LordBraxton, on 23 May 2013 - 11:09 AM, said:
In game voice chat.
End the whining
Done
Lets get real like every game has\needs built in VOIP
You will be AMAZED how many people here are categorically against that very thing.
Go ahead. Ask. Start a poll. Watch them roll in. It's truly disheartening.
And yeah, the 4-man scene (so to speak) is obnoxiously unstable. My team has a strict policy of no sync-drops, but of course if multiple groups are playing - well, we've run into each other from time to time. More common than that though, is that for us, when in 4's, we're testing new builds or techniques (wingman coverage, complementary weapon ranges, etc.) or exploring the map. We're there to have a good time, and close games are great, win or lose.
Sometimes, you'll still meet a team in an opposing 4 who are pure PPC/Gauss, or half PPC half Large laser.... kill teams, basically, who exploit the tendency of enemy PUG players to fan out slightly, while they march down the safest route and slaughter the non-group players. By the time they get to us, we don't have the collective strength to knock them back, because we didn't bring the optimized build of the day. Didn't think we needed to in PUGs. Or you'll meet jenner/raven teams, again exploiting the same weaknesses in PUG matches - only this time, they'll run the fastest route to the enemy base, and if our group didn't think to play defense, it's game over in 3 minutes. There's no predicting how it will go, which is a double-edged sword.
Then, other nights, we'll be the guys swinging every game our way, 5-2, 6-3, 8-1. Were we griefing? Certainly not on purpose. We as a group are not out to ruin other people's fun for our own amusement. We won't insta-cap, or sit on base with all DDCs. Frankly, those sorts of approaches don't improve our playing ability - it's not good practice. Other teams might well enjoy just that sort of thing. It can't be helped. An important thing to remember is that no PUG team gets to pick its players. You'll never know if it's going to be all assaults, or mostly mediums, or a mix. This means that no PUG team can always react to certain strategies from 4-mans, be it quick-capping, or DDC rolling, or sniper-fests. Without some way of defining unit composition, there's always the chance of a nearly unwinnable game. I had one a few hours ago - my heavy lance (pre-made) grouped with 4 heavy players, vs a 4-man raven/jenner and a few heavies. We didn't even advance 1/3rd up toward the enemy before we were outcapped, and RTB just wasn't possible. Nobody's fault, just got screwed by the matchmaker.
So I'm not sure how I feel about the 4-man queue. Certainly I've had great fun some nights, and obnoxious loss after punishing loss the next, even with the exact same players at my side.
I know only three things that would help us out.
1 is
an open voice comm across the team. If we can easily communicate with the whole team just as well as with ourselves, then behaving as a 2-lance (soon 3 lance) force instead of 1 lance, plus a bunch of guys who can only be reached by removing our hands from the controls and typing 1 letter at a time (no mistakes, since backspace must also be tap-tapped) will be much easier. Not perfect, not as good as a real 8-man, but good enough ,I assure you.
2. is
a Lobby for games, where there's a stopping point between 'I'm ready to play' and "ok, let's see where/who/what we are THIS time." if players can assess a match before they drop, and talk to their teammates before the match begins, you'll see more cooperation, and perhaps even more comeradiere. This game can be quite cold, and certainly unforgiving. The downright medieval internal comm system doesn't help.
3.
A stricter set of rules for the matchmaker's team composition. Right now, I think it's completely disabled in favor of ELO. This is a mistake, and if there's any 'exploiting' being done, it's that certain 4-mans can expect to dominate a game by a specific playstyle because the enemy team is unlikely to get a set of mechs than can counter them (whether it's a lack of lights to defend caps, or LRMs and snipers to swat at jumpers, or mediums to outflank assaults, or assaults to kill all things). Most players, when they pick a mech class, will play the role of that mech! That's why they play it, they like the role it occupies. But if they're not dropped with a set of players that balances them out...well, then you get all heavies, no speedsters, or all assaults, no snipers, etc. For instance, I'm an atlas pilot. I'm pretty good. But I don't want to be in a group of 7 other Atlases. Does that mean I should stop playing in an atlas, in order to cut down on the number? Many games have restrictions on available classes for just this sort of thing (TF2 especially). We could use one here.
I can't say for sure whether it's a good idea to completely seperate out a solo queue. it may put small teams in the lurch. But I know this game can be better, and I hope that the long term CW implementations will have the side effect of making this team game more team-like. We need the features to fully cooperate. Otherwise, well...
Otherwise you get posts calling 4-mans the devil.
I'm not even insulted, I totally get it. I hope his games, and mine, improve soon.
Edited by Shakespeare, 23 May 2013 - 11:57 PM.
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