50 replies to this topic

[Sandpit]

I apologize for double posting this, but I'm so used to GD being the place to post and still getting my forum legs back under me, if need be Mods just let me know and we can delete or consolidate the threads.


After reading through some of the feedback posts and playing quite a bit of CW this weekend I had an idea that seemed to appease and please most of the guys we were dropping with so I wanted to expand on it and get it kicked around the forums.

Please keep it on-top topic, productive, and be "nice" to one another. This is by no means a "perfect" idea and I'm sure some of the rule lawyers and min/maxers will find loopholes. That's exactly what I DO want. That way we can discuss ways to mitigate or eliminate those areas and improve the idea overall. Personally I think this is a pretty good idea to improve CW across the board without requiring anything extra out of PGI in terms of coding and revamping.


This weekend's event is what got this idea niggling around in my head. A very long time ago some of us suggested that PGI run CW in a manner that allowed them to control the avenues of attack on the map, and decrease queue times. After playing this weekend I realized that this is almost exactly what they did with Tuk.

SO this is how they can improve the entire CW experience while making it a much deeper section of the game and adding lore and story and all that good stuff we love about things like the clan invasion.

CW will be run in seasons. Each season will culminate in the Tuk battle and we have a big tournament just like this weekend (although I might make the tournament longer than just a weekend to give more players a chance to jump in). At the end of the season winners are crowned, prizes are awarded and the winning side gets some sort of special badges and titles and such for winning that season.
Using this system they would also be able to hold smaller "weekend style" tournaments throughout the season and hold some of the classical and historical battles during the clan invasion.

So how would it work?

PGI simply controls the IS map and starts producing accurate and timely Comstar Headlines and news reports that used to be so popular when we all (including PGI) were still wide eyed hopefuls as opposed to salty cynics lol. That's really at it takes. A lot of CW problems solved.

Sounds too simple? Not really, PGI would control the avenues of attack and borders just like they did this weekend. They control the ebb and flow of the map by simply opening certain borders and closing others. This allows PGI to help smaller units become involved and have a more meaningful impact as well as prevent them from getting rolled up by big organized units or getting isolated with a border that doesn't have any viable enemy planets to attack.

Now for the fluff and how to do it so players don't feel forced. Use the Comstar news relays to relays the fluff information.
Example:

Inner Sphere
Today December 7, 3051
A monumental peace treaty was signed between the two Great Houses Davion and Steiner. The treaty ends all hostilities between the two factions and creates a mutual defense pact to help combat the treat of this new invading force calling themselves "Clans". The clans have steadily pushed into the outer systems and are now beginning to threaten core planets and disrupt mech production and supply capabilities. Davion and Steiner have agreed to set aside their differences to combat this grave mutual threat to our very way of life!

Then PGI simply closes and opens attack avenues based on this. Steiner and Davion share borders and drop zones and attack those dirty clanners together. This simulates the politics and governments in the IS. It creates stories and us mercs to take contracts with certain factions at certain times.
PGI could offer "bonuses" to those units willing to go out and hit the front lines and those Houses would be offering premium contracts for those willing to go out and face the clans.
Those that take contracts to attack other locations in the IS get the "regular" garrison and rear guard contracts that are "easier" but worth a little less in rewards. (Nothing drastic so don't start with the "Ehr meh gerd" nerf cbills!" stuff)

They could do this with each of the Inner Sphere factions and recreate the actual Inner Sphere wars and clan invasions. Merc units can take contracts with different factions if they would rather fight in different areas. That's the point of being a merc. The "permanent" house merc units aren't going to mind because those are the ones that love this kind of stuff anyhow.

What about the clans? Don't worry, we've got you covered.
Example:
Khans Joe & Derp have submitted their batchalls and preparations are underway for our invasion to being my fellow warriors! Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon will be our vanguard and have bid (insert drop deck tonnage here) for this invasion. Warriors are ordered to report to their respective superiors and make preparations to leave at 0600 hours. We shall show these Inner Sphere surats what honor and true warrior skill means. Quiaff?!?!?!?

There you go, same thing on the other side. PGI does the same thing with clans and helps control the ebb and flow of borders, map chewing, etc.


This requires zero extra coding or work on PGI's part. They simply have to type up a few lines of fluff periodically, disperse the into in-game (If you can send a server wide message to all players then you can sure disperse this info). That's it. A lot of the issues with CW solved in one fell swoop. PGI adjusts this type of thing as needed to help alleviate queue times, lopsided games with big organized units, and prevents smaller units and factions from going extinct.

Then maybe once a month PGI holds a big tournament like what we just had with Tuk this past weekend and recreate some of those epic battles from lore. Then at the end of the season, they hold the battle for Tuk and we cap of the season.

Here's the catch. At the start of each season every player has a single choice to make. Clan or I.S.
Once you make that selection you can't switch back and forth from side to side. You can switch factions within a side but you can't jump from one side of the fight to the other. This gives PGI hard numbers on how many clans and how many IS players they have available which is essential to help balance. You can switch again after a season is over, but once that selection is made you're on that side for the duration of the season.

This ONLY applies for CW. Any arguments, complaints, etc. that do not directly involve CW are off-topic and make it painfully obvious and apparent that you didn't read.

The other side of a system like this are it creates social groups without the need for lobbies. Players from Steiner and Davion would start seeing other players more often, getting to know one another, what mechs they like to use, who's a good scout, etc.
It breeds familiarity and with familiarity comes more trust in your PUG teammates and also more teamwork and coordination as a byproduct which builds cohesion in PUGs.

It might even be possible to create a "new player" zone for CW as well. A player plays in this zone to get a taste of the difference in CW without being a detriment to the factions/clans and not get into bad situations where they get face rolled because it's a team completely full of newer players against veteran players who know the maps, strategies, etc. (notice this is not a premade or solo argument, CW is very team oriented, leave that conversation for a different topic, we are not getting into the whole "premade vs. solo" argument here)

In a nutshell that is all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure there will be tons of ideas that flow once the discussion starts and I look forward to the community's thoughts on this. Please, keep it constructive. Please keep it on-topic. Those who know me know that I tend to my threads and hit the report button liberally for those that like to offer nothing constructive and simply want to derail, flame, troll, etc. There's plenty of threads out there for you to do that in. Even if you completely disagree with someone else's idea, be respectful please.

[pwnface]

I like the idea of having less attack lanes open but really dislike the idea of having PGI dictate which factions can attack each other. If there were a means for inter-faction politics in game where it was possible for factions to form alliances with each other it would be a really cool mechanic. The wars between Kurita and Davion/Marik wouldn't have been possible if PGI just randomly turned on and off attack lanes. If two factions are unhappy with each other, the players should be allowed to dictate who they want to destroy.

If we had the population for a healthy CW game mode, I would encourage one periphery planet to be assigned for SOLO only dropping. The planet would not change hands or have grids to fight over but would really be more of an introduction to CW planet for newer players.

[sycocys]

Same as the other post which seems deleted - 3 "planets"/buckets, Clan v IS, IS v IS, Clan v Clan
Then let the attack lane algorithm do the match on who won planets after a set amount of time.

If you are really feeling generous add a pug only mixed queue with 2 drops and half rewards or single drop pug only version of each at 1/4th the rewards.

[Sandpit]

pwnface, on 07 December 2015 - 11:50 AM, said:

I like the idea of having less attack lanes open but really dislike the idea of having PGI dictate which factions can attack each other. If there were a means for inter-faction politics in game where it was possible for factions to form alliances with each other it would be a really cool mechanic. The wars between Kurita and Davion/Marik wouldn't have been possible if PGI just randomly turned on and off attack lanes. If two factions are unhappy with each other, the players should be allowed to dictate who they want to destroy.

If we had the population for a healthy CW game mode, I would encourage one periphery planet to be assigned for SOLO only dropping. The planet would not change hands or have grids to fight over but would really be more of an introduction to CW planet for newer players.

Why?
What difference does it make? It's exactly what they did for Tuk. Who cares if they're the ones that decide it? It's decided to help keep units involved and feeling "important" and having an impact on CW. If that's the only thing people dislike about it then this system is just about perfect in my opinion.

sycocys, on 07 December 2015 - 12:02 PM, said:

Same as the other post which seems deleted - 3 "planets"/buckets, Clan v IS, IS v IS, Clan v Clan
Then let the attack lane algorithm do the match on who won planets after a set amount of time.

If you are really feeling generous add a pug only mixed queue with 2 drops and half rewards or single drop pug only version of each at 1/4th the rewards.

The other thread may have been deleted due to me double posting it. I asked them consolidate or delete if they needed to.

[pwnface]

Sandpit, on 07 December 2015 - 12:03 PM, said:

Why?
What difference does it make? It's exactly what they did for Tuk. Who cares if they're the ones that decide it? It's decided to help keep units involved and feeling "important" and having an impact on CW. If that's the only thing people dislike about it then this system is just about perfect in my opinion.

People in the factions care about this kind of stuff.

Marik, Davion, FRR, Kurita all had meetings discussing inter-faction politics and possible alliances and enemies.

Kurita and FRR had a long standing alliance in CW beta 1 and you would never find planets being contested between the two factions. This isn't by accident or luck, this was leadership from both factions talking to each other to arrange it. The whole Marik wormhole through Kurita and resulting war was through communication and miscommunication between the two factions. Players want CW to be MORE meaningful, making it LESS meaningful by making it a glorified public queue with planetary invasion game modes is not what players want. You would be taking away what little role-playing aspect of CW that does exist.

[Sandpit]

pwnface, on 07 December 2015 - 12:36 PM, said:

People in the factions care about this kind of stuff.

Marik, Davion, FRR, Kurita all had meetings discussing inter-faction politics and possible alliances and enemies.

Kurita and FRR had a long standing alliance in CW beta 1 and you would never find planets being contested between the two factions. This isn't by accident or luck, this was leadership from both factions talking to each other to arrange it. The whole Marik wormhole through Kurita and resulting war was through communication and miscommunication between the two factions. Players want CW to be MORE meaningful, making it LESS meaningful by making it a glorified public queue with planetary invasion game modes is not what players want. You would be taking away what little role-playing aspect of CW that does exist.

People in the factions care about fighting a war and feeling like they're involved in that war. Just about every single player I talked to this weekend agreed that the queues, wait times, matches, etc. were all MUCH better than usual across the board with a "controlled" event.
There is absolutely NOTHING in the system above that makes CW less meaningful. Nothing. There is nothing BUT adding more meaningful stuff with CW in that suggestion. You're either being obtuse, just wanting to argue, or simply on a "PGI can't control me kick" if you're going to completely ignore the examples I gave and explained (in detail I might add) on how they add depth, story, meaningful conflicts, and retell the story of the Inner Sphere invasion.

YOU don't like it? Hey that's great but let's keep the "most players" "fake majority representation" etc. out of it
"CW players want"

What you mean to say is YOU want. There's a difference

As I said earlier, if the only nitpick you can find with the suggestion is PGI "controlling things" I think this would be a good system to explore.

[pwnface]

Sandpit, on 07 December 2015 - 01:37 PM, said:

People in the factions care about fighting a war and feeling like they're involved in that war. Just about every single player I talked to this weekend agreed that the queues, wait times, matches, etc. were all MUCH better than usual across the board with a "controlled" event.
There is absolutely NOTHING in the system above that makes CW less meaningful. Nothing. There is nothing BUT adding more meaningful stuff with CW in that suggestion. You're either being obtuse, just wanting to argue, or simply on a "PGI can't control me kick" if you're going to completely ignore the examples I gave and explained (in detail I might add) on how they add depth, story, meaningful conflicts, and retell the story of the Inner Sphere invasion.

YOU don't like it? Hey that's great but let's keep the "most players" "fake majority representation" etc. out of it
"CW players want"

What you mean to say is YOU want. There's a difference

As I said earlier, if the only nitpick you can find with the suggestion is PGI "controlling things" I think this would be a good system to explore.

I disagree. Taking away players choices on what planets they can and can not attack will definitely improve queue times and wait times but it does make CW less meaningful.

How is taking out a feature "adding meaningful stuff" to CW? By adding fluff dialogue saying "Sorry, you can't attack Marik today because they are on vacation"?

I'm not nitpicking or being obtuse and I never said "most players" or "majority" but I do believe there is a significant population of CW players that do care about these role playing aspects of the game. Personally, I enjoyed having a choice on what planet to attack in CW beta 1. Coordinating with other HK units on how we should split our combined power to take down the most planets in one attack phase a fun an exciting part of the game. I'm not a big role player, especially when it comes to MWO, but I don't think taking away player choice is the best way to go.

[Surn]

What the OP may be missing is this...

Overall, any IDEa like this is a good thing. We can debate and work out the details. However, one important detail is that the MechWarrior community has had a strategic layer of leagues where some players are role playing as generals or emperors at the planetary resource level.

If mwo is successful, it will by combining tactical simulated combat with player based strategic resource warfare.

Tactical combat is short lived, but ...if mankind is at war..we can play for years.

Edited by MechregSurn, 07 December 2015 - 07:12 PM.

[sycocys]

There's simply not, nor will ever be enough population in the game, much less CW for it to make any sense for the players to have the choice of where to fight - everyone that actually plays stacks up on 4-5 planets across all factions in the most populated of hours.

Just put everyone under a 3 choice bucket system, increase the amount of matches found, reduce the chances for seals to fight groups at the same time, and just generally have a simpler more streamlined system for everyone to deal with.

[Zordicron]

The underlying idea of "less planets to fight on" is very sound Sandpit, and it is why there were lots of pug vs pug fights and reasonable wait times for a large portion of this last weekend Tukayid event. More players queue'd in the same area means better odds for an even match up, and a 100% drop chance.

Really, the trick of this whole event was for PGI to figure out how many pie slices to make so we didn't have ghost drops, but at the same time didn't have a 20 attack vs 40 defend teams queue'd to drop(we saw some of both, more waiting teams then ghost though by far).

Reducing attack lanes would help in that aspect- by lumping more players into the same area, you make team finding, match making, wait times etc all better. But if you restrict it, a lot, people get mad because then it's just a pretty map to look at while you drop in the CW game mode. People are already pretty annoyed there is no "benefit" to owning any one particular planet. If PGI was to ever put a planet perk type system in, people would nerd rage about not having a say on where their faction can go.

It's all population. If we get really lucky, the newer 4 v 4 and steam influx will add enough life to the CW section of this game to resolve quite a few of the issues on it's own. If we aren;t, well, they might need to move in a direction like OP has got to keep the CW game alive. I am really hoping to see the former, this weekend was good fun while the planet was hoppin with players.

[Sandpit]

pwnface, on 07 December 2015 - 03:35 PM, said:

I disagree. Taking away players choices on what planets they can and can not attack will definitely improve queue times and wait times but it does make CW less meaningful.

Can't agree there. It gives it more meaning. It gives your military unit and actual military order. You're a merc, you don't like it, you switch contracts. That's what mercs do.

sycocys, on 07 December 2015 - 03:59 PM, said:

There's simply not, nor will ever be enough population in the game, much less CW for it to make any sense for the players to have the choice of where to fight - everyone that actually plays stacks up on 4-5 planets across all factions in the most populated of hours.

Just put everyone under a 3 choice bucket system, increase the amount of matches found, reduce the chances for seals to fight groups at the same time, and just generally have a simpler more streamlined system for everyone to deal with.

I don't understand why you're insisting on a 3 bucket system.
Open CW just like it's always been, there's absolutely zero need to change any of the queues or how they work.

Eldagore, on 07 December 2015 - 04:13 PM, said:

The underlying idea of "less planets to fight on" is very sound Sandpit, and it is why there were lots of pug vs pug fights and reasonable wait times for a large portion of this last weekend Tukayid event. More players queue'd in the same area means better odds for an even match up, and a 100% drop chance.

Really, the trick of this whole event was for PGI to figure out how many pie slices to make so we didn't have ghost drops, but at the same time didn't have a 20 attack vs 40 defend teams queue'd to drop(we saw some of both, more waiting teams then ghost though by far).

Reducing attack lanes would help in that aspect- by lumping more players into the same area, you make team finding, match making, wait times etc all better. But if you restrict it, a lot, people get mad because then it's just a pretty map to look at while you drop in the CW game mode. People are already pretty annoyed there is no "benefit" to owning any one particular planet. If PGI was to ever put a planet perk type system in, people would nerd rage about not having a say on where their faction can go.

It's all population. If we get really lucky, the newer 4 v 4 and steam influx will add enough life to the CW section of this game to resolve quite a few of the issues on it's own. If we aren;t, well, they might need to move in a direction like OP has got to keep the CW game alive. I am really hoping to see the former, this weekend was good fun while the planet was hoppin with players.

Restrict doesn't mean stagnant. Everyone is acting like I've suggested PGI open up 1-2 planet to attack per faction and leave it like that for 4 weeks. The map would change and switch just as dynamically as it does now, it would simply cut down queue times and ensure more faction balance on the map so that smaller units can have just as much fun and impact on the game.

There's absolutely no downside other than "PGI controls the map" portion that we seem to be sticking on.

[pwnface]

Sandpit, on 07 December 2015 - 04:48 PM, said:

There's absolutely no downside other than "PGI controls the map" portion that we seem to be sticking on.

To some people, that may be a major downside which would turn them off from the game mode completely. Just because you don't care about that aspect of CW it doesn't mean other players don't as well. Getting into the HK teamspeak with 100 other pilots that are all doing their best to smash on Marik together as a common goal was a lot of fun. The fact that we could choose between 5 or more fronts meant we had to pick our fights to be the most effective.

[Sandpit]

pwnface, on 07 December 2015 - 05:16 PM, said:

To some people, that may be a major downside which would turn them off from the game mode completely. Just because you don't care about that aspect of CW it doesn't mean other players don't as well. Getting into the HK teamspeak with 100 other pilots that are all doing their best to smash on Marik together as a common goal was a lot of fun. The fact that we could choose between 5 or more fronts meant we had to pick our fights to be the most effective.

and to many others it's not and wouldn't bother them one bit and it opens up the door to make CW far more welcoming to small units and solos which means you pick up more of that traffic as well supplementing the few that would actually leave over something so trivial.

[pwnface]

Sandpit, on 07 December 2015 - 09:12 PM, said:

and to many others it's not and wouldn't bother them one bit and it opens up the door to make CW far more welcoming to small units and solos which means you pick up more of that traffic as well supplementing the few that would actually leave over something so trivial.

You are making a lot of assumptions about what the general population wants. Maybe you are right maybe you aren't, we simply don't know what will be better for improving the population.

[Kin3ticX]

I dunno about all that Sandpit, PGI tried doing the "Comstar Intercepts" and shortly abandoned it due to what I can only guess is lack of interest.

See
http://mwomercs.com/...tar-intercepts/
& paul's thread
http://mwomercs.com/...re-the-grudges/

If they can't spend time on making something simple like that work how can they micro manage CWs flow to the level you describe?



CW Phase 2 lacks a lot of stuff(lets temp ignore the whole combat part of CW) but in particular it lacks integrated RP depth for the Loyalists and merc life for the mercs. Make a framework that breeds RP and players will do more of it on their own.

For example, if you look at this
http://mwomercs.com/tournaments
you will see Marik and Liao are barely active. What even differentiates these factions in game besides color, location? Pretty much nothing so why even think about going to them. Not everyone read the novels and played the board game.

Heres my list of things missing

Faction camo patterns don't give you an LP bonus when you are also in that faction.

There are no faction favorite 'mechs that give extra LP like Dragons for Kurita or Jagermechs for Davion. It wouldn't have to be comprehensive, just a simple 'mech or two per faction

None have the faction cockpit items you can buy for MC have micro bonuses of some kind that would be interesting. Like +2.5% cbills/xp/or LP (stackable 4 times). Only pre-order packs buys or event winners can get them.

Planets don't have any quirks for your unit like +cbills/RP/XP/faction camo discounts/faction mech discounts

Maybe some kind of thing unique to each faction like a faction only module or something. +AC cooldown for Davion or +PPC cooldown for Kurita. It doesn't have to be that. I heard weapons talked about. Implement something here.

Edited by Kin3ticX, 08 December 2015 - 04:11 AM.

[sycocys]

Why restrict it to 3 buckets? Because the 3 dozen bucket system has proven quite well that it doesn't work at all in providing good matches for groups--or good matches for pugs. In fact you could probably go as far as saying that the one thing it does do is provide terrible matches for pugs by design.

The minority that wants to roleplay universe control is exactly that - a minority. I'm sorry but if you want this mode to survive you have to give up that control so more matches can be formed in a manner that balances things out somewhat between pugs and teams so both actually have a place to play.

Edited by sycocys, 08 December 2015 - 03:36 AM.

[Luca M Pryde]

Potential problem with this is the number of people playing per clan/house. Maybe after steam release?

[Sandpit]

pwnface, on 08 December 2015 - 01:22 AM, said:

You are making a lot of assumptions about what the general population wants. Maybe you are right maybe you aren't, we simply don't know what will be better for improving the population.

so are you, i'm just repeating your logic and statements back to you from the other side of the argument

Luca M Pryde, on 08 December 2015 - 03:55 AM, said:

Potential problem with this is the number of people playing per clan/house. Maybe after steam release?

Since players would have to choose a side at the beginning of the seasons PGI already knows what their numbers are for each house and clan. That is how they can help maintain a good balance in attacks and defends, maintain good queue times, etc.

Kin3ticX, on 08 December 2015 - 03:19 AM, said:

I dunno about all that Sandpit, PGI tried doing the "Comstar Intercepts" and shortly abandoned it due to what I can only guess is lack of interest.

See
http://mwomercs.com/...tar-intercepts/
& paul's thread
http://mwomercs.com/...re-the-grudges/

If they can't spend time on making something simple like that work how can they micro manage CWs flow to the level you describe?



CW Phase 2 lacks a lot of stuff(lets temp ignore the whole combat part of CW) but in particular it lacks integrated RP depth for the Loyalists and merc life for the mercs. Make a framework that breeds RP and players will do more of it on their own.

For example, if you look at this
http://mwomercs.com/tournaments
you will see Marik and Liao are barely active. What even differentiates these factions in game besides color, location? Pretty much nothing so why even think about going to them. Not everyone read the novels and played the board game.

Heres my list of things missing

Faction camo patterns don't give you an LP bonus when you are also in that faction.

There are no faction favorite 'mechs that give extra LP like Dragons for Kurita or Jagermechs for Davion. It wouldn't have to be comprehensive, just a simple 'mech or two per faction

None have the faction cockpit items you can buy for MC have micro bonuses of some kind that would be interesting. Like +2.5% cbills/xp/or LP (stackable 4 times). Only pre-order packs buys or event winners can get them.

Planets don't have any quirks for your unit like +cbills/RP/XP/faction camo discounts/faction mech discounts

Maybe some kind of thing unique to each faction like a faction only module or something. +AC cooldown for Davion or +PPC cooldown for Kurita. It doesn't have to be that. I heard weapons talked about. Implement something here.

I like everything you're suggesting here and I agree, baby steps though. You start with a simple process like this to help streamline the CW experience, this means you generate more interest because more people are able to enjoy it and feel like they have an impact on it.

Too many factions and such get stuck not being able to do anything meaningful on the map because borders get overrun by big units, they don't have any viable attack targets, etc.

This process completely eliminates all of that. Once that happens players start showing more interest, the new players coming in can participate without feeling like a baby seal, and the population in CW begins to grow.

THEN you start picking at PGI to put more resources and time into CW.

[Saint Scarlett Johan]

I guess I'll try and piggy-back my idea into your thread since I've been shower-beer storming when not studying for exams.

I basically came up with two ideas to help consolidate queues:

First idea:
Consolidate factions. Make Davion and Steiner into the Federated Commonwealth (which it should be anyway), have Kurita and FRR become allies (as they were on friendly terms after the FRR was formed, especially after the Ronin incident), and have Marik and Liao be allies as they were frequent trade partners.

That cuts the IS queues in half and helps to consolidate players onto fewer planets, leading to more matching.


Second Idea:
Reduce the active planets per faction by half. As is currently, a faction has two planets active with any adjacent faction: one attack and one defend. Reduce this to a rotation of one planet per adjacent faction and have it rotate between defending a planet or attacking a planet.

This would significantly help out factions like the FRR where they have lanes from Clan Wolf, Clan Ghost Bear, the DCMS, and the LCAF. That's eight planets that are currently contested, then when the other two clans hit them (which doesn't take long) there are suddenly twelve planets for the FRR, so they either go full defense and hope to keep all twelve or full offense and hope that they can break even.

If they reduce it to where one phase they defend against CGB, attack Wolf, defend against Steiner, and attack Kurita; and for the following phase they attack CGB, defend against Wolf, attack Steiner, and defend against Kurita. This helps to consolidate players, leading to faster CW matching and possibly better matching in general. So instead of the FRR having 120 players spread among eight planets, they have 120 players spread among four.

This also makes defending worlds a bit more important, as if you lose a planet you may not get the chance to attack that planet next phase, and there is no possibility for simply doing a swap where FRR loses planet X to Wolf but gains planet Y from Wolf.


Basically, PGI just needs to consolidate the queues.

[pwnface]

Lord Scarlett Johan, on 08 December 2015 - 01:02 PM, said:

Second Idea:
Reduce the active planets per faction by half. As is currently, a faction has two planets active with any adjacent faction: one attack and one defend. Reduce this to a rotation of one planet per adjacent faction and have it rotate between defending a planet or attacking a planet.

This would significantly help out factions like the FRR where they have lanes from Clan Wolf, Clan Ghost Bear, the DCMS, and the LCAF. That's eight planets that are currently contested, then when the other two clans hit them (which doesn't take long) there are suddenly twelve planets for the FRR, so they either go full defense and hope to keep all twelve or full offense and hope that they can break even.

If they reduce it to where one phase they defend against CGB, attack Wolf, defend against Steiner, and attack Kurita; and for the following phase they attack CGB, defend against Wolf, attack Steiner, and defend against Kurita. This helps to consolidate players, leading to faster CW matching and possibly better matching in general. So instead of the FRR having 120 players spread among eight planets, they have 120 players spread among four.

This also makes defending worlds a bit more important, as if you lose a planet you may not get the chance to attack that planet next phase, and there is no possibility for simply doing a swap where FRR loses planet X to Wolf but gains planet Y from Wolf.


Basically, PGI just needs to consolidate the queues.

Actually I think this is a great idea. It doesn't remove choice from a faction but still reduces the amount of queues available. Factions can still target another faction to focus on and it would also slow things down in terms of how many planets can be taken a day. Alternating attack/defend queues for each border every day is probably the best idea I've heard for helping to fix the CW queues.