MauvaisOeil said:While I have the same opinion as most people : Automatchmaking sucks and avaliable players list is good, there are some drawbacks in "UI listing" that are a bit prejudiciable :
You cannot sell yourself, you litteraly have no possibility to stand out from the crowd either by perseverance, humor, or anything, and if the community is "persuaded" that your class is not a good addition to a group (or less good than another class which is the FOTM), then your chances to get recruited are really slim. Listing avaliable players also give way less credit to players that went manually into X zone to find a group, even if their class or gear is a bit limited, while an LFG players slacking in hometown will be listed as much and people will probably be more inclined to wait him hiking up to the zone than taking what is avaliable, it's all about behaviour and path of least resistance : If you offer the choice to players they will take it, if it's narrowed then they won't go much out of their way and pick whatever choice they have left.
I understand what you are saying here, and some players enjoy the mini-game of hustling to get a group, but some of us don't want to "sell ourselves" (to use your very accurate words), and in fact want to avoid that "exact" aspect of LFG. If I have to dance and tell jokes or otherwise try to convince players to group with me, I'm either playing the wrong class or the wrong game. Again, I get what you are saying, but I think that is not what people are arguing for or against - and to your point of being in an area in which a person is LFG is going to inherently be advantageous over the player LFG from town (assuming the group isn't forming in town), and if the LFG system is like some of us are expecting/wanting, the player's location will be known.
"You cannot sell yourself, you litteraly have no possibility to stand out from the crowd either by perseverance, humor, or anything, and if the community is "persuaded" that your class is not a good addition to a group (or less good than another class which is the FOTM), then your chances to get recruited are really slim. Listing avaliable players also give way less credit to players that went manually into X zone to find a group, even if their class or gear is a bit limited, while an LFG players slacking in hometown will be listed as much and people will probably be more inclined to wait him hiking up to the zone than taking what is avaliable, it's all about behaviour and path of least resistance : If you offer the choice to players they will take it, if it's narrowed then they won't go much out of their way and pick whatever choice they have left."
Valid points which I had not focused on. But upon reconsideration I reach the same conclusion. In a goup-centered game we really need devices to encourage people to form groups and make the process easier. No groupfinder will prevent someone going to the dungeon or quest area and using chat to find a group and they will have a big advantage - they will be there with no need for the group to wait for them. Nor will anyone be forced to use it - people can still form groups as they did in the ancient times.