29 replies to this topic

[Kjudoon]

operatorZ, on 05 January 2015 - 01:45 PM, said:

I hope we don't have a "prayer" base...that would be horrible.....

We in the Seraphim do. It's been awesome.

Then again, we're a unit for more than just playing stompy robots.

Edited by Kjudoon, 05 January 2015 - 05:52 PM.

[Screech]

Only reasons I stopped playing CW is that it is only 2 maps and has grown a little stale.

Please, if we force PGI to use up resources make some solo only CW we must have an option for solo droppers to remain in the proper CW queue. I have no interest in a solo only CW and I have no problem filling in the cracks in the group queue. There are enough good groups that easily make up for the bad ones.

Edited by Screech, 05 January 2015 - 06:07 PM.

[Thunder Lips Express]

Budor, on 05 January 2015 - 04:59 AM, said:

The public queues need to be incorporated into cw somehow in order to have the whole playerbase = cw population. If everything is part of cw i see no issues with having a solo and a group queue, it worked just fine in the past.

Agree 100 percent. Every match should be cw and effect the inner sphere. The population is way to small to support all of these different ques. The way cw is now wouldn't work with this model but someone smarter then me could probably think of something half decent where I don't have to wait 20 mins for a match to enter an auto-win game with only one team.

[Nubirak]

The way I see it, CW is not about the game, it's about the metagame.

MMOs aren't necessarily tightly balanced competitive mirror-match affairs. Like the difference between top-tier wow and Eve online. In wow, you shun the weakest link, because you have a limited amount of people to take into the raid. In EVE, every player can add something to you, even if it is little.

We can't have variable number in MWO matches, but in CW, we can. First thing is forgetting about 'population imbalances', that's never going to be fixed and any design action to prevent it will be detrimental to the whole. See WoW pvp servers. We can't expect the map to flow like it does in the canon.

Instead, this should be used as an advantage to include players in CW. This could be done by highlighting the effects of every player participation in the war. For example. Even if a PuG match fails an attack against an enemy unit, it should be viewed not as a total defeat, but tying up an enemy unit so that another force can score a victory on another battle (unnopposed, which is boring right now, but this is the problem that should be adressed, not fine tuning some nonexistant matchmaker)

This is inclusive design. Everyone can play the game and make their faction move forward. Bigger factions will move forward faster. Skill and organization are multipliers. Diplomacy is the icing on the cake.

Right now, I feel effort should be taken to balance rewards, so that defeats aren't too excruciating and maybe rewards for participating in a battle when the planet is finally captured (pillaging anyone?). This and more visibility to your contribution to the war.

Then, we need some creative way to entertain groups fighting unopposed matches. Either PvE or something else.

[operatorZ]

Kjudoon, on 05 January 2015 - 05:52 PM, said:

We in the Seraphim do. It's been awesome.

Then again, we're a unit for more than just playing stompy robots.

no offense..just meant I hope we dont have to pray to get a match lol

[Kjudoon]

operatorZ, on 05 January 2015 - 07:07 PM, said:

no offense..just meant I hope we dont have to pray to get a match lol

Me either. We save that for important stuff.

[WarHippy]

Bzerker01, on 05 January 2015 - 12:29 AM, said:

I know there has been some suggestions about nerfing this or changing that and I thought I might change this discussion to become more constructive. Please weigh in on these ideas and give your own if you have them. In general though I believe in giving advantages to units and groups more than disadvantaging solo players in CW is the way to go.

Group and PUG Queue

Quote Russ all you want about CW being more Unit focused, that doesn't mean that punishing PUGs is a good idea. PUGs wander into CW to try it out, get stomped, leave CW and maybe even MWO and don't come back. The game and PGI already has an up hill battle with marketing and selling with previous reputations earned from the games development. That being said I believe you can still make CW focused towards Units with out punishing solo players.

Separating solo PUGs and groups like is already done in public matches would help solo players experience CW to get a flavor of the game play to see if they enjoy it. Now of course you will have to make sure that these solo drops aren't going to be more effective than unit drops in the group queue. This can be done by simply making two separate counts for planetary conquests, they can averaged together, be separate, or be some other way. Making the group queue have less requirements for total victory will convince people to join units but of course there could be other things to make it more advantageous for people to join groups and Units.

Unit Perks

Units are a big thing, and should come with a big boost for the players in them. Below I will give a few examples of some things which units might get access to over your average solo players. There could always be balance issues which can be worked out, and these are generally ideas and not perfect on their own, but in general the idea is to give some advantage for people to join and play CW with a unit.

• Unit Dropships: Having Dropships which are upgradeable and multiple types of dropships would give some serious perks in a battle to units. Allowing for ships to have custom weapons load outs, dropping in ammo or repair items to aid the team as a whole. Perhaps even having Union Class and up which stay on the field to act as defense, refit, and repair for the team for the units with the most cash.
  
• Unit Commands: Being able to drop markers for unit members as well as having markers for unit members in other lances when playing in multiple group drops.
  
• Unit Mechs: Units able to donate old mechs to function like slightly modifiable trial mechs for other mermbers, with permissions. However these mechs can be reclaimed only by the original owner. This way people will be more interested in joining units as they can try out other mechs which they can tweak to see if they like with out dumping c-bills.

I'm a pug player and don't want to be separate. Stop trying to speak for me and stop telling me what I am supposed to enjoy. Your unit perks are a good idea though.

[Mystere]

Bzerker01, on 05 January 2015 - 02:24 AM, said:

I am part of a group, we learn to deal with smaller groups by coordination. I'm not making this suggestion out of frustration but more out of concern for how the community is split. There is a way to accommodate solo players while making it more advantageous for units. If you ignore PUGs you doom the game to never having a high population. If you continue to push this foolishness that CW is only for elite ultra competitive units you are punishing the PUG population from even trying the game type. If PUGs get destroyed every time they are more likely to quit than find a unit.

This insistence that PGI punish PUGing in CW is flawed and will hurt the population further. Doesn't matter if they release to Steam tomorrow the current frame work needs to change if they want to get and keep players they get from Steam. Making the game, and all game modes, accessible to all is better than closing them off and will grow the population over time.

No one is punishing anybody, at least not when this topic is concerned.

PUGs who know how to organize, work together, and follow a leader can and do give 12-mans more than just a bloody nose.

By the way, I only play solo.

[Caustic Canid]

Ecliptor, on 05 January 2015 - 06:08 PM, said:

Agree 100 percent. Every match should be cw and effect the inner sphere. The population is way to small to support all of these different ques. The way cw is now wouldn't work with this model but someone smarter then me could probably think of something half decent where I don't have to wait 20 mins for a match to enter an auto-win game with only one team.

If nothing else, it would be nice if I could put myself into a faction queue, and play solo drops until the game finds a place for me. The main reason I don't play cw is cause sitting in a lobby for 20 min is boring.

[borisof007]

Budor, on 05 January 2015 - 04:59 AM, said:

The public queues need to be incorporated into cw somehow in order to have the whole playerbase = cw population. If everything is part of cw i see no issues with having a solo and a group queue, it worked just fine in the past.

This.

I've been to both invitational tournaments, played COUNTLESS matches during beta, and took a huge break because Community Warfare was taking forever (I actually gave up hope on it).

I patched recently (it took forever because I hadn't logged on in a while), and when I explored CW in the game client it looks very promising. A lot of what the devs talked about was delivered, with one major complaint from me:

I play almost exclusively as a solo queue player, I want to pledge my loyalty to Steiner, but I don't want to have to sit in TS and coordinate with 11 other people. I played WoW for 6 years, having to get 39 others, and then 24 others, together playing for HOURS is not what I consider fun. I want to be able to hop in for an hour, contribute, and then log off and do other things.

Right now as it stands, the current queue system and CW setup is NOT solo queue player friendly, in fact I'd say it's quite the opposite. Incredibly long wait times will drive players away, not push them to join a group, with how MM is set.

A suggestion then:

Have queues 1-4 or 12 players. If there's a group of 8, sorry: Split into lances. This should keep 12v12 separate and allow the solo queue and small groups to play each other. Additionally, change the way CW works a little: Instead of choosing the planet, just funnel the players into a queue and then assign them an attack/defend based on what's needed. Or, maybe have players choose whether to attack or defend in general and then put them into a general queue for "attack". Once enough players are found, a planet is chosen for attack with opposing players being chosen to defend it. Let 12v12 groups strategically be able to pick which planets they want to attack/defend if they choose to.