn't be that difficult as more & more people are unlocking the requirements to play these dungeons. If not you're either stuck in SOMI trying to jump into other people's queues but I wouldn't bother queuing up randomly as you'll be there all day & still likely not get a game.
I'm not arguing this system is perfect BUT Castle Never nowadays & EpicDemo have become a joke so if the price for tougher content is a harder to access queuing system so be it.
I may or may not be part of a minute group, but I got more from this game when I had to repetitively run a dungeon over and over due to being queued up with a bad or inexperienced set of players, than in it's current state of let's sits in a queue for 5 hours while I spam the chat log begging for an invite , and discuss it in a forum online. Mind you, the latter part of that statement is taking place as I type this.
..first post btw.. normally I lurk but this has been bugging me, lol..
I last saw this same thing when Alliances and Strongholds was introduced. No one wanted to play or join together unless they were all the same as them. So if you have a level 20 Stronghold full of members with max ILS, in a Alliance with all the same, then what are you going to do for the next 3-4 months until the next mod comes out, whine and complain because there is no new content?
The only difference the new private queue system brings is the ability to lock out randoms from loading into their team if someone leaves/disconnects. In mod 5 when I had low level characters I'd find myself kicked out of about 40% of dungeons & skirmishes (shores) before the group had even started the run & were at the campfire.
These days, the introduction of Alliances has made private queuing more popular as players can just advertise in Alliance Chat for group members due to having a pool 13 times larger than their guild.
If you find your alliance allows IL bias is chat then the alliance is not a great one. In our alliance nobody is allowed to state an IL requirement when advertising a run in AC.
Xael De Armadeon: DC
Xane De Armadeon: CW
Zen De Armadeon: OP
Zohar De Armadeon: TR
Chrion De Armadeon: SW
Gosti Big Belly: GWF
Barney McRustbucket: GF
Lt. Thackeray: HR
Lucius De Armadeon: BD
Member of Casual Dailies - XBox
I like that alliance rule of no IL discrimination... Need to get mine to adopt that. Won't get me around the class bias, but it'd be a start. I save my most cynical laughter for when I see "need high DPS for rDemo, 3.5k+" or 4k for nSVA.
The second issue is role functionality when tackling content. We're all aware that we're supposed to fill different roles to conquer the challenges in this game.
Control Wizard. Controller / Striker. ...
Devoted Cleric. Leader / Controller. ...
Great Weapon Fighter. Striker / Defender. ...
Guardian Fighter. Defender / Controller. ...
Hunter Ranger. Striker / Controller. ...
Oath-bound Paladin. Defender / Leader. ...
Scourge Warlock. Striker / Leader. ...
Trickster Rogue. Striker / Controller.
Yet when you look at the the requirements to attempt to tackle this content there are three roles primarily: Tank/Buff-Debuff/DPS. Because of the state of the game our role selections are being reduced to analog functions of DPS and Other; and the only way that we see our feedback is with a flawed leaderboard. In a game where Clerics are starting to do more damage than they heal and Guardian Fighters are capable of out damaging the Great Weapon Fighter people are becoming more and more hesitant rely on random elements in their group. They have instead turned to running the content with people that they know and who they can rely on to fill the role in the way they expect them to. This is almost a necessity for end game content like FBI or MSVA.
D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium
There are several factors to take into account besides the mechanics, people are trying to make progress on the new content, there is an event going on, was just x2RP etc...all things that lower the number of people that are trying to get into the older content...not to mention guild and alliance runs and other changes that have some of us running different skirms and dungeons than we were a few weeks ago. So yes you probably have had some long wait times recently but I don't think that is the fault of the mechanics, its just the nature of some of the players right now.
OP - Sunshine: 16000 IL
Casual Dailies
The difficulty is fine, I would just like to see some of the latency issues resolved with both places.
Yes of course struggling in an attempt to complete FBI is better than never getting in at all, but he's saying that going in with a group of people that you know is a surer way of completing it effectively because it's harder.
The thing with CN, ETOS etc is if you have just one or two well geared players in your group, they can carry a pug, but in FBI you need at least four of the team to know what they are doing, be well geared and preferably using voice chat comms.
As such, those that can avoid pugging will do so. I know that doesn't solve your issue at all but it's the reality. As such the only effective recourse you have to getting into these dungeons is to be in a decent guild/alliance that advertise for players internally.
Xael De Armadeon: DC
Xane De Armadeon: CW
Zen De Armadeon: OP
Zohar De Armadeon: TR
Chrion De Armadeon: SW
Gosti Big Belly: GWF
Barney McRustbucket: GF
Lt. Thackeray: HR
Lucius De Armadeon: BD
Member of Casual Dailies - XBox
Its always going to be the case that content for the highest level characters will have a smaller pool of players.
You can't have material that only a few people can complete, and expect there to be lots of people queuing up to do it.
There is no instant fix to this.
It can only improve by more people reaching a point where they are capable of doing it.
That's why people with powerful characters would do better if they didn't act like arrogant pricks when pugging with a team of lower power characters on the more standard runs.
I ran a bunch of ETOS pugs with my 2.5k GF yesterday to test a few build ideas aimed at moving from solo DPS Mini tank to group support buff and serious tanking.
I explained to each group at the start, and most were fine. One guy, a 3.6 GWF offered advice, and deliberately let me go first into encounters to pull aggro before he cut loose and snared it all.
I learned more in that 20 minutes about tanking than I did the entire rest of the day.
Sadly he was the only post 3.5k player who showed the slightest interest in group play, with others ranging from charging off on their own to jumping up and down like a toddler having a tantrum if anyone needed to pause between encounters to charge up.
Oh and I don't think I would pug FBI unless they raised the IL req to enter to at least 3.5K. No way are we getting through there with 5 x 3.1K
OP - Sunshine: 16000 IL
Casual Dailies
GWF - 4,069 Gear Score (classic)
Barbarian - 48,499 Total Item Level
RIP Bonding Runestones since "combat/companion changes" update on February 5, 2021
Master of Svardborg (banner) trophy, unlocked January 4, 2020! (Playstation4) / Master of Svardborg (banner) achievement, unlocked August 9, 2017! (XboxOne) / Dragon's Bane (Defeat 1000 Dragons) trophy, unlocked February 5, 2020! (Playstation4) / Dragon's Bane (Defeat 1000 Dragons) achievement, unlocked June 9, 2015! (XboxOne) / Portal Dodger achievement, unlocked July 16, 2017! (XboxOne)
I personally don't use the public Q because of the potion timer and I do not have a giant stash of VB yet to spend on the potions, but I would use the public Q more if it was not wasting my potions.
Eventually I might have the extra 12% FR that I am missing, others might too and that will help, I hope...
OP - Sunshine: 16000 IL
Casual Dailies
People are too concerned with instant gratification. RPGs are not suppose to be about that. You start with basic weapons equipment and weapons, you level up, get better weapons and equipment and get to explore new areas.
I prefer NOT to go into somethings with randoms. I like to get a group of friends together and play the more difficult content. That way we don't we have worry about some idiot running ahead and making the area more difficult than it needs to be.