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Lobbies.
I've posted on this topic a few times before, and tried to stress just how important this is for ANY multiplayer game. To even be able to launch against just one specific group of opponents. However, every time the answer was merely 'Oh, we're looking into it, it'll be introduced sometime after UI 2.0... Possibly part of Community Warfare.'
May I present to you this:
http://forums.euw.le...d.php?t=1583762
This is a thread from the forums of the game League of Legends, which some of you might know as one of the most popular games in the world at this moment. This thread has thousands of players complaining, not because they don't have custom games, but because they want their custom games to do MORE. They've had custom games since early in their Beta, and you know what? It worked. It helped. They didn't have too many options, but they had the ability to PLAY AGAINST A SPECIFIC GROUP OF OTHER PLAYERS.
I don't want to get angry, but this is really pathetic. There is absolutely NO discernible reason why it should have taken this long to get lobbies into this game. "Oh, but we were waiting for UI 2.0 before we get around to it..." Okay, let's say you're holding off because you want to have the best lobby system you could possibly have: Options for 3rd person view, no heat/ammo, only pre-3050 mechs, weight limits... I can only hope and assume that this is the reason for the delay, but even still, taking the time to implement the simple ability to drop against one specific other group of players would be easily worth the time, to at least tide us over until this hypothetical masterpiece of custom game lobbies is introduced.
I would stake my reputation as a game designer that, had this system been in the game since the beginning, thousands of players whom have now sworn of this game forever would actually still be around, and actively enjoying this game. How do I know? Because I, myself, refuse to play again until such a system is implemented.
Maybe it's not obvious why such a thing is important? I would think it would be, but apparently not. So, here's a short list:
- Competitions (This alone is more than enough reason)
- Friendly Grudge Matches (Sometimes groups of players like to fight against each other, instead of alongside.)
- LAN Parties (I'm not even talking about offline matches, but what if a group of 24 friends wants to specifically play each other?)
- Machinamas (Making videos can be tricky when any one player could be a random. This is a pretty game, use that to your advantage. Happy players = retained players.)
- Lore matches (Only Kurita mechs vs. only Davion?)
- Custom game modes (Boss Mode anyone? This is a fantastic way for developers to discover new modes they could officially implement.)
- New player matches (New to the game? Drop in a match with other new players. Could potentially even have an option restricting it to players still on their cadet bonus!)
