We’re pleased to announce that the “Stand United” update will be heading your way on Thursday, March 9th. Are you ready to check out the improved queue system and stand united against whatever threats and challenges Aelion may yet face, Immortals? The road ahead is both exciting and perilous, yet the improvements to Skyforge’s queue system, as well as the upcoming epic-drop changes to invasion adventures, will be there to help you prepare for anything.

Ever notice how there are 3-4 new short messages every second in the chat, such as gx+, of4, farm quartz? To the untrained eye, it can sometimes look like a contest to see who can bash the keyboard and produce the lowest number of random letters! Despite the presence of the Group Finder option, optimum group search currently looks like this. However, sending 5 messages per minute to the chat in the hope that the right person notices you is not exactly convenient for anyone involved in the LFG process. Nevertheless, many players definitely prefer this way of selecting a group as it has several advantages compared to selecting a group from cards.

Ultimately, both methods of Group Search are not without their flaws, sparking a desire to improve the group finder system as a whole – the first in a series of changes that will appear in the next update.

Role Selection

When submitting a request to find a group you will have to select a role: attack, defense or support. Can you play any class? No problem, you can select more than one role to suit what you prefer, or even tick all three if you don’t mind what role is required of you. For example, if you wish to enter an adventure as a Lightbinder or a Gunner, your choice would simply be support and attack. You’ll be pleased to know that by setting the role when selecting a group, you do not have to play the class of this role while in the queue. You can change classes as much as you like while waiting – this will not affect the work of the system. The system will consider you to be the role (or roles) you’ve selected while searching. When you receive an invitation to join a group, you will see what role is required of you in the adventure.

The Group Interface is also being transformed. You’ll be able to learn what role group members selected, as well as which members did not select the class/role they were when in the queue. It's a good way to spot if members promised to play a particular role without actually intending to play it, isn't it? However, do not rush to consider a player to be remiss. It could well be that they are so good that they are willing to undertake the role of tank while playing as a Cryomancer. If this speeds up the adventure, then why not?

Should someone quit the group during an adventure, the system will find a replacement character that was registered in the same role as the player that left (for example: if Joe Soap signed up as Support, joined the adventure and quit before its conclusion, the system will search for another player that has selected the Support role.

We plan to slightly speed up the search for a replacement player. To do this, group members can re-select their roles again, refreshing the information about what role is required. For example, if you are sure of your strengths and are in a hurry to get the adventure completed, you can tell the system you are willing to play a different class that is more suitable to your group’s needs.

Future Possibilities

We have other ideas to improve the Group Finder, though the concept requires a significant amount of resources. For example, we would like to add the option to enter a Squad type adventure when queuing in a group, raid or invasion. Because regions are great of course, but directives and bastions often lead players in squads. We’d like to know what you think about such a possibility, as well as wish you good fortune in the upcoming patch Stand United!

-The Skyforge Team