22 replies to this topic

[Homeless Bill]

Since joining QQ, I haven't done a straight-through, PUG-only grind of a 'mech through the Master module slot. I decided to revisit my first love (the Awesome) to see just what it was like to grind out a new variant with the current state of the game.

Preliminary Information:

• 'Mech: Awesome 8Q
  
• Modules: None. Seismic is cheese, and I'm too lazy to find and swap in other things. Call me crazy, but modules are reserved for try-hard play in my book.
  
• Elo: I assume I'm in a higher-than-average Elo tier (but not very high) due to a positive (~1.4) win/loss ratio (more like 1.6-1.8 for assaults, I think). There were a good number of drops filled with scrubs, but I definitely also saw plenty players from my short list of people to avoid or kill quickly.

Final Stats:


The Good:
It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. There was plenty of cheese out and about, but with the right mixture of battlefield awareness, patience, timing, and luck, I had a major impact on most fights. I'd guess that just over half of my deaths were to the inevitable steamroll; the remaining portion was due to impatient and stupid moves. Sitting behind a ridge for five minutes is something I expect in competitive play, but I have no patience for camping in PUG matches.

The Bad:
Though it went better than expected, there were a few things that made certain rounds completely miserable:

1. Cheese - The most obvious reason is clearly the 40- to 60-point alpha strikes that fly across the map. PPCs are too fast, convergence is broken, and the number of cheesy 'mechs in a round was usually inversely proportional to the amount of fun I had. This has been beat do death, but it really is bad. A single, well-piloted PPC Stalker on either team can easily decide the match.

2. No VoIP - This has also been beat to death, but it's detrimental to such a team-oriented game. Typing to communicate is so ******. Please guys, make this a priority.

3. Incomplete Command Interface - A lot of work has gone into improving the team and lance command interfaces, but there are a two things that make the entire system useless right now: a lack of HUD markers and battlegrid causing your 'mech to stop (apparently, this is only for us analog throttle people =[).

Until there is an objective marker/arrow for orders, the command interface is a complete and total waste of time. No one knows where they just got a move order, the minimap doesn't zoom, no one knows what battlegrid is, and the people that open battlegrid often die because it stops them from moving.

There was only a single time in my 97 matches that someone tried playing PUG commander. He ordered Alpha to Kappa and Bravo to Epsilon. Everyone blobbed up and went for Kappa, and there was a lot of confused banter. "What move order?" "How do I open battlegrid?

Bill's Recommendations:

• Fix the cheese.
  
• Implement integrated voice chat support.
  
• Fix the command interface:

1. Implement labeled HUD markers in 3D space for all objectives (orders from command interface, all capture points in Conquest, all bases in Assault). Compass markers aren't good enough, they're not labeled, and there's no reason against moving them into a more visible spot on the HUD.

2. Fix the battlegrid so it doesn't stop you from moving when using an analog throttle. I don't care what kind of state management voodoo is going on, hack something in to make this work. It's unacceptable that you have to become a sitting target to get a picture of what's going on in the battle. Again, apparently this is only for analog throttles, but it's really lazy. Please fix.

Favorite Moment:
While I'm tempted to say the 7-kill round or the 6-kill round that was timed perfectly to a song were the highlights, they weren't. The most satisfying moment was running over a max-cheese Misery (1xGR, 4xPPC) on Canyon Network. I dropped off a cliff, absorbed one shot with my arm, and just hugged that ****** into oblivion while he helplessly backpedaled. He immediately ragequit. I immediately needed a change of underwear.

Videos:
I shot a few videos during the course of the grind. I totally missed the best one (a great round with 6 kills that synced up to whatever track I had on), but there are a few good examples of how to play smart and apply pressure at the right times.

Edited by Homeless Bill, 09 July 2013 - 01:44 AM.

[AntiCitizenJuan]

Seriously, no VOIP is ridiculous.

People already play like ******* re.tards, not being able to talk only makes it worse

[Stoicblitzer]

voip is highly underrated by the l2p crowd. they need to add it. doubt they will. this is a lore/tt nerd's wetdream. not a balanced competitive game.

[Ralgas]

Stoicblitzer, on 07 July 2013 - 02:59 PM, said:

voip is highly underrated by the l2p crowd. they need to add it. doubt they will.

^So much this, they need to dump c3 and find something that works, although there's probably deals that need to be broken for that to happen. It'll create it's own bubble of hate and problems being public channeled, but the balance shift would be game changing on multiple levels

[Stoicblitzer]

Ralgas, on 07 July 2013 - 03:16 PM, said:

^So much this, they need to dump c3 and find something that works, although there's probably deals that need to be broken for that to happen. It'll create it's own bubble of hate and problems being public channeled, but the balance shift would be game changing on multiple levels

imo they can keep c3 if they already signed deals or w/e. they MUST INTEGRATE it. similar to how relic integrated twitch.tv in company of heroes 2.

[Void2258]

INTEGRATED voice chat is desperately needed. Not a separate program. Not an external room. Not something for premade team only. UNIVERSAL, INTEGRATED, MUTABLE, NON-PERSISTANT VOICE CHAT.

(Non-persistent means you are not giving a random person a permanently addressable ident that you can never take back. That issue is why items like skype and teamspeak are not good solutions. Do you want random ******* 128 to forever have your address and be able to call or message you? NO!)

Edited by Void2258, 07 July 2013 - 03:31 PM.

[Homeless Bill]

Shameless bump is shameless. Anyone else have thoughts on the biggest problems with the PUG experience (besides weapon balance) and how to fix them?

[Dreamslave]

OP nailed it. Those issues pointed out are more than enough to literally kill this game before it even gets on it's own two feet.

[Lefty Lucy]

Homeless Bill, on 08 July 2013 - 11:49 AM, said:

Shameless bump is shameless. Anyone else have thoughts on the biggest problems with the PUG experience (besides weapon balance) and how to fix them?

I think the biggest problem is something that an experienced player will never see. Even if you did your first drops with no upgrades to your 8Q, new players who don't know how to drive a mech, in an over-heating, under-gunned, under-armored piece of crap stock mech, getting dropped into games with experienced players who may or may not be grouped up on coms, has got to be killing the growth of this game.

[Mechteric]

I wonder how many people would just turn off the in-game VOIP and turn on George Michael anyway. Lets hope not too many

[HansBlix WMD]

Not that the command interface isn't in need of a serious overhaul, but I have throttle decay off, and my throttle stays where I put it when I hit B.

[Homeless Bill]

Lefty Lucy, on 08 July 2013 - 11:54 AM, said:

I think the biggest problem is something that an experienced player will never see. Even if you did your first drops with no upgrades to your 8Q, new players who don't know how to drive a mech, in an over-heating, under-gunned, under-armored piece of crap stock mech, getting dropped into games with experienced players who may or may not be grouped up on coms, has got to be killing the growth of this game.

This, truthfully, is the biggest problem with the game right now aside from balance. This is an incredibly newbie-unfriendly franchise. Throwing them to the wolves in a stock 'mech is basically guaranteed to drive people away. I hope UI2.0 does away with trial 'mechs and makes the new player experience palatable. First impressions are everything, and right now it's absolutely terrible.

[RG Notch]

First thing I would do if integrated VOIP is added is mute it. I don't need to hear the people I share a drop with. Pretty sue I'm not alone in this, but then again some people seem to actually want to expose themselves to these folks. I read enough crap in chat and that takes some effort to type. I can only imagine what you would hear.
I honestly can't understand why people think this is some cure for PUGS.

[Stoicblitzer]

RG Notch, on 08 July 2013 - 12:48 PM, said:

First thing I would do if integrated VOIP is added is mute it. I don't need to hear the people I share a drop with. Pretty sue I'm not alone in this, but then again some people seem to actually want to expose themselves to these folks. I read enough crap in chat and that takes some effort to type. I can only imagine what you would hear.
I honestly can't understand why people think this is some cure for PUGS.

oh it's the anti-voip guy. there are always trolls in every game. but since people need to win to make cbills, integrated voip may prove useful. you're so good you solo 8mans in your spider-5k though...

[RG Notch]

Stoicblitzer, on 08 July 2013 - 01:32 PM, said:

oh it's the anti-voip guy. there are always trolls in every game. but since people need to win to make cbills, integrated voip may prove useful. you're so good you solo 8mans in your spider-5k though...

Don't need to be that good. Just don't need to hear mouthbreathers and what's going on at their home. You're 100% welcome to enjoy them in all their glory. Managed this long without VOIP, I'll manage without. I just don't want resources wasted on what most people will be asking how to turn off after a week.
I'm sorry if you can't seem to manage to accomplish anything without VOIP. All we really need is quickchat keys that auto add in out location (for help requests) or enemy location (for focusing) the rest is just mindless blather I could do without.

[Homeless Bill]

I definitely understand Notch's point of view. Thinking back to the only other game I played heavily online (Halo 2), voice communication was often just a way to troll. Listening to a bunch of goons should in no way be mandatory, but as a feature, it's sorely needed.

You may do just fine, but herding PUGs is basically an impossibility at this point. Hell, last night on Tourmaline, we lost because neither light bothered to return to our base despite multiple pleas in chat. "Whoops," is great and all, but I would really have preferred if they'd gotten on it a little sooner.

Quick keys to spot targets, designate targets, request help, and indicate danger would go a long way towards making teams function together. It's just insane to me that such a team-oriented game has such ****-poor support for teamwork. Every time I watch a PUG wander off alone, I know that we're just a man down. Inevitably, he'll run into two or more guys and die. Unlike other shooters, 90% of two-on-one fights go to the team of two.

[RG Notch]

Homeless Bill, on 08 July 2013 - 02:43 PM, said:

I definitely understand Notch's point of view. Thinking back to the only other game I played heavily online (Halo 2), voice communication was often just a way to troll. Listening to a bunch of goons should in no way be mandatory, but as a feature, it's sorely needed.

You may do just fine, but herding PUGs is basically an impossibility at this point. Hell, last night on Tourmaline, we lost because neither light bothered to return to our base despite multiple pleas in chat. "Whoops," is great and all, but I would really have preferred if they'd gotten on it a little sooner.

Quick keys to spot targets, designate targets, request help, and indicate danger would go a long way towards making teams function together. It's just insane to me that such a team-oriented game has such ****-poor support for teamwork. Every time I watch a PUG wander off alone, I know that we're just a man down. Inevitably, he'll run into two or more guys and die. Unlike other shooters, 90% of two-on-one fights go to the team of two.

I'm all for tools that allow team coordination : quick chat keys, better battle grid, etc. I just don't see the need to listen or talk to a bunch of strangers. I use TS with people I know, I really don't need or want that with a bunch of PUGs. Call me crazy, but I doubt I'm the only one who feels that way now, and I can bet a lot of people who think this is a great idea will be busy with muting once it's in.

[Brilig]

A lobby before matches,(which it sounds like we are getting this month.) and intergrated voice chat (Which they have said is coming after launch.) are the two things I think would help pugs the most.

I would really like to see the on hud waypoint markers the OP mentioned. That could do wonders for coordinating people.

Edit: As for those who don't want to listen to a bunch of people on voice chat. There should be an easy way to click on and mute players, and and option to just mute all/disable voice chat.

Edited by Brilig, 08 July 2013 - 03:11 PM.

[Felicitatem Parco]

No more insults, please? Let's not talk about who's pro/anti VOIP, okay?

[Homeless Bill]

Prosperity Park, on 08 July 2013 - 03:40 PM, said:

No more insults, please?

Just once, I've wanted one of my threads to spiral out of control and into K-Town. RIP hopes and dreams.