The developers of Saga of Lucimia have declared that they do not want a group finder in their game, because shouting and manually forming groups helps to build community. That’s certainly a valid opinion, but it’s also one of the things that will keep me from setting foot in the game. Destiny has been roundly critiqued for its lack of a group finder, and I remember Guild Wars 2‘s developers scrambling to retrofit one to the game after launch. Even Brad McQuaid‘s decidedly old-school Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen will include group finding tools to facilitate its grouping-heavy playstyle.
I understand the drive behind these choices; the hope is that players will identify with one another, grow accustomed to others, and form friendships based on the slow process of making a group. But for my money, it seems like a good way to ensure that players don’t get involved in group content, and whatever advantages it has in building a community on one shard of the game are lost when people never get into the game in the first place. Putting up with a lack of group finders was something we endured back in the day, not something that we liked. But maybe that’s just me. What do you think? Is launching a modern MMO without a group finder tool a bad idea?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
