The game allows open groups, so that you can be in a group and if there is room, the game might add more people to your group. That's good. It also allows you to jump into a group that has already formed, rather than having to find people manually. That's also good. These are both optional, of course, as a group leader can lock the group or players can wait for a manual invite or start their own group rather than jumping into a random group.

If you try to start in tier 1, it works fine. If you try to start in tier 2, the game often throws you into Moorcroft Manor in a group led by someone who doesn't have two star gear, and can't move on past that town. And it's someone who is taking his time wandering around, or is AFK, or something. That's bad.

And it's not just that you have to restart once to get tossed into a different group. If you leave that party and the try to join a group again, it likely just dumps you back into the same useless party that isn't moving on. If you start a new party, then the game doesn't put anyone else in your party, because it's putting people into that other party that isn't moving on, and then they'll leave and can't find yours. If you go on solo, then you're solo, and still haven't found a group. This can make it take 5 or 10 minutes to get a group if you want to start in tier 2, when it should take only a few seconds.

I don't know if tier 3 has this same problem. I suspect that it does, but I haven't done tier 3 yet.

My proposal to fix this is simple. If a group is in Moorcroft Manor and contains a player who is ineligible to move on because he doesn't have two star gear, then lock the group and don't automatically add more players to it. Likewise, if a group is in Emberlight and contains a player who is ineligible to move on because he doesn't have four star gear, then lock the group and don't automatically add more players to it. Instead, let players who try to join a group be put into a group that might actually attempt another level after they join.