27 replies to this topic

[Docta Pain]

Having to choose a planet means that 11 people can be waiting to attack & defend on 10 planets and no one gets to play. Have it be faction specific. If there is someone attacking my faction and I am over in planet Y, just move me to defend that planet. seriously. 3 matches played. All 3 matches with no one defending. 4 hours. lame.

[Stunner]

I agree. They should ask if I want to attack or Defend. Then if I click Defend they pick which planet to put in based upon current population and size of unit I'm in. If they later want to allow us to make choices that's fine. Perhaps in Attack you must choose but defending should allow us to defend the first planet that needs someone.

[gregsolidus]

An auto deploy option would be nice. It would certainly help with the wait.

[Reality Sculptor]

Agreed with all of the above. Sitting around and waiting for nothing is a chore. Dropping to attack when there are no defenders is even more annoying. Add the option to just pick defend and send me where I'm needed and problem solved.

[MischiefSC]

We've taken to syncdropping; two different groups who total had 12 people on. We syncdropped on the same map/mission and because of that are populating matches in less than 30 seconds.

you need 12 people. It helps a lot.

[Dagadegatto]

I agree with all of the above. If the matches are locked to being 12v12 then an option to just drop where you are needed would be a good way to deal with the waiting times.

MischiefSC, on 12 December 2014 - 01:28 AM, said:

We've taken to syncdropping; two different groups who total had 12 people on. We syncdropped on the same map/mission and because of that are populating matches in less than 30 seconds.

you need 12 people. It helps a lot.

That reminds me of trying to do competitive drops in closed beta. Before any private match options existed.

[Mordin Ashe]

+1 for everyone to get more attention to this.

It is much easier in a group, 12-man has it particularly simple. Alas, the rest has to learn how to find the sweet places where the fun is happening. Not like that is difficult though, I didn't spend too much time waiting for my matches. 5 minutes in total for 2 matches? Beats waiting time on my DW in solo pugs, also the ratio of boredom to fun is 5:60 minutes - something solo pugging can't compete with.

[Duncan Jr Fischer]

Was going to put up a similar topic myself.

There is no global faction chat, there is no way to communicate and group forces.
There are currently 5 planets on Attack missions and 8 planets on Defend, and there is no way to know if there is anyone on those missions or not. Any of those I pick I am all alone there. Sitting and waiting for half an hour looks stupid.

The interface is a real killer! You click on a mission and it shows you the planet zoomed to take all your screen, while there is nothing to see there, while you have no vaguest idea WHERE this planet is, you just can't see.

Summarizing, we at least need a communication tool within faction, then we need to see how many people have assigned to the missions, so we wouldn't have to check each mission one by one. Selecting a mission, we should see where this planet is, not just its icon on full screen.

[MischiefSC]

You can only drop with people in the same group. Not just faction, but group. So you get a couple of groups together that totals up to 12. Then you sync. We've never had it fail.

[MrJeffers]

While there should be an option to automatically choose the quickest drop, it should be an option, not the only selection. There are going to be a lot of times where the players will want to fight at a specific location.

I think what would help would be a queue time/queue population indicator like in the standard queues on the play now button that indicates the weight classes. Only on the planets when you hover over them you get a report of the attack/defender percentages or the wait time since the last match since they (PGI) probably don't want to show actual numbers of players in each queue.

Edited by MrJeffers, 12 December 2014 - 06:07 AM.

[Nigrinus]

A nice addition would be to add something like an actual score to the planet list on the right to see where the hotspots are. Thus maybe more people will likely choose to defend or attack a planet that is about to switch sides.

[Dagadegatto]

Duncan Jr Fischer, on 12 December 2014 - 01:46 AM, said:

...
Summarizing, we at least need a communication tool within faction, then we need to see how many people have assigned to the missions, so we wouldn't have to check each mission one by one. Selecting a mission, we should see where this planet is, not just its icon on full screen.

That faction communication tool is a VERY good idea. Would also help with feeling like you're part of an active group allowing for coordinated actions.

MrJeffers, on 12 December 2014 - 01:53 AM, said:

While there should be an option to automatically choose the quickest drop, it should be an option, not the only selection. There are going to be a lot of times where the players will want to fight at a specific location.

I think what would help would be a queue time/queue population indicator like in the standard queues on the play now button that indicates the weight classes. Only on the planets when you hover over them you get a report of the attack/defender percentages or the wait time since the last match since the probably don't want to show actual numbers of players in each queue.

Without a doubt the auto-drop should be an option and not the default.

Nigrinus, on 12 December 2014 - 02:12 AM, said:

A nice addition would be to add something like an actual score to the planet list on the right to see where the hotspots are. Thus maybe more people will likely choose to defend or attack a planet that is about to switch sides.

That would be awesome. Especially if combined with faction chat so that a drop can be quickly organized.

[Joseph Mallan]

MischiefSC, on 12 December 2014 - 01:28 AM, said:

We've taken to syncdropping; two different groups who total had 12 people on. We syncdropped on the same map/mission and because of that are populating matches in less than 30 seconds.

you need 12 people. It helps a lot.

I figured this would be the case. And can see how PUGs clicking on specific planets would slow the process of filling matches.

[Alistair Winter]

I really, really, really disagree. If we're all being auto-assigned to a given planet, then you may as well remove the galaxy map. The whole idea of certain units trying to defend or attack certain worlds will be gone, and it's just going to be one big faction vs faction brawl.

The problem would be fixed much easier and better by giving people the ability to see how many people are waiting for a match in any given lobby, and give unassigned players the ability to select between any number of current lobbies in need of players from their faction.

If matchmaker is constantly going to move major units across the galaxy as needed, the whole point of the map is gone. At that point, it's completely random what planets are attacked and invaded.

[Thrudvangar]

Alistair Winter, on 12 December 2014 - 05:47 AM, said:

I really, really, really disagree. If we're all being auto-assigned to a given planet, then you may as well remove the galaxy map. The whole idea of certain units trying to defend or attack certain worlds will be gone, and it's just going to be one big faction vs faction brawl.

The problem would be fixed much easier and better by giving people the ability to see how many people are waiting for a match in any given lobby, and give unassigned players the ability to select between any number of current lobbies in need of players from their faction.

If matchmaker is constantly going to move major units across the galaxy as needed, the whole point of the map is gone. At that point, it's completely random what planets are attacked and invaded.

+1

wating 15 minutes right now and don't get any game...

Edited by Thrudvangar, 12 December 2014 - 05:49 AM.

[Macksheen]

A "pick a planet" or "first available" option would be nifty.

[MrJeffers]

Alistair Winter, on 12 December 2014 - 05:47 AM, said:

I really, really, really disagree. If we're all being auto-assigned to a given planet, then you may as well remove the galaxy map. The whole idea of certain units trying to defend or attack certain worlds will be gone, and it's just going to be one big faction vs faction brawl.

The problem would be fixed much easier and better by giving people the ability to see how many people are waiting for a match in any given lobby, and give unassigned players the ability to select between any number of current lobbies in need of players from their faction.

If matchmaker is constantly going to move major units across the galaxy as needed, the whole point of the map is gone. At that point, it's completely random what planets are attacked and invaded.

I agree with why you feel this way - it removes any chance of adding logistics, jump times to move forces, etc. But at this point in the beta test, until there are better ways to determine how/where to attack and defend to get a match I think it should be an option.

But then again, I can also see the forum rage if something like this were added, then removed... So thinking about it that way, it's probably an entirely bad idea to have an auto-drop option.

[VagGR]

no auto deploy..i think an option to be able to see how many attackerd/defenders are queued on each contested planet would solve a lot of issues without taking away the choice of where to attack/defend from players

[Stormfury]

Duncan Jr Fischer, on 12 December 2014 - 01:46 AM, said:

Was going to put up a similar topic myself.

There is no global faction chat, there is no way to communicate and group forces.
There are currently 5 planets on Attack missions and 8 planets on Defend, and there is no way to know if there is anyone on those missions or not. Any of those I pick I am all alone there. Sitting and waiting for half an hour looks stupid.

The interface is a real killer! You click on a mission and it shows you the planet zoomed to take all your screen, while there is nothing to see there, while you have no vaguest idea WHERE this planet is, you just can't see.

Summarizing, we at least need a communication tool within faction, then we need to see how many people have assigned to the missions, so we wouldn't have to check each mission one by one. Selecting a mission, we should see where this planet is, not just its icon on full screen.

+10,000. We need faction chat. This is an absolute must so we can ask around for additional pilots. "Got 8, need 4 more!", etc.

Thrudvangar, on 12 December 2014 - 05:48 AM, said:

+1

wating 15 minutes right now and don't get any game...

I know your pain. I waited 37 minutes last night. Not everyone is going to be that patient. It'd really be sweet if we could queue up and then go tinker with mechs while we're waiting but being stuck on the seemingly empty drop screen that long isn't going to win over any casual players.

[Joseph Mallan]

Alistair Winter, on 12 December 2014 - 05:47 AM, said:

I really, really, really disagree. If we're all being auto-assigned to a given planet, then you may as well remove the galaxy map. The whole idea of certain units trying to defend or attack certain worlds will be gone, and it's just going to be one big faction vs faction brawl.

The problem would be fixed much easier and better by giving people the ability to see how many people are waiting for a match in any given lobby, and give unassigned players the ability to select between any number of current lobbies in need of players from their faction.

If matchmaker is constantly going to move major units across the galaxy as needed, the whole point of the map is gone. At that point, it's completely random what planets are attacked and invaded.

OK I didn't have command yesterday but our drops were on Planets of our choosing. We had to wait for PUG selection to find us a matching 3 players on our planet. Maybe PUGs should be left random while groups pick?