I not sure that 8v8 being better is not just another case of the "grass is always greener" mentality. I did not play a lot during the time when 8v8 was the norm but I do not remember it being significantly better than 12v12. Most of my exposure to 8v8 in MWO has been watching the MWOWC and and MRBC competitive matches which I do often. I know comparing comp to QP is comparing apples to grapes but TTK certainly does not appear to be longer in those matches. Once initial contact is made matches tend to only last a couple minutes. I know, "But elite aiming Skills!" True, but presumably also those guys have elite position, map awareness and twisting skills also yet the matches still end in a couple minutes and sometimes seconds if both teams are brawl. So, I am just not convinced that 8v8 is the answer to low TTK.
Some argue that you will survive long because there are less players shooting at you. I do not know if that is really the case because a decent 8 man team will still coordinate and call targets. I have never been killed by 12 Mechs shooting me. Usually two or three are the most that can get good focus on me if I make a mistake and that is sufficient to put me down. 12 mans seem to spread out quite a bit so I do not think that their focus fire is any more deadly than 8 because most of the time it is just not possible for everyone or even the majority of players in a 12 man groups to get a shot on target.
Having only 8 players on a team certainly will make a disconnect or a derp move by one player much more significant to the whole team. It is one thing when you know your teammates and can trust them to do the right thing and not make terrible mistakes. It is quite another when you are teamed up with a bunch of strangers that may or may not even try to play as a team. Also the venues that use 8 man teams all have the option of calling a mulligan if someone does not connect and the match is reset. Quick play does not have that option and a disconnect puts a team at a huge disadvantage.
I am also not convinced that it would speed up finding games and that the games you did find would be more competitive. In order to cut down on wait time, matches have to go off on a regular basis. That means that MM is grabbing whoever is available and putting them in games as quickly as possible. This is a constant flow. The only way to insure competitive games is to slow down the process and build teams from a player pool that is big enough to contain 16 equally skilled (or at least 16 equally Tiered) players. With 8 man teams the MM would have to make more games to serve the same population . I do not think it would solve anything.
Of course, all of this is speculation on my part. The only way to prove or disprove any of it is to revert to 8v8 for a while and gather data and impressions. I am not opposed to that.
Edited by Rampage, 20 May 2017 - 07:06 AM.
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DGTLDaemon, on 20 May 2017 - 02:02 AM, said:
