TheLastUn1corn, on 05 March 2015 - 05:45 PM, said:
So, right now I feel like the Invasion game mode is geared towards a very small percentage of MWO players: the ones who have a group of 12 (or something like 10 at least) people to play with, so they can drop as a homogenous group with superior communication and organization. Now, what seems to happen really rarely at the moment, is that such groups are paired up against equal groups on the other side. Most of the time I see the Matchmaker putting a (nearly) full group against a PUG, that contains either only small groups or, more often, no groups at all.
Most of the time, the outcome of this is rather enraging: the full group just stomps the PUG, sometimes without even losing some 5 mechs. I had 4 invasion matches today, and all 4 went on like this.
So what are the results of this? Community Warfare, being held up as the shining example of where MWO is going to be in several years, is actually rapdily losing player support: a lot of single players and mini-groups are disappointed of how terribly unbalanced most matches are and therefore decide to play CW less often. Today, a player even told me in the chat: "It's not fun. In fact I never had fun in this mode".
To me, this is really sad, as I remember the time when CW did just come out: no big groups would fill the lobbies; instead, it was almost always PUG against PUG with only minor groups inside. Back then, this mode was fun for everybody, down to even the most casual player, now it's only fun for a selected few. Bearing this in mind, "Elite Warfare" seems more of a correct term to describe this mode as it is now...
So, what could be done about this? I suggest adjusting the Matchmaker in a way that would make big groups stand up against other big groups instead of taking a full group on one side and trying to puzzle up a PUG on the other. To achieve this, I would vote for a more general lobby system: to most players it is not important, what exact planet they are attacking or defending right now as the whole galaxy system isn't really working as promised so far. So why don't we make it so that players of one faction would join a single lobby, from where they would then be redirected to any planet where an equally qualified enemy group is formed. This would result in Groups fighting Groups and PUGs fighting PUGs on separate planets. As a result, group players, who are enjoying (or maybe not so much) a big grindfest just now, would get more of a challenge while solo players and small groups would be able to reasonably participate and have fun in CW.
What do you guys think about this? Are you group or solo players, and what are your experiences on this topic?
As a soloer, or grouper when the opportunity presents itself, I think the mode needs a lot of work and variety before it really begins to work correctly. Knowing this I really only play MWO and CW when I'm in the mood. I have so much game-age to play, and if I'm not feeling mechwarrior, I don't play it. As a result, I usually enjoy CW when I play, even if I lose, because I enjoy the experience. Sometimes I don't want to play CW and run the normal queue for a while. Generally, I'm feeling MWO once or twice a week. It does a lot for me to prevent the burnout the game has a tendency to induce, and it's flaws while remaining evident don't grate on you as badly. I think CW really should be a mode where you be there if you want and already bring your playstyle to the table, then do your best to work that playstyle into what your team needs.
Solo-ing is difficult, but if you are solo-ing I think your expectations should be "mercenary" and you should accept that someone will be issuing you orders, if you do not want to play that way, you must be in a group. As a Solo player, you are a body in a mech, and due to that, you must make an effort to be more than that, communicate more, not less, and try to integrate into the team.
I think that's fair expectation, I also think that you shouldn't have trial access in CW for all 4 mechs, you MUST have at least 2. This is the "endgame" content and you should be familiar with controls and mechbuilds, I think we should have more experienced pilots in CW with this type of structure. It's NOT to keep out players, as they could just buy in, but it's giving them an opportunity to play the game and have access to certain content once they've had time to familiarize themselves with more of the intricate things the game offers. I'm for improving the experience for gamers, and throwing into this cauldron of CW which is sort of Laddered by default is like asking players who just started an RPG to fight the final boss at lv 1. It's not fair to them. They should be someone locked out, it should feel like their fault when they go into something too soon. Give them the options sure, but we should be attempting to corral most things, if a few jump the fence, they may succeed, but they also jumped over the fence, it's not like they can't just bounce back over.
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