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Wizard is in dire need of a quest/dungeon group matching system. As more dungeons get added that require multiple wizards to complete; a matching system would greatly reduce the time any wizard spends looking for a group.

Currently, when you want to do a dungeon like Malistaire, Warehouse or Briskbreeze you have to go to the dungeon or some common area wait for someone to come along who wants to do the dungeon with you. The current technique I employ is to switch realms until I find enough people who happen to (randomly) be in the same realm and location looking to do the same quest/dungeon. With 29 realms and a minute between switching that could be upwards of a half an hour just looking for a group. And your search could be in vain because either no one is currently online doing that quest or while realm hoping you might miss other people doing the same thing.

What I propose is a new page added to the settings panels that will link to a database of group requests across all the realms.

It should be a standard sortable database table set in a list view with the column heads (Quest/Dungeon, Current Group, Looking For (optional))

The “Quest/Dungeon” table column should be pretty self explanatory, that is the quest you (as a single wizard) or your group are looking to do. As a sortable search option you can quickly find everyone currently online who want to do that quest. Instead of jumping realms or shouting in a common area you look through the available people send them a quick tell (or possibly if you have your own request out there they will send you a tell) and you can get together fairly easily.

When creating a request the “Quest/Dungeon” should use a drop down menu similar to menu chat. The first level should have entries “Quest” pulled from the current quests you have, “Dungeon” pulled from the list of all the dungeons you have access to at your level, and “Favorites” the top two or three “Quest/Dungeon” matching posts that you have previously chosen.

The “Current Group” table column will pull from your group status the number of wizards, wizard’s level, wizard type and chat type and display that information in the form of a comma separated list. The list should display first school emblem (i.e. the circular graphical symbol we know for each school; Black Skull for Death, Red Fire for Fire, etc.) the wizards level followed by the chat status icon. It will display those three things for each wizard currently in the group, each wizards information will be separated by a comma. For clarity the “Current Group” table cell should look like this:

(Fire Emblem) Lvl 50 (chat yes), (Death Emblem) Lvl 48 (chat no), (Ice Emblem) Lvl 49 (chat yes)

Each item in parenthesis would be the graphical equivalent.

I believe basing the “Current Group” information actually on the current group of the request’s poster will speed the placing of a request onto the database queue. Otherwise I think the overhead of manually adding each wizard’s status from a dropdown menu could become cumbersome. As you add wizards to your group that would signal the request to update with the new information. If the wizard that was just added to the group has a “Group Request” on the database it will be removed or merged with that of the group he/she joins. I think limiting any single wizard to only have one “Group Request” posting at a time will cut down on the database overhead, will prevent spamming the servers with Group Requests and make each wizard more thoughtful about which Quest/Dungeon they really want to place a request for.

The way I see it, once you have a full group your request will automatically be dropped from the database queue. Once you enter the dungeon that you have a request for (even without a full group) your request will be dropped from the database queue. Both of these features are based on the poster of the request, so if you add into your group a hyper wizard who can’t stand still for a second and is popping in and out while you are trying to fill the rest of the spots your request WONT be dropped by the database, ONLY if the poster of the request fills the group or enters the dungeon him/her self will the request be dropped from the database. Due to these database “clean up” features and the limit of any single wizard only being a part of one “Group Request” at a time; each individual wizard will have to be tracked internally as well.

The database “clean up” features I think are necessary because, as players, we might forget to manually delete the request from the server. Being that I often forget to switch my cards when first entering a new dungeon I can totally see myself forgetting to remove the “Group Request”. Now, accidents might happen, or groups might form and disband based on unforeseen circumstances creating a new request should be fairly easy to make; just go to your “Favorites” and it should populate with the most recent request information based on your current group. For the user, it would be a one-click solution. If you then want to edit the request you can. This would then get saved back to your “Favorites” list.

The “Looking For” column of the entry is to choose what type/level of wizard(s) that you want to add to your group. This should be displayed similar to the “Current Group” entry, but you form it by choosing from a drop down menu. You can choose up to three wizards (if you are currently groupless). First you choose school emblem, second Level of wizard, then chat type.

Choosing a school emblem is fairly simple, there should be a menu list of each school (similar to the one used in menu chat) that you can pick the type of wizard you are looking for. If you have no preference for school type the default should be just that grey spiral icon used for general things in the game.

Picking the Level is a bit more complicated, but I think could easily be solved by a drop down menu that lists numbers from 1 to 50 (60 when Celestia comes out) by fives. So the list would look like this 1+, 5+ 10+ . . . 50+. I also think there should be one extra entry for your current level so you can quickly pick a number of someone who could easily help you. Perhaps if the Dungeons have a level minimum perhaps the options below that level should be grayed out. If no preference is chosen but the Quest/Dungeon has a minimum level then it should default to that level in the “Looking For” entry.

Picking a chat option is also pretty simple, you have three options; No Preference which will leave that icon blank, Menu Chat or Open Chat. The reasons for this should be obvious for anyone who has played any length of time.

As wizards get added to your group who fit the “Looking For” criteria the corresponding “Looking For” criteria should be removed from the “Looking For” column and placed in the “Current Group” column.

If you add someone who does not match the “Looking For” criteria then I think the “Looking For” criteria should be a FILO (First In Last Out) sorted list. So, if you are looking for two wizards, lets say a Life and a Balance and you set up your request in that order. Then you see a Storm friend of yours log on and decide to add them to your group, since you requested a Life first and a Balance second, the Balance request would drop from your “Looking For” request first, leaving the Life request still there. So, when setting up your “Group Request”, the most needed wizard should be the first entered into the “Looking For” entry followed by no preference (the default options) or any other wizards you would like to have.

I am still debating the idea of having the “Looking For” criteria be exclusive. Meaning that if a group is looking for very specific wizards and you are looking for a group but do not match the “Looking For” criteria, that group’s “Group Request” would not show up in your search.

But, I am positive that if there is a level minimum on the dungeon that you need a group for (like Briskbreeze) your request should not show up for anyone who does not meet that level.

I believe that tying the “Group Requests” into the Group system would allow for easy updates and maintenance of the database used for matching up wizards. That way the system would only have to run “Group Request” updates on change of group status, log out and enter dungeon events. As I mentioned above adding or removing someone from a group would quickly add or remove that person’s info from the “Group Request” listing, without anyone having to manually update the request.

I believe you should be able to send a tell to the poster of a “Group Request” to check on status or help get together so you can join a group. Once you have agreed to join a group, a group request should be able to be sent to that wizard, though I am sure if you can send a tell, you should be able to send a group request with the current system. Now this can lend itself to being exploited by people who enjoy annoying others online. So, I am thinking that you should be limited to one tell per exchange. I mean, you send a tell to a poster of a request and if they don’t respond to you, then you cannot send another. If they do respond to your tell, then you can follow up with another tell. And it should be kept locked down until you are friends or are in a group with the poster. A group request should not be able to be extended (through the matching system) unless you each have exchanged at least a single message.