How can I find what I'm looking for?

I've been playing for a while, but (due to cross-server alt-o-holism) I've never been a part of an SG in any serious way. I do, however, love to do pick-up groups. For me, the most fun part of the game is seeing how different powers compliment each other and work together.

I tend to prefer duos or small teams. Back in the day, it was easy to duo. I'd make a support character and search for damage types that were solo in missions. I crafted a friendly bind, explaining that I'd love to join the for a few missions, and could almost always find new and interesting company.

Now, I'm having trouble doing that.

In the search window, the heroes/villains in blue (ie Unteamed) who are listed as being "In Mission" are most often at their SG bases, due to an ancient bug, which has never been remedied.
In fact, I've found, that there are usually solo players out there, but they are colored yellowto indicate that they are not available for teaming. This yellow text color is, of course, shared by anyone on a TF, making it impossible to tell the teammates on a TF from the in mission solo-player.

This small, seemingly insignificant bug has totally hamstrung my ability to play, simply because I can't find a workaround to meet other soloers. They don't bother to read the LFG channels.

So my only alternative, is to craft a tell-bind that includes an apology to the recipient, in the event that they're in a TF, since I'm incapable of determining it myself. Can someone remind me why the team search window didn't have a more useful color system (or more useful filtering).
Or, I could watch the team window, and try to figure out who's on a team by when they enter or leave a mission. Ridiculous.

You should stick to using friendly binds to ask solo players who are blue.

I wouldn't even try to talk to someone listed as unavailable for teaming.

If you are persistent, you should be able to hook up with people who like duoing too, and you can set up future teamings.

Take a look at my guide. It will tell you how to use /sea and gives you a nice macro.

Quote: Secondly, the macro (without quotes) is "/macro ask t $target, Hello, would you like to join ________"

A mission solo player WILL NOT be in yellow.


Edit: Keep in mind that /ttl : the Talk to Team Leader command is broken on Live but fixed in i20 thanks to me.... it took them way too long to fix it but they finally did.