About starting and/or joining TFs and Trials...

[Xalon]

If I have a team of 4 (3 plus me as leader) and I que, will we all be sent to the contact to start it or only the leader?

 

I know if I select "locked" then I won't be able to add any other players. Or, does this mean no one can join the group unless

they are specifically invited? 

 

I'm wondering this because I have never seen the opposite, where I start a que with 3 others, leaving it set to "open" group, and then while waiting at contact, the other spots get filled without needing to invite anyone. Therefore, working like a normal que would. 

 

Can someone fill me in on the exact details of how each option works? If I click a bunch of TFs to que for, does my name show on a list to team leaders of players available to join that run? Or if someone has a que started, and havent started the TF through contact, would I just get a slot at the first open choice. 

 

 

It would be great if I could join ques for TFs and Trials, without need to message someone and hope for an invite. But I don't know if it works that way or only with certain a parameters.  any help will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

 

[Lunar Ronin]

If you queue as a locked team, you will all be teleported to the contact.  If you queue as a locked team, no one will be able to join the group unless they are specifically invited.

 

Here's the thing about the LFG queue and City of Heroes, no matter the server.  Theoretically, it works just fine like you expect.  If people queue for a TF, SF, or Trial, once enough people are queued up, the game will form a team or league and shuffle you all off to the TF contact or trial.  The thing is, City of Heroes players refuse to use it.  It's a feature that was added only about a year before the game was shut down, and people never got used to using it.  So, they continue to form TFs, SFs, and Trials the old fashioned way.  By sending people tells, or asking for tells, and being manually invited to the team or league.

 

Can it work?  Sure.  But it won't, because City of Heroes players are set in their ways and will not use it.

[twozerofoxtrot]

Can Teleport my characters directly to zones for solo missions and/or badge hunting: WIA.

 

=====

 

 

Okay non-smartass protip:

 

If you want to get some actual functionality out of this feature, you can use it with some careful timing to Teleport to TF contacts after being invited to a team. Here's how:

 

0) See someone recruiting for a TF you want; open up LFG tool and find that TF.

1) Send person recruiting a message you wish to join.

2) Click the radio button for said TF and lock the team. Do not queue.

3) Wait for the invite prompt to appear. Do not immediatly accept.

4) Queue for the TF; click the green button to Teleport to the contact.

5) Get ready! Have your cursor over that team join yes button or your finger over the hotkey. When the LFG dialog box closes and your character begins to Teleport, press YES.

6) You will join the team and zone right to the TF contact without fail.

 

With a bit of practice on timing, this whole process takes about 5-10 seconds. Faster to execute than it took you to read the instructions. 

 

 

[Psyonico]

I should add that if you have a team, everyone has to be in the same zone for the queue to work. 

[mechahamham]

2 hours ago, Lunar Ronin said:

Can it work?  Sure.  But it won't, because City of Heroes players are set in their ways and will not use it.

 

This. It's a chicken and egg problem, and as far as most CoH players are concerned, why have poultry when you could have porkchops instead?

 

I try to explain it like this, "Recruiting in /lfg and global channels means that you can be selective about who you team with. You can check their global or playernotes before sending out that invite. It also means you can be more selective about how you wish to run content, be it defeat-all-ing the missions, badge-runs, speed,+level, etc.... we've seen what other games have to offer with random turnstile queues and most of us aren't really interested in that."

[biostem]

4 hours ago, Lunar Ronin said:

Can it work?  Sure.  But it won't, because City of Heroes players are set in their ways and will not use it.

 

IMHO, people usually don't want to run content that often involves a fair bit of time commitment with "randos" that may or may not a) want to run said content in the same way, and b) may not have a more desirable AT or level composition.  So, sure, if you don't care who you'll be teamed with, just queue up and see what happens, but don't be surprised if some want to speed ahead while others are underpowered relative to what may otherwise be desirable;  Not wanting to waste one's time != "set in their ways"... 

[biostem]

1 hour ago, mechahamham said:

we've seen what other games have to offer with random turnstile queues and most of us aren't really interested in that

I hated it when matchmaking systems would finally pop, only for half the team to drop because they didn't like the particular team composition.  If a person is willing to put themselves out there, stating their level, AT, and sometimes even powersets, then they are probably going to be a better teammate as well...

Edited Monday at 05:03 AM by biostem

[mechahamham]

14 minutes ago, biostem said:

If a person is willing to put themselves out there, stating their level, AT, and sometimes even powersets, then they are probably going to be a better teammate as well...

 

Hearing HOW a person recruits is often beneficial for prospective team members as well. Even just how their character is named can tell you a lot about them.

 

If you hear someone recruit for a low-level taskforce and state something like "looking for healers only for the last spot", it tells you that maybe they don't understand the game mechanics as well as they think they do. If they say something like, "We somehow have a PUG of 7 tanks, and would like an 8th tank for the 'Mirror Image' badge," that tells you a lot as well.

 

(Well, mostly it tells you that the fight over agro is going to be INTENSE!)

[Lunar Ronin]

6 hours ago, biostem said:

 

IMHO, people usually don't want to run content that often involves a fair bit of time commitment with "randos" that may or may not a) want to run said content in the same way, and b) may not have a more desirable AT or level composition.  So, sure, if you don't care who you'll be teamed with, just queue up and see what happens, but don't be surprised if some want to speed ahead while others are underpowered relative to what may otherwise be desirable;  Not wanting to waste one's time != "set in their ways"... 

 

Sure, and I 100% agree.  The thing is though, we're in the extreme minority outside of City of Heroes.  People exposed to MMOGs after 2010 or so fully expect for there to be a turnstile and for people to use it.  I can't count the times that I've seen someone join the Homecoming Discord server, and say something like: "Hello.  I'm new.  I have a level ten character, and I queued for a Positron 1 TF.  Except it never pops.  What am I doing wrong?"  I've even seen a couple say that they were leaving the game after finding out that we don't use the turnstile.  It's just something that modern gamers expect.  For the worse of the genre, IMO.

[biostem]

4 hours ago, Lunar Ronin said:

I have a level ten character, and I queued for a Positron 1 TF.  Except it never pops.  What am I doing wrong?"

And it is this sort of passivity that needs to be unlearned - why sit there in some queue hoping things will "pop" when a simple shout-out in /LFG will likely fill the team faster.  It's an almost pathological fear of forming a team oneself...

[twozerofoxtrot]

6 hours ago, biostem said:

And it is this sort of passivity that needs to be unlearned - why sit there in some queue hoping things will "pop" when a simple shout-out in /LFG will likely fill the team faster.  It's an almost pathological fear of forming a team oneself..

 

It's less that they fear making their own team (plenty of people do, and still join the old fashioned way) but rather the concept of shard-wide LFG chat as the method for team formation is completely alien.

 

Lunar already mentioned this in the part you quoted but by 2010 no MMO had manual team forming. It was a genre staple to just drop on and out of teams. People for being introduced to MMOs in 2010 were born in the 90s. These are our newer players.

 

COH is the weird kid here. It's not that new players are doing anything wrong persay. 

[Xalon]

Thank you all so much for your explanations and comments. I never had a chance to use the que for anyone but myself to get to a contact, as I'm usually in a group that was formed from the chat. 

 

A few more things to clarify:

 

In order to be teleported, team members need to be in same zone as leader or did you mean, they have to be in same zone as the TF contact?

 

With a full team of 8/8 or a smaller team with group LOCKED, I understand we will get teleported if in the right zone. But what about being in a smaller group, say 5/8, and the group being unlocked, will it still teleport us? I think the lock/unlock is just to allow or not allow other players being put on team automatically, but not sure if that affects the teleports. 

 

Ok that's it. If you guys/gals can clarify those things, I think I'm good to go 🙂

 

 

[Uun]

The LFG teleporter works in different ways depending on the content. For all Incarnate Trials, Cathedral of Pain, Rikti Mothership (instanced), Death From Below, Drowning in Blood, Summer Blockbuster, Lord Winter's Realm and Dr. Kane's House of Horror, queuing for the event will cause you and your team/league to enter the event. If you have less than the maximum number of participants, queuing without locking the event allows others to join, even after you've entered if they've selected Willing to join 'In Progress' events. Note, the latter functionality is buggy and frequently doesn't work.

 

For traditional TFs/SFs/Trials with contacts, the LFG teleporter will transport you and your team to the contact. Everyone needs to be in the same zone as the leader and the event needs to be locked if the team has less than the maximum number of participants. Locking the team for teleport doesn't prevent you from inviting additional members to the team after you've arrived at the contact (but before you start the TF/SF/Trial). Queuing for traditional TFs/SFs/Trials when you're not on a team will not add you to an existing team, regardless of the Willing to join 'In Progress' events setting. All team invites need to be done manually by the leaders.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Team-Up_Teleporter

[MTeague]

On 9/7/2025 at 11:18 PM, mechahamham said:

This. It's a chicken and egg problem, and as far as most CoH players are concerned, why have poultry when you could have porkchops instead?

I mean, done right, pork chops are pretty good...

 

But yea. right or wrong, efficient or woefully unefficient, on every server i've played, you're far better off adding the "Looking for Group" chat to a chat tab, and spamming invites there (ex: "starting up a Positron 1 TF!  7 more slots open!")  Depending on the TF, you may also wish to specify if you want it to be a fast run vs a "kill most" (or KM), just to set expectations for anyone who joins. 

 

[Xalon]

Ok so those who que for a run solo and unlocked will get put on a team if they have it unlocked and space for new team members before it starts. Very cool.

 

I appreciate all the responses. I know a lot is on the wiki but it's always good to get clarification from other players. 

 

 

That answered all my questions. So if anyone wants to use this to talk about LFG and other things, feel free to do so. If not, then this can be closed. Thanks again.