Dear SE, please add “Pause Queue” function to Duty Finder

Going to send this letter of suggestion to SE through in-game support desk.

Dear SE,

I’d like to propose an installation of a new function which could be very useful for FFXIV Duty Finder.

Please also add a “Pause Queue” function to the Duty Finder. My idea is that this button will temporarily put the DF on hold for the player. When paused, the player would temporarily step out of the Duty Finder line, while staying at the same spot in the queue, not moving closer, and not getting kicked out of the waiting line. When the player comes back and “Resume” queuing, the player will get back into the waiting line where he or she first stepped out, as the spot had been reserved for the original owner.

However, if the player executes this function after there was a prompt to commence Duty, the player will resume queuing in the next after next spot. In the event that some other players in front of the pausing person got into their Duty, freeing up the spots at the front of the line, the players behind the pausing person will pass them and go on ahead, as if the pausing person is frozen in the line until he or she comes back and hit “Resume” button.
This ability to “Pause” will be extremely useful for various kinds of situations.

Example 1:
A poor Dragoon who finds it tough to get a Duty Finder in Syrcus Tower to pop for over an hour decides that he should also spend his waiting time doing something productive. He changes to a low level job and went to grind EXP in FATEs. In the middle of a fight, while he is tanking a FATE boss, the Duty Finder goes off and presents a Commence prompt.

He cannot change back to his registered job because he is in the middle of a fight.

If he runs away from the FATE to try to lose enmity, there is a chance that the boss monster will reset to full HP if it follows him out too far from the spawn spot. Other players in the FATE will be very upset and will call him out on it. Resetting a FATE boss is also rude and is a waste of everyone else’s time and effort.

If there is “Pause Queue” function, he could use it and stepped temporarily out of the queue, letting the next person in line go in instead. Meanwhile, he won’t waste all the long minutes he had spent waiting for this Duty. He also wouldn’t need to start queuing from the end of the line again, which could be another hour or even longer. He could finish the FATE, change job to DRG, and resume queue and will probably have to wait for 5 or 10 minutes for next chance.

Example 2:
A healer has been waiting for a Labyrinth of the Ancients duty for well over 90 minutes. The Alliance is slowly filling up, missing only 2 tanks, 1 Healer and 1 DPS at the moment. She’s been sitting here for so long, fearing that leaving the desk will make her miss the opportunity to get into the Duty, and that she would need to start queuing again which could result in another waste of 90 minutes.

She’s starving. She needs food. She also needs a bathroom visit.

The current DF system means that she has only 3 options, withdraw now and go get her needs fulfilled, run for it hoping to be lucky enough to make it back in time before she’s kicked out from not hitting the “Commence” button, or hold out and make gaming a higher priority in life than nature’s calls.

If there is a “Pause Queue” function, she will easily decide to pause it and run for the bathroom and get food from the kitchen, resting assured that when she returns, she won’t have to spend yet another agonizing 90 minutes to get into a Duty. If she’s lucky enough, she might even get into the same Alliance that she got a spot in earlier.

Example 3:
A tank is having a bad luck day. He’s been sitting in the queue for 20 minutes for Expert Roulette. It seems all the healers are asleep or away from home right now, as there is no sign on the healer despite the party’s being ¾ for so damn long.

He went to Gold Saucer to kill time while waiting for the Duty Finder. As if the Twelves were pulling a prank on him, the Duty Finder prompt to commence pops up while he’s in the middle of a Triple Triad duel with an NPC. He threw his cards onto the board quickly without thinking, in order to rush the match to end so he could enter Duty. However, there is a Sudden Death rule, and he happened to score a draw against the NPC, so the NPC wouldn’t let him go and the next match forcefully and automatically starts.

In current system, this tank would totally miss the commence countdown and be kicked out from the queue. He would have to start queuing from start again, which could be extremely irritating. He’s been waiting for this party for over 20 minutes, yet he is forced to forfeit his spot just because he is 1 minute late to click the commence button?

If there is a “Pause Queue” function, once he found out that the NPC isn’t letting him go anywhere, he could have pause it for a while and rush back to resume queuing. Or, if he is smart and plans ahead, he could pause his queue before starting the Triple Triad match with this NPC, and then resume it after the match ends properly.

In my opinion, current system is a little harsh and unfair for those who’ve been sitting in front of their screens for over an hour, sometimes close to two hours, waiting for the party/alliance to slowly assemble, only to then get kicked completely out of the line just because they have some kind of emergency in real life and need to leave their chair for just a minute or two – when the Duty Finder decides to be mean and go CHING when they’re AFK. Of course, it wouldn’t go off for the whole 2 hours while they were sitting tight and staring, but would, unfortunately, pop once the person has left to do some business.

With a Pause Queue system, the player could relax a little bit more and pause then resume their queue without much disturbance to other people who happen to be in the same Duty party.

If you fear that people would abuse or exploit the function, you can limit the pause usage to, perhaps, 3 times per real life day for each player.

As for people queuing on DF as a party, make it so the whole party will have to vote whether to activate the Pause or not. It should show the name of the person who initiates the Pause proposal, to prevent griever from abusing it to the party. Once a Pause is activated, any of the party member can vote resume. Again, the person will have their name shown to every member.

Please consider the possibilities of this function.

Thank you,
Aleczan Knighthill.