Random dungeon finder

[spaltung]

this platform is radically different from instance finder. and it will improve significantly group gameplay across all levels (even lv cap).


the whole idea for random dungeon finder is to give all players from lv 20 to 140 the possibility to join a random instance up to their current level and get rewards from it (like VXP, traceries for their lvl, maybe a reputation boost & experience).

RDF works like this:

- for 3man instances there would be 1 DPS role (dps support or dps), 1 Healer role & 1 Tank role to fill. for 6man instances there would be 4 dps/dps support, 1 tank, 1 healer.

once you open the platform, you select the role your class will play (for example, if Guardian i can select Tank, but not Healer nor DPS. if i'm Champ i can select DPS or Tank, but not Healer) to sign up.

then, the system auto-matches you with other players that fill the role gaps needed to start an instance automatically (by a ready check to port you in the instance with the other players).


now, the 3man/6man instance will scale negatively all players to the level of the instance. so, if an auto-matched 3man instance group for Goblin-town Throne Room is composed by 1 Burglar DPS lv 140, 1 Minstrel Healer 65 & 1 Champion Tank lv 49, all 3 players will negatively scale to Level 45 (which is the level for goblin-town Throne Room).

once all three players finish the 3man instance, they will get a Tracery for their levels, an small reputation acceleration tome (1k), Exp (if below lv 140) & VXP (something like 300 VXP).

and also 100 embers of enchantment if players are lvl 140 and that's the first Random Dungeon Finder they've done in the entire day (once they do their 1st RDF in the day; they won't get more embers from other RDFs until next daily reset).



now, this match & negative scaling will only work for players that are above the level of the instance & they own that piece of content that's on the RDF dispute.

for example if i'm lvl 33, i will only be able to match for instances below lv 33. not above (so, i'll be only able to match for Garth Agaren + Great Barrows + Fornost small fellowship & full fellowship instances).

[Pavlin]

this platform is radically different from instance finder. and it will improve significantly group gameplay across all levels (even lv cap).


the whole idea for random dungeon finder is to give all players from lv 20 to 140 the possibility to join a random instance up to their current level and get rewards from it (like VXP, traceries for their lvl, maybe a reputation boost & experience).

RDF works like this:

- for 3man instances there would be 1 DPS role (dps support or dps), 1 Healer role & 1 Tank role to fill. for 6man instances there would be 4 dps/dps support, 1 tank, 1 healer.

once you open the platform, you select the role your class will play (for example, if Guardian i can select Tank, but not Healer nor DPS. if i'm Champ i can select DPS or Tank, but not Healer) to sign up.

then, the system auto-matches you with other players that fill the role gaps needed to start an instance automatically (by a ready check to port you in the instance with the other players).


now, the 3man/6man instance will scale negatively all players to the level of the instance. so, if an auto-matched 3man instance group for Goblin-town Throne Room is composed by 1 Burglar DPS lv 140, 1 Minstrel Healer 65 & 1 Champion Tank lv 49, all 3 players will negatively scale to Level 45 (which is the level for goblin-town Throne Room).

once all three players finish the 3man instance, they will get a Tracery for their levels, an small reputation acceleration tome (1k), Exp (if below lv 140) & VXP (something like 300 VXP).

and also 100 embers of enchantment if players are lvl 140 and that's the first Random Dungeon Finder they've done in the entire day (once they do their 1st RDF in the day; they won't get more embers from other RDFs until next daily reset).



now, this match & negative scaling will only work for players that are above the level of the instance & they own that piece of content that's on the RDF dispute.

for example if i'm lvl 33, i will only be able to match for instances below lv 33. not above (so, i'll be only able to match for Garth Agaren + Great Barrows + Fornost small fellowship & full fellowship instances).

Just give up. They dont care. Both 99% and SSG. Back in past /some of Turbine/ even say that it wont go live, becasuse it will damage the comunity. Like LFF spam on every chanel do smth diferent ...
Lost cause.

[spaltung]

Just give up. They dont care. Both 99% and SSG. Back in past /some of Turbine/ even say that it wont go live, becasuse it will damage the comunity. Like LFF spam on every chanel do smth diferent ...
Lost cause.

that's unfortunate.

what's more damaging than already giving new players 130 levels of empty dungeons that virtually no one pugs, not even LFF.



now is the time that someone contradicts that fact by sharing an anecdotal evidence about their first and last experience of doing Barrows with 2 other people lv 25 about 6 months ago a sunday night.

[DavidmeetHal]

I think a random dungeon finder is a great idea. I like it.

[Harvain]

LOTRO's Dungeons are just Open Areas anyone can enter. There is nothing fancy to them.

You could have 100 Characters in any LOTRO Dungeon and none of them would have to be in a Fellowship or Raid and go about their business.

So terminology is one thing.



The SSG LOTRO Team are showing no signs of learning lessons from the Level 130 Content Era which lasted just over 2 years for figuring out a Style for how to build Group Content, a Methodology that encourages folks to try Group Content and having a Long-Term Plan to Support and Sustain those who play Games especially for Group Content.

First the SSG LOTRO Team has to find a Style, Methodology and Long-Term Plan for how to build Group Content.

Otherwise it'll just be the Status-Quo jumping from one idea to the next idea.

Sometimes seeing progress and a glimmer of hope but always faltering and returning to square one at the start of every Content Cycle.

[WeirdJedi]

They tried this years ago before they decided to mold it to the current Instance Finder we have today, because it didn't work the way they intended it to be.

In those days, earning marks and medallions were important and it seemed like most people did not like the current skirmish system. So they decided to reward people some if they made themselves available for grouping. It did everything you suggested. You would join up as tank, dps, and/or healer. The more open you were to random roles, random instances, and random levels, the more marks and medallions you earned. It didn't work.

Why? Because people worked around the system. What happened was pretty simple. People would find others to group up with they trusted like they would now and then coordinate to all join the Instance Finder at the same time. The system triggered all the people at once and would automatically group them together.

I personally used this system and never found a group. I recall waiting for three hours one time before finally being matched with a single person. I don't remember it lasting for more than a year before it was removed.

[spaltung]

yes, that would be an issue for 3man groups because if you've 1 dps, 1 tank and 1 healer there will be much more dps available than tanks and healers, which creates unbalance.

but, if the system would be available only for 6man groups, it'd be easier to form groups because the ratio 4 dps to 1 healer and 1 tank is way more viable than the ratio 1 dps 1 tank 1 healer (which will basically hurt most DPS playerbase).

maybe even randomize pre-made groups by giving each member of the group its own queue to previous queues already started and new queues to not hurt the philosophy behind the system (which is to auto-pug and not auto-premade).

also VXP & EXP, traceries and rep accelerators for players, plus embers for lv cap players seems a better reward, which will be the same as a daily.

the success of a system really depends on how it is configured to work with players' motivations/needs/interests.


that would smooth the problems you mentioned, which are reasonable.

They tried this years ago before they decided to mold it to the current Instance Finder we have today, because it didn't work the way they intended it to be.

In those days, earning marks and medallions were important and it seemed like most people did not like the current skirmish system. So they decided to reward people some if they made themselves available for grouping. It did everything you suggested. You would join up as tank, dps, and/or healer. The more open you were to random roles, random instances, and random levels, the more marks and medallions you earned. It didn't work.

Why? Because people worked around the system. What happened was pretty simple. People would find others to group up with they trusted like they would now and then coordinate to all join the Instance Finder at the same time. The system triggered all the people at once and would automatically group them together.

I personally used this system and never found a group. I recall waiting for three hours one time before finally being matched with a single person. I don't remember it lasting for more than a year before it was removed.

[Yaubros]

what's more damaging than already giving new players 130 levels of empty dungeons that virtually no one pugs, not even LFF.

This is why I went with Treebeard. I can't face the idea of playing 130 levels solo with no groups.

[Gildoriel]

this platform is radically different from instance finder. and it will improve significantly group gameplay across all levels (even lv cap).


the whole idea for random dungeon finder is to give all players from lv 20 to 140 the possibility to join a random instance up to their current level and get rewards from it (like VXP, traceries for their lvl, maybe a reputation boost & experience).

RDF works like this:

- for 3man instances there would be 1 DPS role (dps support or dps), 1 Healer role & 1 Tank role to fill. for 6man instances there would be 4 dps/dps support, 1 tank, 1 healer.

once you open the platform, you select the role your class will play (for example, if Guardian i can select Tank, but not Healer nor DPS. if i'm Champ i can select DPS or Tank, but not Healer) to sign up.

then, the system auto-matches you with other players that fill the role gaps needed to start an instance automatically (by a ready check to port you in the instance with the other players).


now, the 3man/6man instance will scale negatively all players to the level of the instance. so, if an auto-matched 3man instance group for Goblin-town Throne Room is composed by 1 Burglar DPS lv 140, 1 Minstrel Healer 65 & 1 Champion Tank lv 49, all 3 players will negatively scale to Level 45 (which is the level for goblin-town Throne Room).

once all three players finish the 3man instance, they will get a Tracery for their levels, an small reputation acceleration tome (1k), Exp (if below lv 140) & VXP (something like 300 VXP).

and also 100 embers of enchantment if players are lvl 140 and that's the first Random Dungeon Finder they've done in the entire day (once they do their 1st RDF in the day; they won't get more embers from other RDFs until next daily reset).



now, this match & negative scaling will only work for players that are above the level of the instance & they own that piece of content that's on the RDF dispute.

for example if i'm lvl 33, i will only be able to match for instances below lv 33. not above (so, i'll be only able to match for Garth Agaren + Great Barrows + Fornost small fellowship & full fellowship instances).

I really like this idea.

[StinkyGreene]

Isn’t that what we had already?

[Beltharas]

It really is a shame that there is so much great group content that hardly gets played, and I think a random group finder with downard scaling and level-appropriate rewards is a great idea. I always thought it was one of the best features of FF14, especially as you level. It means that you can actually get a group to run GA or Fornost, or even Carn Dum, as you get to that point inthe story. It means end-gamers have incentive to revisit old instances randomly and to meet newer players. I imagine it would be difficult to implement on LOTRO's system, but a great idea in concept

[wispsong]

this platform is radically different from instance finder. and it will improve significantly group gameplay across all levels (even lv cap).


the whole idea for random dungeon finder is to give all players from lv 20 to 140 the possibility to join a random instance up to their current level and get rewards from it (like VXP, traceries for their lvl, maybe a reputation boost & experience).

RDF works like this:

- for 3man instances there would be 1 DPS role (dps support or dps), 1 Healer role & 1 Tank role to fill. for 6man instances there would be 4 dps/dps support, 1 tank, 1 healer.

once you open the platform, you select the role your class will play (for example, if Guardian i can select Tank, but not Healer nor DPS. if i'm Champ i can select DPS or Tank, but not Healer) to sign up.

then, the system auto-matches you with other players that fill the role gaps needed to start an instance automatically (by a ready check to port you in the instance with the other players).


now, the 3man/6man instance will scale negatively all players to the level of the instance. so, if an auto-matched 3man instance group for Goblin-town Throne Room is composed by 1 Burglar DPS lv 140, 1 Minstrel Healer 65 & 1 Champion Tank lv 49, all 3 players will negatively scale to Level 45 (which is the level for goblin-town Throne Room).

once all three players finish the 3man instance, they will get a Tracery for their levels, an small reputation acceleration tome (1k), Exp (if below lv 140) & VXP (something like 300 VXP).

and also 100 embers of enchantment if players are lvl 140 and that's the first Random Dungeon Finder they've done in the entire day (once they do their 1st RDF in the day; they won't get more embers from other RDFs until next daily reset).



now, this match & negative scaling will only work for players that are above the level of the instance & they own that piece of content that's on the RDF dispute.

for example if i'm lvl 33, i will only be able to match for instances below lv 33. not above (so, i'll be only able to match for Garth Agaren + Great Barrows + Fornost small fellowship & full fellowship instances).

I can get behind this as long as I can still decide which level I want to play.
Also, most players levelling want to play through the story doing specific dungeons.

[Oelle]

the dungeon finder already has options to search random groups for random (or specifically selected) dungeons.

the only instances with somehow useful scaling currently are epic battles.

-> use the instance finder to find group for a random epic battle and as soon as someone joins you, the only missing thing is a really useful reward :P
(issue: epic battle 2mans are flagged solo, too, even though they are actually 2mans, so they start automatically, even if no one else searches for groups...)

[spaltung]

the dungeon finder already has options to search random groups for random (or specifically selected) dungeons.

the only instances with somehow useful scaling currently are epic battles.

-> use the instance finder to find group for a random epic battle and as soon as someone joins you, the only missing thing is a really useful reward :P
(issue: epic battle 2mans are flagged solo, too, even though they are actually 2mans, so they start automatically, even if no one else searches for groups...)

maybe with a separated and more intuitive UI it'd make the difference.

many people who posted here including myself we didn't know it was already in the game and as far as it seems the platform it is not reaching the playerbase effectively.


also negative scaling is a big deal if you want to gather players from all levels to do an specific dungeon.

trying to RDF a 6man lvl 45 dungeon with no negative scaling might take you 3 months.