Ted Wayz, on 27 September 2015 - 07:34 AM, said:
So Paul states that Tier 4/5 is full of players who haven't learned teamwork. And that by learning teamwork they will be able to pull themselves out depths of PSR hell.
First, I don't necessarily agree. It seems most of the players that say they are in T4 also mention that they like to play a variety of mechs or play non-optimized builds. But that isn't my main point.
If this game rewards teamwork and teamwork is the behaviour you want to promote, why would you place new players in T4? Wouldn't you want to place them in the tier where teamwork is the norm not the exception? Wouldn't you want them observing what you think are the "right" behaviours from the start?
Kraftwerkedup, on 27 September 2015 - 10:23 AM, said:
And let me just address "its a team game"
It is not a team Paul.
It is a random collection of strangers. If these random people I drop into the game with and I are a "team" then everyone who is in line with me at the super market, or in traffic with me, or riding the bus together, are a "team".
They are not.
Teams require team building (I know you know this, because you work in an office, where you have to team build). Teams require trust. Knowledge of each other.
You cant get that in the 15 seconds before you drop into a match, no matter how much you hamfist this idea that this game is about "team play" and the way the team does, the way the TOTAL STRANGERS play the game, has any bearing on you as an individual.
Youve been shoving this same idea down the players throats for 3 years, and it still doesnt work.
Hire a game designer who knows what hes doing. Youre so bad at this that everyone is relieved all youre doing for HBS's battletech game is the art work. Youre the David Shula of video games.
Have been returning to the game after some months off and, as my KD is abysmal (0.9), i was seeded in tier 4.
I have a couple of thousand games total under my belt though, all solo drops (not counting some CW events).
So: Been there, done that...
First thing is, i noticed a massive drop in overall game quality playing in "my tier". Games are usually stomps one way or another. While i find easy prey, teamwork is more or less absent. That does not mean there are only bad players around, quite the opposite: The spread between players seems much wider than i am used to. Some near 0-score guys paired with 500+ players. Turns out win/loss is often a totally random thing, 50/50 -> carry harder...
I do not see how you should be encouraged to learn teamplay though. In the end, as long as you get the best match score by solokilling stragglers/newbs you never drop (had no drop with losses and a score of 250+, so some other mechanic than absolute values seems involved). And every win gives you max. boost towards the next tier.
So actually ruthless play is rewarded, not teamplay.
As an example: While in former times it was a very viable tactic for me to spearhead a push in an atlas and die in flames for the team, now this is not rewarded at all. There is not enough coordinated play to make use of the sacrifice to secure a win (even if announced properly)
and it gets you a very bad matchscore. Not giving you a rise even
IF you win...
Not to complain though, i am pretty sure i can move out of the tier fast enough if i play like an egoistic ass consequently. It just is not a lot of fun though. And trying to coordinate a team is even more frustrating and has quite some impact on your personal performance ->
again some punishment for the individual trying to teamplay.
Thus:
PSR = fail in my opinion.
So iguess i will stay in tier 4 for a while, killing stuff with builds that are just not viable usually. Trolling the stragglers in Frankenmechs is at least fun
2
