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It was mostly doomed because it did not address the problem it was meant to solve!
Remember the bad old days when a 4-person group would utterly dominate an 8v8 match?
Remember how much better the matches became once the players grouping could only drop against other groups, and those pugging could only drop against other pugs?
That is the problem that needs to be addressed.
Granted your 'non-unit queue' sort of addressed it, but only at a cost to players of having to leave their units entirely whenever they wanted to pug (impractical from a cost-standpoint of small units, flatly impossible to support from large units), and not removing unit-pugs from the unit-queue. I can't speak to the quality of the games in the non-unit queue. From a few that I have talked to that played in it, they were really good games. As for the quality of games in the unit queue they were, frankly, much as before--that is, a team of pugs against a group of 8-10 with a couple of pugs (unlike some I don't particularly enjoy one-sided stomps no matter which side I'm on).
You addressed this problem in the 'public' portion of MWO. Yes, it took some time. Yes, there were grips. ELO was replaced with PSR and there is probably still room for improvement. But the point is, it got done. Player experience improved. Player experience has continued to improve.
But I am probably not alone in experiencing games that are more fun and more fun games there than I do in FW. And that is a problem that has not been addressed. Not really. The split solo-unit queue was perhaps a nice try. I am in a unit. I like being in my unit. I respect my unit enough not to stick them with a fee for me to rejoin just so that I could leave long enough to try out the solo-queue. As I said, most of those I've talked to who tried it really enjoyed the games in the solo-queue. But from the unit-queue perspective, the games did not improve.
Those same improvements to the 'public' games has has not carried over to FW and it needs to. Maybe not in the exact same way. Different game modes require different solutions. But there is a solution out there. And you need to find it. Badly. Because the quality of the games I get in FW does not live up to the quality I expect having played in the public queue, and that is a major turn-off for those who've played in the public matches, had fun, and decide to give FW a try.
Maybe full-up split queues with match-maker aren't practical. But there are interim steps, ones that you actually had previously in the public game mode. For example, limiting the size of group that can drop against pugs. Or requiring groups of equivalent size form the core of opposing teams.
Also, balancing population of IS v Clans instead of across factions. Yes, a 10% split would be just about ideal if everyone was attacking each other, but they aren't. The Clans are running into Marik, Liao, and Davion defenders, while getting attacked by FRR, Steiner, and Kurita. Your population isn't balanced. it is 2:1 imbalanced.
Edited by Kael Posavatz, 30 April 2016 - 09:33 AM.
