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WoW, Casually: Finding groups fast (Reader Mail)

Robin Torres
Updated ·5 min read


Each week or so, Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player who has 2 hours or less to play at a time.

This week, I finally get around to answering an email from Mattilda:

Hey Robin,

I really enjoyed your article on WoW Insider. I recently got married and that basically killed my play time in WoW which probably isn't that bad of a thing, but I still like to play and it is normally only for a couple of hours in the evening. One of the biggest problems I have is getting a group for an instance. I have a decent guild but they are all normally busy in Kara or ZA when I'm on, and since I only play one or 2 nights a week I'm not high on the importance list to help.

I like to do dailies and busy my self with solo stuff, but in order to get neutral with the Ogrila, there are some group quests. Looking for group is not always reliable and it seems that it basically puts you with 5 year olds most of the time. So my question is you can either put in in an article or just answer via e-mail, do you have any good ideas on how to get a reliable group in a short amount of time. There may not be a way, but just wanted to get your thoughts.

Thanks,

Mattilda, lvl 70 Draenei Shaman


My answer and more are after the jump.


Hey Mattilda,

First of all, even though I'm 4 months late, congratulations! Marriage can totally eat into your gaming time. Of course, you can always convert your wife into a gamer and then you will only have to find 3 more people for your group and have more time to play! However, since the conversion can take almost as long as it took me to answer this email, I'll address your question.

You're right that LFG is far from the tool we casuals need to find a group fast. People don't use it enough and even when they do, you can never be sure what kind of a player you are getting. The last thing you want to do with your limited playtime is spend half of it arguing with people who can't play their class but want to tell you how to play yours.

I have no instant solution for you, but with some organizational work on your part and some planning ahead, you can arrange quick grouping for the long term. The key is to collect a group of players with similar schedules to play with regularly. This is more than just a friends list, it's a collection of known-good players who want the same thing you do -- find a group quickly and finish an instance before their time is up. Here's how:

  1. Setup a Chat Channel, for example: /join Casual

  2. As you find fun players with good group skills and similar schedules, invite them to the channel: /cinvite Casual Mattilda

  3. Always recruit groups from your Casual channel first, regardless of class or spec. A good bunch of players can make it happen, even if you don't have the standard group makeup. The more you play with the same players, the better you all will play together and the faster instances will go.

The hard part is finding the players to invite to your Casual metaguild, but you probably have been doing some of this already:

  • PuGs: Recruit from pickup groups that go well. Or recruit your fellow sufferers in painful PuGs.

  • Friends: Go over your Friends list. If you remember who they are and how well they play, invite them to join.

  • Guildies: Recruit on your Guild's forum. There are probably other people in your raiding guild that are in the same boat.

  • Other Guilds: There are some guilds that are known casual friendly and made up of mostly decent groupies. Recruiting one person from a guild will add the entire guild to the potential talent pool.

The great thing about this idea is that it will work when you're not there. Your fellow Casual Chat members will group together and improve their teamwork so that they are even better groupies when you are on. You will be helping other people in your same predicament while you are reducing your group-finding time and increasing your group-playing time. And so many people are having the same problems you are.

Because of the Sunwell daily quests, you may be doing a lot more soloing right now, but there are also so many people PuGing it up for Magisters' Terrace. Also, there are people who are just looking for quest-buddies, particularly on PvP servers. You should be able to recruit a few people this way. Good luck and let me know how it goes!

In other news, it's a Warsong Gulch Call to Arms weekend. May your WSG experiences be infinitely better than mine.

Also, come join us today at 3pm PDT for an informal get-together on Zangarmarsh (U.S.), Horde side. You can get invited to It Came from the Blog and chat with some of the WoW Insider bloggers. Details are here. I hope to see you there!


WoW, Casually is a column for those of us who are playtime-challenged and proud Welfare Epic wearers. If you have questions or tips about how to get the most out of your limited playtime, please send them to Robin.Torres AT weblogsinc DOT com for a possible future column.