Guild Wars 2 is well-fed with players, and grows more rotund by the day. But its land is even larger, and players have clamoured for months about the need for a Looking For Group tool – something to point their wizards and warriors in the direction of populated areas, where they can team up with others to smash centaurs or pick apples or whathaveyou.

Developers ArenaNet have been making meaningful noises on the subject for a little while, but only yesterday confirmed that an in-game system will be in place by the end of 2013.

In reply to a thread entitled, ‘Is LFG even on the radar?’, ArenaNet game director Colin Johanson exclaimed: “They are indeed!”

“As we’ve announced previously, we’ve got a team working on an in-game LFG tool to be released later in 2013.”

Some four months earlier, content designer Robert Hrouda closed a poll thread on the official GW2 forums, stating: “We’re investigating and working on improving our group finding tool.

“While we certainly appreciate the thread, I’m just going to lock and close it seeing as how you’re voting on something we’re already looking into.”

Currently, a sizeable chunk of the Guild Wars community are relying on third-party service GW2LFG to find suitable parties. But an in-house effort would by its very nature bring more players into the fold. Are you holding out for ArenaNet’s tool?

Thanks to the GW2 Reddit massive.