37 replies to this topic

[Mechteric]

mogs01gt, on 27 October 2014 - 06:17 AM, said:

The Cbill rewards 2.0 is causing a lot of this and also maps that are simply too small for 12-12.

Blobbing happened plenty before rewards 2.0, but I'll agree about the map sizes being made for 8 not 12 for the most part.

[Dawnstealer]

RustyBolts, on 22 October 2014 - 03:18 AM, said:

I agree. This actually pisses me off more than team fire. Team fire can be an accident in the heat of battle. But parking your ass behind me so I cant back up is a deliberate action.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish PGI would bring back knock downs so when I am trying to back up my fatless or direwhale and some light or medium is blocking my path it knocks them out of they way. Lets face it a 100 ton object moving at 20kph is going to move a stationary object weighing 30-50 tons out of its way. Just watch what happens on a pool table when objects weigh the same.

Maybe not knockdown, but SOME kind of feedback. Especially when I'm in a little guy (like my Commandos or Locusts) I realize that a teammate might not actually be able to see me (or lost sight of me in the heat of battle or because they weren't paying attention and now I'm below their level of sight).

Then again, I've been in the same situation a number of times. Usually it's in my bigger mechs (my smaller ones are quick enough to get around a particularly stubborn teammate): in this case, a teammate just jams me out in the open and I get torn apart by gauss/ppc whales and whatever other horrors the enemy unleashes.

[Stijnovic]

Kyocera, on 21 October 2014 - 05:46 AM, said:

This is something which I've encountered a huge amount over the last 48 hours and it's beginning to cause me a lot of rage and lost mech parts...

I think the solution is to communicate with your team whether you are pushing or peeking.

What I sometimes do (if possible) is to point my legs in my team mates direction and walk back/side-wards when I advance. This way they see I mean to run back real quickly. This also makes the way back faster which is good.

[Thrudvangar]

in this case, i just turn around and alpha them right in their faces.
seems the best way to make those stupid ppl learn to not block.

[Chuck Jager]

I had a teammate get killed behind me and it left me stuck behind a building unable to turn around. The outcome was not pretty, and I may need to seek professional help.

[Ursh]

You can always drop an arty strike at your feet.

[Ragnahawk]

I was in a match last night with a buddy and both of us got trapped by one of the entrances with the big wall in front of it (The one with the ramps leading to the top. There was a wall of friendlies blocking me from the torrent of enemies coming out in front of us and flanking out of the big space fortress where the dirt is. Needless to say our strategy would have probably won that match if all those mechs weren't forming a perfect wall. There was another match where I was peaking walls, twice I tried to back out to reduce the damage considerably only to get struck by an enemy mech standing in front of me because some friendly was standing directly behind me. They got a full alpha on my torso and probably singlehandedly got me killed. I'm wondering if its possible to box a teammate in to where they have to kill someone to get out. That would mean that PGI should have removed the ability to push other mechs. And besides, I feel that if you have the speed and weight you should be able to push a light off a ledge so that it's legs get damaged.

Edited by TechWalrus, 06 November 2014 - 06:34 AM.

[Zelumbras]

*[rant: on] It happens way too often that a 'friendly' mech blocks my movement or starts humping my legs/back like an overexited dog. Just today i encountered the same Dragonslayer pilot who would simply not notice anything going around him/her/it. The first match was in HPG and all were rushing out of the starting zone when he suddenly decided to go full stop right in the center of the passage to fire his dual PPC+AC5 in 'the general direction' of a Spider ~950m away so six mechs behind him had to evade to not crash or run into his line of fire. At that time it was merely annoying but hey, we all sometimes have that brainless moment once in a while. During the match there were several occasions in which he blocked or hit others with his shots (probabably in max zoom the whole match?) so i positioned myself far away from him and got a good angle on the enemy. I was doing decently well and kept two Stormcrows busy with my Blackjack and things looked good but when a Direwolf joined them, i decided to retreat - when i was blocked by the same DS i mentioned above. Maybe he noticed that i had a good position and wanted some of that cake too or just likes to randomly rub himself on other mechs backs but be that as it may, my mech got destroyed and i was pretty irritated. Continued to spectate the rest of tha match from his point of view since i figured he might just be a troll who does these things out of enjoyment, but it seemed he just didn't have any understanding of what was going on around him during the match. He got two other mechs killed the same way as me and then died himself. Saw the same player in another match a little bit later but thankfully on the enemy side and from the little i saw of him before someone destroyed his mech, he did the same obnoxious lower rear torso hugging to one of their Direwolf mechs.
*[rant: off]

These things can be insanely annoying but you can easily avoid doing it yourself if you just follow a few simple guidelines:
- move along the sides of narrow passageways instead of the center
- don't just stop to shoot but instead learn to aim while moving
- always leave room for a mech in front of you and best just stay to the side a bit (also helps to avoid about ~80% of all frinedly fire)
- don't move into others line of fire

[Benjamin Davion]

Kyocera, on 21 October 2014 - 05:46 AM, said:

This is something which I've encountered a huge amount over the last 48 hours and it's beginning to cause me a lot of rage and lost mech parts.

Blobbing up is great, it's what co-ordinated attacks usually involve, however please leave enough space for any mechs in front of you to back up if they need to. The bridges and paths into the centre of Mount Doom, various places in Mining Collective, even out in the water in Forest Colony, always be aware that mechs in front of you (or even laterally) may need to maneouver quickly to avoid a dodgy situation.

If you don't give your team mates room, they're going to take more damage than they should which isn't really going to help the team when you think about it.

As someone who fights almost always as either a light or a sniper, this happens to me all the time and is the single biggest source of rage for me. I will admit there have been times, after the third or fourth time someone has humped me while backing up, that I turned and gave them a dual-gauss love-tap to the chest. Not proud of it, but STOP HUMPING ME. At least buy me dinner first.

Sethliopod, on 23 October 2014 - 09:18 AM, said:

On the other hand, parking behind a backing up enemy Mech, even with the added friendly fire, can be one of the most rewarding experiences in the game!

I do this when I'm in a light. I tend to target call for my team in a light, and I'll call a primary, then park my skinny butt behind the guy as he tries to back away. It's like holding his arms behind his back while your buddies take punches!

[NineTails]

Many of these maps were designed for 8v8, not 12v12. They aren't big enough to support PGI's explanationless decision to increase to 12v12 without degenerating into blob warfare and peek-a-boo, which then leads to boxing in/out.

[Revis Volek]

3xnihilo, on 21 October 2014 - 05:59 PM, said:

Yes, this is especially great when you are in a light and you peek over the hill and see the ac40 jager and suddenly can't reverse because someone decided that using your commando as a shield would be a good idea.

This is what most people are actually doing....using you as a shield and you may report them for such things.

I usually just turn around and shoot the sh*t out of them!

NineTails, on 07 November 2014 - 06:04 AM, said:

Many of these maps were designed for 8v8, not 12v12. They aren't big enough to support PGI's explanationless decision to increase to 12v12 without degenerating into blob warfare and peek-a-boo, which then leads to boxing in/out.

Tourmaline, Terra, Alpine are fine maps for more then 12 players and Collective was made after the 12 v 12 swtich. So at best we have a few maps that might not be big enough. But that is not why people do this.

Edited by DarthRevis, 07 November 2014 - 07:00 AM.

[mad kat]

Handy hint: At the beginning of each match just say in team chat remember friends don't stand right behind a team mate he may try and back up........


.......Then be ready for the barrage of insults, 'Noob', who'd you think you are?, die idiot etc etc and for said team mates to do just that out of spite. Facepalm.

[MadLibrarian]

A certain level of fault does indeed go to the blocker, but it's shared with you, the blockee, as well.

Relax and compensate.

Dodging is better than hiding.

[ProfessorLava]

MadLibrarian, on 07 November 2014 - 10:40 AM, said:

A certain level of fault does indeed go to the blocker, but it's shared with you, the blockee, as well.

Relax and compensate.

Dodging is better than hiding.

When there isn't a choke point there is no excuse but at choke points it's a whole other matter.

At choke points this is so true. It is a delicate dynamic.
Here is a simple and crude illustration I whipped up to try and explain my view of the issue of blocking and choke points.

Keep on mind I'm not advocating peekaboo warrior at choke points, simply breaking down the dynamic of it.



Grey dots are enemy mechs, colored dots are your positions and gray fill is the enemies blind zone.

Obviously being IN the funnel of a choke point is a death sentence. You get maximum enemy exposure and You cannot strafe to cover and so you must reverse to survive. Now one might say "don't go into the funnel" but it's not that simple, since staying behind a choke point is poor strategy and it's usually best to get the whole team through ASAP or completely fall back, but that's another topic.

The next best positioning in terms of limiting enemy exposure, in yellow, is furthest from the choke point. The distance limits the number if enemies that could possibly engage you but also limits your own ability to shoot enemies. While this position may also be the easiest to dodge fire from as well (distance and angle of attack options), there's the most distance to the closest safe zone.

The most optimal positioning is somewhere close to the entrance, where you get decent exposure for options on targets, but not maximum enemy exposure. You are also pretty close to the safe zones too and have quick retreat options. This is generally naturally where the average player goes wrong. They tend to favor the safe zone over future movement options and trend away from green towards red in an attempt to be able to pop quickly into the safe zone.

This behavior is what births blocking. Everyone clutters up the safe zone. This makes it hard for green zone to shoot around team members, causing them to move up too to shoot around. Someone pushes in to far to alpha strike. The next mech in shuffles up, to shoot around him leaving nowhere for the poor mech to go.

If everyone would tend towards green instead, you would have more options to shoot around team mates without completely blocking people into the kill zone.


I'm not an expert but this isn't rocket science either.

[The Basilisk]

Blocking team mates is something that works as well if roles are reversed.

You are standing at a corner or at a bridge and some whise guy first overtakes you, not only driving straight into my line of fire...oh no sir....in addition he brakes 20 m in front of me and then complains to be blocked when trying to get back.

JUST...PULL...THE...Trigger....at least in PUGs.

I stopped caring.
I drive mostly assaults. As soon as there is enemy contact and some whise guy desides to cross LOS of my Atlas or he thinks overtaking and staying in front of me would be a good idea... well either he is some magician and can turn to air when I fire on my target or he is dust to be buried.

[TheSilken]

I'm always frustrated when a Light mech (or Medium) manages to block and stop my Assault going full speed. I mean it's really unrealistic. This is what should be happening when they do that (don'f f*ck up b**ch):

[RazorbeastFXK3]

Like a bunch of lemmings they see one potentially good peekaboo spot and they all pile in as if we can walk through each other.. but we can't.. and the one in the middle gets stuck wanting to leave the spot.. the enemy sees an opportunity to drop an artillery strike on the mass leaving the one in the middle to catch most of the fire as the ones around the middle catch fire from other enemies (and each other)

Kind of reminds me how much I don't want to get stuck in those situations and just keep moving while dead spectators bombard me with "wtf u goin u left dem 2 die u suk coward"

If I have ranged weapons I generally hang back so the ambush spot is just within reach. If I have close range I still hang back behind the group (regardless of what weight class I'm in) 'cause you never know when some enemy is going to push, pop a uav then retreat leaving the team to get bombarded with LRMs or speed through and get behind the ambush party to relieve their target(s) of their back armor.

[JJ Dark]

It's just like driving a car: Dont tail gate, don't park people in. It's rather simple. I'm just thinking many here do not know how to drive a car.