PC - Comments about Inviting Friend(s) and Social interactions

  • Thormor2897
    Seafarer

    Like the title says, I am talking specifically about the PC way of inviting friends, I dunno how different it is on XBox.

    My friend and I wanted to play together this weekend, and we found it very complex and uneasy to be able to invite one another. Both of us are used at using Steam, Origin and even to some extend the c****y UPlay. So far, XBox app on PC (to invite your friends) is worse than UPlay... This goes to say.

    So, I booted the game, went into the invite menu and tried to invite my friend by pressing "Invite Friend". Nothing pop-up, then I realized that for whatever reason I need to press "1" to open a Window. Alright... now how do I invite him? Oh right, I need to add him to my friend list first, first time we both used XBox app on PC... Can't add him ingame... So I alt-tab, go in the app, and try to invite him. He doesn't get any notification... he tried to add me, no notification.
    10 minutes pass and then boom he got a notification... Great! Back ingame... where I can invite him. Yay it works...

    Then he DCs. Oops it happens. Alright... How do I reinvite him ingame??? Nope, can't. Need to go through the XBox app again, and invite him to game. Doesn't work... After awhile he is able to find a join game button ... It works...

    So here are my take away, and I hope that Rare and Microsoft will fix those:

    1. Standardize UI and buttons for menu : The press "1" to invite friends, when there's clearly what seems to be a button that says "Invite friend" should be optional. Pressing the button should work.
    2. Have a simpler XBox UI menu with friends. Easier way to find them, more reactive (should not wait 10 minutes for him to get the notification)
    3. Easier way to join game and rejoin. Right-click friend, press invite game. Again, some sort of feedback to know what's going on with the invitation would be nice so you know if it worked or not...

    I know Rare is not responsible for the XBox App but awareness about those weird issues are important to raise as social interactions are key part of that game :)
    My friend was quite annoyed at how tricky it was just to join the same boat as me haha. I can understand his frustration.

    Thank you! And I hope Devs can see this :)

  • Login To Reply
    3
    Posts
    2.7k
    Views
  • Cipher 8

    It's all done through the standalone Xbox App.

    You can invite friends from the game lobby before you attempt to join in game.

    What your friend then needs to do is go to their Xbox App and find your profile. Not their messages like you would think. And yeah no notification pops up right away but it was sent right away. I wish you were notified like instantly.

    On your profile, since you sent them an invite it'll have a box somewhere that says Join session or something like Join. Click that to accept the invite.

    That should work.

    IDK why it is that way, and it's a bit confusing. Especially if you've ever been use to sending/receiving invites on the Xbox consoles before like i have. I wish they would go to your messages and you click on them there.

  • Thormor2897
    Seafarer

    @cipher-8
    I get that I need to use the standalone app and firts, that's a problem. People used to Steam or Origin knows that they are integrated with the game. No need to switch app, just press Shift-F10 and voila, the UI is there to invite your friend.

    The lack of notification pop-up immediately is lacking indeed.
    It should not be hard for your friend to find how to join your game, if they need to go to my profile and find the button it's counter intuitive... Steam is a great example on how simpler it is. Right-click your friend name, and there you go, the options to join or request to join are there. Simple. Elegant. Does the job.
    However I'll keep note for next time, if my friend decide to buy the game, I'll explain him how to rejoin :D

Login To Reply
3
Posts
2.7k
Views
1 out of 3