0
Darth Futuza, on 13 December 2014 - 03:43 PM, said:
I'm curious as to the reasoning behind not wanting to drop with a group? Anti-social?
You don't have to necessarily join a unit, a lot of units will allow guests as long as your polite and don't have a stick up your butt.
You don't have to necessarily join a unit, a lot of units will allow guests as long as your polite and don't have a stick up your butt.
It has nothing to do with antisocial. The opposite is actually probably true. I don't get what people are saying about "solo mechwarrior" either. There is no "solo" play, you always play with a group. It's just that some people are playing with a group of people they may not know already, which until now was about the only way to even meet people to group with later. It's also pretty fun and a very social thing to do since you are willing to interact with people you don't know.
The more important aspect here is time and opportunity. As others have noted, having 11 other players only works if you can all commit to a regular time to play simultaneously. If you can't or someone doesn't show up because of real life obligations, well, you're back to PUGing anyway just like any other game.
Joining a unit isn't just a simple matter. You have to pick one after researching (where I have no idea - I've so far only found people giving unit websites in game - sometimes), then apply and be accepted. Once you are, you then have obligations to fulfill. Not everyone can do that - some people don't have time and resources to commit to that kind of thing but they still want to play the game. In the past in other games I've actually used PUGs exclusively (peppered with friends I meet along the way) instead of joining a guild/clan or in this case unit. Partly that is because of the reasons I outlined, partly because I frankly find it more fun to play with people who are a surprise, and partly it is also because of the drama and politics people end up dealing with when it would be more fun to just play the game. Maybe there is less of that here, I dunno.
It's not even a matter of bias toward 12 man groups, either. The way the algorithm is described, even if there were 100 single players they might *never* be put into a drop because the only way people in small groups or alone will ever be picked is to fill out a premade group that lacks players. And even then, that group will not get dropped if there's a 12 man, even if they come in later. It's kind of sad, too, because it also means that even if 100 people want to defend the planet, the attackers can automatically win if none of those 100 people are part of a premade group.
As for me, I am a beginning player, very much a novice. I am trying to learn but there is a steep learning curve and I haven't found a lot of information on strategy and whatnot. So what I learn is mostly by watching and listening to players who seem like they might know what they are doing. Until I can get a lot better than I am now I would probably not be welcome in a hardcore group, for good reason. I do intend to do that, but this is going to be true of anyone new, and although I expect to continue to improve I probably won't become some kind of champion tournament winning powerplayer. I don't see the problem with having two PUGs fight each other. The feature is supposed to be a matchmaker. Taking people who want to play and putting them into groups is what matchmakers are supposed to do. Having people have to create a group before they start the matchmaker basically means there is no matchmaker to speak of.
That said, all of these features are welcome. The global chat may help, although I have never seen anyone talking there. People apparently tend to use outside sources for communication, maybe because there used not to be any in-game means. They also often still use teamspeak (which you must set up and know what teamspeak group to join or whatever) instead of the in-game voip, which is kind of a side issue not really germane to this conversation. As side note, there's also the matter that you can't friend people during or after a match, even if you could possibly have time or do it during the countdown or results. I basically try and have pen and paper handy and write down the names of players I might find interesting who may or may not accept the request, and then friend them afterwards. There's no log or information about people you played with before so that seems to be the only way to do it.
Shouldn't people be able to play and learn before they try and figure out what unit they can join? There's no other way to practice shooting at moving targets, much less ones that shoot back, than joining in either CW or the regular conquest/assault/skirmish. No one is going to be good overnight - it takes time. I think an elitist attitude is more antisocial than being willing to play with anyone willing to play with you, anyway - no offense.
