18 replies to this topic

[Valdherre Tor]

Is there enough time on the clock in CW?

So basically we spend to much time walking to the gates or waiting for the enemy team to get to the gates. If anyone is in a slow assault it is just painful to wait on.

I was in 3 man the other day on Grim vs pugs and they hadn't even shot at the gens to try and get the gates open, 10 min of the match had passed before half of us said screw it and we yolo'd over the gate and started killing them/brawling them back to their drop. This match timed out and there were at least 8 mechs waiting to drop on the other side.

Now that there is more tonnage and medium mechs with the structure quirks of heavies on the field its taking longer to kill mechs down.

Most matches and stomps are over quickly and never come down to time on the clock, however when two good teams square off it almost always comes down to time or time runs out. I have seen matches decided on the clock.

Or maybe its just me, the most impatient player in MWO history that always monitors the clock.

I run mostly mechs that can go +80 kph in my drop deck, but with a timer bump I wouldn't feel so bad putting some slower options in my deck.

My question is should we poll Russ and company to bump the clock timer? What are your thoughts?






Bringing an assault mech in the attack que=

[sycocys]

Haven't really noticed a lack of time running with a team that drops 2 assaults @ ~53kph. Pugs probably couldn't do that though, but that's kind of their own problem for refusing to communicate with each other.

[Leartes]

It often takes > 10 min to lose a mech if no team makes a big push (and sometimes even if there is a big push and people on both sides drop equally fast). If I see 10 min on the clock when I drop with my third mech and the game is mostly decided I have a tendency to just yolo it.

On the other hand, if teams are running very aggressiv you can lose all 4 mechs easily in 20 minutes. So I guess it mostly comes down to pug tendency to sit and trade.

I don't think it is neccessary to make matches longer, but I'd love it if some spawns moved closer to the combat zones. Since I doubt they'll alter the maps I just hope the new game modes in the next CW iteration make reinforcing viable for both sides. This would make matches quicker and more messy .

[Wildstreak]

Oh well.
I like matches where the time runs out.
Wanting faster matches is a byproduct of Quick Play where it never happens anymore because people are too impatient.

[Cato Zilks]

They should lower the drop deck to encourage faster mechs before they increase the game clock. The last thing I want is to wait 10 minutes to get a 12 man together, 8 minutes for the defenders to que, 1 minute for drop edits, 40 minutes of assault slug-fest.

I want more than 1 cw match per hour.

[Vxheous]

Most of our games average ~19 minutes to 48 kill a team. Running out of time is more a product of lack of aggression or generally not knowing what to do (new players shooting directly at gate, etc)

[crustydog]

Time management is part of the CW match - it feels like there is a lot of time, but if you are going with four full waves, there is actually only a little bit of time for each wave. It takes time to get back from the dropzones and regroup. You have to act with a purpose, and not just stand around.

Our average match also comes in at around 19 minutes to 48 kills. Usually we are only using 2 1/2 waves to do that. However, when the competition is stiff you will then require the full 4 waves of mechs. Plenty of matches have had the timer run out with the objectives not yet achieved. I had one match where we won with 1 second remaining.

I think the timer is not bad with the current settings - however, if they bring in bigger maps - like they did with the new polar map, they also need to consider some additional time.

[Richter Kerensky]

There is absolutely enough time on the clock.

[Kuritaclan]

Sometimes i wished i had more time left. Or at least in this case I wouldn't have to rambo in the end. But jeah with the recent increase in tonnage for the drop decks on a pug vs pug match you can run out of time.

[Khereg]

For organized teams or players with a fair amount of CW experience, 30 minutes is generally plenty.

For new or timid teams or those having trouble rallying to an objective, the clock frequently becomes a factor.

I could see extending the clock maybe 5 - 10 minutes, but that would be about it.

Edited by Khereg, 22 January 2016 - 02:14 PM.

[Sandpit]

I've never had the clock be an issue except when we've screwed up, lost focus, etc. There's always been plenty of time for 4 waves to spawn, stage up at a rally point, and move out.

[Armando]

Cato Zilks, on 21 January 2016 - 11:08 AM, said:

They should lower the drop deck to encourage faster mechs before they increase the game clock. The last thing I want is to wait 10 minutes to get a 12 man together, 8 minutes for the defenders to que, 1 minute for drop edits, 40 minutes of assault slug-fest.

I want more than 1 cw match per hour.

The current state of the game farks over every assault pilot as it is, this suggestion would eliminate assault pilots for CW altogether. But hay, as long as light, medium, and heavy pilots can take anything and everything they want all is right in the world.

[Sandpit]

Cato Zilks, on 21 January 2016 - 11:08 AM, said:

They should lower the drop deck to encourage faster mechs before they increase the game clock. The last thing I want is to wait 10 minutes to get a 12 man together, 8 minutes for the defenders to que, 1 minute for drop edits, 40 minutes of assault slug-fest.

I want more than 1 cw match per hour.

Then you should play quickplay, that's exactly what it's designed for. CW matches are designed to be longer. That's their ENTIRE purpose.

[Khereg]

Armando, on 25 January 2016 - 11:31 AM, said:

The current state of the game farks over every assault pilot as it is, this suggestion would eliminate assault pilots for CW altogether. But hay, as long as light, medium, and heavy pilots can take anything and everything they want all is right in the world.

Just going to add that if the mode is specifically designed around assaulting a fixed position, bringing assault mechs would seem to be a reasonable approach... An approach that is pretty difficult to accomplish for some groups under the current scenario, that is.

After thinking about it a bit more, I think the clock could be another factor to make the mode more varied and interesting. I've said for a while that I think tonnage limits should vary by planet, which would lead to a variety of game styles even if the maps and objectives stayed the same.

For smaller tonnage limit drops, the clock could be reduced by a few minutes to reflect the quick strike from a mix of lights and mediums, while a very heavy tonnage limit would need maybe up to 15 more minutes to allow 2 or even 3 waves of assaults to lumber into position for the brawl.

Something to think about, anyway.

Edited by Khereg, 26 January 2016 - 10:44 AM.

[Bjorn Coston]

I'd be down for them reducing the amount of space you have to traverse in order to get back into the fight. Burns a LOT of time, especially if you're waiting on assaults. Although I never use assaults, I believe that if they're in the game, they should be used. They're viability shouldn't be negated because they're too slow and it takes them longer to move about the field.

[Kuritaclan]

Leartes, on 13 January 2016 - 05:44 AM, said:

It often takes > 10 min to lose a mech if no team makes a big push (and sometimes even if there is a big push and people on both sides drop equally fast). If I see 10 min on the clock when I drop with my third mech and the game is mostly decided I have a tendency to just yolo it.

Have that feeling too, mostly for the worse than the better. Stupid attitude.

[MaxFool]

30 minutes is just about perfect. It forces you to play aggressively and not waste time, yet is plenty if you do what you are supposed to do. If the team can't win in that time then they should be punished for wasting time and in general for being just too timid. I have had matches where kills are something like 30-36 when time runs out, the only way that happens is by both teams avoiding fighting, having the clock stop those horrible matches is mercy.

[Cato Zilks]

Armando, on 25 January 2016 - 11:31 AM, said:

The current state of the game farks over every assault pilot as it is, this suggestion would eliminate assault pilots for CW altogether. But hay, as long as light, medium, and heavy pilots can take anything and everything they want all is right in the world.

Assault pilots are not screwed over. Most drops in CW feature each team running at about 1000 tons for the first two drops, which averages out to 83 tons. Assaults are the main tool for CW. Right now mediums are way underused in CW. CW is the reason I joined this game and because of CW's setup I only own 2 medium mechs. That seems stupid.

Bumping the deck below 250 insures that players cannot bring two 100-tonners (soooo slow). God-forbid you have to bring a 85t and 100t instead. As it is now, there are two strategies in CW: ton-up and roll in heavy 2 by 2 following the 100t assaults (I think people call it the ball of death?) or... people snipe in battlemasters. I have never seen flanking maneuvers by a medium lance, guerrilla ambush, etc. The large drop weight forces everyone to go with heavier mechs and it dumbs down tactics.

It is sad that I have seen more advanced maneuvering by pugs on polar highlands than I see on any map in CW. (Caveat: normally people are mentally challenged on PH, but there are moments of glory. I have been part of a double envelopment there and it was awesome.)

Sandpit, on 26 January 2016 - 09:28 AM, said:

Then you should play quickplay, that's exactly what it's designed for. CW matches are designed to be longer. That's their ENTIRE purpose.

Sandpit, you could not be more wrong. CW was never built to be longer, if they built it for that they would just call it "long mode". It was built to bring an immersive community experience to the game. We get to form units and fight over planets. And yes this is best achieved with longer than 15 minute matches, but that does not make length the goal.

I am perfectly fine with CW being longer than quick-play, I think they need to be longer than QP. I pointed out that adding more time to CW matches makes them take up inordinate amount of time. If you made matches 40 minutes, it is quite reasonable to assume you will only get 1 match in per hour (see above). I should be able to fully fit at least 1 CW match and start another within an hour, I am only dropping four mechs per match. Since we get around 7.5 hours per attack window, PGI wants to make ensure that a planet can be taken without realistically needing two full squads attacking. That means we want the matches to last 35-50 minutes from first in que to battlestats. Adding matchtime compromises that.

Outside of match, I would love to see time saving things like faster que time; 5 minutes is plenty. There is nothing worse that spending 40 minutes of your life doing 3 ghost drops. If they arent going to show up then they should loose the planet quicker. It also sucks having so many AFK's because people wander off during their 20 minute wait in a CW que. If we cut time here, longer matches could work in the attack windows. That being said, I still appose them for the reasons mentioned above to Armando.

Edited by Cato Zilks, 28 January 2016 - 01:25 PM.

[Tasker]

30 minutes is more than enough time to win the match. Sack up and attack the enemy team.