I posted this a couple of months ago and got very little response so I thought maybe it would get a better response now that more people have played the game. I am mostly a PVE person, but enjoyed the PVP for the first time in Warhammer until I reached end game. What I liked about Warhammer was that when it first came out, it was so easy to find a group. You would see a Public Quest, tons of people were already on it, and you would just jump in and join the fun. Scenarios would automatically put you in a group so you didnt have to worry about finding one. Realm Versus Realm seemed easy to see what groups were open and you would just select a raid party and instantly join them. Very little Looking for Groups on the channels when it first came out. I left Warhammer because it became too monotonous, too many empty areas, and they destroyed my class.

How difficult is it to enjoy the grouping aspect in Aion. Is it constant spamming of the LFG channel? Is there anything in the game that makes it easy to create a group? Is it simply a matter of that if you have more people then the other side of similar level, you will most likely win?

Curious to know your thoughts. I like solo, but I prefer grouping when its accessible. Since I would be playing West Coast Time, being in a guild and hoping enough people in the guild will join you at 10:30PM shouldnt be the answer.

Thanks folks :-)

On Aion release it will come with a better LFG system and channel from the 1.5 patch.

Originally posted by Dreamion

On Aion release it will come with a better LFG system and channel from the 1.5 patch.

Can you elaborate on this a little more? I am not sure what this means. Since I haven't played the game yet I don't know how to compare the LFG system pre and post the 1.5 patch.

In the previous CB's of Aion we've been playing the 1.0 version of the game. LFG system is just a 'filter' wich people check, then everyone can see them if they choose to see only people who are LFG (in /who list), it doesn't say where to, or what dungeon etc. I don't know how the new LFG system will work, but it can't be worse. I'm sorry that I can't provide much more information since i can't find the source.

I never used any LFG mechanism, but I had no trouble forming ad hoc groups in difficult areas. Also keep in mind that if a particular area seems empty, try switching to another channel.

There will be plenty of groups as the main story/quest line can only be completed by groups (you need to kill elite mobs).

Originally posted by kamenwati

I never used any LFG mechanism, but I had no trouble forming ad hoc groups in difficult areas. Also keep in mind that if a particular area seems empty, try switching to another channel.

From what I'm told, the Channel system only applies to levels 1-20. It's there for lower level players to have the ability to grind their way through the earlier zones without having to compete for quest mobs or objectives. Pushing you all back in amongst yourselves at 21+ forces you to party, so if you're doing main quests you should have no problem finding groups once you're passed the early stages.

Can't really comment much.

In the closed betas the global channels weren't enabled, and there is supposedly an improved LFG function in 1.5.

In the betas we were forced to join zerg guilds for grouping,/shouting in different areas, waiting at the specific group area for people to gather or using the search function and asking people individually (and forming a friends list for PUGing, also you could toggle yourself as "LFG" for whoever found you when using the Who function).

While I was playing I had no trouble getting in a group. The community was great and if you need a group, just shout it out and you'll probably get a ton of replies. Also, the many people that I grouped with were very fun to quest with. They made the whole process of getting quests done and leveling wicked fun, and when the dice roll came in, for every group that I was in(probably like 10 different groups over 4 betas,) they left the roll to whoever needed the item the most.

Im with you in that I am a social player and favor grouping, I do solo a fair bit simply becuase so many of the current MMOs have made Solo more effcent than group play and thus groups are hard to find and are usualy only for a specific task. As to the looking for group system I love the idea but have yet to find a game that it has actualy worked for me. I did find it easy to jump into a pickup group but as we all know that is a matter of chance and population. I have not seen any real LFG system for Aion but the classes seem (at the moment any way) balanced to promote grouping, each class appears to have a gimp and a perk such that being with some one will smooth out your hunt in general. During the early days of DAoC it was this way, each class had a gimp and a perk  if you will that did not kill solo play or make group play to easy but gave a clear advantage to grouping. I hope to see a similar system in Aion as opposed to auto groups or blind groups, War was intresting but blind groups are little better than solo play at least for me.

Does any one remimber the MMOs where you grouped not nessisarly to complet a given quest or run a particular dungeon but rather because 2 heads where better than 1 even on the grind?

Back to the topic, from what little I have seen in Aion, there are tough points where you will want a group and the class structure seems to promote that. I do belive the majority of groups will be formed pick up or from your friends list as opposed to a structured blind grouping system. Any of the beta players have any input on that?

In response to the LFG in PvE:

I am apart of a guild (legion whatever) so it wasn't too hard to start a group but we occasionally had to find another person to join us.  We did check the LFG but also we would just send a person to channel 1, a person to channel 2 to shout for what we needed.  Didn't seem to hard to find people and alot of the times there was a tank/healer/dps waiting in front of the Elite areas looking for a group to tag along with.   Basically if you are looking for a group I'd suggest hanging out in the first couple of channels. Most groups look for additional people there and then switch to higher channel to actually kill.  Given that it was just closed beta I'd say it wasn't a big deal and will be even easier in retail and with improved LFG in 1.5 patch.

In response to grouping in PvP:

Basically all that I did in the last 2 betas was PvP and wow it was a ton of fun.   I would be questing in Morheim (the 20+ single channel open pvp zone) and a group of Elyos would come kill me.  I'd rez and shout out their location in our Fortress and in no time I could get together some of my faction to go challenge the enemy in our territory.  The more Elyos that came over to our side the easier it was to get more people to join us and in no time we could have a full Alliance (raid group).   Most groups running around pvping seemed more than willing to add you to thier groups. 

When we raided the other faction's zone we would regularly pick up smaller groups to add to ours or we would work with another Alliance that was running around the area. Our core group over the weekend was decently balanced. We had 2 chanters healing and doing dps, an assassin doing nice dps, I was on my ranger pew pewing and keeping the enemy from running away with my slowing shots, a sorc that was nuking/rooting, and a gladiator that did good dps and could unstealth people with his AoE and occasionally a Cleric nuking heals and still doing damage. We got overran sometimes by a rival Legion but sometimes we were able to coodinate ( thank you Ventrillo :D  ) and have the Elyos on the run.   So yes, I guess numbers do matter and level does matter but I think group coordination and skill goes a long way.  I was only level 22 on my Ranger and we took down groups that had players that I know had to be 30 or close to it since their rank was pretty high and judging by their gear.  We had so much fun with plenty of opposition to keep us pvping till the sun rised.  (I got off at 8am finally and went strait to work O.o Long ass day! )