Cross Shard LFG System Coming in Rift Update 1.4

Community Manager James "Elrar" Nichols just announced that Trion Worlds will be testing some of the upcoming Update 1.4 content on Rift's Public Test Shard tomorrow, July 14 at 3 p.m. PDT. The two features being tested are the upcoming Cross Shard LFG system and an all new alternate gameplay mode for the Whitefall Steppes Warfront.

Yes, Trion has decided to expand the looking for group tool across servers. "You will not notice any difference when using the LFG tool in-game; however, with the release of Cross Shard LFG you'll have the ability to take on dungeons with other players on shards across your Wargroup," Nichols said.

As for the alternate Whitefall Steppes gameplay mode, it's called Escalation. The Guardians and Defiants have deployed massive rune cannons on the map, and players must "capture three Sourcestone from the field and hold them at your base to win. Beware though; Sourcestone can be stolen directly from your base by the enemy."

So what are your thoughts on the cross shard LFG system? Are you happy that you'll get to form groups more easily, or do you feel it will hurt your server's community? Let us know in the comments below!

Tags: News, RIFT

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Lets Vote
# Jul 21 2011 at 9:19 PM Rating: Decent
Cross-Shard LFG


LIKE - press 1


DISLIKE - press 2

lets see who will win...



Trion u should make something like this too!!! You'll get more votes!
and that will decide you'r final decision !

Edited, Jul 21st 2011 11:23pm by thunderblood|WH
Love these discussions.
# Jul 21 2011 at 10:29 AM Rating: Decent
Many of the anti-LFG arguments seem a bit flawed to me.

"If people go in knowing they won't be seen by the other players again they don't have a reason to not be rude."

Well yes and no. Idiots will be idiots regardless of social constraints. Likewise nice people will tend to be nice people even if those restrictions are, or at least appear to be, lifted.

There are other issues to this as well, such as the current situation right now where on many servers you don't want to kick people because it might be hard or impossible to replace them.

Think about that for a moment. If you're hard to replace you can be more of an ******* than you can get away with if you're easily replaced. If anything LFG could cause an improvement in overall manners just because rude people could get booted and replaced much more quickly and easily.

"Without any local social constraints people will ninja loot more."

I got news for ya, folks in this game often don't care about looting rolls anyways. As long as warriors/rogues don't roll on mage/cleric gear and vice versa nobody seems to really care about things like "Justicar gets dibs on +Toughness chain."

That example is, of course, a personal experience one given that I was tanking AP last night with my Justicar and the healer rolled Need on and obtained some obvious tanking gear.

Two other points to consider are the same as with the previous issue. If the servers have a relatively similar percentage of their players being "ninjas" then LFG won't make the problem more common, but it might make the problem more visible. Likewise by potentially allowing for more parties to be formed faster the impact of these ninjas will, in terms of time invested in the game, be somewhat minimized.

Still, there's one thing Trion could do to solve all these issues people have against cross-server LFG systems. Implement a nice check box for it. That way if you don't want to get into multi-server parties you don't have to. Everyone wins.
cross shard LFG - hate the idea
# Jul 16 2011 at 4:02 PM Rating: Decent
Cross shard LFG ruined WoW for me - hate it and the whole idea.

All it becomes is "who cares about anyone" situation rush rush rush through it, ninja, meanness and just overall loss of social content.

What a bad decision :-(

Very dissapointing that you would bring this into a game that started out really different.
Queue times for Damage Roles.
# Jul 16 2011 at 2:22 PM Rating: Decent
So wouldn't this make queue times for dps players increase? I can't see how having to compete against hundreds of other damage dealers is an improvement.
relax people
# Jul 15 2011 at 9:21 AM Rating: Decent
yea there is plenty of reasons not to want this mainly ninja looting can be limited easily... rude players and rage quiters again not that big a problem.

Plus side larger pool of players to group with means more chances to get into a dungeon & that the dungeon is with in your xp level range for those unlucky sobs that got stuck in some random piece of crap dungeon instead of you RD i know i sure got nailed with KB i think it was for 15 times in a row before i got one RD run in...

For those that like to play with people on your shard alot and would like to keep it in house that is kinda why people form guilds to begin with if they have any concerns with ninja looting, rude, rage quiting players. So they have a steading group of people they can enjoy the game with.

Now i been on alot of the mmorpg scenes and so far this game is trying to make the game better and let players of all time limits and play styles (with in reason) have a fair shake at some content in the game. LFG cross-shard is not a bad thing just mean that the game will need some more measures to protect the nicer players from some of the BS that others will try to pull. heck trion even has a coin lock to help protect us so i think we can get them to help protect us better from ninja looters and some degree of bs with the new system.
Sad
# Jul 14 2011 at 8:35 PM Rating: Decent
Very bad.

Qs in WoW were not any faster than in Rift at 50.

Even in WoW it took you years to pop a non-50 dungeon. It will not change in Rift.

Just another reason after my Sub ends I'll probably not stay.

WoW turn in the the most horrible 5 man runs you'll ever find after their cross server. For every run that wasn't terrible you get 5 that made you never want to play again.

Why? People knew they'd never see you again.

Let's see forced specs now, 51 in more builds putting THE talent that makes the tree go at 51. WoW forced 31.

Content for the few. 20 Raiders. Every major patch in WoW new Raids.

I see where Trion is going. And by the looks of it they are the samethings that made me leave WoW after 6+ years.

I do wish them luck they will need it with huge games coming out very soon.
dont like it
# Jul 14 2011 at 5:46 PM Rating: Decent
I play a cleric that can tank, heal and dps so i don't need this. I agree with Hangman14. I remember when WoW first did this; faster groups, more ragequits and ninjas. People were generally ruder because they knew you couldn't impact their reputation on their server. I like playing with people I know even if they're outside my guild. I don't mind teaching a newbie a dungeon; we were all new at one time, but would like to know that there's a good chance I'll play with them again (or add them to my friends list). If people would only explore their class, this is RIFT, not WoW, there's no reason why everyone shouldn't have at least a tank or healer spec.
Sooner or later
# Jul 14 2011 at 8:19 AM Rating: Decent
I know that many have anticipated, or dreaded, cross-shard LFG but I figured it was gonna happen sooner or later. Since I never experienced LFG on WoW (not my game) I don't really have a strong opinion. I guess I will just wait and see and trust that if Trion sees it really damaging things they will disable it.
X-Shard / Same-Shard
# Jul 14 2011 at 12:40 AM Rating: Decent
While I myself will be taking full advantage of the quicker queue times because of this, I know many are concerned about the community's health (something I'm worried about as well). I wonder what it might take to have an optional check-box in the LFG screen? Much like your "Public/Private" party settings, this would toggle you between Same Shard / Cross Shard LFG.

Just a thought. I'm excited for this, none the less.

/edit/ Am I understanding this correctly, that the groups we can Queue with are from our Wargroup? That's an interesting solution; not too many people, yet far more than low-pop shards have been working with in the past. I wonder how it'll go?

Edited, Jul 14th 2011 2:42am by Morvick
A Positive Change
# Jul 13 2011 at 8:30 PM Rating: Decent
After seeing the before and after effects in WoW, I have to say that I think Trion is making the right choice by going cross-server. Yes, the negatives people have brought up are valid concerns. People will be less patient. There will be more ninjas. But on WoW, this was balanced by the fact that actually getting into a dungeon was no longer a big deal. You could just queue up again and have a new group in a few minutes, if not instantly. Even for my undergeared alts that, yes, would often get booted from cross-server groups after one look at their gear, gearing up was easily more expedient after the merge than before.

And remember, this change will likely allow more people to raid more quickly. A healthier raid pool is, inevitably, a healthier community.

Edited, Jul 13th 2011 10:49pm by zelamonster
agreed
# Jul 13 2011 at 6:06 PM Rating: Decent
i agree with " hengman14 "....but i think we should give a try...who knows wat will happen in this game...otherwise if ppl will dislike it after they tryed it out i hope Trion will fix it back...

Edited, Jul 13th 2011 8:08pm by thunderblood|WH
ummm
# Jul 13 2011 at 5:45 PM Rating: Decent
cross shard LFG... do we really need it?? it's gonna hurt the community... the current LFG might be slow, but you can talk in your level bracket and say something... then others can jump in

an alternate for whitefall sounds good, i ran it once... didn't like it and never tried it again... escalation sounds interesting...

they should mix the fang mechanic from black garden into a map that resets when you carry it to your base... and do a time limit not a point limit... make it like a sport...
Nice
# Jul 13 2011 at 4:57 PM Rating: Decent
I see this as a huge step forward. I did not know World of Warcrack had already done the same. Shame, I thought it was a RIFT innovation when I read about it.

I hope people do not try to plow through dungeons, though. I personally like to do all quests, and I have yet to tackle most dungeons (I am doing Deepstrike Mines next). I still need to learn about them all.
DISLIKE
# Jul 13 2011 at 3:13 PM Rating: Decent
Nooo! I like being able to use dungeons with only people from my shard, because people are generally more friendly and more cooperative.

When cross-server LFG from WoW came out, yeah you got into a group faster, but half the time, the tank or healer would just ragequit after the first pull because the group took 1 minute to kill the mobs instead of 30 seconds and say, "DPS is bad" or "I don't have time for this."

Especially if you're doing a dungeon for the first time, people from your own shard are more willing to explain fights and have patience. Cross-server, people just plow through the dungeon and boot the nooby that dies to unknown boss mechanics because no one would wait for them.

wow
# Jul 13 2011 at 1:20 PM Rating: Decent
**
526 posts
holy **** this is huge
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