22 replies to this topic

[NeoCodex]

Because tradition demands it.

Actually, a bit surprised I haven't seen any of those around yet.

So here's to the point. Apart from the fps issues and other... things... that they will fix soon without a doubt, a lot of us have been burning with the question how exactly will this mode fare for more of a lone players in guilds that have smaller active player bases, does anyone have any positive experiences in CW with that yet? I am very happy with the unit I joined, but unfortunately it's timezone is (yet again) opposite of mine, so mostly i play alone or in small groups in my active time.

Considering this, and the CW active windows they have been changing around a lot, I remain to be a bit confused on how exactly this will work. Can I expect to solo drop it or with a few of my buddies when (most of the time) we don't have people to fill a full group? During my active timezone most of my clan members are logged out, so I can grab a few at most, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Anyone else with a similar situation and has managed to drop yet? What were the waiting times and the opposition on other teams like?

So basically: what's first hand experience from solo drops and small groups like?

[Thorqemada]

Ist DOA for sure - the most horrible and blatant amateurish attempt to bloat up this piece of P2W Malware MWO is.
First match i had no enemy.
Second match i was no enemy (to Jager XII + Crew).
Third match does not happen after spending accumulated 1,5 hours waiting for something happen.

Its ******* DOA - its not only DOA -> its Dodo -> I hate you PGI !!!



(Slight exaggeration of what happens - do not take it seriously)

Edited by Thorqemada, 12 December 2014 - 04:47 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

What I ran into was FpS like the old days. The game was playing at 9-12 FpS, and I got kicked for the first time in....
...
...
...
Months! Once I was kicked to the Mechlab, I didn't Load while the rest of the team was still playing. I was on my 4th Death so no loss to the team, but... Well it got me to notice the time and remind me that I had intended to play Dragon Age Inquisition.

So for the most part good job launching CW, You need more powerful servers for the time being, and possibly more players on to fill out a team in less than 17 minutes (our longest wait.).

Edited by Joseph Mallan, 12 December 2014 - 04:43 AM.

[Kiiyor]

This seems to be some form of meme.

I'm off to find the most appropriate picture of a cat to go with it.

[aniviron]

I wasn't expecting such a reasonable OP with a trollbait title like this.

I'm a solo player because I don't think much of MWO as a competitive game, even though I have played a lot of competitive shooters in the past.

So far, I have had no problems with CW as a solo player. VOIP in game would be nice to help coordinate things, but even without it I honestly don't feel that disadvantaged even when going up against teams with 8+ in a unit when our team is solos and/or 2-3 person groups. Just finished off a game where we won pretty handily 30-48 against a 7 person drop with only solo players and small groups on our side. We had two guys over 2k damage and I managed 1800ish. Was fun.

I'm not going to say that it's better solo, it actually feels like being coordinated would be a lot more fun. But for now, I don't feel like playing alone really puts me at a disadvantage.

[Rhaythe]

As a solo player, CW felt just fine in IS versus IS. In fact, more than fine. It was exhilarating. Teams felt even. The groups seemed even. Great time. But when I dropped against the Clans, the first time it was against a 10-man group that ***** our faces. And the second was against the HoL in their Stormcrow/MadCat finest wares, which ***** our faces and set the remaining gaping holes on fire. The group size disparity was pretty severe both matches.

Harsh waiting 25+ minutes for a match, only to lose it 48 to 6 against a 12-man. But it is what it is.

[Lily from animove]

its definately different on arrival.

[Bigbacon]

Rhaythe, on 12 December 2014 - 04:54 AM, said:

As a solo player,..... the first time it was against a 10-man group that ***** our faces. And the second was against the HoL in their Stormcrow/MadCat finest wares, which ***** our faces and set the remaining gaping holes on fire. The group size disparity was pretty severe both matches.

and this is going to be the biggest issue here especially once the big groups figure out what works best mech wise and tactically. And no don't give me the 'suck it up learn to play' that isn't a solution.

Mixed smaller groups it is fun, dropping against 8+ man teams hasn't been at all fun in anyway shape or form, just like when you could drop against them in the normal game queue.

Edited by Bigbacon, 12 December 2014 - 05:08 AM.

[NeoCodex]

aniviron, on 12 December 2014 - 04:50 AM, said:

I wasn't expecting such a reasonable OP with a trollbait title like this.

I'm a solo player because I don't think much of MWO as a competitive game, even though I have played a lot of competitive shooters in the past.

So far, I have had no problems with CW as a solo player. VOIP in game would be nice to help coordinate things, but even without it I honestly don't feel that disadvantaged even when going up against teams with 8+ in a unit when our team is solos and/or 2-3 person groups. Just finished off a game where we won pretty handily 30-48 against a 7 person drop with only solo players and small groups on our side. We had two guys over 2k damage and I managed 1800ish. Was fun.

I'm not going to say that it's better solo, it actually feels like being coordinated would be a lot more fun. But for now, I don't feel like playing alone really puts me at a disadvantage.

That's what I was hoping to hear. Thanks for the input! Glad to hear small teams can still be doing it well out there.

Rhaythe, on 12 December 2014 - 04:54 AM, said:

As a solo player, CW felt just fine in IS versus IS. In fact, more than fine. It was exhilarating. Teams felt even. The groups seemed even. Great time. But when I dropped against the Clans, the first time it was against a 10-man group that ***** our faces. And the second was against the HoL in their Stormcrow/MadCat finest wares, which ***** our faces and set the remaining gaping holes on fire. The group size disparity was pretty severe both matches.

Harsh waiting 25+ minutes for a match, only to lose it 48 to 6 against a 12-man. But it is what it is.

To be honest, I was expecting clans to have bigger trouble against the recently buffed IS ballistic machine guns, wubboats and the new big boys they got yesterday. If I could, I would certainly pick the IS tech to fight with in the current game balance, without a doubt (only weapons I use on clan mechs are full FLD anyway). IS has better guns and I don't need TW/SC vomit boats (never liked those builds) with their cheat XL engines to perform decently, but that's just my personal opinion.

So I'm a bit surprised to hear IS has trouble. Sounds just like a bad game. I'd go with IS this time around for sure.

But 20 min waiting time? Damn, that's way too long. Yeah it's still beta but I may probably skip on it until wait times are under 5 minutes at the very least.

Edited by NeoCodex, 12 December 2014 - 05:09 AM.

[Rhaythe]

NeoCodex, on 12 December 2014 - 05:07 AM, said:

So I'm a bit surprised to hear IS has trouble. Sounds just like a bad game. I'd go with IS this time around for sure.</p>

But 20 min waiting time? Damn, that's way too long. Yeah it's still beta but I may probably skip on it until wait times are under 5 minutes at the very least.

Possibly. I'm trying not to get too worked up over it until I get a larger sampling size. It also didn't help that the game crashed twice on me mid-match against the clans, and when I came back, my team was almost decimated and I only had 2 mechs left in my dropship. Also - any time you get dropped as a PUG'er against 10- and 12-mans, bad things happen. Just the nature of the game.

As for the IS vs IS game, I only had to wait 4 minutes for that one. So really, it's all over the board. CW needs some kind of population indicator to tell you how long some expected waits are. Something like the "hot zone" indicators in Planetside 2, maybe?

Edited by Rhaythe, 12 December 2014 - 05:13 AM.

[NeoCodex]

Wait, there's IS vs IS in this patch already?

[kapusta11]

It will never be fair for lone players, and never should be, the side with better teamplay wins, PUGs can't have that by dafault.

[Rhaythe]

NeoCodex, on 12 December 2014 - 05:16 AM, said:

Wait, there's IS vs IS in this patch already?

Very much so!

[Kadix]

From the perspective of casual players, this is DOA. I think I'm okay with that. CW is for the hardcore, not the casuals, just like raiding in WoW used to be.

Currently I'm in a guild with three old friends...guys I used to play pen&paper with twenty years ago. We usually play for a few hours Tuesday nights. Neither of them even has the mechs to drop into a CW match...one guy has three Kit Foxes (90 tons) and the other has a Timber Wolf and Dire Wolf (175 tons). You've got to be semi-hardcore just to hit the tonnage requirements.

I've PUG'ed one CW match as an attacker, and got my ass kicked. I'm sure I'll go run several more.

I'm not spending money on mechs to meet tonnage requirements though. Sure, I'd love 4 Mad Dogs (love that mech since the cartoon), but I don't trust PGI not to **** with the tonnage numbers after they have my money. I got burned bad with the module changes and don't want to get burned again with MC instead of c-bills.

Edited by Kadix, 12 December 2014 - 05:24 AM.

[BlackPhoenix01]

I still think that PGI is doing the best they can with what they've got and I know this is beta.

I spent 2 hours last night trying to get a single CW drop in and im coming up on hour two this morning. With a 12 man, with smaller groups, and by myself. I have YET to actually play a friggn match. I have spent far to much time staring at the clock counting up. Something has to get fixed with that guys... It takes a lot to get my upset - this has me upset.

As far as the map and all - thats really cool. Good job there but, man.... 3 hours of wait time with not a single drop is really got me ticked off atm.

[Siegegun]

I am a casual player and I did just fine both with my unit and solo. Only real issues is the fps drop for some people (for some reason my fps is generally fine), and the long wait times. Out of the eight matches I played only one had no defenders.

[Joseph Mallan]

Kadix, on 12 December 2014 - 05:23 AM, said:

From the perspective of casual players, this is DOA. I think I'm okay with that. CW is for the hardcore, not the casuals, just like raiding in WoW used to be.

Currently I'm in a guild with three old friends...guys I used to play pen&paper with twenty years ago. We usually play for a few hours Tuesday nights. Neither of them even has the mechs to drop into a CW match...one guy has three Kit Foxes (90 tons) and the other has a Timber Wolf and Dire Wolf (175 tons). You've got to be semi-hardcore just to hit the tonnage requirements.

I've PUG'ed one CW match as an attacker, and got my ass kicked. I'm sure I'll go run several more.

I'm not spending money on mechs to meet tonnage requirements though. Sure, I'd love 4 Mad Dogs (love that mech since the cartoon), but I don't trust PGI not to **** with the tonnage numbers after they have my money. I got burned bad with the module changes and don't want to get burned again with MC instead of c-bills.

The Attacker has a definite up hill fight, and that is kinda how it is meant to be. You better know your buisiness to try to take an objective that can be housing a full 12 man competitive team with Monster strong Turrets and the occasional Dropship laying the smack down. It was a big surprise and one I look forward to probing, prodding & exploring to find the way to get it done.

Rhaythe, on 12 December 2014 - 05:20 AM, said:

Very much so!

We fought House Kurita. They defended valiantly. Domo Arigato.

[NeoCodex]

It's not the problem that it's not for casuals. You have a number of very skilled players that play the game a lot but just don't do group drops because they don't have a group to drop with in the first place.

I'd drop a 12 man if I had a reliable 12 people to drop with at all times, but on average it's between 0 to 8 at most, and I'm not counting in the time spent to wait for everyone to get ready and so on, not being able to switch out mechs our builds because of it or take a break whenever you like or must to because the group is waiting - sorry, but you have to understand that this tempo does not fit well with some players and their available time.

While I appreciate the developers to give the hardcore players a broad, dedicated endgame game type, I still think there should be a spot for regular player that does not have the chance to participate in coordinated large groups spending more time for preparation than playing, specially in such a slow progression game as this.

I do not consider myself as a casual player by any stretch... of the imagination, but sometimes I'd just want to drop "casually" and participate in CW too, without spending 1 hour in search and preparation for a group and waiting for a game.

[Kadix]

Joseph Mallan, on 12 December 2014 - 05:35 AM, said:

The Attacker has a definite up hill fight, and that is kinda how it is meant to be. You better know your buisiness to try to take an objective that can be housing a full 12 man competitive team with Monster strong Turrets and the occasional Dropship laying the smack down. It was a big surprise and one I look forward to probing, prodding & exploring to find the way to get it done.

Just to be clear, the one match I did get into was PUG vs PUG with the defenders doing the ass kicking, but whatever. It was still fun.

I expect once more people start learning the maps PUGvPUG it will get better. Pre-game half the team was asking things like "What are we supposed to do? I've never done this" in chat.

I do think the defender respawn needs to move back a bit, and tonnage limits tweaked higher a little. There was one time I was able to push through the doors to the objective, only to get roflstomped when four guys and a dropship appeared right on top of me.

Edited by Kadix, 12 December 2014 - 05:50 AM.

[Lily from animove]

Kadix, on 12 December 2014 - 05:23 AM, said:

From the perspective of casual players, this is DOA. I think I'm okay with that. CW is for the hardcore, not the casuals, just like raiding in WoW used to be.

Currently I'm in a guild with three old friends...guys I used to play pen&paper with twenty years ago. We usually play for a few hours Tuesday nights. Neither of them even has the mechs to drop into a CW match...one guy has three Kit Foxes (90 tons) and the other has a Timber Wolf and Dire Wolf (175 tons). You've got to be semi-hardcore just to hit the tonnage requirements.

I've PUG'ed one CW match as an attacker, and got my ass kicked. I'm sure I'll go run several more.

I'm not spending money on mechs to meet tonnage requirements though. Sure, I'd love 4 Mad Dogs (love that mech since the cartoon), but I don't trust PGI not to **** with the tonnage numbers after they have my money. I got burned bad with the module changes and don't want to get burned again with MC instead of c-bills.

you can make a dropdeck containing the trial mechs. so you can still fill the requiements. With adding a kfx and a adder to his 175t he has valid 240t.

heres a match with my alt account (Grimmrog) which does not have clanners, filled the deck with a TBR, NVA SCR and ADR.
unfortunately I used the TBR as last mech when and as i died with the SCR I was already the lats one, so i couldn't make any harm anymore in my TBR getting spawn afrmed by 8 ppls.

So when you have some experience with MWO and you are not a complete derp, even the trial mechs work okish. Especially if you would face a pug match instead of a 10man premade.


At least a few matches to gather a free mechbay at the early rewards is not bad at all.

Edited by Lily from animove, 12 December 2014 - 05:51 AM.