When will we be getting Grouping features?

Sorry if this has been answered before or way back but I read the FAQ and didn't see this question there, surprisingly enough. When will we be getting a matchmaking/grouping feature like the PC versions group board?

I have been playing POE since 2012/2013 (iirc) and have yet to play a dedicated support character. I really have been wanting to give one a go the last league or 2 but without a grouping feature I am left only with Xbox clubs to try and find people to play with. Which is better than nothing, but still a really inconvenient way to have to go about it. The in game text chat box will help when it gets here, but even that is typically appropriate when playing MMORPGs, not ARPGs.

So is there any time line yet for this feature? It seems a bit absurd to make this game have no offline mode, and then basically force the playerbase into a... Play with your friends or play solo.. type of situation. For the record, I couldn't care less that this game doesn't have an offline mode. Just pointing out the irony between the 2 decisions here regardless of the reasoning behind it.

Whole heartedly agree. see my post must must must improve party experience. This system sucks you can literally waste a lot of time trying to find the right party and there is no need for it. Will not play or give money to poe until this is improved. Too bad because I love this game

GGG really needs to add much more in the way of multiplayer support, grouping, multiplayer communications/group options, etc. A lot of that is already built into the Xbox, but it's just not fully exploited in POE.

I don't know how the game handles all this on PC, but it may be that it's going to have to be done differently for XBox and they're a bit hesitant to have the game diverge too widely.

As it is, grouping with people from one's "Friends" list on Xbox is fairly easy. For those looking for pickup groups and the like or trying to coordinate one, their only option would be going to the POE "Group" and posting there, outside of the game.

While GGG has said they are contemplating something in the way of helping players communicate better in POE, I have my doubts that it will get anything close to how that sort of thing works on PC.

Somewhat unrelated, but of interest: Microsoft has said they are planning for keyboard and mouse support for XBox One this year. That may give GGG some much easier options/API to play with. But, it might also open up the game to spam and too many "YOUR MOM" crap to be worth implementing...

For myself, I'd like the option to join chat channels or Town Chat channels. But, I think even when console games have such capabilities, they're generally avoided.

Why would they give us grouping when they can give us 1 week old microtransactions?