I just watched the QuakeCon video, and one thing that really left me with a bad taste was the whole notion of finding a group through a menu, and teleporting to a friend in that group (even though that wasn't demonstrated). What makes a great MMORPG is how people socialize with each other. Finding a group through a menu would not only feel cheap, but it would diminish socializing and interaction to an unacceptable level. Writing to people, getting to know them on a basic level, and traveling with some of them to the raid/instance would create a bond between players. This is definitely a deal breaker for me, but I want to know what everyone else thinks. Maybe I've missed something important which would change my mind; if so, feel free to inform me.

You can still find and form a group without using that group finding. Heck in FFXIVARR you still see the chat filled with shouts for looking for dungeon groups and fate groups. For DPS it is often faster to form a group through shout than to use the group finder.

There is a reason the group finder is there. It's there so you can find people for dungeons/raids/etc. If I want to go in Dungeon X and I ask in chat, my friends, and to people around the area, and no one wants to, how will I find people?

As for the teleporting to other people, it's there for practical purposes. If I have a friend who is on the other side of a zone from where I am who wants to run Dungeon Y that's near him, there's no way I'm going to walk all the way over there for 15 minutes or however long it takes. For one, it'll be boring as hell, and two, my friend would be waiting the entire time.

Either way, you're not forced to do this. If it's helpful for other people, should it be taken away?

Awesome part about it though, its not required for doing dungeons , its just a tool to help locate other people needing that same dungeon as well. there will still be people asking in chat and heck if you have friends on that makes it even better.

That would depend on how well-done the group finding system is, but it's something I didn't consider. I didn't consider it because I don't have enough experience in MMOs that have such a system in place. If the feature won't make socializing obsolete, then I'm okay with it.

Most MMO's have had that system for a while, and it is there for a reason. Chat fills up too quickly to make it a good way of actually finding a group, and having to travel to the instance already makes people have a high chance of leaving if people take to long, let alone when waiting for a group to fill.

The evolution of mmo's. In other games that featured the shard system (wow ff14) you really need a looking for group too keep players on low pop realms or players that play overnight happy within reason.

In a megaserver mmo i don't particularly see the point in introducing this type of system. It might be due to the fact that it's a typical feature amongst it's competitors, which is not a good reason to add a feature.

Like others here already stated, if you don't want to use it you don't have to. And you can treat it as a feature for other people. I can see some hardcoe RP'ers not using it. For anyone that doesn't have a large group of players to play with or the mmo'ers who are shy or unsure about putting themselves forward to meet new people, this features for them.

One good thing about it for a mega server though, it's exposure to new players on the realm. You can add each other via friends list or just be known as that "awesome dps i saw today in this dungeon that owned everything and was so good."

If you ask around and no one wants to, I doubt you'd find anything using the group finder. I get that teleporting is practical. *It would be even more practical if you would teleport whenever and wherever you want, but that would be a deal breaker for more people than myself. If I'm not mistaken, there are waypoints players can teleport to and walk/ride the rest of the way. Teleporting to another player is on a wholly different level and, in my opinion, ruins any feeling of grandeur the game would otherwise have. You wouldn't be forced using the extreme teleporting system I described above (*), and it would help other players; yet I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want that feature in-game. Why? Because you would find it too extreme.

Actually, no the group finder IS useful for that very reason, because IT WILL allow you to get people to join the dungeon. Some might just want to help you out, some people might have ignored it and moved on and are now in a very different area, but might end up wanting to do it.

I welcome the LFG tool. I don't need to go back to the old days of waiting 4 hours to get a tank or healer to finally be able to do a dungeon. Hell, even if one of them drops, don't want to waste time looking for people.

That depends on the size of the instance, and also on how people feel at the moment. I highly doubt someone would ignore your personal plea, yet accept a request in the group finder menu. As for your other argument, it's perfectly possible that someone would change his or her mind on joining the group, but they wouldn't have to use the group finder menu to contact you, especially if you drop a short line in chat every now and then. The chat filling up isn't a problem considering the myriad of solutions, such as filters, categories, and an interface dedicated towards chatting about a specific instance.

Yes, the group-finder system makes forming groups easier, but I'm arguing that it diminishes socializing to an unacceptable level.

first two years in STO (Star Trek Online) we did not have a GF.. it was all about being social in chat channels to fill your Group.. oh the joy, how I miss those Days...

You will probably not be able to see the same chat in all the areas, but everyone will have the same groupfinder. also, not all chats have a filtering option, and even that does not always stop the stupidity of Gen chat leaking through.

Sometimes I just que, while wanting to do other stuff. It breaks up the monotonity of grinding or questing when I get a que pop. It's not that I was ignoring people just to que. The person forming the group maybe in a different zone or phased off. Back in wow before lfg everyone who wanted groups made wholly from pugs that didn't have friends online (that they met in pugs) had to sit in dal lfg for all the roles for their daily heroic or whatever dungeon they were trying to grind. A que system casts a bigger net and again gets people normally not confident enough to commit to a group as a socially defining experience.