I don't know how that function works but I think the suggestions aren't quite OK or are purely random.
Strongly agree with this. As a currently FS-free player [post in 'Players Seeking Fellowships' currently in progress!] who is in early-mid-game (around halfway through Orcs & Goblins), the random (?) Fellowships which the game auto-suggests to me are almost universally unsuitable, and also appear to be biased in favour of FSs with few players, with no consideration given to whether or not those players are of an appropriately matching in-game level and/or are even active, let alone whether their Goods Boosts are compatible, as well as other such non-trivial considerations; in the case of one 'auto-suggested' FS which was especially undesirable, the
only [ex-]player in the FS was not only still in Chapter I, but had also been inactive for over a year.
If I myself were a new player, who knew nothing of what constitutes an appropriate FS, let alone how to look up other players and/or FSs on ElvenStats, I could easily unwittingly join a largely 'dead' FS and remain there until either giving up on the idea of FSs entirely (bearing in mind that many mobile games nowadays 'auto-match' new players with unsuitable or even 'dead' in-game groups, so this is something many players might even expect), or until leaving the game in disappointment after being apparently ignored by Fellows who are, in fact, no longer even playing. Even being matched with a FS which, although at least composed of 'live' players, is not suitable in terms of level of activity, in-game advancement, degree of participation in group activities, and so on, would be at best a demotivating experience, and at worst, again, a reason to leave the game - not least because I would logically consider, having been poorly matched once, that I would quite probably be equally poorly 'auto-matched' again.
I personally find 'auto-matching' of players with in-game groups, in any game, to be not only usually inefficient, but also a rather patronising affair; most players are surely capable of checking FS Descriptions/Members and deciding for themselves where best to apply? A far better idea, I think, would be to introduce into the existing Tutorial a
useful level of explanation of Fellowships (in all their complexity, since they are one of the foundations of the game, after all). In my opinion, even the current system of encouraging players to join FSs manually is not only hit-and-miss, since it relies upon players investigating the UI (which many don't, before they get bored and leave) in order to seek out the information on 'Benefits of FSs' which is currently provided in-game, but which is inadequate in terms of explaining
in proper detail the benefits of FSs of various types - from casual to hardcore.
I don't know whether the mobile client allows the same flexibility as the browser version in terms of ignoring the 'auto-suggested' FSs and instead listing all FSs on the Server and choosing likely candidates according to FS Descriptions/Member City levels, etc. (although
how to do this is not explained in-game, which I consider to be a significant omission, hence my idea above about introducing 'Joining a FS' into the compulsory Tutorial), but it does seem apparent, at least, that the 'auto-suggest' feature needs a lot of work if it is to be useful either to mobile or to browser-based players.
Well at least not publicly, of course they do it internally, they know, but they do not intend to fix it. I assume the problem is not big enough to warrant the major investment of fixing the tourneys. They know exactly how many people leave and how many join and how much money they make from it. If they thought the investment would make them money they would change the tourneys tomorrow, but they don´t.
