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The Complete Idiot's Guide To: The Meta


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#1 StillRadioactive

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 04:22 AM

We've all been there. You come around a corner and see a lone Shadow Hawk. He sees you too. He aims, he fires... and a moment later, another Shadow Hawk and a pair of Victors pop up over the next hill. You go down in a barrage of PPC fire before you ever get a chance to breathe. Your teammates quickly suffer the same fate, and in the time it takes the enemy to hunt down that Spider pilot who refuses to die, it happens.

A pug starts to whine.

"Mr Pugglesworth (DEAD): Gorram poptart meta cheese build can't use a real effing 'mech effing toaster strudel S.O.B. needs to die in a fire. PGI nerf meta plox.
Mr Pugglesworth has disconnected."

Just what the hell is Mr Pugglesworth on about? Why is it so frustrating? Why is it EVERYWHERE? Well, to answer those questions we need to go over some terminology first.

What, exactly, is meta? Meta, a Greek prefix meaning "beyond" relates to games in one of two ways. In its simplest sense, it can refer to another level of gameplay above what is normally considered the game. This is used when referring to games that use iterative combat to effect changes on a persistent, populated piece of data. Community Warfare, as described at the Launch party, is an example of a meta game. The effects of your game (the individual round of combat) alter the status of the meta game (the map of the Inner Sphere). Since that is quite obviously not in the game yet, it seems we need the other definition.

Meta in this sense - short for Metastatic gaming - refers to a particular customization that has spread beyond the person or group that originally created it, and now seems ubiquitous in the player population.

Every game that allows for customization of what you bring into battle will contain a metagame. This metagame will change over time in a healthy game, altering what is viable in competitive play. As one customization becomes popular, others which don't fare well against it will have their popularity drop, and those that are particularly suited to exploiting the newly-popularized build will rise to the top.

The prime example of a game with a well-managed metagame is Magic: The Gathering. A new set is released every 2-4 months, and with that release comes a change in what cards are legal for use in the various competitive formats. Typically, you will find on MTG forums a list of three to five "tier one" decks. These decks are used by 65% of the competitive playerbase and win about 90% of the tournaments. Then you will find tier two and tier three decks, which have to potential to win tournaments, but don't often do so because of weaknesses that make them roll over and die to at least one of the tier one decks. These 10 to 15 "lower tier" decks are used by about 30% of players, and win about 9% of the tournaments. Then you have that last 5%. The crazy ones, the deckbuilders who are always trying to come up with something new. Their "rogue" builds account for less than 1% of tournament wins, but they're what keep the metagame fresh between set releases. A rogue deck does well in a tournament, its card list ends up online, people copy it and it becomes one of the top tier decks, shuffling those that it beats to lower tiers (or completely off of the competitive scene).

This sort of healthy metagame environment requires work on the part of the developers in two areas:
1) Initial output of a variety of different mechanics that can be used to achieve victory.
2) Continuous monitoring of the metagame to make changes when one becomes unbalanced.

PGI has done an absolutely phenomenal job of the first one. The weapons are varied in form and function, as are the 'mechs. The game is simply a joy to watch and to play when you see a drop with mixed 'mechs and weapons. Between the tracers of AC fire, the strobe-light effect of pulse lasers carving out chunks of enemy armor and the smoke trails left by missiles on their way to ruin somebody's day, there's a good selection of different methods to kill your opponent.

The second... well... everybody makes mistakes sometimes.

Even Wizards of the Coast - the developers of MTG - have skewed their metagame from time to time. The single most notorious example of which was this ******* right here:

Posted Image

Arcbound Ravager was released in a set called Darksteel, a set which dropped into a metagame consisting of an EXTREMELY wide variety of viable decks. Goblins, Elves, Red Deck Wins, Zombies, White Weenie, Mono-Blue Control, Blue/Black Control, Broodstar Affinity, and any number of combo decks. There were literally dozens of deck archetypes to choose from, and all of them could be seen in varying numbers having varying degrees of success in all levels of competitive play.

So when Darksteel came out, lacking in any apparently game-changing new mechanics, it was met with a collective yawn. Then, out of nowhere, some rogue deckbuilder decided that Arcbound Ravager + Skullclamp + Disciple of the Vault + dozens and dozens of free artifacts = consistent turn 4 kills that can never be stopped.

It was faster and more resilient to disruption than the current crop of aggro decks, and control and combo decks were unable to control it long enough to execute their own plans for winning. It was massively OP.

All of those other decks? Well, they almost entirely disappeared. The once-thriving metagame became a simple coin-flip. There was "Ravager Affinity" - the big dog that beat everything else - and "Tooth and Nail," which excelled at doing only one thing: beating Ravager Affinity.

If you ran Ravager Affinity, you beat everything except Tooth and Nail. If you ran Tooth and Nail, you beat Ravager Affinity and nothing else... but there WAS nothing else. The metagame was so badly warped by the presence of Arcbound Ravager that there were no other options. Play Ravager, or play to beat Ravager.

Once WotC realized their mistake, they brought out the nerf gun. First they banned Skullclamp, which was the mechanism that Ravager players used to draw more cards once they ran out. The ban had little effect on Ravager, but took a useful tool out of the hands of any rogue deck builders who wanted the challenge of out-aggro'ing the aggro king.

Then they banned Disciple of the Vault, which also had little effect since Disciple was a backup weapon at best.

On the third try, they finally got it right. They went after the one thing that fueled Arcbound Ravager more than anything else... the artifact lands that kept it fed with fresh, zero-cost +1/+1 counters. This third ban, approximately four months after the playerbase became acutely aware of Ravager's devastating effects on the metagame, was decried as too slow. WotC must have been asleep at the wheel, players said, and people left the game by the thousands.

Which brings me back to MWO. There are a handful of competitive formats out there. You have unrestricted 1v1, 2v2, 4v4 and 12v12, and restricted 12v12.

The metagame in 1v1, 2v2 and 4v4 could be better, but there is some wiggle-room for rogue 'mech builders to surprise people. Hell, there's a team tearing up the 2v2 ladders using a pair of DRG-FLAMEs... but when you get to unrestricted 12v12 (the only OFFICIALLY supported competitive format), there's only one option.

You either fill the team with jump-snipers, or you die quickly. There is precisely one tier-one deck. There are no tier-two or tier-three drop decks in competition. The speed and efficiency with which jump-snipers kill the enemy is stunning, and their resilience to counterattack makes it very difficult to disrupt their plans.

As players, and as teams, there is absolutely nothing wrong with running jumpsnipers. They work, brutally and effectively, and there is a definite skill involved in their use - just as there was skill involved in correctly utilizing a Ravager Affinity deck in MTG. The problem comes in the delay between the playerbase's acknowledgement that there was only one competitive build strategy, and PGI's acknowledgement of the same. Mr Pugglesworth was right in calling for a nerf, but completely wrong in his reason behind it. It's not the easy "I win" button that many people think it to be, and it's not the fault of the person who is practicing the skill behind jumpsniping in the public queue. It's simply a warped metagame that needs to be fixed.

Thankfully, PGI seems to have finally noticed and has started taking action to balance the metagame. They've even said that they're investigating further action for followup if this proves to not be enough. In the MTG analogy, they've just banned Skullclamp.

So relax, Mr Pugglesworth. Everything's going to be fine.

Edited by StillRadioactive, 04 June 2014 - 01:21 PM.


#2 Alaskan Nobody

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 10:40 AM

A very good job of explaining what Meta is - looking forward to your updates :D

#3 Bulletsponge0

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 10:49 AM

LOL @ "Mr. Pugglesworth" and "real 'effing 'mech effing toaster strudel S.O.B."

#4 Domoneky

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 10:53 AM

I can see this becoming an instructional video with two people. Mr. Pugglesworth the bad example

#5 Throe

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 11:15 AM

[deleted by user]

Edited by Throe, 20 November 2018 - 11:59 AM.


#6 Celem

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 11:24 AM

Great intro, looking forward to what else you have to say on this subject.

Also worth noting that since a great number of players do not know what 'meta' actually means (as defined by you above), you see in general a considerable amount of whining in PUG situations where people are simply complaining about a generally effective tactic they have not yet discovered the counter to, rather than a true aspect of the current meta-game.

The point of meta as used in this context is that it's a tactic that is (for whatever reasons) currently so overwhelmingly powerful that few if any viable counters exist/are known. Those counters that are identified to meta tactics as a rule have a high skill-threshold.

As a past MTG player I liked that analogy, im the 1%, building wtf decks in the hope of finding unusual counters to current cookie-cutters. As you mentioned meta is by no means a bad thing, static metas however are, if it doesnt keep shaking up in due course then it's an excellent indicator that the mechanic in question is verging from meta into true 'OP'.

Personally I dont like meta. I try not to use it, preferring to design specifically to counter it where possible. It tends to remove a great deal of variety from a game. Case in point: Here in MWO I automatically assume any Victor to be a ppc poptart, those few exceptions are just that; few (and often indicative of a new player rather than a pro trying something new).

Edited by Celem, 04 June 2014 - 11:33 AM.


#7 Phlinger

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 11:25 AM

"A pug starts to whine"



Derogatory
adjective
1. tending to lessen the merit or reputation of a person or thing; disparaging; depreciatory:



When did PuG become anything other than Pick Up Group?


I've seen this a lot in the last few months, people using disparaging remarks to reference those (others) not grouped with them.

Edited by Ronyn, 04 June 2014 - 01:37 PM.


#8 Voivode

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 11:33 AM

View PostRonyn, on 04 June 2014 - 11:25 AM, said:

"A pug starts to whine"



Derogatory
adjective
1. tending to lessen the merit or reputation of a person or thing; disparaging; depreciatory:



When did PuG become anything other than Pick Up Group?


I've seen this a lot in the last few months, people using disparaging remarks to reference those (others) not grouped with them. How is this post in the New Players forum? Why?


Those who do not join groups to cooperate in a cooperation based game will be looked down upon.

More importantly, I'll fight and die with the group I'm with, even if we're only dying because we made the wrong choice. A group of PUGs will push up with you and then, in the exact moment where your team can secure victory and you need their support the most, they will retreat, generally all in different directions to become lone, easy targets.

Edited by Voivode, 04 June 2014 - 11:33 AM.


#9 Phlinger

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 11:39 AM

View PostVoivode, on 04 June 2014 - 11:33 AM, said:


Those who do not join groups to cooperate in a cooperation based game will be looked down upon.



I drop in a group every time I drop, with 11 others.

I drop exclusively solo.

How is my play style justification for being considered a lesser person/player. I take extreme offense at these terms being thrown around. I don't fault people who drop in 4 player groups, so STFU about how I drop. It's called respect, I already gave you yours, now where the hell is mine?

#10 Alaskan Nobody

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 11:44 AM

View PostRonyn, on 04 June 2014 - 11:25 AM, said:

When did PuG become anything other than Pick Up Group?

More when it started to represent the average GIFT of the internet
(warning! Language in the link)

#11 luxebo

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 12:37 PM

Going to also add on to this thread by relinking my older thread on a test of meta mechs with a few friends. Well summarized and said OP. :) http://mwomercs.com/...51#entry3265051

#12 StillRadioactive

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 12:45 PM

Edited to complete my rant. Hope everyone enjoys it.

#13 Alaskan Nobody

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 12:50 PM

For a rough TLDR: it is getting better.

It may be getting better painfully slowly - but that happens with even the "best"

Be interesting to see what finally fixes it though - because that isn't always what people expect would fix it

#14 Xolin

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 01:58 PM

This is a great write up. My only complaint is that i have never played Magic, so the analogy is kind lost on me. But it was explained enough to (somewhat) understand.

Killer job!!

#15 Damocles69

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 02:00 PM

K. im off to play Star Citizen

#16 Alaskan Nobody

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 02:01 PM

View PostDamocles69, on 04 June 2014 - 02:00 PM, said:

K. im off to play Star Citizen

Wrong thread/off topic/trolling much?

#17 StillRadioactive

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 02:05 PM

View PostXolin, on 04 June 2014 - 01:58 PM, said:

This is a great write up. My only complaint is that i have never played Magic, so the analogy is kind lost on me. But it was explained enough to (somewhat) understand.

Killer job!!


I did my best to explain the effects of the changes made in Magic, that way people can relate who have never played. I hope I did well enough in that regard to get the point across.

View PostShar Wolf, on 04 June 2014 - 02:01 PM, said:

Wrong thread/off topic/trolling much?


Posted Image

#18 Alaskan Nobody

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 02:08 PM

View PostStillRadioactive, on 04 June 2014 - 02:05 PM, said:

I did my best to explain the effects of the changes made in Magic, that way people can relate who have never played. I hope I did well enough in that regard to get the point across.

I haven't played Magic, but I did play a couple of other card games, so I had some familiarity with what you were talking about.

#19 Rim Kerenski

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 02:16 PM

As someone who played beta and then just came back, it is the "I win" button. Whoever has the moeny to buy them and the luck of dropping in with enough jump snipers wins in the random 12v12 fights. If I had known this would be the meta(or that this narrow of one would develope) when spending founders perks months ago or had the money to drop on this game to change out all my mechs, then yeah, its just a matter of following the herd. But for a lot of, let us say "casual", players its a big turn off when you realize your favorite mech or weapons are worthless in the current environment and you would have to suffer through a countless number of games to change your inventory to soemthing useful.
At that point why keep playing? Why be someone else's punching bag for weeks when you can just log into another game?

I have been playing some kind of BT or MW game since the 80s; so I want a variety, to see different mechs on the field and to be able to use thos emechs on a semi-even ground. Unfortunately its "whoever brought the most pop-tarts wins."

good MTG anaology.

Edited by Rim Kerenski, 04 June 2014 - 02:18 PM.


#20 StillRadioactive

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Posted 04 June 2014 - 02:28 PM

View PostRim Kerenski, on 04 June 2014 - 02:16 PM, said:

I have been playing some kind of BT or MW game since the 80s; so I want a variety, to see different mechs on the field and to be able to use thos emechs on a semi-even ground. Unfortunately its "whoever brought the most pop-tarts wins."

good MTG anaology.


Thanks. I completely understand about wanting variety... I'm a life-long BT fan (literally, introduced to it at age 5, and I'm 27 now) and I get a certain twinge in my nether regions whenever I see a good Griffin pilot on the battlefield. This game certainly has the potential to foster great variety, but it's being squashed right now by a particularly unbalanced style of build and play.

Hopefully this is our Ravager Affinity moment, and we can go back to having a healthy metagame once it's resolved. Nothing would make me happier.





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