1453 R, on 23 September 2014 - 09:40 AM, said:
The small-group guys are indeed seeing their Elo-mandated 50% W/L rates or close to it. The problem is that the two-man buddy teams are not contributing to either their own wins or their own losses.
When a two or three-man team is used as grease to get two big ultracomp groups into a match together, that small squad is completely inconsequential to the ultimate result of the match. It doesn’t matter one tiny jot what we do; as I’ve said before, that small casual team can take themselves into a corner and produce a bong and still have exactly the same impact on the match that they would have had if they’d dove in with all their might and fury and strove with every fiber of their being to smite the enemy, especially if a friend is trying to introduce his new-player buddy(z) to the game.
This produces ‘wins’ almost as frustrating as the losses are. The big comp groups in this thread are all telling us “We’re looking for competition, we’re not out to ruin your fun.” I totally get that. Point is that the player-starved matchmaker gives neither you nor us any choice. We’re as sick of being carried as you are of carrying us. Nobody wants to be that 10+2 team – the ten-man group sneers at the twobies and is all “fuggin’ scrubs crampin’ our style” and gets bitter and pissed off because they’re suffering a handicap in their Glorious Comp Games, and the two-man group gets to be a superfluous third wheel getting scheiss from their own team as well as the enemy team, and with no real option to contribute to the match.
It’s a crap situation for everyone, and it puts Piranha in a lousy situation. I can very easily understand Piranha’s frustration with the group matchmaker woes, because the big-unit players who DEMANDED the ability to drop in any group size they pleased are now seeing first-hand the results of just precisely what Piranha told them would happen – large groups are massively polarizing and end up forcing a lot of the small groups they theoretically need in order to get on with their games into simply disbanding back into the solo queue in order to get out from under the 8+ hammer. It’s just not worth it to be a two-man group in the group queue anymore.
And now, for Small-Group Q&A, by 1453-R
“But 1453-R, you small-timers can just join a big unit and get in on the right end of the 8+ groups!”
-No. I have work, and I work a late shift that pushes me out of NA primetime, and my buddies all have either more work than I do or unpredictable college schedules. On top of that, as much as I’ve spent on MWO and as much as I love the MechWarrior franchise, my life does not revolve around MWO. Sometimes I’d rather play Path of Exile, or hit up GW2, or try out some quirky new Steam game I found, or breed another crop of Failtinis in search for that one perfect specimen for that team I’m putting together to crush Swordgoat under my fashionably booted foot in Y. I have neither the time nor the inclination to roleplay some goon’s toy soldier and make my mandatory 10h/week training time in some unit or other, and I’m far and away the most rabid MechWarrior fan amongst my little circle of buds. If I’m not even remotely close to willing to put up with the playtime, attendance, and soon-to-be C-bill donation requirements of a big unit, what makes any of you think any of the rest of my casual-time buddies are going to be?
Also: how does this actually solve the problem, again?
“But 1453-R, you can just start some threads and stuff on the forum and organize a Small Fry Play Night over private matches!”
-I seem to recall that the big league-playing 12-man comp teams – who are vastly more motivated and disciplined, and who were also the actual target audience for the entire private match lobby feature which was implemented to make player-organized league play easier– telling everyone most firmly that no, private matches were not a substitute for a proper in-game competition system. If private matches weren’t a realistic option for the ultracomps private matching was built for, what in Creation makes you think it’s the right solution for small casual groups looking for a consistent good time? (Note: “consistent good time” does not mean 100% awesome matches. It means the reasonable expectation that two-odd hours spent on MWO on any given night will produce more Fun than Anger.) Besides. If I had the time, motivation, and graphical arts skill to start organizing big galumphing forum events, I’d find, or start, a unit of my own and skip the need to do so.
“But 1453-R, F*** YOU! We waited forever to be able to drop with all our friends at once, and ain’t none of you jackholes are gonna screw that up for us! Go cry me a river, scrub!”
-Gee. Aren’t you glad Piranha didn’t think like that when they screwed over small groups in exchange for big ones like yours? Nobody’s asking for a return to lowball-only days, a lot of people are just desperately throwing ideas out there in order to try and find some tiny shred of game space where we can bring in a new buddy, or play with a small gathering of IRL friends somewhere. You’d be a lot more likely to keep your current happy bubbly fun-times large group drops by helping us find an agreeable solution for all parties involved, instead of being a snide, condescending basshole dismissing the problem out of hand and making threats whenever anyone tries to discuss it.
My feelings exactly!!!!