Thread: Feedback: Why do you NOT use the Instance Finder?

It's no myth that the instance finder goes pretty much unused on Brandywine, and I would assume there is a similar situation on other servers. Because of this, I wanted to make a thread that specifically asks for reasons why players don't use the instance finder so take a moment and briefly answer the following questions: (Don't list because no one uses it as an answer, that simply passes the buck and doesn't provide any insight as to why people were initially afraid to use it)

1) When and why do you not use the instance finder to find groups for:
Skirmishes? (tiers 1, 2, 3)

Instances? (tier 1)

Isengard? (tiers 1, 2)

2) If you form your own group, when and why do you not use the instance finder to randomly assign you into:
Skirmishes? (tiers 1, 2, 3)

Instances? (tier 1)

Isengard? (tiers 1, 2)

3) Single biggest issue with the IF in your opinion?

4) In two lines or less, list a fix to the IF that would cause you to use it more.

For me personally the answers are:

1) When and why do you not use the instance finder to find groups for:
Skirmishes? (tiers 1, 2, 3)
When I want to do a raid skirmish (I won't use the instance finder because it doesn't have the capability to form the group For tiers 1 and 2 I always queue up for 1,2,3,6 man.
Instances? (tier 1)
I do not participate in scaled instances because the reward to time ratio is so low compared to the Isengard cluster. Needless to say I never queue for that reason.
Isengard? (tiers 1, 2)
I do not use instance finder for this category because I only do t2 Isengard instances. I have been in enough manually formed groups that wipe because of bad tanks or healers that I am skeptical of grouping with random people I can't inspect or at least know they have completed it once. Also the absence of leadership (in terms of ability not just having the asterisk by their name) is very worrying if I do not know the other individuals' experience levels.

2) If you form your own group, when and why do you not use the instance finder to randomly assign you into:
Skirmishes? (tiers 1, 2, 3)
If I form my own group which is not a raid I will use the Instance Finder to randomly create an instance. If doing multiple runs I will deselect any prior skirmishes completed with that group to prevent repeats.
Instances? (tier 1)
I do not participate in scaled instances because the reward to time ratio is so low compared to the Isengard cluster. Needless to say I never queue for that reason.
Isengard? (tiers 1, 2)
I never use the instance finder to randomly assign me into an isengard instance. I will explicitly choose the instance.

3) Single biggest issue with the IF in your opinion?
There is no way to tell if the people who you will be randomly grouped with for t2 instances have at least completed the t1 version of the content.

4) In two lines or less, list one fix to the IF that would cause you to use it more.
Prevent people from selecting the tier 2 version of an instance until they have completed the tier 1 version. This way players will know going into tier 2 that everyone is at the very least least familiar and capable of dealing with the basics of the instance.

1) When and why do you not use the instance finder to find groups for:
Skirmishes? (tiers 1, 2, 3)
Currently the most rewarding skirmishes are the ones played on raid-size - the same ones IF does not allow to group for.

Instances? (tier 1)
I've tried grouping for scaled instances: Hall of Night, Annuminas, Forsaken Inn etc. Been in queue for hours and hours on end for several days in a row, got no response. So I mostly give up on that, using chat is much more reliable.

Isengard? (tiers 1, 2)
Same story as above: even in pre-formed group with decently geared players, the possibility of a total fail on T2 is still quite high. And back when IF was only introduced and occasionally still made groups, I could end up in a group with Champion and 2 Hunters, and even when there was tank a healer, they could be very undergeared, still wearing yellow quest rewards and L65-70 LIs. After such failed examples, it's not worth even trying forming T2 PUGs with people you can't inspect before-hand.

2) If you form your own group, when and why do you not use the instance finder to randomly assign you into:
Skirmishes? (tiers 1, 2, 3)
I do not use IF for skirmishes.

Instances? (tier 1)
Isengard? (tiers 1, 2)
I have absolutely no desire to ever run random instances, so when a group is formed, I use IF to start a specific instance and get the bonus, however small.

3) Single biggest issue with the IF in your opinion?
Excluding non-scaled instances and skirmish raids from the pool. If you could group for ALL kind of group content, maybe more people would use it.

4) In two lines or less, list a fix to the IF that would cause you to use it more.
Allow to queue for non-scaled instances and skirmish raids.

I'm not a huge fan of skirmishes anyway or any other form of repeatable content. I do enjoy instances immensely, but my character needs a reason to go there (usually quests or quest items). However, once I'm finished with an instance I don't usually ever do it again on the same character, unless it's to help kinnies. I'm not into random instances either. I like being able to choose where to go.

Because nobody else uses it, because I'm paranoid, because I don't trust people to know their class (or listen slightly better than a hammer).

Its easier to find people in LFF and such.

Because none of the instances I WANT to do are in the finder.

And this stupid "can't open the instance if someone can't do it" is annoying. Fine, give us a warning that xyz can't do it, but let us open the thing.

Because if I run a group, I want to control who I can add to it.

Originally Posted by socom33

It's no myth that the instance finder goes pretty much unused on Brandywine,

Because instance finders is one of those things the loud minority wants and half or more of those imbeciles are convinced it means 20 mins of LFG inc and then a 2 hour raid will be reduced to 30 mins total with nonstop repetition. When it doesn't pan out in reality, they drop it's use.

The problem with instance finders are that so few people actually do these things in the first place. The majority of the population is not interested in running the same encounter over and over. Any LFG tool can stick people together faster but it doesn't increase the number of people that want to do the instance in the first place. If there were a lot of people wanting to do these instances then you wouldn't have a need for an instance finder period.

Even worse for a large amount of this small player base that does instancing, cross server LFG and other aspects of it's implementation kill the immersion and sense of community.

You know I think people would use the Instance Finder more if they could actually see who's in there and what particular instance or skirm they're in a que for.

I hate IF. I miss the days when if I wanted to do an instance or Skirm, you could just pick the one I want to do and go without having to deal with the IF. If you don't let it choose for you (which I HATE), then you feel like you're losing marks for doing what you want to do vs. what the annoying instance finder wants you to do.

The times I tried to use it to get a group just to test it, I gave up and created a group in glff so much easier.

Punishing the player for wanting to play the way they want to play is asinine at best. If players can't find groups, there might be very valid reasons for this: player has a negative history that has branded them persona non grata for reasons from can't play the character to ninja loot rolling and other poor behavior; player routinely acts negatively in open chat and has been put on /ignore lists. I could go on.

Expecting players to engage content that they find distasteful is also silly. Reducing overall rewards, and then giving them back if they use IF, in an attempt to shoehorn them into it is like telling someone they can't get full hourly wage unless they never miss a single day of work for a year. Especially true if they pay a sub fee: people paying to play being punished for playing the game as it was ORIGINALLY INTENDED??? It worked fine for years before f2p, so if it isn't now, find out what changed and change it BACK.

You cannot FORCE people to game with people they don't know: no one wants to risk investing time and effort only to have it fail due to a weak link in a chain they never had a chance to inspect prior to the activity. That's just a bad gamble. Just because someone has a character of a proper level doesn't mean they know what they are doing, or that they have their traits unlocked (thank U f2p).

People don't always have huge blocks of time, and randomly being dropped into a time consuming activity you have no time for is just wasting YOUR time, and the time of everyone else in that random group. I don't think this was thought out very well at all.

There aren't really any good reasons to use the thing, except to attempt to get the bonus rewards, which really don't do anything to outstrip the negatives, and it forces you to plan for the worst all the time, which can really wear on a person.

There is nothing that will get me to use it. Even if they coded in the ability to see who is in your group prior to entering AND allowed you to select which activities you are willing to do is only reinventing the wheel that is the LFG tool and chat channels, and then it's no longer random at all, since you have a choice. And frankly, choice trumps random assignment. Every time.

Originally Posted by socom33

4) In two lines or less, list one fix to the IF that would cause you to use it more.

There is nothing Turbine can do that would cause me to use it, period, because I'm sick past my pointy Elf ears of "dungeon finder" tools.

Because finding a group in glff is just as easy, and has the perks of choosing exactly who you want to go.

Also in glff you KNOW that people are aware you are looking, whereas you have no idea if anyone else is in the IF queue and you are just wasting your time waiting.

Cross server would be a different story...

Originally Posted by danno8

Also in glff you KNOW that people are aware you are looking, whereas you have no idea if anyone else is in the IF queue and you are just wasting your time waiting.

And that's why I suggested the IF have a list of who all is using it and what they're qued up for. I guarantee people would be more persuaded to use it if it had this function.

Simple. I don't use IF because I don't appreciate the random nature of it. Giving rewards for randomness was/is an attempt to force me to play instances/skirmishes that I really - for whatever reason - don't want to play. It didn't work. It won't work. I'm not the only player I know of who feels this way.

+rep to probitas for explaining this concept in depth, yet again.

At level 46, I can't find many players that would do instances/skirmishes as there aren't that many. Most are either beginners or maxed out.

Then there are instances and instances. Being still a F2P customer, I have access only to those which are available from the beginning, not those which are actually frequented.

The next issue is that it is hard to see in this list, which of the instances I can actually enter, and which have yet to be purchased. They look all alike.

The option to wait for more players to join in and finally start playing is not bad. But it needs some ironing. I can open a session-to-be, and it will sit there in the corner indefinitely. Meanwhile I might have lost my patience and decided to do something else with my valuable time (like questing). Canceling the finder is a bit tricky, though. I would prefer an option that it will stay on search for, say 30 minutes, and if nothing happens within this time, just shuts itself down.


Greetings, Polymachos

A). I'm pretty much exclusively a solo player on all my characters. (I occasionally duo with my wife who is also a solo player by preference.)

B). I resent the fact that bonus are granted for using IF, and that they increase in proportion to the degree of randomness you ae prepared to accept. That in itself is to me a damnation of the whole concept. If you have to bribe people to use it, ......

C). It provides access to content I don't treally want to do anyway, and that includes solo skirmishes. Repeating anything over and over again is not entertaining to me. I am happy to level multiple characters by repeating the same content because playing a different class makes it a different experience. Simply repeating the exact same thing many times is akin to the sitr-crazy pacing of ploar bears in the zoo.

Originally Posted by mjk47

B). I resent the fact that bonus are granted for using IF, and that they increase in proportion to the degree of randomness you ae prepared to accept. That in itself is to me a damnation of the whole concept. If you have to bribe people to use it, ......

I agree with everything in this post, but the above line in particular resonated strongly.

I did try to use it on Brandywine. In the Lost Lands, there is the Inn at midnight quest. Apparently, it isn't part of f2p, and has to be purchased. I left myself in the IF and managed to out-level it before a group could be formed. I just came back, and leveling is far faster than it used to be, with fewer quests available (and still more than enough to grey before they can all be done). I had a level 20 mini that still had shire quests left to do when I came back. The first mob she killed got her to 23, and most of those quests went grey. I leveled a new hobbit mini, and she ran out of shire quests at the new level 19. I noticed several quests were missing that I had done before.

I did find a GB group, and we ended up wiping several times (not because of healer or tank). The content had decided to scale itself to the level of the highest group member. Getting together 6 people in the same level range with such fast leveling is extremely difficult. Our level range was strung out across 8 levels.

I HATE grouping with people who want to know what you're wearing, what traits you have, etc. I don't care about what time you've done it fastest in, I just want to get it done and live. I'm not a raider. I do know how to play healers, as I've done it in nearly every major MMO to come out. I've also done tanks. I'm really ###### *edit was another word for awful* at DPS rotations, so I don't play those except solo.

Originally Posted by socom33

It's no myth that the instance finder goes pretty much unused on Brandywine

People were conditioned NOT to use it by Turbine, if they had not introduced it as a random roulette tool, it would be used more now I believe.

1) When and why do you not use the instance finder to find groups for:
Skirmishes? (tiers 1, 2, 3)

Skirmishes, blyech! Folks stopped doing those when they moved rewards to Isengard instances.

Instances? (tier 1)

Haven't done a one since they reduced the rewards (and ironically, I play more for fun than loot, but others, particularly those with alts, want to gear them up).

Isengard? (tiers 1, 2)

Already have a group, see below. If not, easy enough to IM someone or hit GLFF to instantly find a non-random sixth.

2) If you form your own group, when and why do you not use the instance finder to randomly assign you into:

Who would ever want a random one instead of one they find fun/rewarding? In my entire life I've never heard of anyone saying, "let's randomly pick what we'll do now". That is what is known as a gimmick, not a tool.

3) Single biggest issue with the IF in your opinion?

None. Aside from penalizing rewards for folks who know what they want to do, and folks who have purchased more content, it works well.

4) In two lines or less, list a fix to the IF that would cause you to use it more.

You can't go back in time and undo that bad first impression. Years from now, when the player base is made up of folks who have leveled up in the game with the I.F. more apparent than GLFF, you'll find it regularly used I'll expect.



"Sometimes survival comes down to not being hit. Actually, most times." -the chicken skill, Bob and Weave

1) When and why do you not use the instance finder to find groups for:
Skirmishes? (tiers 1, 2, 3)
I dont really enjoy skirmishes.

Instances? (tier 1)
Ive actually not done many instances at all so Ive never been in most of them passed Moria.

Isengard? (tiers 1, 2)
Same as above, but in addition because I just recently got RoI and am level 71 . I dont even know if RoI has pre 75 instances.

2) If you form your own group, when and why do you not use the instance finder to randomly assign you into:
Skirmishes? (tiers 1, 2, 3)
I probably would, but Id still look for people in GLFF.

Instances? (tier 1)
Same as above.

Isengard? (tiers 1, 2)
Same again.

3) Single biggest issue with the IF in your opinion?
Never actually used it, so cant comment. Im also on a low pop server so if I was going to group/when I used to group I have to rely on Kin anyway.

4) In two lines or less, list a fix to the IF that would cause you to use it more.
Duno really. From what Ive seen its pretty good, people just dont like using it(for no valid reason that I can see, even my own).

I plan to use the instance finder when I hit 75 and gear up a little, but you have to remember its only an additional tool not a stand alone solution. Even in games like WoW that see heavy usage of the instance finder, its not the only tool used to form groups.

I think its mainly because since were so used to using GLFF in LotRO, the instance finder is largely redundant. In LotRO we use GLFF, and have been for years, but in WoW almost no one uses a global chat channel for anything(Trade isnt global). But in WoW the instance finder sees heavy usage by almost everyone, whereas in LotRO no one really uses it. Its true though that the instance finder didnt see a lot of use until they made it cross server.

SW:TOR doesnt have an instance finder, yet, or even people who really use a global channel. But because all the instance entrances are on the Fleet(main hub) its not as big an issue. It works rather well except the huge disconnect with anyone NOT on the Fleet, though theyre adding a group finder(server only) eventually.

Seeing others comments, here's another issue.

I don't have to do anything to join a group I see advertised in GLFF. It requires no initiation on my part, I didn't have to click anything half an hour ago, I didn't have to select anything, I didn't have to choose anything, I didn't have to get over my irritation of the random/greater reward manipulation.

Someone posts 2/6 for whatever run and I can reply, "I'll go". No fuss, no muss, no initiation or preplanning on my part. When I initiate groups, it seems most others join on a whim, as a reaction, not because they were sitting around waiting for some random person to magically start the run they wanted to do.

Instead of solving the existing problem (the fellowship tool is hidden in the UI), the Instance Finder tries to create a problem nobody had and solve it. It also works against social behaviors. (Folks like to join things that others are joining, so seeing a leader get an initial follower encourages more to participate.)

If the random factor were removed, and it showed X number of folks were queued up for Fornost when you opened it, it would motivate others to join in the queue for that, and GLFF and LFF would go by the wayside. (A more specific version could show that X tanks, X DPS/support, and X healers were queued, so you'd have an idea of wait time, and could retrait to fill another role.)



"Sometimes survival comes down to not being hit. Actually, most times." -the chicken skill, Bob and Weave

I have my frind- and ignore lists for a reason. If they woud implement them to the finder I woud consider using it.

Originally Posted by RJFerret

If the random factor were removed, and it showed X number of folks were queued up for Fornost when you opened it, it would motivate others to join in the queue for that, and GLFF and LFF would go by the wayside. (A more specific version could show that X tanks, X DPS/support, and X healers were queued, so you'd have an idea of wait time, and could retrait to fill another role.)

Like it does when you join user channels like glff, yeh. Id even go so far as to make GLFF an official channel that everyone joins when using the instance finder tool, though allowing people to still join the channel without using the instance finder.

And add some more functionality in the form of chat commands like Guild Wars does. Say you type "lfg fornost", the group finder tool can recognize that and automatically puts you in the group finder que. Or because that would probably piss a lot of people off, just do what Guild Wars does and make a list of people who are looking for a group.

Its a little hard to explain how Guild Wars does it, Ill see if I can load it up and nab a screenshot.


Edit: Like this, though obviously this also supports "WTS" and "WTB" chat recognition, which is what most people use it for these days.

For anyone whose not familiar with how this one works, you can double click on a group thats say 3/4, and the party leader gets a notification that you want to join them.

I mostly group with Kinmates (Instances only), so it's almost useless to me. But I don't run that many instances because of repetition. Unlike skirmishes, where you can play around with tiers and levels Now THAT is kinda fun!

I rarely use it due to the randomness and the idiots it has occasionally thrown me together with. It works in a 10 level range so as i levelled i've been thrown together with people 10 levels above me and the instance set at 5 levels above. As the designated tank that's just not workable in a pug and it's not fair to me as i watch resist, miss constantly fly over a mobs head. Also the people who are 5 levels above get reduced marks and have quit in a huff leaving me alone in a 5 level above instance meant for two. As a levelling character this was not a positive experience and i hate to think how a new player would have felt.

I think, one of the reasons it isn't used is people are set in their ways. GLFF does its job and instance finder isn't offering enough to replace it.

My proposal would be to integrate the two methods.

Allow us to go into instance finder and create a group for a chosen instance. Let us designate the roles we want to take down to specific classes (optional) to differentiate between the rather large utility differences of an LM and Captain. Then let us "post" this group on instance finder.

Have a browser window where the player can see what groups are available and allow them to cherry pick the instance and group they want to join by applying to join that group (you could have them apply to the group in general or click on the role they apply for).

The group leader could set auto join so anyone who applies gets in or they could vet the applicant by having the opportunity to inspect or talk to them.

The leader also has the opportunity to recruit for the group by adverstising in the old glff channels.

Essentially the instance finder would work like a bulletin board. The user could pop in, browse what is available and pick what they like and it doesn't have the intimidating factor that advertising and forming a group has for some people.


This way we have the user friendliness and immediacy that the instance finder seeks to create but the control and flexibility that GLFF gives. Obviously there's still issues with reward for using it which is just silly and people will moan about it giving the opportunity for people to be gear facists but really, if people were happy to be thrown together with randoms for all instances, wouldn't the current version be used more?

Why I don't use the IF?

1.) In my opinion something like creating a group shouldn't be done by an anonymous tool. There should always be a little communication between the groupmembers before joining a group. something like "hi would you like to got to ...."
or "suilad. You were looking for someone to go to ....? I'd like to go there to."

2.) An automatic tool clicked once and doing all the work for grouping leads to fastfoodinstances (example a big game with 3 letters) Even if you don't use the tool, you will suffer under it's effects. Fastfood.
When grouping/joining instances becomes easy, fast and automatic, you begin wanting to make it faster and faster and easier and easier, so you can finish it with every group the IF gives you -no matter how bad it is- until instances turned into fastfood without any soul.

I've tried using IF before, but I'm pretty much only interested in clearing up deeds from older non-Isengard instances. So I'm marked down for Annuminas, Helegrod, School/Lib, etc, but never find a group. It would be helpful if I at least knew whether anyone else was also looking for them or if I'm just the only one waiting.

Plus IF doesn't match up for non-scaling instances, which is just silly. That should be EASIER to arrange than the scaling ones. I click Grand Stair, it finds 5 others who clicked Grand Stair, done. No need to figure out what level it "should" be, it's set.

Because I never EVER PUG.

Originally Posted by socom33

4) In two lines or less, list a fix to the IF that would cause you to use it more.

1) Make the IF more like the DDO tool - Allow players to see forming groups, and what instances they're forming for.

2) Make the rewards universal and get rid of the bribe for using it like a crummy slot machine.

It would work much better if it let you pick a number of instances, maybe 6-10, that you wanted to work on, and then had some sort of list of who was interested and then you could get groups going.

Of course, one of the hard things would be that you may be interested in in doing an instance with a different character than the one you're currently playing. For example, wow, someone is actually getting a Barad Guluran group together? Let me get my Hunter! Something you can easily do with LFF, GLFF, Kin, etc. channels, but might be hard to code with an IF>

Originally Posted by Esselnor

You know I think people would use the Instance Finder more if they could actually see who's in there and what particular instance or skirm they're in a que for.

I love this idea.

1) When and why do you not use the instance finder to find groups for:
Skirmishes? (tiers 1, 2, 3)
I mostly run solo skirms when I'm close to leveling and don't want to invest the time in starting a new round of quests. I pick all but my least favorite skirm so I get the 50% bonus - which is too ridiculous to pass up when I'm only going to run 1 or 2 anyways and they're each as mildly entertaining as the others.


Instances? (tier 1)
I find it's hard enough finding groups in glff, but at least I could mess around in a solo skirm to pass the time trying to get interest in starting something in my level range. Using the instance finder locks me out from using it for solo content.


Isengard? (tiers 1, 2)
I don't yet have a char high enough for instances there, and frankly have no interest in the character closest to that. (My capt had a half-decent set of Moria/DG gear that is all Will stacked, and thanks to the genius of Turbine Might now governs her healing ability.)


2) If you form your own group, when and why do you not use the instance finder to randomly assign you into:
Skirmishes? (tiers 1, 2, 3)
Instances? (tier 1)
Isengard? (tiers 1, 2)
I rarely get a group bigger than 3 that's interested in whatever fits our level range. The majority of the time, the first person who wants to join has a specific instance in mind they want to do.

3) Single biggest issue with the IF in your opinion?
I'm going to echo the idea that by not showing a list of who is queued for what (which even the LFF social tool does, did?), there is no indication that your request is ever going to be filled.

4) In two lines or less, list a fix to the IF that would cause you to use it more.
To merge it with existing LFF functionality showing what is currently being searched for, with the ability to select the character leading for all the usual stuff - inspection, tells, etc.


I like the restraint of focusing on the single biggest issue and a potential fix for it, but there are a couple other points I would like to make. The ability for it to parse chat group requests to generate an Instance Finder queue would be pretty nice, but would require a lot of developer time better spent on other tasks. I really like Troj's bulletin board idea. There are certainly times where I would happily join some near level group, but don't especially feel like having to be the one to organize it. That has really been the case since I hit 40 and started trying to run Annum for the first times. Troj also brought up the point of the instance finder failing to create groups where the designated tank is high enough level to preform their duties. Even in a simple place like GB, tanks are just not very effective when everything is red to them.

I enjoy the leveling process and grinds have been fun to me since the forests outside of Baron in the SNES version of FFII. But I like practicing my role in a group for when I get to cap and that becomes the focus. Not to mention it's hard to be a healing mini with only red traits unlocked. Much more importantly tho, the reason I want to play this game over Kingdoms of Amalur or Skryim is that I can meet some new people and enjoy the challenge of tacking harder content. Heck, my 65 capt only got there cause I was duoing with a warden lan party style. Grouping is the most rewarding aspect of playing an MMO for me, and that's the advantage it has over a single-player RPG. Well, that and monthlyish content additions.

1) When and why do you not use the instance finder to find groups for:
Skirmishes? (tiers 1, 2, 3)

I hate skirmishes. When I do skirmish, I want to pick a skirmish that I hate less than the others. I have no desire to be randomly dropped into anything.

Instances? (tier 1)

I mostly solo. When I do group, it's with my husband, or a friend or two. I don't PUG.

4) In two lines or less, list a fix to the IF that would cause you to use it more.

I have no use for it, so there is nothing they can do to entice me to use it.

I've given up on finding a group that way, at least within a reasonable period of time.

Several times, I've put myself in the queue, solo deselected, and done other stuff for over an hour, wondering all the time whether I'd need to go join something within the next minute, whether my bags weren't too full, whether it was inconsiderate to remain in the queue because really, would I be able to remain online long enough to finish something? It was quite stressful, all-in-all.

Also, I don't really think of myself as all that good a player, so I kind of want to apologize in advance. And then there's that one time that I got dropped into a duo skirmish, and the other player literally said nothing (neither voice nor chat) the whole time.

Still, I really like the idea of being able to just sign up for any group that start within the next, say, five or ten minutes. I'm one of those (apparently rare) people who don't care all that much about what group content I'm doing - I'm in for the companionship, I guess.

My improvement suggestion: allow us to queue up with other characters on the same account, to indicate that we're willing to switch. Even with an average number of characters per account (per server) of two (and I really expect that it's more), that would double the amount of people in the queue, which significantly increases the possibilities. (Of course, this should be optional - people might never get to join with their Hunters if they admit to having a Minstrel as well.)

I'll just group my responses into three.


Why I don't use it
I never use the random first tab. I need to know how much time I am expected to spend before joining any instance, and when the instances in this game can take between 10 to 50 minutes, that's not very helpful.

I never use it to form random groups for T2 Isengard content because those are actually somewhat difficult and need balanced class choices, clear leadership, and reasonable "gear score", none of which the IF tool can guarantee.

I never use it to form random groups for scaling instances or T1 content because the rewards for those instances just aren't worth the time and effort.



Why I do use it
I use it for pre-formed T2 Isengard groups. The currency bonus is actually significant, so we tend to select all the instances to get maximum bonuses. Unfortunately, the challenge quests have cooldowns and the IF tool doesn't account for it, so we have to leave instance and manually launch some specific instance afterwards if we get assigned some instance we already did.

I use it for solo skirmishes on characters that I'm levelling. It takes too long to find players in the same level ranges while levelling since the levels go by so quickly, and way too many F2Ps have only Gondamon and Tuckborough and I don't want to play exclusively those. Those are the two reasons I only do solo skirmishes. The IF bonus penalty is also too severe. Instead of requiring the selection of almost everything, I think it needs to be separated into two distinct "offensive" and "defensive" groups, such that if my preference is exclusively offensive skirmishes, I'd still get the full bonus.



What I would use it for
I would use the IF random group finder feature for non-scaling instances -- i.e. Moria, CD, Uru -- that I know I can complete even if I got assigned the worst possible group.

I would use the IF random group finder feature for raid size skirmishes at end-game, although it does need to weed out F2Ps who don't have anything beyond Gondamon and Tuckborough, as well as players who don't do any of the epics to unlock Mirkwood and Moria skirmishes, before I actually use it.