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Xbox is really nailing it with nice features to play with randoms this gen

T

Theorry

Member
So last night i was up for some Gears 4 Horde. Nobody online of my friends.
So fired up LFG. Made a little post that i needed some committed guys to do 50 waves.
Took 5 minutes to have a group all complete.

All joined a party. But crap i dont know these guys by voice. Wait lets enable party overlay. Placed it where i wanted and off we went. Easily could now figure out we was talking. Really helped during the game also with call outs and gave the tip also to the other guys.. Finished all 50 waves with ease with these randoms and had a great time. Joined afterwards also a new Xbox Gears club.

Without these features i probably would have given up to play at all last night because my friends weren't online. Really love these things are happening this gen and how easy it is to do and i think it doesnt get enough credit.
 
C

CookTrain

Member
I've been going through Dark Souls 3 again with a Sorcerer that I have no idea how to be even remotely decent with.

I can go on LFG (looking for GitGud apparently), throw up a "Password this, bonfire that, boss fight time" and within five minutes I'm drowning in summon signs.

Without this feature, I wouldn't have ventured away from the safety of sword'n'board.

Like you say as well, with the clubs, now I have a list of people asking for that same help to be reciprocated. Like a real world bounty board whenever I've got nothing to do. Love it.
 
nekkid

nekkid

It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan.
LFG makes me much more confident that I'll love SoT.
 
T

Trup1aya

Member
LFG has been a godsend in a era where people don't seem to use Mics.

And that party overlay is a stroke of genius I'd have never thought of
 
K

Keinning

Member
LFG made borderlands fun again. Trying to play with randoms from the game default matchmaking is a nightmare.

Really underrated feature. Which i feel its like the curse of xbox right now - a bunch of good ideas not being properly used (like the community tabs for games which could be great for patch updates and discussions but barely any dev uses it)
 
R

RdN

Member
LFG is a great addition to the system. Works very well.

As for party overlay, since it launched, I've kept it on all times. It's a great way to see if your headset is capturing too much ambient noise or if someone is having trouble with theirs.
 
C

Christocolus

Member
Theorry said:
So last night i was up for some Gears 4 Horde. Nobody online of my friends.
So fired up LFG. Made a little post that i needed some committed guys to do 50 waves.
Took 5 minutes to have a group all complete.

All joined a party. But crap i dont know these guys by voice. Wait lets enable party overlay. Placed it where i wanted and off we went. Easily could now figure out we was talking. Really helped during the game also with call outs and gave the tip also to the other guys.. Finished all 50 waves with ease with these randoms and had a great time. Joined afterwards also a new Xbox Gears club.

Without these features i probably would have given up to play at all last night because my friends weren't online. Really love these things are happening this gen and how easy it is to do and i think it doesnt get enough credit.
Click to expand...

I used it a lot for Friday the 13th prior the matchmaking patch. It's an amazing feature and I've actually had some of the best mp experiences using this feature than custom matchmaking. I think I also read somewhere that some devs will start integrating it directly into their games.
 
P

pete_clarf

Member
I was conflicted as to which system I should buy Friday the 13th for. I went with XB1 mainly because I had a little bit of credit on the store. LFG has convinced me I made the right decision. I don't play multi-player games very often, but will probably buy any for the future on XB1.
 
T

Theorry

Member
For Destiny 2 its gonna be great also. I dont think that ingame "LFG" thing they have for Destiny 2 is that great.
 
Shin

Shin

Banned
That's some epic PC style convenience right there OP.
Party chat overlay should be the norm on all consoles and glad you had a good experience with a PUG.
 
S

spannicus

Member
Is cool. I see you get notifications when someone is looking for a group in certain games. Thats dope. I remember the annoyance of looking online for Destiny lfg.
 
Z

Zedox

Member
Yea, first time I used LFG was when I was trying to play Sea of Thieves Alpha as none of my friends at the time was in it. After joining someones group, had a blast. LFG really made me feel like the ole Halo 2 days of playing with random was fun.
 
R

Retro Edge

Member
Every few days I see people praising this feature too the moon while I sit here like this ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and think, wait, PS4 has something like this, the community feature, for almost 2 years now.
Why is everyone acting like Microsoft invented the wheel?
Or what did I not get here?
 
T

Trup1aya

Member
RdN said:
LFG is a great addition to the system. Works very well.

As for party overlay, since it launched, I've kept it on all times. It's a great way to see if your headset is capturing too much ambient noise or if someone is having trouble with theirs.
Click to expand...

I've never even thought of that! I'd typically open up the party window in the guide for this purpose.

Thanks!
 
D

Doffen

Member
The system updates for Xbox has been great this generation. Not to talk about the preview program and feedback site.
 
R

Retro Edge

Member
Exploratory said:
Shit I wish PS4 had all that. Would make looking for a group in Destiny a lot easier. Overwatch too.
Click to expand...

PS4 has that, Community. You can write in Communities if you want to play and other see that, you can open a Community party that everyone can see and join and you can open a game lobby in the community that everyone can join.

¯_(ツ)_/¯
 
quickwhips

quickwhips

Member
Retro Edge said:
PS4 has that, Community. You can write in Community's if you want to play and other see that, you can open a Community party that everyone can see and join and you can open a game lobby in the community that everyone can join.

¯_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...
I thought communities were more like clubs were they can be regional and all stuff. While lfg is just for a particular game at the schedule time you pick.
 
T

Trup1aya

Member
Retro Edge said:
Every few days I see people praising this feature too the moon while I sit here like this ¯_(ツ)_/¯ and think, wait, PS4 has something like this, the community feature, for almost 2 years now.
Why is everyone acting like Microsoft invented the wheel?
Or what did I not get here?
Click to expand...

Xbox does have a "communities" like features called "clubs" but LFG is different.

LFG posts are like help wanted ads. The creator makes a post about what game she wants to play, how many people she needs, preferred play styles, etc and she sets a time. Other gamers then respond to the post and join the queue. When all of the parameters are met, the host launches a party and invites everyone to the game.

There's no need to create or get accepted into a community. You find people to play with in realtime within the Xbox UI. The system even sends notifications to update the status of the LFG effort. With communities, if the particular community you are in doesn't have players online, you won't get a group. LFG posts are potentially open to the entire xbl base.

What's also cool is that it's handled from the guide menu. So if I'm playing madden, but I'm looking for a 12 man party to play Halo in 30minutes, I can set that LFG up in the background, then change games when my group is full.
 
Black_Stride

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Retro Edge said:
Every few days I see people praising this feature too the moon while I sit here like this ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and think, wait, PS4 has something like this, the community feature, for almost 2 years now.
Why is everyone acting like Microsoft invented the wheel?
Or what did I not get here?
Click to expand...

17 posts in.

I was waiting the "meh" comment to show up.
NeoGAF never fails.

PS. Community is like Xboxs Clubs or Game Hub activity feed.....LFG is different.

On Topic
A way out and Sea of Thieves will be saved by this feature and party overlay

I wish this was a thing when i was still into Destiny would have made life so much easier for me cuz i was always changing timezones so friends would be on at erratic times.
 
E

Exploratory

Banned
Retro Edge said:
Every few days I see people praising this feature too the moon while I sit here like this ¯_(ツ)_/¯ and think, wait, PS4 has something like this, the community feature, for almost 2 years now.
Why is everyone acting like Microsoft invented the wheel?
Or what did I not get here?
Click to expand...

Just by the names they are clearly different. One is a help wanted ad. The other is like a school club.
 
R

Retro Edge

Member
Trup1aya said:
Xbox does have a "communities" like features called "clubs" but LFG is different.

LFG posts are like help wanted adds. The creator makes a post about what game she wants to play, how many people she needs, preferred play styles, etc and she sets a time. Other gamers then respond to the post and join the queue. When all of the parameters are met, the host launches a party and invites everyone to the game.

There's no need to create or get accepted into a community. You find people to play with in realtime within the Xbox UI. The system even sends notifications to update the status of the LFG effort.

What's also cool is that it's handled from the guide menu. So if I'm playing madden, but I'm looking for a 12 man party to play Halo in 30minutes, I can set that LFG up in the background, then change games when my group is full.
Click to expand...

Ah thanks for the explanation.

Sounds still very similar since you can open public game lobbies and parties too with a description on it while they're directly connected to the game you play, so it isn't just a text function like "I search, invite me". Seems like most people doesn't even know about this features?? It's not just a message board on console.
But LFG sounds even more comfortable and user friendly which is always nice.
 
L

LukasTaves

Member
LFG is legit!

Already made so many online friends with it, and for me it was great because I no longer have to play the game everyone is playing together to get to play with people. I can get to other games first at my pace, and when I want to play that game I know it will be easy to find people to play it.

For instance, I could skip Halo 5 at launch (didn't finished 4 before), and now I'm able to find people to either join me on the campaign or to set up a team for MP.

Retro Edge said:
PS4 has that, Community. You can write in Community's if you want to play and other see that, you can open a Community party that everyone can see and join and you can open a game lobby in the community that everyone can join.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...

Do people get "advertised" on that thought? IMO, for these features to work they have to be easily discoverable, and imo, that's where xbox live nails it.

You go to the group tab on the quick guide and all groups available to you are there, so you don't have to hop in the clubs to see them. And now a single post can be shared to more than one group, which also helps visibility. And the cherry of the pie is that now you get notifications of groups.

I think that's what makes them work so well on xbone. You create a group and a few minutes later there's so many to play with. And that's for play now settings. When I set a group for the next day I get so many people interested that's actually hard to chose who to play with (an they added some nifty features to let you decide as well)
 
I

InsaneTiger

Member
CookTrain said:
I've been going through Dark Souls 3 again with a Sorcerer that I have no idea how to be even remotely decent with.

I can go on LFG (looking for GitGud apparently), throw up a "Password this, bonfire that, boss fight time" and within five minutes I'm drowning in summon signs.

Without this feature, I wouldn't have ventured away from the safety of sword'n'board.

Like you say as well, with the clubs, now I have a list of people asking for that same help to be reciprocated. Like a real world bounty board whenever I've got nothing to do. Love it.
Click to expand...
Imp the Dimp would like to talk you about that.
 
N

Novocaine

Member
CookTrain said:
I've been going through Dark Souls 3 again with a Sorcerer that I have no idea how to be even remotely decent with.

I can go on LFG (looking for GitGud apparently), throw up a "Password this, bonfire that, boss fight time" and within five minutes I'm drowning in summon signs.

Without this feature, I wouldn't have ventured away from the safety of sword'n'board.

Like you say as well, with the clubs, now I have a list of people asking for that same help to be reciprocated. Like a real world bounty board whenever I've got nothing to do. Love it.
Click to expand...

This is really good to know. Last time I played DS3 on Xbox I was having a hard of time finding people. But I was also having problems with my NAT reverting to strict. Either way I'm going to try abuse it as much as possible when I get back in to it
 
T

Trup1aya

Member
Retro Edge said:
Ah thanks for the explanation.

Sounds still very similar since you can open public game lobbies and parties too with a description on it while they're directly connected to the game you play, so it isn't just a text function like "I search, invite me". Seems like most people doesn't even know about this features?? It's not just a message board on console.
But LFG sounds even more comfortable and user friendly which is always nice.
Click to expand...

Yeah, LFG is like an extension of communities with a focus on actually getting people into a game.

Communities are a forum- you CAN use them to get games going, but unless the community is always full and active, there will lag in between postings so it's tougher to actually get games going.

LFG is like an instant messenger- If I want to play halo, I pull up LFG and see a list of people who want to play halo. I look for people who want to play 4v4 with Mics at my skill level, and I dive in. A few minutes later the party of full and we are playing.
 
T

Tecnniqe

Banned
LukasTaves said:
They have, and it gets even better: You can set up LFG posts on the go, accept applications and when you are home all is set, just fire the party.
Click to expand...
From the phone app right?

That's a nice feature that you can make a LFG post on the way home and just go straight into the game with people.

Surely will put more life and ease of use for players.
 
R

Razzmatazzer

Member
I didn't even know of the chat overlay feature, ha. That's awesome.

But yeah, the lfg system is fantastic. I'd pop in Destiny here and there when bored and use it for nightfalls and stuff, always found people super quick. Really awesome feature to have.
 
R

Retro Edge

Member
LukasTaves said:
LFG is legit!


You go to the group tab on the quick guide and all groups available to you are there, so you don't have to hop in the clubs to see them. And now a single post can be shared to more than one group, which also helps visibility. And the cherry of the pie is that now you get notifications of groups.
Click to expand...


You go to the group tab (actual game) in a PS4 Community for the game of your choice, see all open game lobbies or audio parties that people created for the game and can join the instantly.


LukasTaves said:
You create a group and a few minutes later there's so many to play with. And that's for play now settings. When I set a group for the next day I get so many people interested that's actually hard to chose who to play with (an they added some nifty features to let you decide as well
Click to expand...

You can do exactly the same in a PS4 Community too, both of them.
Creating an Event for the future is also possible.


Trup1aya said:
Yeah, LFG is like an extension of communities with a focus on actually getting people into a game.

Communities are a forum- you CAN use them to get games going, but unless the community is always full and active, there will lag in between postings so it's tougher to actually get games going.

LFG is like an instant messenger within the forum. If I want to play halo, I pull up LFG and see a list of people who want to play halo. I look for people who want to play 4v4 with Mics at my skill level, and I dive in. A few minutes later the party of full and we are playing.
Click to expand...


Sounds great, can't wait to test it when the X arrives and I switch from the Pro to the X, thanks. :)
 
SenkiDala

SenkiDala

Member
LukasTaves said:
Do people get "advertised" on that thought? IMO, for these features to work they have to be easily discoverable, and imo, that's where xbox live nails it.

You go to the group tab on the quick guide and all groups available to you are there, so you don't have to hop in the clubs to see them. And now a single post can be shared to more than one group, which also helps visibility. And the cherry of the pie is that now you get notifications of groups.

I think that's what makes them work so well on xbone. You create a group and a few minutes later there's so many to play with. And that's for play now settings. When I set a group for the next day I get so many people interested that's actually hard to chose who to play with (an they added some nifty features to let you decide as well)
Click to expand...

I play on Xbox One since day one and I've never seen this "LFG" thing. Same for my friend. So I think the visibility is not perfect. :p

That seems to be a very good feature though. But yeah you can do basically the same on PS4 since 2 years, I agree on that.
 
T

Trup1aya

Member
SenkiDala said:
I play on Xbox One since day one and I've never seen this "LFG" thing. Same for my friend. So I think the visibility is not perfect. :p

That seems to be a very good feature though. But yeah you can do basically the same on PS4 since 2 years, I agree on that.
Click to expand...

Sigh...

It's really not "basically the same" as What's in PS4

https://youtu.be/HKCt-Mw4IsU

PS has "communities" Xbox has "clubs". Those are basically the same.

Xbox has LFG.

The feature could definately use more visability. Not that it's invisible currently, but it's a badass feature that should be a focus of the home page because of how useful it is.
 
SenkiDala

SenkiDala

Member
Trup1aya said:
Sigh...

It's really not "basically the same" as What's in PS4

https://youtu.be/HKCt-Mw4IsU

PS has "communities" Xbox has "clubs". Those are basically the same.

Xbox has LFG.

The feature could definately use more visability. Not that it's invisible currently, but it's a badass feature that should be a focus of the home page because of how useful it is.
Click to expand...

I saw this video before posting, but I mean... It's almost the same (to me), on PS4 anyone can create a "community" (yes a "club") and can add whatever tags he/she wants, you can post in a community, for exemple the "Overwatch blabla community", say that you're searching for gamers to play with/without mic, etc, that you created an open party, and anyone interested can join.
So yeah, I honnestly find it hard to see big differences here. ;)
 
L

LukasTaves

Member
Retro Edge said:
You go to the group tab (actual game) in a PS4 Community for the game of your choice, see all open game lobbies or audio parties that people created for the game and can join the instantly.
Click to expand...
That's nice, but I meant in your profile, or better said the guide. You press the Xbox button, two or three presses on up and you can see all lfg posts from all the clubs and games you follow, from all your friends, all in one place, no need to bunny hopping between clubs to see if any has a flag you can join.

Retro Edge said:
You can do exactly the same in a PS4 Community too, both of them.
Creating an Event for the future is also possible.
Click to expand...

I know, but I was commenting on the discovery ability on xbone, popping up notifications, appearing in your feed and so on.

For the feature to be effective people that might want to join needs to see it and Xbox does a great job in letting people know. And posting. Now you can make a lfg from the guide and quickly share it to all your clubs and even in the games feed. Last time I saw on PS4 you had to go to the community tab to have any interaction, but perhaps that changed?
 
K

Kaydan

Banned
SenkiDala said:
I saw this video before posting, but I mean... It's almost the same (to me), on PS4 anyone can create a "community" (yes a "club") and can add whatever tags he/she wants, you can post in a community, for exemple the "Overwatch blabla community", say that you're searching for gamers to play with/without mic, etc, that you created an open party, and anyone interested can join.
So yeah, I honnestly find it hard to see big differences here. ;)
Click to expand...
The difference is that community is a permanent chat room. LFG is for a specific time and event, then it's gone. Permanent chat rooms can be found in clubs for each games. You can also see LFG of a specific club.
 
K

Keinning

Member
SenkiDala said:
I saw this video before posting, but I mean... It's almost the same (to me), on PS4 anyone can create a "community" (yes a "club") and can add whatever tags he/she wants, you can post in a community, for exemple the "Overwatch blabla community", say that you're searching for gamers to play with/without mic, etc, that you created an open party, and anyone interested can join.
So yeah, I honnestly find it hard to see big differences here. ;)
Click to expand...

i can create a LFG group for two hours later with all the details i want for a match (like legendary farming Tiny Tina's DLC for borderlands 2), get messaged on my phone when enough people filled it and with a touch start my xbox, the game and a party inviting everyone who signed up for my group, effortlessly

or i can create a club post saying that i want to play in 2 hours and wait for people to read, then invite them, then set things up manually.

in the end they amount to the same thing (but so would posting on internet forums/communities if you had the time and patience to do it) but LFG vastly simplifies the process.
 
T

Trup1aya

Member
SenkiDala said:
I saw this video before posting, but I mean... It's almost the same (to me), on PS4 anyone can create a "community" (yes a "club") and can add whatever tags he/she wants, you can post in a community, for exemple the "Overwatch blabla community", say that you're searching for gamers to play with/without mic, etc, that you created an open party, and anyone interested can join.
So yeah, I honnestly find it hard to see big differences here. ;)
Click to expand...

I mean there are similarities, sure.

But you don't have to join/be accepted to a community to use LFG. You can LFG in one game while playing another or doing something else entirely. Most importantly you can get status updates on the LFG via notification.

You can use communities or clubs to look for groups. But it's not nearly as efficient as having an application dedicated to that task.
 
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