Dungeon Finder please copy the one used in wow

thats right what I just said, I came back to EQ2 two weeks ago I bought the expansion I did the timeline and now I am back to sitting around BORED out of my mind for hours on end waiting for a group to join, I am not one of the better players so consequently I do not have the ability to say boo and have groups drop at my feet, you guys love to knock wow and have been doing it for years, but you know what? there is one thing that wow did really REALLY well and that was their cross server dungeon finder, yeah it has its cons but at least ANYTIME you wanted to find a group the groups were there, I know you tried to copy wows dungeon finder a few years back and made a mess of it when you tried to make it your own, ALL I am asking is you please try again but this time JUST COPY the darn thing, I would really like to start being able to get groups whenever I want to group.

You're going to have difficulties finding groups at low levels reguardless. There simply aren't enough people who DO group below lvl 90 or so. The game has become very top heavy and the combination of mercs (which trivialize all content below 80 and some above) and the mad rush to cap, most people aren't interested in groups below cap.

^^ This. Although the Dungeon Finder could really use work - even the best and brightest dungeon finder can only work with what it's got. There are just not that many people LFG at lower levels. A few quests and you are past the dungeon content for the tier and level, so many people just don't bother and are focused on getting to level cap.

He said he bought ToV and did the timeline. So it's no whining about lower level content.
Still, build a group yourself instead of just waiting.

Grab the lfg channel lurkers and force them to group, 9/10 you've got half a group sitting there. A functioning dungeon finder would be nice, but unlikely right now.

psst like AlQamar said I bought ToV and did the timeline that means im lvl 95 , and btw the WOW DungeonFinder Codeing is already done, I am no programmer but I am sure it cant be THAT hard to copy.....AND third being a mediocre player means that my chances of filling a group is slim to none,

If you think anybody besides blizzard will have a chance to look at the code your being pretty clueless. Reverse engenering their code to copy it is way more work than copying the functionality.
And i don't think advertising yourself as mediocre helps your efforts.

Pretty sure a dev stated that the dungeon finder overhaul was already done and in-game, they were just waiting on the UX team to do their thing and update the UI. You can't really copy WoW's DF verbatim. This game has far more classes, and part of the reason the original version of EQ2's failed was because it was always putting together suboptimal groups.

I am a software developer, and statements like this are so far off the mark it isn't even funny. There's a reason we get paid decent money for what we do.

I think the LFG tool (just type /lfg in chat) is the best EQ2 tool that is never used. It's a great solution to a lot of belly-aching to the problem of finding groups to do content. But in order for it to be effective, everyone has to use it. It is useless if only a small percentage of people use it - which is the case today, unfortunately.

NOTE: This is NOT the dungeon finder tool. It's the LFG tool. Different. The interface is very simple. If you are trying to FORM a group, to fill one or two spots, you can use the tool do that as well.

It's a chiken-and-egg problem right now; People won't use it unless other people are using it!?

I play on off-peak times and I always get a group.

Why? I make one myself.
After making many pugs you get a list of people who are generally on at your time and who you class as people you want to play with.
Nowadays, I plug into my friends list first and get half the group made then add the needed classes from channel.

Easy formula: Tank, healer, 2 dps, bard, chanter (feel free to swap either bard or chanter with a dps, but at least have one utility)

If you aren't getting the groups with the current character make a different archetype and learn it and diversify, you may enjoy a different class.

If you up your game on your class you will get invites and tells as soon as you log in. I generally get 1 or two tells asking if I will make a group as soon as I log into game.

As for dungeon finder, it may add someone on your ignorelist or people who are unwilling to learn how to improve themselves.

This all compared to 'pick the dungeons you want and go.' EQ2 isn't in a vacuum where a 'dungeon finder' is only theoretical. Its not an entire game vs and entire game, people will compare feature vs feature and often.

With a (PROPER) DF everyone would group more (myself included), people would get groups faster and more people would be more active at more levels. Personally I would probably have more alts as well. Its sad how many times I see new people asking if the DF is working properly when they are trying to use it at some low level like 40 and everyone just lol's and says no one ever uses the DF. Grind your way up or pay for an 85 and grind a little less.

The most you can count on now is getting to the cap, doing the 'daily' and hoping to get some other random runs. Brace yourself for less if you are DPS class.

So am I but if I couldn't put a piece of code in that ensured a tank AND a healer in EVERY group and prevented 5 of the same class, I would hang up my keyboard

To the OP, it's just as bad on most servers but here's the trick; If you sit in channel LFG every 2 mins you are bound to get the problems you are seeing. If you actually START a group, you will have replies almost immediately (if it's prime time for your server). People are lazy and can't be bothered to start groups so they sit there waiting for it to happen. DIY and you should get a better result.

I found that if you got a group together THEN you all Q'd up for it, it would teleport your group to that dungeon and you may or may not get an extra reward that is usefull for transmuting.

when I try this w/e group I start usually gets hung up on getting a healer or tank. And if people aren't patient they will bail after about 5 mins just because they are sick of waiting or they saw some other group just needing their class to be GTG. It does tend to yield better results starting my own, but I find the difference in gains for the work to do it negligible. I'm talking about PUGs of course, setting up guild groups with known players is intensely easier but that kind of option isn't available to everyone.

Some people like to think you can 'force' people to play a certain way. If people don't have a DF when they want one and have to put groups together to get going when they don't want to, they will sooner quit than do something they don't want to do in most cases. Especially when MANY other games DO offer the option. People don't NEED to play your game so this kind of tactic is largely ineffectual. Its just bad business sense especially when the request is so reasonable. They really missed a good chance to put in a good one with ToV too with so many new dungeons.

Player bases and game developers often try to do the same thing with PvP. as if making PvE the lesser option or drawing you in with a PvE heavy content at the start and then switching to heavy PvP later on will make people PvP more when they don't want to. In reality the players are more likely to quit outright.

So you want people to do the work for you everytime?
As for healers and tanks, after about a month of making PUGs you should have a few people on your list for tanks and healers that you would work with. I find I'm still needing to sometimes search for those two classes, but have been finding it easier recently with more of them being on my friends list.
It may not be for everyone but building your own networks is an easy way to get rolling, it can just take a little while.

As far as DF is concerned, I will keep an open mind if they deign to upgrade it as was promised. (just like the pixel shader upgrade and those other moth balled projects)

DF design in this game is FAR from easy, and the wow model would just not work for eq2. For example, without gear score, what would be the requirements to enter zones? Will it be CC or Health? In that case we could either get someone in cryptic gear but fully adorned for CC in VD, or glass cannon conjuror with no Sta Acrane armor denied Hive. How would utility classes be treated? Will they have their own spot or be one of dps slots. How many tanks or healers per group? Etc. Eq2 zones are also FAR more difficult than those of WoW, I really cannot think of one zone there that can even scratch the difficulty of Stasis, let alone VD, so proper balancing of applicants would be critical for DF success in eq2.

Also speaking from fairly extensive experience, I get groups in eq2 as a necro MUCH faster than I do in wow's DF on my feral druid or on my lock. I also enjoy grouping with people I expect to see often. In WoW, I can group several times a day for weeks and not notice anyone I grouped with before.

with a 'proper' dungeon finder you won't see anymore grouping then you do now. I would guess about 90% of the players are guilded, and wouldn't touch a PUG with a ten foot pole. there's 0 reason to group until you get a set of cryptic armor, which can be done entirely solo with a merc. and frankly, if your a 'mediocre' player, people WILL remember it, and will tell their friends and that will lower your chances.

your reputation as a player does mean something, you know.

guilds tend to only group with thier own, the people they know 100% they can rely on. that they know aren't going to try a zone over thier ability or gear, that won't need on EVERYTHING so thier 15th alt can get something, that won't be a general jacka** in the group.

I've been in 2 pugs since ToV. one was pretty decent, nice folks, got things done, no complaints when things went south a few times..and I'd group with them again.

the other...I wouldn't group with any of them except 1 player becuase I knew him from before, again. and a lot of people really just would rather wait for a guild group, or buy gear from SLR, then risk the 50% chance that you'll get stuck with people that don't know a sword from jum jum root.

/agreed. Much of what Neiloch says is true too, but the lazy and fickle nature of people at large is a nightmare across games and life itself unfortunately.

None of this however is new, and soon after I began playing when KoS was new, there was still a shortage of tanks (much of that because I was new too) so I did the next best thing, made a tank and learned how to play it, Now whenever we are short a tank, my pug has an option. This choice is open to everyone even though the game has moved on about 6 or 7 years from then. tbh everyone should have a pocket tank, healer, chanter so they have more options. Makes life so much easier.

Like Neiloch, I would group a lot more if a DF existed, and I'd certainly play my alts a ton more. And I group plenty now, both with pugs and guild groups. Call me lazy, but I would rather just queue up, and then go do some other stuff while I wait for it to pop. I'd rather not be constantly checking the LFG channel. It does nothing to foster community spirit and ultimately results in the same outcome, only a lot slower. And I've been in groups that are forming up plenty of times, only to have a couple people drop when it took >5mins to find a tank/healer/whatever. It's always amusing (not really) to see someone advertising "LF1M need healer then gtg", and 2 mins later see the same person advertising "LF3M need healer + DPS". Sometimes it takes longer to form the group than it does to actually clear the zone.

The idea that guild groups are always inherently better is laughable. There are plenty of guilds out there who exercise absolutely no quality control over their members. The difference is that guild groups are generally going to be a lot more patient and forgiving, owing to the fact that it's harder to distance yourself from guildies than it is from faceless pugs. Most people don't want to cause guild drama and so will just shut up rather than speak up.

At this point, a working DF is almost a requirement for a modern MMO. It's always argued they destroy communities, and I used to hate the things myself, but my experiences in other games has led me to conclude that these fears are way overblown.