Paul, thank you for your post but would appreciate if you could clarify a couple of points if you could.
Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 14 April 2014 - 09:25 AM, said:
-snip-
Some of you may suggest that allowing solo players the ability to drop into the group queue would be the solution. A solo player would have MUCH greater success at winning in the regular public match than up against teams.
-snip-
Other than the possibility that a solo player would have a better game experience playing only in the regular public matches, are there any technical reasons why it would not be possible to:-
- allow a solo player to tick an option that would include the player as "filler" in a public group match?
- allow a group to tick an option that would preclude any solo players in their match?
- restrict each team in a public group match to no more than 1 solo player per team?
Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 14 April 2014 - 09:25 AM, said:
This leaves us with yet more restrictions: the Grouping interface cannot allow teams of 11 players, the Match Maker cannot create groups of 11 players (5+6, 4+7, 3+8, 9+2, 5+2+4, etc).
This problem is a direct result of not allowing a solo player to participate in the public group matches. In the absence of any technical reason why it is not possible, would it not be simpler to allow such participation rather than attempt to come up with a complicated fix?
Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 14 April 2014 - 09:25 AM, said:
An additional problem that arises is the exact tonnage matching that happens in the public queue. We will not know what Mechs players are bringing to the lobby. The 3/3/3/3 rule still works but we cannot ask the Match Maker to match exact tonnage per weight class when players are already in a lobby.
Noted and agree it could create long waiting times or failure to find a match. Has there been any attempt to model / simulate the anticipated waiting times / failure using the group data from before the restriction to 4 man groups? Furthermore:-
- would this issue not be alleviated somewhat if you allowed solo players to participate in the public group matches?
- would this be less of an issue with a larger player base than currently exist? If so, has there been any attempt made to extrapolate the minimum required increase in player base size where this issue would no longer be a significant concern?
Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 14 April 2014 - 09:25 AM, said:
There appears to be some confusion with respect to this. Can you clarify whether this means that the public group matches as currently envisaged will not include:
- 11 and 12 man groups; OR
- 11 man groups only?
Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 14 April 2014 - 09:25 AM, said:
Now that you see what is planned and the edge cases surrounding implementation of a group only queue, we’re still deciding when this important feature would fit into our development schedule.
For the record, I regard the use of the word "when" as being indicative that it
will happen. If they aren't going to be doing a public group matches at all, I get the feeling I'm not going to be liking CW all that much if CW matches are just going to be the current public matches redux.
Also for the record, I would choose "any" if given a choice to drop in both public and public group matches. Whether the groups would want me to be in their matches is the real question
Edit: formatting, typo
Edited by p4r4g0n, 14 April 2014 - 05:19 PM.