15 replies to this topic

[wanderer]

Truly dedicated to showing that indeed, there are Capellans without Lowtax walking around. Games like these were a constant for hours on end in which they cheerfully plowed into any and all opposition. Meta, LRMs, any faction you could care to mention.

Good night of showing the colors. And thank you for the polite invitation to join, but it makes it tough to circulate if I'm wearing someone else's unit tags.

[_____]

wanderer, on 31 May 2014 - 10:03 PM, said:

Truly dedicated to showing that indeed, there are Capellans without Lowtax walking around.

I'm afraid I don't get the reference. I probably haven't been on for long enough...

[GunnyKintaro 01]

Great Job

[Zvolimir the Blackhand]

Don't let the screenshot fool you.

Gatekeepers Battalion is in high spirits, and we have lots of eager pilots. It's true we had a rough night last night, but a number of factors combined together to give us our hardest night so far.

Not to mention last night's competition was the fiercest we've encountered so far.

Allowing brand new players in the 12-man and non-company recruits is a bonus for new players wanting the experience, as well as prospective members. We like to start our newb training early.

Our new overall strategy is sound, but we need a lot of practice. We're new to the 12-man scene, only rolling them regularly Friday and Saturday for the past few weeks.

We've come leaps and bounds since we started, and we're learning a lot every week. We're going to be implementing some policy changes come this next week as well that will help sharpen our synergy.

Thanks to everyone who made it out and showed that indomitable Liao spirit!

Edited by Zvolimir the Blackhand, 01 June 2014 - 08:37 AM.

[panicbutton]

Good games gentlemen. We had a blast playing against you guys. We apologize for jokingly squawking, but you're the first Capellans we've come across in a long time. We've been trying to help out some other units who want to be more effective in 12 mans in an effort to fill the relatively empty queue. Also let me thank you for being civil in response to our team comp which, I admit, had a fair deal of jumpsniping metagame bs which usually drives other 12 man groups who aren't running jumpsniping metagame bs up a wall. We hope to see you out there again regardless.

[wanderer]

BlackhawkSC, on 01 June 2014 - 02:02 AM, said:

I'm afraid I don't get the reference. I probably haven't been on for long enough...

Liao in the early days of MWO was oft-dominated in numbers by the Something Awful crew, aka the Goons of EVE infamy. The K-town section of Jettisoned Communications' name in the forums here is a relic of their once-frequent visitations to the forum, as is the /r/mwo Reddit (vs the Reddit Outreach HPG).

Many wonder if MWO actually gets factional warfare up even now that the Goons will show up in force, but being a group collectively disgusted with PGI it's unlikely at this point. Thus, Liao forces often get "SQUAWK" jokes, as the Word of Lowtax did the running joke that they were the birdman aliens from the Far Country book.

[ManDaisy]

Fear not gentlemen, house Laio is a very accepting house as you can see no matter your skill level. Most of us are chill. We just hate idiocy. Keep on high spirit gatekeepers! You certainly will need it.

Edited by ManDaisy, 01 June 2014 - 05:21 PM.

[wanderer]

panicbutton, on 01 June 2014 - 10:01 AM, said:

Good games gentlemen. We had a blast playing against you guys. We apologize for jokingly squawking, but you're the first Capellans we've come across in a long time. We've been trying to help out some other units who want to be more effective in 12 mans in an effort to fill the relatively empty queue. Also let me thank you for being civil in response to our team comp which, I admit, had a fair deal of jumpsniping metagame bs which usually drives other 12 man groups who aren't running jumpsniping metagame bs up a wall. We hope to see you out there again regardless.

The Word of Lowtax (and other Goonsquad folks) was actually quite decent in 8-mans, back when we had them in the ranks during Closed Beta. I'd cheerfully drop with them any time, much as I will with any Capellan unit. You only had to pay them in birdseed and frankly, they fought as hard as they made bird noises.

And the only apology one should give for winning is when it's that thorough, the winner should have never been matched with the loser in the first place. Which really isn't your fault, the matchmaker will put a 12-man with no chance of winning into a match simply because it has no other options. At best, that Gatekeeper force was managing about 1 kill:3 losses vs. any given 12-man, normally resulting in 0-12 or 1-12 games with a single 4-12. Which was surprisingly worse than the last time I dropped with the Gatekeepers, where they were managing at least 5-12 or 6-12 losses instead. Clearly, the pool of players in 12-mans is getting more seasoned.

I look forward to seeing the Gatekeepers and the 12-man queue expand in the future. With as many active pilots as they claim, we should actually see not one but two 12-man groups as a possible result in the future on their Fri-Sat 12-man days.

[_____]

I knew about Mittani before as he runs a well known MWO blog, not knowing he was part of Goons. Googleing Goons though didn't give me the best impression of Goons on EVE and Mittani in particular.

Anyways, I'm really excited that the Gatekeepers are starting 12 mans. It was extremely difficult to find 12s anywhere in Liao space. I hope the Warrior Houses also consistently run 12s so GKs and WHs can start doing scrimmages. I think among the WH units, there should be at least 12 active members.

[Triordinant]

Honorable premades play 12-mans against other premades whenever possible instead of stomping disorganized PUGs for easy wins/cbills/XPs, so this is good news.

[Ebonkosh]

First off I am very new to the gatekeepers(week maybe) and I was not part of the 12 mans from that night. Secondly, I picked the Liao faction based on what I saw as a big need for them to get more above average pilots and heck just more pilots. The other factions seem to be more populated and I do not enjoy the zerg strat in any game. However, if the matches were all 12-0 or 12-1 then there are some other issues that need to be fixed for that team. IMO teams with voice comms should do better. The prior scores of 12-5 or 12-6 sound much better. I mean...even for the winning teams...how is that even a challenge if you are using partial meta builds against 12 man teams not using meta builds much less the most feared mechs and just have 5 straight matches of 12-0? I am not an expert but I look at the teams and the mechs and I wonder a bit.

I got on TS3 at the time for the 12 mans or a little late.(not sure exact time) I went to the reserve channel as is the norm. However, when two slots opened up both myself and another pilot...we were told that we had to run certain mechs and non xl builds to get in the Liao 12 man. Both of us could not meet the restrictions placed so we just went on playing as a two man lance. I was not aware of these restrictions. I may have missed some post? I am new remember. Sigh...flash backs to WOW raiding and spec requirements to be part of the raid. While I agree there needs to be some limits on what mechs you bring... saying no XL Engines in anything but lights and you have to have an assault that goes 70 pretty much limits assaults to 1-2 mechs if not just one. I was told the cataphract was one of the mechs they wanted. I assumed that mech was wanted based on the CTF-3D use in the most common teams I have seen. My fav mech is the IM cataphract. No go for me. XL engine issue. I tried to use my IM with a normal Engine and it seemed so slow. I will re look at it this week. I didn't have a 3D as I sold it long ago to make room for other mechs. I like using 3 UACs with 3 MedL and that's what I want to play most of the time. Now I have to acquire the flavor of the month mechs and build them out to get on the 12 mans will take a bit of time but that's life. I think there are some clear better mechs such as those with ECM and I guess JJs for the meta guys. I know that the raid/star/lance leaders heart is in the right place and we all want to win matches but I would prefer players to pilot the mechs they are best at and not force them in to a meta build since that is the flavor of the month until they are better players with basic MWO skills. If you have 40 people in teamspeak then by all means you can get a 12 man of elite builds going and it will be common knowledge that that 12 man is reserved for certain builds. I mean...could the result have been worse than 12-0/12-1 if players brought their favorite mechs? Banning XL Engines has some merit for the larger mechs in my mind if you want brawlers and assaults to last a little longer but then you exclude the guy that loves his fast Boarshead or cool ass Banshee or the guy that loves the IM Cataphract or Yen-lo-wang with an ass chewing AC20. To develop a good team I think that you let players excel in the mechs they like and at the same time you tell them...these 5 mechs are the most competitive mechs right now. Take a look at them and see if there is one that you think fits your play style. We will try to field two teams of 12 and have one be meta builds pref and the other a 12 man of hella fun mechs and jokers and pure lore based mechs. Don't get me wrong. I am not bashing the gatekeepers..just giving my honest opinion on my experience. I really enjoy the Gatekeeper guys I have played with so far. Remember this is a game so lets have fun! The only way to get new players in the game and stay in the game is to make the game not a dreadful experience. Don't get me wrong...I rage a bit and I chat in team chat and yell/instruct etc...and I work on that every day but from passion to win comes some of that rage and its a work in progress.




Ebonkosh

[Zvolimir the Blackhand]

Thanks for bringing up some points for me to address, Ebonkosh.

As I said before, it was a different night for us. We relaxed some of our policies while we enforced new ones. As a new player, I can see where you might be confused here but I was very busy that night.

However, the main reason we stopped the 12s was because we wanted to play, and at that time the matchmaker refused to find us a match. (3am CST)

Ebonkosh, on 02 June 2014 - 07:20 AM, said:

However, if the matches were all 12-0 or 12-1 then there are some other issues that need to be fixed for that team. IMO teams with voice comms should do better.

Over half our men were either new players or new to our TS. These were just warmup games meant to generate interest in pulling a more focused strategy together that can trickle down through the ranks to make each Gatekeeper ready for action and assignment in any position.

I think the win ratio there is a direct result of this factor, assuming you take our prior experience into account.

1st Company's Sang-Wei have informed me that I must enforce a new pick order for the competitive team until we have at least 16 players in TS. Then we will be dropping all together for training in a private lobby.

Expect this to be the norm on Fridays and Saturdays - especially Saturday night, which is Noob Night - but you guys knew that right?

I mean, we advertise that. And it was Saturday night.

So... yeah 12-0 match after match, but to be fair we got more 12 drops on Saturday than ever before. I'm proud of our guys.

Ebonkosh, on 02 June 2014 - 07:20 AM, said:

I was not aware of these restrictions. I may have missed some post? I am new remember.

We have not posted this information, but enacted the new composition last weekend to much better effect, winning 50% of the matches dropped with 1st Company pilots (not recruits as on Saturday).

A guideline chart will be posted on the Facebook sometime this week to help with that, but it probably will not be posted as general information for all to see.

Ebonkosh, on 02 June 2014 - 07:20 AM, said:

Now I have to acquire the flavor of the month mechs and build them out to get on the 12 mans will take a bit of time but that's life.

We hardly run flavor of the month 'mechs.

That's all I have to say about that.

Edited by Zvolimir the Blackhand, 02 June 2014 - 08:32 PM.

[Smokeyjedi]

Indeed, we are stubborn and most of the time blatantly use flavor builds in the Warrior Houses......although most of us have a meta build or two, out of necessity.....ugh. The times, they are a changing.

[Khatib McKenna]

Considering it is my unit referenced in the OP's screenshot (for the most part, though we were dropping with a few non-Arkab due to the lateness of the evening), I'd like to extend a thank you for the multiple matches we played on Saturday night. As a unit that is relatively new to the 12 man scene ourselves (practicing once a week for about the last six months), let me assure you that it DOES get better. As you learn your teammates' strength and grow accustomed to their tendencies, you will improve.

That being said, I think you will find a difficult time getting regular attendance if you enforce builds upon people. A lot of the fun of the game comes from being able to use your creativity to make a mech that you enjoy piloting, even if it may not be optimal/meta. If someone wants to run an XL build and they are effective with it, why wouldn't you let them? We merely require our members have the mechs mastered and that they bring appropriate modules for their role. What matters the most is teamwork and working in a cohesive fashion.

Having never heard of your unit until our matches on Saturday night, it was refreshing seeing a new unit on the scene, especially one representing a faction that is under-represented. As our regular 12v12 drops begin on Saturday nights at 9 PM EST (provided we don't have enough for inter-unit 12v12 private lobby battles), I expect we'll seeing more of one another in the future. If you are interested in organizing some scrimmage matches in the future, please contact me and we can work out something that suits both of our units' schedules. I'm in charge of organizing and commanding our Saturday night drops.

Until we meet again on the battlefield!

-Khatib McKenna
Tai-sa of the 4th Arkab Legions

[Zvolimir the Blackhand]

Khatib McKenna, on 02 June 2014 - 02:25 PM, said:

Considering it is my unit referenced in the OP's screenshot (for the most part, though we were dropping with a few non-Arkab due to the lateness of the evening), I'd like to extend a thank you for the multiple matches we played on Saturday night.

It was good fun sir.

Khatib McKenna, on 02 June 2014 - 02:25 PM, said:

That being said, I think you will find a difficult time getting regular attendance if you enforce builds upon people. *SNIP* What matters the most is teamwork and working in a cohesive fashion.

We don't enforce "builds", but we do have "guidelines".

Khatib McKenna, on 02 June 2014 - 02:25 PM, said:

If you are interested in organizing some scrimmage matches in the future, please contact me and we can work out something that suits both of our units' schedules. I'm in charge of organizing and commanding our Saturday night drops.

I'm sure we can work with a Kurita-aligned group.

Khatib McKenna, on 02 June 2014 - 02:25 PM, said:

Until we meet again on the battlefield!

See you then!

[Monky]

Enjoyed good fights with you guys on Meatshield Monday! Was a blast on that last one on forest colony especially. Hope you guys stick around!