Should I even bother with LFT flags anymore?
By
Afterimage,
Posted on: 2010-01-25 04:19 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
I always send tells to those who have their flag set to looking first... However, I don't expect much, and continue my hunt by sending tells off to just about anyone who isn't already teamed. That usually gets me enough folks to start (~4 total). Not really any earth shattering news here.
If I recall correctly, the LFT message doesn't reset when you log. I don't team often, but I recall building a character, setting the LFT message, then not playing the character for a long time. Then I got an invite which I rejected, because I was just messing around, not interested in fighting anything. When I realized that I had the message up, I sent a tell apologizing after I cleared the message.
The LFT flag doesn't reset if you log and relog within a few minutes. After a while, it will.
I use the LFT flags a lot (I've been teamed with you Quinch, and it was a fun team, too 
) and I make an effort to only use them when I'm actually looking and I respond to tells when they're sent to me. I appreciate it when teams looking for members check for those flags first.
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Originally Posted by Thirty-Seven
I always send tells to those who have their flag set to looking first... However, I don't expect much, and continue my hunt by sending tells off to just about anyone who isn't already teamed. That usually gets me enough folks to start (~4 total). Not really any earth shattering news here.
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On the contrary, you just shattered the Earth and the World Police will be there shortly to arrest you!
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This is what happens to me a lot. I set the LFT flag, then I get an invite six days later when I'm just screwing around for a few minutes. Alternatively, I set it, then play for a few hours and forget that it's on, only to get an invite five minutes before I log.|
Originally Posted by Afterimage
If I recall correctly, the LFT message doesn't reset when you log. I don't team often, but I recall building a character, setting the LFT message, then not playing the character for a long time. Then I got an invite which I rejected, because I was just messing around, not interested in fighting anything. When I realized that I had the message up, I sent a tell apologizing after I cleared the message.
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Me, I give people set to LFT first priority when I invite for missions, and I usually have decently good luck with it... not phenomenally better than just inviting random unteamed people, but still better.
Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
Interesting,I set my flag to "looking for missions" and "LFT my lvl or higher" and I get invites like crazy.
In almost every instance when forming a team I choose those flagged for wanting to team,and 9 times out of 10 I get them on my team.There must be some variables involved server,times,etc....?
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Ahhhhhh!|
Originally Posted by Mr_Zek
On the contrary, you just shattered the Earth and the World Police will be there shortly to arrest you!
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*runs for the hills*
Ironically, I realized that I was getting the same number of tells whether my LFT flag was set or not, and eventually gave up setting it.
Odd, people usually leave me alone.
Probably due to my search comments telling them exactly what they're going to get.
I have one character with the search comment "Always willing to team, but if you are rude, I will be rude right back" That character doesn't get very many invites, seems it's too much to ask for people to be polite (which is all I'm asking there)
Another says "Psychotic melee range fire blaster, you have been warned". He's been kicked from a few teams because of the playstyle I adopt with him...after I warned them about it even.
I never bother with the LFT flag, it doesn't seem to make much difference in whether I get a team or not. Since I usually solo unless I'm in the mood for a TF or feel like being social, it doesn't really bother me. On the rare occasion I actually put together a team, I search based on what I'm looking for first.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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No.|
Originally Posted by Quinch
is there a point to searching by LFT flags anymore?
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So many people apparently don't know how to use the flags that its pretty useless to worry about if they have any flag up other than the red (not looking for anything) flag.
Most people don't even read search comments before sending a blind invite for that matter.
I go through and look for players that are in the general level/archetype that I'm looking to team with and sort based on level. Next I check for search comments, the characters current location, and their status of being in a mission or not. (if your search comment says "I don't want to team", "only solo", or have flags up for taskforces or trials I'm probably not going to send you a tell to invite you to join my team.)
Then I start sending the same kind of invites that you are sending that end with a request for the person to send me a tell for an invite - in the class of trying to invite someone below level 15, I always add - (if you are on a trial, type /hc I'll join), which puts up a message on the help channel since trials can't send a tell.
I rarely get anyone ending a reply that is anything that I would remotely consider negative - but I'm careful about trying not to send a team invite message to the same character more than once an evening.
When someone says that they can't team, I send a reply and thank them for replying if they can't/don't want to join.
I don't get overly concerned either way, unless I'm trying to recruit for a tf and I'm banging my head into a wall trying to find enough so that I can start the thing. But then I'm more frustrated about being required to have a certain number of players than I am about people being busy doing something.
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From the other side, I really don't like to accept blind invites, but I do sometimes after checking the characters level to see if it is relatively appropriate to my characters level. I try to make it clear in my search comments that I don't accept blind invites, so if the player isn't taking time to read my search comments I'm not sure how much they will be willing to take any input from me at all when I'm on a team - which leads me to suspect that is probably a team that I don't want to be involved with.
I don't mind getting tells when I'm in a mission in regards to teaming.
I understand that someone might not know that I'm already on a team when they send a tell to me.
I try to set my flag for green "looking for mission teams" when I'm looking for a team, and I try to set it to gray "not looking for team" when I'm in a neutral mood toward teaming - but this does not mean that I won't team. It just means that I'm not actively looking for a team. I rarely put the red (not looking for anything) flag up because if I'm on-line, I'm generally looking to team up - even if I'm not actively recruiting for a team of my own.
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I think people like broadcast and channels. It's easier because team leaders just need to say what they are doing, then interested players will send tells. There are a lot of frustrations associated with sending tells and invites.
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Originally Posted by Quinch
My point is... is there a point to searching by LFT flags anymore? I get about the same success rate from asking non-teamed people who aren't flagged as searching for a team as those who ostensibly are. At least there's more of them.
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Originally Posted by Quinch
My point is... is there a point to searching by LFT flags anymore? I get about the same success rate from asking non-teamed people who aren't flagged as searching for a team as those who ostensibly are. At least there's more of them.
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I leave my flag up and make a knote to state no blind invites (which I get anyway), but I like to "Screen My Calls" as it were. No I dont want to do charity work (PL), Farm (AE or otherwise), or a Posi TF (burrr). My point is that I shouldn't feel obligated to accept any invite that comes along just because I am looking.
"Samual_Tow - Be disappointed all you want, people. You just don't appreciate the miracles that are taking place here."
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The problem I have with broadcast messages are that they are only broadcasting to that zone.|
Originally Posted by Twilight_Snow
I think people like broadcast and channels. It's easier because team leaders just need to say what they are doing, then interested players will send tells. There are a lot of frustrations associated with sending tells and invites.
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By channels, I assume that you are referring to global channels. Tells are technically on the tell channel. I don't deal with the global channels as I play on every server. I can't actively have a global for every server, and I'm not going to change my global channel every time I jump servers (which sometimes is multiple times in the same day). Global channels also fill up or are private channels to begin with (if they are open Global Channels and they are full they might as well be Private Channels that are going to invite anyone else).
I honestly think only playing with people that are part of a global channel that you are part of is damaging to the longevity of the game. I think the same thing about only playing with members of your sg/vg and/or associate coalition.
I am a bit confused about ::
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| There are a lot of frustrations associated with sending tells and invites. |
I can guess at what you are implying, but it seems that you think hat there is frustration in general with inviting people and the interplay with tells that are involved in general, and I don't think that is what you actually mean.
If I try to read between the lines, it appears that you think that using broadcast and globals is the way to go (as I discussed above), and that using tells to prompt replies for invites is confusing to people.
If that is the case, I really don't understand the difference in complication between seeing a message on your screen from a tell, broadcast, or global and sending a tell as a response to information from any of those sources.
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This.
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Originally Posted by The_Alt_oholic
No.
So many people apparently don't know how to use the flags that its pretty useless to worry about if they have any flag up other than the red (not looking for anything) flag. Most people don't even read search comments before sending a blind invite for that matter. |
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Broad has a very limited range, global channels have too low a capacity for widespread use of any single one and any serverwide channels are either unsuited to teaming organizations or just too obscure.
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Originally Posted by Twilight_Snow
I think people like broadcast and channels. It's easier because team leaders just need to say what they are doing, then interested players will send tells. There are a lot of frustrations associated with sending tells and invites.
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Really? Mine's always reset to "Not Looking" whenever I log in...
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Originally Posted by Kelenar
This is what happens to me a lot. I set the LFT flag, then I get an invite six days later when I'm just screwing around for a few minutes.
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http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
When I am told no by people with their flag up, I tell them they will get more because of the flag. Sometimes I get an "oops" and sometimes I get "I just turned it off, why is it still showing."
I send tells to those looking, and do a lfm broadcast just to be sure.
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It's been a long time since I used the search to form a team, but when I do I make use of search comments a lot more than LFT flags.
I put my flag up frequently, but also have a search comment, usually something like "Please send /tell before /invite, with some information about your team such as level, location and current objectives." I like to know where I'd be going and what I'd be doing. When an invite comes in that doesn't have enough information for me to decide if I want to join, I used to ask for more information, but got a lot of really absurdly negative responses from that. So now I often just lie and say that I'm busy. I also habitually ignore blind invites or those with a quick "TEAM?!?" tell followed instantly by the invite, and don't even bother with the polite lie.
Soloing in this game is both easy and entertaining enough that a team leader actually has to impress me a little bit to get my cooperation.
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Mine resets to "Not Looking" when I log in, but sometimes despite that it continues to show me as looking for team in the /search window. So to me it looks like I'm not looking and to everyone else (and me if I /search myself) it looks like I am. I've never bothered to pay enough attention to establish a pattern as to when it does and doesn't occur.
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Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
Really? Mine's always reset to "Not Looking" whenever I log in...
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Yeah, this. It'll often say I'm not looking on my LFT window, only to have me show up as still looking on /search.
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Originally Posted by Biowraith
Mine resets to "Not Looking" when I log in, but sometimes despite that it continues to show me as looking for team in the /search window. So to me it looks like I'm not looking and to everyone else (and me if I /search myself) it looks like I am. I've never bothered to pay enough attention to establish a pattern as to when it does and doesn't occur.
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Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
I've been doing a lot more team building lately and I generally do a broadcast first to net 3 or 4 people and then a quick run down the LFT list to see if there are some obvious candidates.
I will always reply if someone sends me a tell inviting me so I will always thank anyone who replies even with a negative and wish them luck. Sometimes that will get me a tell a while later with "finished what I was doing, are you still running a team?"
I definitely pay more attention to the comment field than the actual flag.
Strangely, despite the sentiment I see here, when I set the LFT flag I almost always get an invite within an hour. I always respond to requests, usually by asking for details including mission level and difficulty settings. Assuming good responses to those queries, if I turn down a request when my flag is on it's because I'm in a mission I can't stop or I'm planning to exit soon.
I realize I should probably turn it off when it gets close to time to leave but I forget or "time to leave" sneaks up on me in the form of a wife with a Honey-Do list or a grandson that wants me to help him recreate Sodor Island in the living room.
Sometimes I don't set my flag because I'm not particularly looking for a team, but that doesn't mean I won't join an interesting sounding invitation. It depends on the invite and my mood.
Lately though, I mostly depend on my server global channels for my teaming and TF needs (especially Protector's channels which rock).
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lol, I didn't say that using broadcast and global channels are the way to go. For populated servers, using broadcast and global channels are usually very convenient. For people who are interested, they will send the team leader a tell. Those who are not interested will simply ignore the broadcast and move on.|
Originally Posted by The_Alt_oholic
If I try to read between the lines, it appears that you think that using broadcast and globals is the way to go (as I discussed above), and that using tells to prompt replies for invites is confusing to people.
If that is the case, I really don't understand the difference in complication between seeing a message on your screen from a tell, broadcast, or global and sending a tell as a response to information from any of those sources. |
I believe there are people who use the search function with great success. Just that the thread talks about lft flags, and I think that the flags are not as popular as it should be because of such alternative ways to put together a team easily in some cases.
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Originally Posted by Quinch
Broad has a very limited range, global channels have too low a capacity for widespread use of any single one and any serverwide channels are either unsuited to teaming organizations or just too obscure.
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Okay, minor rant ahead.
I team. A lot. A whole lot. A whole effin' lot. In fact, the only times I'm not teaming is when I'm clearing hunt missions. So, of course, I open up the search window, filter by missions and any team flags and fire off the form invite to the prospective teammates. Standard package, "team of this level, running missions, want to join us?", flavored according to the character I'm playing at the moment.
And, y'know, I'd assume that if someone goes through the trouble of setting their LFT flag that they're actually looking for a team. Instead, half the tells don't get a response, and half of those that do are along the lines of "not right now", "I'm busy ATM", "in a SG meeting" and so on. The latter I can understand - you leave the flag on by accident, it happens. And completely lacking any information from those who don't answer the tells at all, I can only speculate.
My point is... is there a point to searching by LFT flags anymore? I get about the same success rate from asking non-teamed people who aren't flagged as searching for a team as those who ostensibly are. At least there's more of them.