28 replies to this topic

[Soulscour]

Nicolai Kabrinsky, on 24 August 2014 - 04:33 PM, said:

I just don't enjoy Conquest any more, since they increased the cap times to something insane. You spend so much time just standing still. Most teams don't even bother capping, they just grab 2 or 3 bases and focus on killing. When the killing stops, they only go back to capping if they absolutely have to.

Winning under those conditions doesn't feel like an accomplishment to me. I'm basically winning because people find capping too boring. Only sometimes is it actually a testament to skill.

I really don't mean any offense by that. Maybe you're a good enough pilot that you make a big difference, but I'm just not willing to pay the price by sitting on all those squares.

I understand if you find capping boring but I disagree with your opinion that it is rarely about skill. Playing a light in conquest is not all about running to the caps and trying to fill up the bars. That is not a good light pilot. When you're playing this way, there are more decisions that have to be made and making the right one is largely based upon experience. Many times, its time to fight and help your team, or be in the right place to pop the UAV or arty, or to hunt down the enemy lights to insure your win, or just to be next to your team to share the ecm. Its not easy choosing your battles when you carry just 3 medium lasers. More times than not, an enemy light will come to challenge the cap and you have to be good enough to beat them 1 on 1 consistantly and to know how and when to bug out of a bad situation. You also have to know where to go when your team is all dead, not just to survive but sometimes attack and kill a decapper to come out with a clutch victory. I really don't care about getting less cbills at this point for me in the game. I take more satisfaction at getting my team the win. I guarantee that you will be more of a hero to your team for giving them the win out of a loss than by posting a big score at the end of the game.

[Mystere]

Sean von Steinike, on 24 August 2014 - 06:42 PM, said:

Other than slightly more teamwork, I am not noticing any real differences.

I did not see much of a difference from normal behavior either. And by that I mean the 14:00-18:00GMT time zone is still derp central, especially on weekends. Avoid if at all possible.

[n r g]

Nicolai Kabrinsky, on 24 August 2014 - 09:24 AM, said:

The best thing about this challenge is that it really highlights all the balance problems in MWO, many of which go back 2 years now. On a typical day, people don't really focus so much on winning, they focus more on having fun. But when there's a challenge and everyone wants to win, two things happen:
1) There's a lot of griefing (disconnects and suicide), because of a huge design flaw in the challenge. (That's not what this thread is about)
2) There's a lot of boring gameplay, because everyone's doing whatever they can to maximize chances of winning (That's what this thread is about)

To all the people who thought "Win x times within 48 hours" would be a fun challenge, I understand your logic. With victories as the challenge criteria, it makes sense that people would strive for teamwork, as opposed to just killstealing. And that has actually happened, there is more teamwork now. When you say "RTB or we lose the match", people do listen more than before. Because they want to win. But are the games more fun than usual because of this teamwork?

Nope. I personally don't think so at all.

Spoiler

Instead, people are bringing out their top dogs and best mechs for the underhive. ECM lights, Clan mechs and LRM boats are everywhere. The only Inner Sphere Assault mechs you'll se, are LRM Stalkers, LRM Awesomes and Atlas DDCs. The queue is back to normal from last week. 5-10% light mechs in the queue. Airstrikes and artillery are ten times more frequent in the solo queue compared to normal.

You see, both PGI and the players often make the mistake of thinking that the game is balanced if it seems balanced in any given match. But this game is over 2 years old, and people aren't trying to win all the time. They're just trying to have fun. For some people, that means winning. For other people, it means getting a lot of kills or doing a lot of damage. And some people take pride in running sub-optimal mechs, like stock mechs or Dragons.

When everyone wants to win at all costs, the game changes. And the flaws of gameplay balance are easier to see. I really hope PGI takes note of that.

This isn't just a grind because I have to get 50 wins. It's a grind because the solo queue is a nightmare compared to how it normally is. Every match is the same. No one wants to try any fun builds or any fun plans. Drop in your Timber Wolf. Take the H9 Hill on Alpine, play it safe. Win the match. Drop again.

If you suggest something exciting, like a flanking maneuver or an unconventional route, people just laugh. "You imbecile, you know the only way to win on this map is to take Theta / take the hill / hug the palace. Why would we do anything different? We need 37 more wins to complete the challenge. Keep your head down and shoot your LRMs."

TL;DR:
This challenge has been a great exhibition which clearly displays how boring this game can be when everyone's trying to win at all costs. The meta-builds, LRM boating, the airstrikes and artillery, the same tactics on every damn map, over and over and over again. No variation. The definition of a grind.

On a positive note... thanks for the mechbay and premium time.

what should people be doing? playing ..... to lose ?

inb4 lolz

[Rick Rawlings]

BLOOD WOLF, on 24 August 2014 - 09:26 AM, said:

I got my 50 in about 2 days, regardless. Yea it was a grind but It is doable.

Good thing towards the end I was able to Repair my stats.

Omg, did you really just say that?!?

[El Bandito]

I have been trying to skill level my Firestarter-S and Stalker-5M for the last 2 days. Winning comes second, though welcome.

Edited by El Bandito, 24 August 2014 - 10:57 PM.

[McMatt]

I saw much more team work. Decisions at beginning of the match. Planning, like: leave Gamma, take Epsilon ... flank the base ... etc. And mostly with success. I like it.

[Black Ivan]

Lost nearly all matches this weekend, it does not make fun anymore. As maps only Terra Therma, Canyon Network and HPG Manifold poped up. Nothing else. Team with most LRMs and ECM won in the end.

[STEF_]

Black Ivan, on 25 August 2014 - 12:01 AM, said:

Lost nearly all matches this weekend, it does not make fun anymore. As maps only Terra Therma, Canyon Network and HPG Manifold poped up. Nothing else. Team with most LRMs and ECM won in the end.

A lot of people was in a hurry to end the matches, because 50 wins were a lot of matches to do.
So I saw a looooooooot of games like a frag fest, brawls, that ended the matches in 5-6 minutes; in quite every maps.

And yes, there were lrm and ecm too, of course. But imo, no so decisive like laser-boat or guns.

[Lily from animove]

Not sure, i maybe have seen 2 intended suicide rushes into the opponents. I have done some crazy and failign rush tactics on my own (Especially in base assaults).
I had around 8 DC's during the matches, 5x I was dead after Rejoin, 2x I was under fire and died within 2 seconds after rejoin, Only 1times I did not dies by Rejoining.
The DC rate is horrible and rejoining rarely has a use except seeing you dead after a rejoin.

But overall I have to say, PUG was a lot better to play, there were some basics attemps for Teamplay, since winnign was the goal. Outside of chalanged, people tried to be more of a one-man-show thing. So the challange by this brought some good stuff. VOIP is an issue, because it isn't there. Most attemps for tactics died by missing voip.