83 replies to this topic

[LORD ORION]

Viktor Drake, on 22 July 2017 - 11:04 AM, said:

Yeah, I don't understand why the FP match scores are so low. I average like 300 in QP and it isn't uncommon for me to hit 400-500 match scores fairly often. In FP, I am averaging closer to 200 so the grind is brutal. Personally I am stopping at 6400 because I just don't like FP enough to play around 50-60 matches to get the faction pattern. The challenge should have been about half that amount to clear.

Because you have 4 mechs.
Don't lose all 4 and your score won't be divided among them.

[SOL Ranger]

It's one of those burn out events that lures in willing newbies and casuals still willing to give FP another try, but instead burns them out, makes them hate the game, take a break or even quit.

Don't do it, the rewards really aren't worth it when it's well above dozens of hours of dedicated gaming much without even having fun in the process.

I'm just happy PGI kept the rewards sane enough so I didn't feel compelled to grind it out.

[LordNothing]

Rampage, on 22 July 2017 - 11:38 AM, said:

When they did the solo-group FP split they made it so that you had to have a unit tag to get any rewards. They also made it so that anyone that had a unit tag had to be in the group queue even if they were in a one man "vanity" unit. The split queue was designed to fail so that PGI could say "We tried that and it did not work." The big units celebrated because they got their dwindling supply of baby seals back.

All they had to do what set it up exactly like the QP solo-group split.

I get that FP is supposed to be for Team play. That is fine but there is not training ground for faction play. That is what the solo queue for FP could have provided. So what we are left with is a dying mode that no amount of rewards or bandaids seems to be able to get back on its feet. Sad!

my one man unit name is short for 'some kind of dirty hack' a reference to the hack used by the better pugs in order to gain ranking rewards. this hack was directly sanctioned by russ when phase 3 rolled out. i thought it was silly, hince the name. its not so much vanity as wanting to grind the merc tree. i should point out you could have still been a solo loyalist and climbed those trees, its just by that time everyone had already picked all the low hanging fruit thanks to the old contract system and wanted a virgin tree to grind.

not giving the freelancers a tree was a bad idea and probibly lead to the low solo queue turnout (i played 2 games as freelancer before going loyalist and then after a couple more mech bays, merc). also people overlook scouting. it was like the first new mode we had in years and everyone was playing that. no wonder nobody showed up for invasion. then not letting the event run with a split queue was a bad move. that was your chance to sell it to the pugs. then anyone who hadn't already left in disgust got discouraged by the long tom. phase 3 was a long string of cascade failures.

id actually restructure the whole thing, allow solo mercs, then turn freelancer into the training mode it should have been. freelancers would get their own tree, they would have to complete part of it to change career path. it would contain things useful for fp like several mechs that tend to do well in fp. if you are a new player and only have access to trials, you can still grind the freelancer tree and by the time you unlock the career path choice you should have a quasi-usable dropdeck. i dont think i would have a separate freelancer queue at this point, just some slightly more strict team formation rules. like a freelancer would only be slotted into a game with equal or superior group disparity (in other words they only drop in games where the bigger group is on their side or if its even). this way they either drop with a team which they can learn from, or end up in an all pug match, never a seal clubbing.

[davoodoo]

Its not even about fp, its about playing solo against premades.

They could split q but then ppl are so burned out they wont give it another chance. Even if pgi did it properly this time for more than a week with actual rewards on solo q...

Edited by davoodoo, 22 July 2017 - 01:04 PM.

[LordNothing]

its a numbers game. there arent even enough players for a single bucket clan vs is to work. now divide by 2. all it will do is double your wait times. soft queues would be a better solution. any large group (say 6 players or more) may only drop in a game opposed against another large group (of 6 or more). pugs on the other hand drop anywhere there is a hole. this will make sure there is never a 12vpug situation, at most its going to be 5+pugs vs pugs. you can still get clubbed but at least theres a fighting chance.

[Spheroid]

I guarantee the population of Clan premades outnumbers those on I.S. side. Which notable mercs are I.S. right now? As I type this I just got stomped by a 10 man of IREX.

I dropped against you as a pug at least twice today and we won. Don't blame premades.

[davoodoo]

Spheroid, on 22 July 2017 - 01:15 PM, said:

I guarantee the population of Clan premades outnumbers those on I.S. side. Which notable mercs are I.S. right now? As I type this I just got stomped by a 10 man of IREX.

I dropped against you as a pug at least twice today and we won. Don't blame premades.

Doesnt need to be notable to beat clan pugs which dont even call out targets most of the time...

Edited by davoodoo, 22 July 2017 - 01:17 PM.

[Red Shrike]

I want to like FP, but Siege is mostly the defenders camping the crap out of the attackers and blasting them with an alpha every 15 seconds when one of them dares to peek through the open gate.

Attack/Defend maps like these would get me to play more FP. And they all have at least 1 thing in common.

Spoiler

[Zergling]

Played a few battles, remembered just how much I hated Siege mode, went back to QP.

[davoodoo]

Zergling, on 22 July 2017 - 01:57 PM, said:

Played a few battles, remembered just how much I hated Siege mode, went back to QP.

Welcome to the club i guess.

[chucklesMuch]

When I have the time and there is an event on I genuinely enjoy FP/CW yesterday my daughter had an unexpected play date for the afternoon so I had time for 5 instant drops... and really enjoyed it.

It the waiting that normally/mostly puts me off FP/CW

[Chados]

Only way this merger idea works is if you mix tech and let IS and Clan run each others' mechs. Otherwise if someone goes loyalist they can't run their mechs from the other faction anymore. And you'd have to have a solo FP queue so people can run without being in a unit. And import the matchmaker into solo FP queue.

[The Trumpet of Gabriel]

It would be a lot more enjoyable if the pug groups would communicate. The rare occasions I have dropped with a pug team willing to work together it was a very enjoyable experience, but unfortunately that is the exception rather than the rule.

[davoodoo]

Chados, on 22 July 2017 - 05:23 PM, said:

Only way this merger idea works is if you mix tech and let IS and Clan run each others' mechs. Otherwise if someone goes loyalist they can't run their mechs from the other faction anymore. And you'd have to have a solo FP queue so people can run without being in a unit. And import the matchmaker into solo FP queue.

Well, i kinda expect loyalists to actually commit to the faction but lesser penatlies for leaving wouldnt hurt either.
Maybe instead have loyalist earn fp only if they play proper faction mech.

[Mystere]

davoodoo, on 22 July 2017 - 10:32 AM, said:

I Remember Now Why I Dont Play Fp.

That you can't hack it as a solo player?

This 100% solo player is deeply disappointed. But then again I'm a different kind of special snowflake.

Rampage, on 22 July 2017 - 11:38 AM, said:

When they did the solo-group FP split they made it so that you had to have a unit tag to get any rewards. They also made it so that anyone that had a unit tag had to be in the group queue even if they were in a one man "vanity" unit. The split queue was designed to fail so that PGI could say "We tried that and it did not work." The big units celebrated because they got their dwindling supply of baby seals back.

Considering many created 1-person units precisely to avoid the solo queue, I don't think all those erstwhile "solo" players were actually baby seals. Some of them had bites that hurt.

Monkey Lover, on 22 July 2017 - 12:15 PM, said:

I agree this killed it everyone on our house faction just went from solo to small u it's or 1 man units.

Problem is they did this so units wouldn't sink drop into solo. In the end you still have the same problem.

People who created 1-person units knew exactly what they were getting into.

Edited by Mystere, 22 July 2017 - 06:28 PM.

[Mystere]

jss78, on 22 July 2017 - 11:31 AM, said:

I'm beginning to feel this is the only way to go. Player base are just spread too thin now.

With solos and groups in a single queue FW is a complete non-starter -- it'll never attract players.

If there're not enough players to support a separate FW solo and group queue -- even after merging all the factions -- I'm not sure what else there is left to do.

In other words, junk the 5 year old filler -- quick play -- and build CW as it was originally meant to be: the game.

[Mystere]

naterist, on 22 July 2017 - 12:15 PM, said:

i was thinking about it. this split the ques idea doesnt fully fix the problem.

instead, to maximize competetiveness and speed of queing, they should only allow a lobby to form if a group is qued. then fill in the rest of the team with qued sollos/a call to arms. oppossing team bust be based around another group, with solos likewise filling in the edges.

then, and this is the most important part of it all, pgi needs to have an inclient way of communicating this information to people when they que, so that if a solo is waiting forever, they know they have a better chance of getting a match in a group. also, no 12mans v 12pugs anymore.

This!

[jss78]

Mystere, on 22 July 2017 - 06:22 PM, said:

In other words, junk the 5 year old filler -- quick play -- and build CW as it was originally meant to be: the game.

I don't disagree, but in practice I'd expect PGI to be extremely conservative in changing quick play in any way.

QP is the one and only game mode in MWO that attracts a substantial player base. Without QP, there would be no game.

Let's suppose they do merge QP and FW. FW has a well-deserved poor reputation, and if they failed to communicate clearly the purpose of the merger, there'd be a real chance of knee-jerk reactions like "omfg they're forcing us to play fw k bai". And that'd be the end of MWO.

Edited by jss78, 22 July 2017 - 06:29 PM.

[davoodoo]

Mystere, on 22 July 2017 - 06:18 PM, said:

That you can't hack it as a solo player?
This 100% solo player is deeply disappointed. But then again I'm a different kind of special snowflake.
Considering many created 1-person units precisely to avoid the solo queue, I don't think all those erstwhile "solo" players were actually baby seals. Some of them had bites that hurt.

Yeah sure, want to beat me with the fact that i didnt commit to any unit?? go on

But you cant in all honesty call it fun when youre being lumped 12 randoms vs 4 randoms + 8 man premade about 4 times out of 5

Also no wonder some ppl actually created solo units to play in group que as solo q given no rewards and because of that no one bothered... theres qp for that ****, half the hassle twice the fun.

Mystere, on 22 July 2017 - 06:27 PM, said:

This!

so basically old system with 1 bucket is the great idea?

jss78, on 22 July 2017 - 06:28 PM, said:

Let's suppose they do merge QP and FW. FW has a well-deserved poor reputation, and if they failed to communicate clearly the purpose of the merger, there'd be a real chance of knee-jerk reactions like "omfg they're forcing us to play fw k bai". And that'd be the end of MWO.

well time to get your praying beads and repeat like mantra "nothing will change for you until you go loyalist"

Edited by davoodoo, 22 July 2017 - 06:33 PM.

[Ex Atlas Overlord]

Monkey Lover, on 22 July 2017 - 11:23 AM, said:

When they split the Q before there was very few solo players. I remember Russ saying something like 2 matches the whole week.

They also didn't actually TELL anyone except the group players they had done it.

Nothing in the mechlab.

Nothing on login.

If you weren't already a hardcore MWO that follows the twitter and forums, you had no clue it was up for a whole 3 days.

They designed the "split" to have terrible results so they could say it was a failure.