Tree of Savior Forum

Dungeon Matchmaking

Suggestions Game
#1

Hello IMC and ToS fans,

The one topic I’m really interested in that I haven’t heard about is dungeon matchmaking.

I feel that auto-matchmaking which teleports you to the dungeon with your group then sends you back to where you were after the dungeon is completed is a bad game design in relation to having more social interaction in an MMO.

Tera is an example of this style of matchmaking and in turn nobody talks before the dungeon, during the dungeon or after then dungeon.

However in games which require you to find a group by talking to others and then going to the dungeon together people will talk about simple things like where they currently are, how long they will be and then the first few to get to the dungeon will make idle chat while waiting for the others, this might be small interactions but it’s how most friendships in MMOs start out.

I think it’s important for an MMO to have lots of community interaction so I hope they will think really hard about whether or not dungeon Matchmaking is a good mechanism to have in ToS.

I’d also like to hear other people thoughts on this.

Thanks

3 Likes
TOS flopped in Korea?
#2

The reason you haven’t heard about this is probably because this system does not exist in the game. All dungeons are open to everyone just like field maps, so you’ll definitely see everyone that is in the map.

#3

There is instanced dungeons as you can read here http://treeofsaviorgame.com/tos/914/interview-with-development-director-kim-se-yong/ just ctrl+f for dungeon

#4

Hmm, I may need to read that more throughly, but I get thhe impression they are talking about some bosses being “instanced” in the open field. Like we have seen in some vids, you might be fighting a boss on a map but when you are actually in combat with it there are invisible walls that box in a area to prevent extreme kiting and exploits. From some past discussions, it seems as though there are a few different “ranks” of boss, (quest,field,instanced? I forget the actual differences but it was something like that.)

I will read that article properly at work XD

#5

Yer I think in that info he is actually saying that it will be openworld, not instanced. The instanced aspect he is talking about does seem ti me to be referring to those special boss encounters I mentioned above where you will enter a part of the map and become in a controlled fight area. (That still appears as the normal map yet seems to be walled off by invisible barriers.)

#6

To me it seems he is saying world bosses will have their own instances in the field, but there will also be instanced dungeons.

#7

Agreements

  • Yeah, auto-matchmaking is poor for communication. Usually is forced.
  • Some games need more social interaction.

Disagreements

  • This system is not a bad game design. It has flaws, doesn’t make it bad.
  • For the many players who would rather avoid interaction but not miss out on group content…
  • Tera is an unusual exception because the roles are clearly defined.
  • Another rare exception is that Tera’s auto-mm dungeons include players from all servers.
    (this means that interaction can be made irrelevant because you normally don’t meet up anyway)
  • This system is a convenient way for social-heavy players who prefer spontaneity as opposed to bonding.
  • “How most friendships in MMOs start out.”. It may be, but that’s a fallacy. Small talk can happen anywhere and the fact it doesn’t happen as often in random dungeons with strangers isn’t going to somehow restrict small talk from happening.
  • If people wanted to make small talk, they would. Manual recruiting can take the form of “LFG>XXX” and still be mostly quiet throughout a dungeon, save for the small bits where interaction is needed.

Alternatives

  • If you want the real deal on social dungeons/instances/combat/play, I would recommend looking at Maplestory. Even the flaws it has in dungeon queues and player tracking encourage social participation in parties.
  • Non-voice interaction (and even voice chat) can (and will) mess with the flow of a fun dungeon.
  • The conversations can be held between waiting for dungeons to start, progress or end, by incorporating wait times or special puzzles that take time.
  • Conversations can even be taken out in exchange for entertaining facial/body emotes while doing the dungeon. (this actually promotes a lot of social interaction in maple, that you can express emotion while in the middle of a fight, running or whatever)
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#8

Maybe not in the traditional sense as theres apparently the ability for hundreds of people in multiple parties to join in. @_@!

#9

Well the interview was before the 1st CBT, and probably the game won’t have dungeon instances like Dragon Nest but dungeons are open fields with boss fights being “instanced” where only you or your party can see. There are World Bosses that everyone can see as well. These types of bosses have already been shown in the 1st and 2nd CBT.

#10

There are no confirmed instanced dungeons at this time~

Q1) Is this Game MMORPG? After seeing the video, it also looks like MO.

A1) TOS is an authentic MMORPG where you can meet lots of people in random in various fields and villages and you will also experience the same event with everyone else when you visit a particular place at a particular time. While you are doing a scenario quest, cut scenes or event scenes will appear and to avoid interruptions from the other players, you will be temporarily switched to independent mode. This may have confused you that TOS looks like MO, but the most of fields and dungeons will be played in MMO style.

Taking everything you read in English about the game with a grain of salt is the best way right now. Most of the translations you see are not the most accurate. Even the official dev blog translations are a bit off sometimes (usually it’s okay…sometimes it’s critical details). The article you referenced has been translated TWICE (Unless Kim Se Yong speaks fluent Chinese?) so it’s gonna be even more inaccurate.

That said, I can assure you that the above excerpt is talking about instancing. :blush: So while we can’t rule out instanced dungeons 100%, they probably aren’t going to be common enough to warrant any dungeon matchmaking systems. And I haven’t heard about any proposed changes to their original plan, cause people really want an open dungeon system.

However, seems the devs are working on a general party matching system for anywhere in the world. And if anything that will probably lead to more friendships and interactions between people you wouldn’t normally meet! For WoW clone games with dungeon matchmaking you’re going into preset dungeons with fixed spawns and events, so you’re just expected to know what to do without communicating. ToS won’t be like that. You’ll need to talk strategy a bit, and usually you end up just shooting the breeze while grinding anyway. <:

Dev Blog Post

#11

Maybe if voice chat was introduced it could bring about some communication. I’m not saying it would solve the problem in its entirety, but I do believe having to stop in the middle of a dungeon run to type in the chat is the primary reason people don’t do it, especially in automatic dungeon finder groups. It “takes to long” so to speak. When all you want to do is just run the dungeon, because to be honest you’re probably doing it for the umpteenth time anyway, chatting away on a keyboard is just a chore. Now if you could hold down a button and speak that might just make the difference.

The technology is out there and it is easily implemented, so… why not?