I’m just spit-balling here but I was wanting to do some BGs and LFG and it got me thinking, with the game having run its course and with many players moving onto greener pastures, what if there was an option to queue up with NPCs in the event that a group takes too long to form so that, say, the NPCs fill up the empty group’s slots?
So if the queue has taken over 30-60 minutes to form and no tanks or healers or DPS are available, those slots get filled up by NPCs that help fight alongside you, much like proving grounds and other quests or dungeons where you have NPCs help you?
Perhaps this measure can gradually be rolled out so that it’s at least available to those levelling up in dungeons and content older than any current expansion, and it would speed things up for those just trying to get into lower level dungeons or battlegrounds?
This probably isn’t going to happen, but I just thought I’d pitch the idea to help liven things up a bit.
I’m a WoW and BfA fanboy but I’ll even admit that the day that we need to start using bots for this stuff is the day the game actually is dead and it’s time to accept that fact and move on.
3 Likes
Maybe it’s at that point…
BG queues would be faster if they’d simply add merc mode to the UI instead of making you travel to un-advertised hidden NPCs that some people don’t even know about. Just let people click a button on a UI to turn merc mode on and show the average queue time of both factions so you know if turning it on would benefit you.
PvE queues are longer because of tanks and maybe to a lesser degree, healers not queuing. I think the only solution is increase the incentive. Make call to arms satchels pop up at a lower threshold and maybe increase the reward they provide?
If faction imbalance was ever an issue in PvE queues (not sure there’s really the case currently), maybe also offer a merc mode system there as well, or just do it anyway so people can also play with their friends on the other faction when they feel like it (meaning you’d also let them group with the opposite faction when in merc mode)? /shrug
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FF14 just added this. The dungeons take way longer because the NPCs don’t know how to AoE, but on the other hand they do most of the boss mechanics flawlessly. I personally liked it as I can run dungeons over there when I’m at work and don’t have to worry about inconveniencing other people when the phone rings. It shouldn’t and can’t be relied on over there, though. You can’t get any of the usual rewards like currency for gear, the daily exp bonus, etc.
If/when they do the faction merge, it would open up and get rid of the faction imbalance that tends to cause the longer queues. Also, for tanks/healers, be nice to them so they come back and want to queue for those jobs.
Note I said jobs, not roles, as it’s often thankless and dealing with abusive jerks.
2 Likes
Much easier solution for BGs is to just remove factions and put everyone in one pool.
If you really thought this, why are you still here? One would think that by this thought process that you would also be moving along instead of suggesting improvements
You haven’t reached 120 yet the current level cap, sub 120’s are always going to wait in ques much much longer than 120’s but that doesn’t mean the game has run it’s course or that there are greener pastures out there in the MMO industry because there aren’t, I have yet to see a WoW killer!
BG queues would be better if they didn’t remove honor gear…prior to that horde had 15 second queues and the alliance had 1-2 minute queues. The incentive to do BGs just isn’t really there imo. No one cares who wins anymore because there are no rewards or goals tied to it, it just exists.
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Do they, now? Because last time I took NPCs into a dungeon, the melee classes did nothing but stand in stuff and then die. Stupid rogue.
Or is it just that the lore NPCs are smarter than the old recruits? I haven’t tried the system since Shadowbringers came out.
I saw a dps reward bag last night, that was weird.
I was talking about trusts, they’re not always perfect but they typically do all of the mechanics perfectly. One or two of them is coded to prioritize their dps though, which is usually really funny. As soon as that limit break comes up, she’s right on it, no matter what else is going on.
Well, this is just incentive to pick up FFXIV again. I loved the idea of the trust system, and I’m glad to hear they’re not as, erm, lacking in raid awareness as my poor Flame recruits.
I never actually used the squadrons at all so I can’t really compare unfortunately. I really liked the trusts though, especially going through Shadowbringers the first time, it was really cool being able to run things with all of the Scions. I wish they’d do that more, it helps with the immersion.
Shadowbringers was phenomenal though. Man I’d kill for WoW to have a story that good. I won’t spoil anything, but by the end of the MSQ I actually felt really awful about killing the main villain. They were hands down one of the best written villains in any game I’ve played. SE knocked it out of the park.
Welp, I know what I’m doing this weekend. Thanks!
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They are gonna fix it for you when the combine the factions.
You’ll have to come find me and let me know what you think of it. My brother’s going through the MSQ and I can tell exactly what part he’s at when he texts me about it, just by his reaction lol
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Weird, I’ve never seen one that I recall. I haven’t been playing BfA much for awhile though. Waiting to see what the anniversary rep bonus is going to be to see if I feel like using it to farm the flying reps.
Curious if it was shortly after tank/healer satchels were up? Maybe too many queued at the same time and they then needed more DPS to match with the sudden influx of tanks/healers?
This is what the problem is. If the community has the mentality of “Thank the tank, and be a peeler for the healer” you wouldn’t have these problems.
If they want to make queue times shorter, the tank in every party should be able to kick people.
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it was a dungeon one, I should specify. …still really weird. only seen it happen once or twice before.