10 replies to this topic

[Scandinavian Jawbreaker]

What do you think about this idea? Would balance out teams and probably help the matchmaking process also. Too many assaults out there nowadays. I was shouting for the return of R&R but that is a bad idea, I see it now. What is to be done with the too damn heavy teams?

Of course there's always the 'but I wanna' side to all things.

[Zylo]

IV Amen, on 10 May 2013 - 03:28 PM, said:

What do you think about this idea? Would balance out teams and probably help the matchmaking process also. Too many assaults out there nowadays. I was shouting for the return of R&R but that is a bad idea, I see it now. What is to be done with the too damn heavy teams?

Of course there's always the 'but I wanna' side to all things.

Limiting the mechs players can use in a group is not a good idea because new players may only own a single mech and if they group with friends they may not have mechs available within the tonnage limits. If players can't run a group of any 4 mechs they aren't going to play this game, they will switch to a game that allows each player to play what they want, even if it's a tank, plane or something else instead of a mech.

[El Bandito]

What is said above.

[One Medic Army]

Later on I wouldn't mind seeing limits, like no more than 4 of a given weight class per side for public matches.
This allows a 4man to bring anything they want, but also guarantees a maximum of 4 assaults and 4 heavies in the match. In 12v12 it guarantees minimum of 4 light+med per team.

[Tesfurdo]

I'd just like to see more optional limits. At the moment all you can chose is conquest or assault. I'm hoping that at some point it'll be possible to say drop all lights against assaults and such. I really don't enjoy playing even teams the whole time... need more variation... even 6 lights against say 4 assaults or something like that.

When in war have any 2 sides agreed exactly how many troops they were gonna bring to the fight?

[Chavette]

With team weight matching already in, you dont need group team matching too.

[HeavyRain]

Maybe provide a "Tactical Bonus" in C-bills and XP, if a group drops with a balanced lance, like for example 1 assault, 2 heavies, 2 lights/mediums (this is just a random example i just pulled out of my...drawer). In this case people would have an incentive to do something like that and if they don't want to/can't, then they just earn a bit less money.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

I love the idea of tonnage limits for premade groups. How about this: a 2-man group can take up to, but not more than, 200 tons. A 3-man group can take up to, but not more than, 300 tons. A 4-man group can take up to, but not more than, 400 tons. An 8-man group can take up to, but not more than, 800 tons, and a 12-man group can take up to, but not more than, 1200 tons.

This would prevent people from taking full teams of Superheavy mechs. Those Orca premades are OP. I fully support restricting groups to an average of 100 tons or less per person.

Edited by Levi Porphyrogenitus, 11 May 2013 - 07:24 AM.

[Keifomofutu]

HeavyRain, on 11 May 2013 - 03:46 AM, said:

Maybe provide a "Tactical Bonus" in C-bills and XP, if a group drops with a balanced lance, like for example 1 assault, 2 heavies, 2 lights/mediums (this is just a random example i just pulled out of my...drawer). In this case people would have an incentive to do something like that and if they don't want to/can't, then they just earn a bit less money.

THIS/\ Restrictions are bad. Incentives are good. Gamers don't have to play your game. So get them to play the game a certain way with a carrot not a stick.

[Liege]

I was talking about this with my brother the other day and think that tonnage or weight class restrictions in a 4 man group would provide a better gaming experience than what we are getting right now. The Weight matching at the moment is hampered by 4 man lances ( all dropping as lights or assaults, etc) and ELO. When ELO can't find a skill match they start looking further afield and at different weight classes.

The following example is unfortunately not a one off and is common occurence.
With current Weight matching we played an assault game the other day where
we dropped with 0 Assaults, 3 Heavies, 3 Med & 2 Light.
The other team dropped with 3 Assaults, 3 Heavies and 2 Lights.

Another where we had 1 assault, the other team had 5 assaults,with a full lance of Highlanders, which was probably a 4 man pre made

How the limit should be introduced, i'm not sure of but we came up with a few ideas. And I think as we head towards 12 mans that this is a more pressing issue. I don't particularly want to play 12 man that are only PPC/Sniping. Anyway a few ideas we had were..

1. 1,1,1,1 of each class.
2. A limit of 2 per weight class per 4 man Lance. (eg 2 assaults, 2 Meds Max)
3. Tonnage limit (eg. 325t per Lance (completely random weight))
4.

I like Heavy Rain's idea, that if it is not compulsory then teams should be rewarded and enticed into even weight groups.

Zylo, we discussed exactly what you wrote and while I agree that yes, you will lose players, I believe that something needs to be done to balance teams, as this dampens the "fun" element and we are losing players anyway.

12v12 man of course should still be bring what you like for organised play , obviously abiding by any tournament rules or restrictions

Edited by Liege, 11 May 2013 - 02:49 PM.

[Taemien]

The biggest threat from higher tonnage teams isn't the mechs themselves. I think any decent light mech pilot that catches an assault by themselves is going to have a better than even chance..

The problem is that the assaults when grouped together (and even some smarter PUGs do this) they become a force multiplier. So I think that should be addressed directly rather than indirectly. Its been shown by statistics from the devs, a team that is 100 tons down has a better than even chance at winning. So we know 8v8 random is fine.

The issue you all are bringing up is 2-4 man groups. This is a valid concern. A group of 4 Stalkers dugin with a clean shot to most of the map is a serious threat and a hard nut to crack. I think a good way to deal with them is already in the game. I was playing MechCommander recently and got this idea from there. You never want to keep your mechs in one place for very long. This worked in MWLL as well with AeroSpace and Longtoms. So the Airstrikes and Artillery could be a viable option.

The trick is of course to buff them. I'd say buff them to 50 damage per strike would be a good start, as well as giving us the ability to place them on the map itself. Maybe even allow Tag or Narc to give us the ability to directly target the enemy mech with the strike directly.

This wouldn't work very well against fast movers on the move, but no one has indicated that they are a problem. But this would be a great counter to dugin mechs. Right now the only way to get someone out of a dugin position is to cap their base and while its effective many times. Having options available would be best.

An alternative to giving them 50 dmg per strike is to make them consumable per game. But allow us to rearm them in game. So you pay for it once. But get to use it multiple times per game. Either they reload automatically after a cooldown, or you have to return to base to rearm it.