Curse

Enix · Apr 30, 2007, 06:26 PM // 18:26

Search was more effective for trading before the low charecter limit. I used to play on one compy and sell on another (no need for spaming). I agree, it was too little too late. It is a nice way to add henchmen though.

To fix it (and maybe curb the selling spam a tad), it would be nice if there was an option to include search options for every area in the entire game (or at least areas you could get to). There are plenty of missions and masters I need or quests I would like to complete, but I always do them with heros and hench because nobody is ever in the town I am in that moment. It might be nice to hit search and see "Hey, there is a M&B in THK needing a MM. That might be fun."

VitisVinifera · Apr 30, 2007, 06:27 PM // 18:27

half baked, half implemented, half realized

ChyldeOfTheLotus · Apr 30, 2007, 06:29 PM // 18:29

The Party Search is like Communism. Both look good on paper, but in real life, niether of them work.

Tahlia Tane · Apr 30, 2007, 06:34 PM // 18:34

All I want is just to find a party. I KNOW there are people in Tyria that want need a party for vanquishing and so I do, I just can't find them. Same for some of the quests I have like Titan quest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChyldeOfTheLotus

The Party Search is like Communism. Both look good on paper, but in real life, niether of them work.

So ArenaNet = communists? Very interesting!

El Panty Bandito · Apr 30, 2007, 06:37 PM // 18:37

I agree, I totally love the search function, but rarely use it due to the low amount of characters I can fit into a message. _IF_ I was able to fit maybe double to triple the amount of characters, I would use it 95% of the time.

And to "SotiCoto", people are not copy/pasting anything...just pushing the up arrow on their keyboard. Don't believe me? type something to yourself, then push the up arrow. Thus providing spam, (up arrow, enter, up arrow, enter...etc etc...).

And someone mentioned way earlier about maybe a global search...that would be almost too large and making most groups very hard to find/form.

Nekretaal · Apr 30, 2007, 06:37 PM // 18:37

It's decent for finding groups where (1) there is more than one thing to do in the town, and (2) the town has multiple districts.

Whats wrong with it:

(1) the text box is too small. This is probably the biggest problem with the feature. You cant describe the quest that you want, the build your running (pvp) or the item you want to sell.

(2) Almost all areas in the game are single district, meaning that its best just to use local chat.

(3) The party search is only able to be seen by people actually in the town at the same time as you, and it disappears when you switch districts

(4) There just doesnt exist the population in guild wars to do what you want to do without waiting a sizable amount of time in town. Even with party search your not going to get a group for titan quest any faster, because few players are even elegible to do these, and those players largely dont want to do them. Ditto with vanquisher: the group of people that this actually apeals to is very small, and the group that wants to do this and is actually willing to wait in town for groups rather than just hero/hench it is even smaller. Heroes cut out a large part of the GW population, and hard mode again split the GW population in half... even as people are leaving because the GW game is bloated (according to the anet people quoted in the PC gamer article) and on its last legs...

(4a) The people in heroes ascent (TA to a lesser extent too) just dont want to accept randoms, even ranked randoms or high ranked randoms, so a party search function is useless because it not a feature that pvpers desire.

I like the feature though. If it were fixed (larger chat box; ability to display weapons or item like skillbar interface) and improved (regionwide) it would be a lot better

El Panty Bandito · Apr 30, 2007, 06:41 PM // 18:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nekretaal

ability to display weapons

Now that is a very good idea! Just have the dang weapon in search so you can hold your mouse over it and see stats possibly? I dunno...But dang thats a good idea!

Alleji · Apr 30, 2007, 06:52 PM // 18:52

Nobody is using the party search thing in WoW, either... and it's much better than in GW. I guess there's something about spamming LFG endlessly :/

Renegade26 · Apr 30, 2007, 06:53 PM // 18:53

They need to make it continent wide, and have many different options to choose from for sortings sake, so you can find ppl doing "fun groups" "hard mode" or "all mesmer groups" type thing. They also need to make it so you can then join another persons group in that area by clicking, to relieve hassle.

They also need to make it so you can see each continents searching parties by clicking on little tabs at the top to sort between tyria, cantha, elona and "eotn".

Then ppl can find friends, random ppl, and groups suited to them with ease.

Kuldebar Valiturus · Apr 30, 2007, 07:04 PM // 19:04

The last game I played where LFG function worked well was in DAoC, and people used it. From what I recall the feature was added relatively early on and not 1-2 years after release.

People get set in their ways. For example, I dusted off my old Nostromo n52 game pad intending to revolutionize the way I played Guild Wars...but I failed miserably. So, I'm back to keyboard and mouse buttons.

Tahlia Tane · Apr 30, 2007, 07:04 PM // 19:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alleji

Nobody is using the party search thing in WoW, either... and it's much better than in GW. I guess there's something about spamming LFG endlessly :/

Well in WoW it's more complicated, IMO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuldebar Valiturus

The last game I played where LFG function worked well was in DAoC, and people used it. From what I recall the feature was added relatively early on and not 1-2 years after release.

People get set in their ways. For example, I dusted off my old Nostromo n52 game pad intending to revolutionize the way I played Guild Wars...but I failed miserably. So, I'm back to keyboard and mouse buttons.

That's a good idea, people don't even get to learn the LFG function in the game. It's just added and it's just there. You don't get to learn it when you start a character or something, sooo. I really hope Guild Wars 2 addresses this issue because I don't want that game to be ruined.

xarchitect · Apr 30, 2007, 07:08 PM // 19:08

While a globalization of the Search function would create a lot of clutter (if it was used), there could be a tremendously easy way to sort it. Here is what I am thinking:

1. For selling: right click on an item in your inventory. A message pops up asking if you want to post it for sale, if yes is entered, you type in the price you are seeking. That item is then posted only in the sell portion of the search function. They could even sort it further into categories like runes, weps, mods... I would say there would be a 3 item max per account on the board.

2. For buying: Since you won't actually have the item, you will have to manually type it in. Character length should be increased to allow you to actuall write in the item you want and the price.

3. Party: If you are in a mission town, you click on the search button and in the party search area there is another couple options are you LFG Mission or adjacent explorable areas? After selecting one of those, you get another pair of choices: HM or NM. If they want to be really clever about it, they will give you an option to specify the remaining party members (by primary class only). It would automatically accept anyone of that class into your party.

4. Specific Quest: Open your active quest window and right click on the quest you want to do. A message pops up asking if you want to post it in the search. Same party options as above.

Now, the next thing as mentioned above is that it needs to remain active until you manually delete it or log out. That way you can roam about killing mobs while you wait for the group fill up. When the group is full, you get a 60 second timer countdown to get mapped to the starting town (or you could go there manually before that).

Evilsod · Apr 30, 2007, 07:18 PM // 19:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alleji

Nobody is using the party search thing in WoW, either... and it's much better than in GW. I guess there's something about spamming LFG endlessly :/

Because spamming it in Local chat, you're almost certain to have at least someone in the district reading it. Likely nobody else is even using Search.

VanDamselx · Apr 30, 2007, 07:23 PM // 19:23

I only use the Search function while I'm selling a single weapon or something of the sort or when I'm looking for groups in ToA. It is a shame no one uses it, it has good intentions. It's just flawed like everyone has stated above.

GenobeeX · Apr 30, 2007, 07:25 PM // 19:25

They should increase the char limit is the first problem, they could also limit the amount of spamming in channels to influence use of the search function. Because surly everyone can agree that begging and trade spamming can be very annoying and search is such a great tool if they added more functions. I see several trade and search things they could add to make it more popular.

1. Have a mini window that shows the people/professions in the group apon clicking.
2. in Lotro they have the ability to drag your items into the chat as a clickable object just like build coding, it would be handy to be able to reduce extra spam by having a link that shows you the item stats itself.
3. Realm search options would be cool, but what about searching within both english and international districts for partys. In this case having a window that shows what impost or area the team is in would be good to have.

greenchylde · Apr 30, 2007, 09:01 PM // 21:01

i agree all around. when i am looking for a group or to buy/sell somethingi always look at search and *sigh* find it empty. then when i go to sell find that i cant figure out what squish down what i am selling so folks can figure out what it is so dont use it and never get an invite if i post i am looking for a group. i think it is an awsome feature if it was a bit more usable and got used.

cyberjanet · Apr 30, 2007, 09:05 PM // 21:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fender

old habits die hard

You said it, honey.

I'm old and I can use the search function.
Tip: if you use it, play with people who do. You'll find that rare animal, a like-minded player.

Liberations · Apr 30, 2007, 09:34 PM // 21:34

I agree it's underused. The only place I ever see Party Search used is in port towns (ie Lion's Arch) and sometimes HA in the international districts. And its a shame because I think it's a genius feature!

There's only 3 things that party search needs! It's so simple it's funny.

1. Make it able to be a watermark in the screen, like the Observer mode team display. Also, make the text and text boxes in it slightly smaller for more space. So simple. If it's there in front of you and it doesnt take up half the screen in its annoying dark box, I guarantee people would use it since its staring you in the face, but for those who don't like the little thing, they can always switch back to normal. I hope ArenaNet doesn't try any crazy ideas on this one.

2. Like others before me, make the character limit higher.

3. Allow the ability to post item stats in the trade text box, with a link like the new skill ping (which is much better than the old one) and the WoW item ping.

So, so simple...

creelie · Apr 30, 2007, 09:34 PM // 21:34

The character limit is way too low - you can't communicate anything detailed.

Jetdoc · Apr 30, 2007, 09:37 PM // 21:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChyldeOfTheLotus

The Party Search is like Communism. Both look good on paper, but in real life, niether of them work.

I have the same experience with college interns.