I'll set the flags when I'm looking for a team, but I'm under no illusions that it really makes much difference anymore, people setting and searching on the flags appear to be very much in the minority.
I do wish people used the flags more often - I'd be a lot more inclined to start my own teams if I didn't have to send out tells to the entire list of unteamed players in order to find out which ones want to team.
I set mine and I give priority to those that set theirs. But I also get the feeling no one else does this...
When using the search window do build a PuG, I give preference to people with flags set. Of course, there are many people who don't bother with (or don't know about) the LFT flags, so I'll still send tells to other people who aren't on teams.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
Yeah, anymore I'll just watch the three or four globals chans I frequent and just try to work from there.
Masterminds annoy everybody, sooner or later. Heck, Masterminds annoy themselves.
-ShadowsBetween
Things were a lot simpler when we only had one LFT flag.
The addition of search comments is nice, but otherwise every change to the search system since launch has overcomplicated things.
Issue 16 made me feel like this.
Warning: This poster likes to play Devil's Advocate.
It would also help if the flag didn't reset to "not looking" whenever you leave a team, or zone, or check your enhancement screen, or when a sunspot flares up in the wrong way.
Character index
The only success I've had with search flags [since implementation] has been when I've forgotten I've had one set and wasn't actually searching anymore.
I'm also a bit spoiled now by the ebil autogrouping system some other games have, so I don't think much of the current tools.
Let's Dance!
Count me in the 'I set mine and prioritize people who set theirs for invites' camp. And judging by the sheer amount of churn I see on the LFT list, either other people are inviting people set to LFT or those people are just really good at getting teams fast. I haven't really set mine much lately, since I usually just end up leading my own team, so I can't speak much from experience on the invitee end.
Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
I find the LFTF flag very useful especially with the WTF's going on. If I'm doing something else I'll just use the chat channels. I suspect some AT's may have a harder time joining than starting. On my scrapper I might as well build my own on one of my Kins I'd better set my flag to not accepting if I don't want to get harassed to join a PUG.
For a populated server, broadcast can probably help the team leader get a team together. For less populated servers, global channels can get the job done. From what I see, the search window is usually used as a last resort, and many team leaders don't even use it. You know, you've to send a polite tell, and sometimes get impolite replies, or even get "interviewed." Sometimes, I do get into a team by setting a flag, but that's really occassional.
I set mine and it sometimes works. The few times I build a team (I just do so too slowly according to the impatient monkeys it seems), I've been able to snag all sorts of people who had "not looking" set.
I think the system needs some sort of overhaul to make it more user friendly, perhaps an explanation of the colors set into the frame or something. At the very least.
Do people look at them anymore?
Back not long ago, even when the server was less populated, a LFMission flag would invariably get you a couple invites, after a while. A LFAny tag would get you more than you wanted, most likely.
Lately? The server is red but when I am afk and not looking, the blind invites fly.
When I am LFT, LFA, LFTF I see a billion people running around, yet get nothing but silence.
*Shrugs* it's almost like the RNG, (which hates me), it just seems completely random.
Do you use, view and pay attention to flags? I do, or used to anyway.
14 Blaster LFT! (LFA tag). I meen crapola, don't make me actually man up and start a team.
Masterminds annoy everybody, sooner or later. Heck, Masterminds annoy themselves.
-ShadowsBetween