81 replies to this topic

[PyckenZot]

Many have been saying just that since the inception of VOIP.
Step one is don't boss the team around. That'll give the inverse effect. But do inform the team of enemy locations, UAV sightings, general movement direction and easy kill targets.

Most players will be more than eager to react to those calls, alleviating a whole lot of carrying and majorly improving the quality of the drop. You might even make some new friends!

It's simple human nature. Most will welcome help, Few will accept unsolicited commands.

[Insufficient Skill]

I agree: Yes, there is a matchmaker. It puts together 2× 12 FIFO-selected people whose mechs' tonnage add up within a certain margin and throws them in a pool. After that, it keeps asking for map votes and gamemode votes, then loads the respective data and, et voila, made a match.

I agree as well: As higher-tier player, you will be tasked with leading and guiding your team. Where I disagree is, that it helps.
Might be related to my nickname, but whenever I try and guide my team, propose a push, announce flankers, call out UAVs you name it, no one listens.

What's really frustrating though is, as a primarily light pilot I see a very high percentage (>50) of fails on behalf of (mostly) Charlie lance, sometimes even complete fails. And that includes most of the time people with unit tags, so they cannot be complete newbies. With complete failure I mean four assault mechs each of whom fails to break 100 match score, a normal fail I would rate at <200 match score for an assault.

Of course, everyone has bad luck from time to time or maybe real life interferes. But in a light (mainly I pilot spiders, sometimes ravens and most recently I bought a lolcust) to be responsible for not only trying to lead in vain, as well as carrying damage output, it's too much most of the time. And then 4 or even 5 kills are not enough to make up for the rest... so maybe my name is appropriate after all.

Three easy things would greatly help:
- Have people earn their ranks to pilot a medium, heavy or assault mech the hard way through ranks (not c-bills).
- Remove the option to turn OFF teamchat
- Remove the option for third-person view, because that disables the mini-map, making people even more oblivious to basic positioning.

[MechWarrior319348]

Look..

Dont "boss" the team around.

The part when you start saying things is when they go off course.

You state what is happening, and you state what should be done.

Pretend that you are just a talking instruction book that is just throwing out steps.

Dont say, "Listen up team, This is what we are gonna do damnit" at the beginning of the match

Analyze where the team is going, and design your strategy around that

If they make poor decisions, you have to make the best of it. Try to salvage the ****** situations.

And of course you are going to have seriously handicapped teams, but that will be a rare occurrence.

Edited by Gigliowanananacom, 27 April 2016 - 03:40 AM.

[RockmachinE]

Some thoughts on the two basic points here.

1.) Taking charge of the game and suggesting tactics works great. Even a simple plan in PUG can give one's team a huge advantage. Everyone, well most, are on board and stick to an idea and it tends to work out. Experienced players also tend to know what works and what doesn't on what map. I believe this is a good thing.

2.) Assuming Tier 1 is somehow representative of higher skill and is some sort of center piece of the team. This is the idea I get from your post. Firstly, there's no way to know how many T1s there is on a team. Secondly a T1 player won't necessarily do better then others, have a build that is optimal for the map, or do well in that round in general.

To me the whole idea of T1s carrying PUGs or being very skilled is absurd. As stated many times, Tiers are first and foremost a representation of how much one's played not really the skill involved.

[MechWarrior319348]

Louis Brofist, on 27 April 2016 - 03:40 AM, said:

Some thoughts on the two basic points here.

1.) Taking charge of the game and suggesting tactics works great. Even a simple plan in PUG can give one's team a huge advantage. Everyone, well most, are on board and stick to an idea and it tends to work out. Experienced players also tend to know what works and what doesn't on what map. I believe this is a good thing.

2.) Assuming Tier 1 is somehow representative of higher skill and is some sort of center piece of the team. This is the idea I get from your post. Firstly, there's no way to know how many T1s there is on a team. Secondly a T1 player won't necessarily do better then others, have a build that is optimal for the map, or do well in that round in general.

To me the whole idea of T1s carrying PUGs or being very skilled is absurd. As stated many times, Tiers are first and foremost a representation of how much one's played not really the skill involved.

I didn't want to get into numbers, Saying "tier 1" was just supposed to be a representation of experience. If you have the experience, then you need to share it.

Edited by Gigliowanananacom, 27 April 2016 - 03:43 AM.

[Kotzi]

I doubt that there is any grand scheme behind the MM. Dont really see PGI as such a creative developer.

[RockmachinE]

Insufficient Skill, on 27 April 2016 - 03:36 AM, said:

- Remove the option for third-person view, because that disables the mini-map, making people even more oblivious to basic positioning.

I have yet to see a single player, literally a single player do combat or significant movement with the 3rd person drone above them. Give it a rest people. The 3rd person option is great, it allows me to see my mech from the outside, admire its animations and camo in a real environment. And that's literally the only purpose it serves!

[MechWarrior319348]

Please dont go into "schemes" or "conspiracies" here.

Start a new thread for that.


Do not start talking about third person or zoom level or **** like that. Stay in one direction.

My threads must be tidy or I go to Valhalla to rest and feed.

Edited by Gigliowanananacom, 27 April 2016 - 03:48 AM.

[meteorol]

Gigliowanananacom, on 25 April 2016 - 10:58 AM, said:

So basically, at night, or during weekends, you can play with tier 1 people and not have to worry about carrying your weight too* much(That's the fun time) these guys are the same skill level, and you can rely on them.

Lol. The majority of people who filled the XP bar are not even close to being on the same skill level. The skill gap within tiers is huge thanks to PSR boosting everyone with a positive winrate to t1 over time.

[adamts01]

It's pretty incredible how hands off PGI is with their community. Especially being such a small company with such a small community. It seriously shows. It's especially sad because there are so many die hard fans that want to see this franchise succeed and who would bend over backwards to help. All I can say after these years of hoping is "oh well."

[MechWarrior319348]

adamts01, on 27 April 2016 - 04:05 AM, said:

It's pretty incredible how hands off PGI is with their community. Especially being such a small company with such a small community. It seriously shows. It's especially sad because there are so many die hard fans that want to see this franchise succeed and who would bend over backwards to help. All I can say after these years of hoping is "oh well."

heh... hehehe......... anyone know Tina's phone number?

I mean, dont get me wrong, the actual designers, and programmers try really hard. But the company doesn't seem to have a face.........

Edited by Gigliowanananacom, 27 April 2016 - 04:16 AM.

[Tom Sawyer]

Hi we are PGI. If you would like to contact us please use twitter as any other large gaming company does.

[Holdfast]

First, I really like what you're saying in this thread; I support it completely. There's more that one way an experienced ("upper tier" player) can influence a match.

Second, the irony was strong with these back to back:

Gigliowanananacom, on 27 April 2016 - 03:45 AM, said:

Please dont go into "schemes" or "conspiracies" here.

Start a new thread for that.

Do not start talking about third person or zoom level or **** like that. Stay in one direction.

My threads must be tidy or I go to Valhalla to rest and feed.

and

Gigliowanananacom, on 27 April 2016 - 03:54 AM, said:

Also, where the **** is Tina? what does she do? I thought she was supposed to get the community's input. I thought she was supposed to pay attention to what we have to say, and make sure that there "is" a community left. When was her last post, about anything?

I know that the devs dont have time to linger in the forums. But its her job to go "hunting" for things like this. I dont want to come to her, she needs to come to us.

(not that I don't understand what you're saying, here, but pretty funny.)

[man du]

TheCharlatan, on 27 April 2016 - 02:42 AM, said:

I can confirm that trying to take command (in a gentle and respectful manner) can greatly improve the PUG experience.
I also suggest to try to follow other's orders, as long as they are not too foolish, to try to create a culture of teamwork in the PUG queue.
However, it dosen't always work, but that's OK: PUG life is still PUG life.

We call that PuG Whispering^TM in my unit. And it tends to work more often than it doesn't. I'm not top tier like OP up there, but sometimes just calling out primary targets and complimenting kills and good shooting will often bring out the best in one's team. I'll lead a charge in my Locust if it means the less than brave fatties will push around the corner and clench the victory. And if I die in said charge, I will back seat call from someone else's 'Mech, still encouraging and designating primaries.

Catra Lanis, on 27 April 2016 - 02:59 AM, said:

Might I suggest that the first one to take command keeps it the whole match, even if you think you are better qualified save it to the next match. I have seen matches when people freeze unable to decide whom to follow loosing the match in the first minutes.

I've had matches where the leadership has been fluid. I would start off the match helping to assist with opening positions, we'd get a few kills and then some other pilot would pipe up and start making calls from a better vantage point. Know what I did? Said,"Roger," moved out and complimented his calls at the end of the match. I think I hate losing more than I like to win and whatever I have to do (within the confines of normal play) to make that happen is what I'm going to do. As soon as I stop Pug Whispering^TM, the frequency of victories decreases and the more frustrating overall the game becomes.

[MechWarrior319348]

Holdfast, on 27 April 2016 - 04:27 AM, said:

First, I really like what you're saying in this thread; I support it completely. There's more that one way an experienced ("upper tier" player) can influence a match.

Second, the irony was strong with these back to back:



and



(not that I don't understand what you're saying, here, but pretty funny.)

I know, Its really hard not to start rambling, I just dont like feeling like Im pissing in the wind

I suppose I should remove that.

Also that's not ironic, that's hypocrisy, which is worse i suppose

Edited by Gigliowanananacom, 27 April 2016 - 04:31 AM.

[Holdfast]

Gigliowanananacom, on 27 April 2016 - 04:28 AM, said:

I know, Its really hard not to start rambling, I just dont like feeling like Im pissing in the wind

I suppose I should remove that.

Also that's not ironic, that's hypocrisy, which is worse i suppose

It'd be hypocrisy if you said that they were bad people for cluttering up your thread, which you didn't do. You just asked them not to, and then digressed all on your own.

And working your way up to writing a "How to effectively lead a PuG" guide isn't wasting anyone's time, and is probably as useful in its own way as trying to teach people not to stand immediately behind the assaults. (And as frustrating, I'm sure.)

[MechWarrior319348]

Holdfast, on 27 April 2016 - 04:39 AM, said:

It'd be hypocrisy if you said that they were bad people for cluttering up your thread, which you didn't do. You just asked them not to, and then digressed all on your own.

And working your way up to writing a "How to effectively lead a PuG" guide isn't wasting anyone's time, and is probably as useful in its own way as trying to teach people not to stand immediately behind the assaults. (And as frustrating, I'm sure.)

I... I dont know brah..... what were we talking about again?

[Novakaine]

Basic principle of warfare somebody somebody has to lead.
Otherwise it's just two armed mobs.
The better organized mob will almost always fare better.

[Holdfast]

Gigliowanananacom, on 27 April 2016 - 04:47 AM, said:

I... I dont know brah..... what were we talking about again?

no idea, just starting my second cup of coffee. Nothing's real until I'm done with that.

[Insufficient Skill]

Gigliowanananacom, on 27 April 2016 - 03:36 AM, said:

Look..

Dont "boss" the team around.

The part when you start saying things is when they go off course.

You state what is happening, and you state what should be done.

Pretend that you are just a talking instruction book that is just throwing out steps.

Dont say, "Listen up team, This is what we are gonna do damnit" at the beginning of the match

Analyze where the team is going, and design your strategy around that

If they make poor decisions, you have to make the best of it. Try to salvage the ****** situations.

And of course you are going to have seriously handicapped teams, but that will be a rare occurrence.

For example I see three enemy lights sneaking up around and type-chat to the team: "Careful, three lights flanking into our rear. Move and group up if you don't want to be chewed alive". How's that bossing around? And very well, half a minute later, the first one of the guys handing back and taking long-distance alpha shots at a popping up enemy is down. I repeat, pointing out what I said and what just happened. No reaction from the people staying back.

In situations like these, I just Leroy and hope to get more non-******** teammates next round.