12 replies to this topic

[Nightmare1]

PGI really needs to take another pass at balancing in FP. I know that the population is low, normally, but then the weekend events arrive and the population swells to be too much. Today, I played 12 matches. I lost 11 badly, despite being the top scorer in 9 of them. Every match, there were people incapable of scoring at least 1000 damage, with the fewest number being 3 pilots, and the largest number being 9 pilots.

These people shouldn't even be allowed in FW, in my opinion. I think the easiest and quickest way to balance FW is to gate access to it. It could be something simple like restricting access to FW to pilots who are T1 and T2 only. Granted, there are a lot of bad players in those Tiers, but they are, on average, better than the ones in Tiers 3-5. Or, it could be something else.

I have witnessed players shooting the Orbital Gun instead of its generator, because they don't know what to shoot and are brand new to the game. I met another guy who was coming back after a long period of inactivity (hadn't played since Beta) and decided to get back into the game experience via FW. He didn't break 300 damage that match, despite using all 4 of his Mechs.

Basically, in the small group/pug FW matches I found myself in, the players just didn't know how to fight, and played like it was a regular Quick Play pug match. Of the 12 matches, only 2 had large groups (6 or more pilots), so I can't really say that large group smashing is a problem for me. I just get tired of looking at the scores and seeing 4 pilots with ~1000 damage, 2 or 3 pilots with ~1500 damage, 1 pilot with ~2000 damage, and all the rest of them with a paltry 200 - 800 damage while every single player on Red team all has >1000 damage.

Right now, to me, the Clans and IS seem relatively balanced. Last Event, I was winning a lot of matches as the IS, and it was the opposite issue. The matches were actually ending too quickly to build good scores. This week, instead of a win streak, it's a loss streak. The common denominator in both events, was that the losing team had an overwhelming number of bad players who had no reason to be in FW.

What are y'all's thoughts on gating access to FW? I know that PGI put that pop-up disclaimer in there for when people click on FW, but it does not seem to deter people in the slightest from trundling in where they shouldn't be.

[Davegt27]

yeah I should not be in FP but I find myself drop calling most of the time
maybe its the E7 in me

[Tavious Grimm]

You realize you just argued against yourself? You know the FP pop is low yet you want to keep players out? This is just another thread of separate the premades from the solo players, they tried it, didn't work. Get over it and game on.

[Leggin Ho]

Nightmare1, on 26 August 2017 - 07:32 PM, said:

PGI really needs to take another pass at balancing in FP. I know that the population is low, normally, but then the weekend events arrive and the population swells to be too much. Today, I played 12 matches. I lost 11 badly, despite being the top scorer in 9 of them. Every match, there were people incapable of scoring at least 1000 damage, with the fewest number being 3 pilots, and the largest number being 9 pilots.

These people shouldn't even be allowed in FW, in my opinion. I think the easiest and quickest way to balance FW is to gate access to it. It could be something simple like restricting access to FW to pilots who are T1 and T2 only. Granted, there are a lot of bad players in those Tiers, but they are, on average, better than the ones in Tiers 3-5. Or, it could be something else.

I have witnessed players shooting the Orbital Gun instead of its generator, because they don't know what to shoot and are brand new to the game. I met another guy who was coming back after a long period of inactivity (hadn't played since Beta) and decided to get back into the game experience via FW. He didn't break 300 damage that match, despite using all 4 of his Mechs.

Basically, in the small group/pug FW matches I found myself in, the players just didn't know how to fight, and played like it was a regular Quick Play pug match. Of the 12 matches, only 2 had large groups (6 or more pilots), so I can't really say that large group smashing is a problem for me. I just get tired of looking at the scores and seeing 4 pilots with ~1000 damage, 2 or 3 pilots with ~1500 damage, 1 pilot with ~2000 damage, and all the rest of them with a paltry 200 - 800 damage while every single player on Red team all has >1000 damage.

Right now, to me, the Clans and IS seem relatively balanced. Last Event, I was winning a lot of matches as the IS, and it was the opposite issue. The matches were actually ending too quickly to build good scores. This week, instead of a win streak, it's a loss streak. The common denominator in both events, was that the losing team had an overwhelming number of bad players who had no reason to be in FW.

What are y'all's thoughts on gating access to FW? I know that PGI put that pop-up disclaimer in there for when people click on FW, but it does not seem to deter people in the slightest from trundling in where they shouldn't be.

LMFAO I'm still Tier 3 yet I have over 400 FW matches with a 20+ W/L average but by all means gate me out because I don't bother with QP matches.....

If you want to figure out someway to keep the less skilled players from playing with you, I'd suggest you group up with a full 12 man and not rely on a broken scale like the Tier bar.

[Nightmare1]

Tavious Grimm, on 26 August 2017 - 08:01 PM, said:

You realize you just argued against yourself? You know the FP pop is low yet you want to keep players out? This is just another thread of separate the premades from the solo players, they tried it, didn't work. Get over it and game on.

The population is low, but part of the reason it is low is because of the quality of the matches. New content is needed, sure, and better design. However, you also have to have consistent matchmaking. While the population may be too low to separate the groups from the solo players, there should be a way to gate it so that the true newbs (no disrespect intended), as well as any players who lack skills, don't wander into the game mode.

Also, you didn't read the OP. If you did, you would realize that I am not advocating that the group and solo pilots be separated (at least, not yet). The population is too low for that. I am merely pointing out that the matchmaking in FW is made all the worse by players who have absolutely no idea what they are doing, and/or no skills.

Had you read the OP, you would also realized that, out of 12 matches, I only fought against premades twice, and that I even stated that pugs versus premades was not an issue for me. However, it's just easier to mouth off like an idiot for you, isn't it?

Leggin Ho, on 26 August 2017 - 10:14 PM, said:

LMFAO I'm still Tier 3 yet I have over 400 FW matches with a 20+ W/L average but by all means gate me out because I don't bother with QP matches.....

If you want to figure out someway to keep the less skilled players from playing with you, I'd suggest you group up with a full 12 man and not rely on a broken scale like the Tier bar.

If you read the OP, you would have realized that I was not strictly advocating that we only allow Tiers 1 and 2 to play. I used those as simple examples. It could be Tier based, or it could be based entirely on something else. Perhaps your W/L and K/D must both be over certain values? Maybe it should be based on matches played? Last login/frequency of play? Elo?

My point, is that there should be a way to keep players out who don't know what they are doing. The method used could be anything, as long as it is reasonable and effective. Tiers are easy to understand and relate to, so I chose them for the example; try not to get hung up on that, no matter how difficult it may be for you to see past the end of your nose.

As for groups, that is easier said than done. I much prefer to drop in groups in FW, but that is not necessarily an option. It depends on if my Unit mates are online or not and, since I am a casual player who has a real job, I cannot get involved with the MegaMart Units that have mandatory playtime requirements, etc. I don't need this game to become a job.

[F A L L 3 N]

Lol, I am Tier 3 and score between 3 and 4 k every match in FP. How many matches would have we lost had I not carried the team)). How would you gate me then?) I hate QP. It is as stupid and boring as f*ck. No strategy at all. people run like headless chicken and for what? You don't get any benefits, no mech bays. It is the same sh*t every time.

Get rid of stupid QP or turn it into noob play only.

[Nightmare1]

F A L L 3 N, on 27 August 2017 - 12:59 PM, said:

Lol, I am Tier 3 and score between 3 and 4 k every match in FP. How many matches would have we lost had I not carried the team)). How would you gate me then?) I hate QP. It is as stupid and boring as f*ck. No strategy at all. people run like headless chicken and for what? You don't get any benefits, no mech bays. It is the same sh*t every time.

Get rid of stupid QP or turn it into noob play only.

Another troll with nothing to contribute to the discussion.

[Leggin Ho]

Nightmare1, on 27 August 2017 - 10:00 AM, said:

I don't need this game to become a job.

Ignoring your attempted flame comment about seeing past my nose, this one is even more funny as the group of folks I play with ALL have full time jobs yet we manage. Maybe your job is all consuming or your time management skills need attention. I can't speak for you but as i stated in my last post if you can figure out something that does not hamstring those of us that do put in the effort to group up and enjoy our play time I'm all for it, if not see the multitude of threads and posts out there that list steps to help you enjoy your drops in FW.

[naterist]

they dont even need a gate. put in something that makes clans equally attracted to new players as inner sphere, and a hard cap on how many merc units can be on which side of the slider, not by faction, put the caps for clan and is. this soft insentive with the percent population and certain houses or clans have a 10-20% cbill bonus, that crap just doesnt cut it for balancing out population.

but nope, we need solaris, and apparently this special event system, which sounds like the same type of event system that literally every other game without a deep progression system has, is going to save the mode! no one knows how, not even russ bullock himself, but apparently it will.

Edited by naterist, 27 August 2017 - 06:50 PM.

[KursedVixen]

Nightmare1, on 26 August 2017 - 07:32 PM, said:

PGI really needs to take another pass at balancing in FP. I know that the population is low, normally, but then the weekend events arrive and the population swells to be too much. Today, I played 12 matches. I lost 11 badly, despite being the top scorer in 9 of them. Every match, there were people incapable of scoring at least 1000 damage, with the fewest number being 3 pilots, and the largest number being 9 pilots.

These people shouldn't even be allowed in FW, in my opinion. I think the easiest and quickest way to balance FW is to gate access to it. It could be something simple like restricting access to FW to pilots who are T1 and T2 only. Granted, there are a lot of bad players in those Tiers, but they are, on average, better than the ones in Tiers 3-5. Or, it could be something else.

I have witnessed players shooting the Orbital Gun instead of its generator, because they don't know what to shoot and are brand new to the game. I met another guy who was coming back after a long period of inactivity (hadn't played since Beta) and decided to get back into the game experience via FW. He didn't break 300 damage that match, despite using all 4 of his Mechs.

Basically, in the small group/pug FW matches I found myself in, the players just didn't know how to fight, and played like it was a regular Quick Play pug match. Of the 12 matches, only 2 had large groups (6 or more pilots), so I can't really say that large group smashing is a problem for me. I just get tired of looking at the scores and seeing 4 pilots with ~1000 damage, 2 or 3 pilots with ~1500 damage, 1 pilot with ~2000 damage, and all the rest of them with a paltry 200 - 800 damage while every single player on Red team all has >1000 damage.

Right now, to me, the Clans and IS seem relatively balanced. Last Event, I was winning a lot of matches as the IS, and it was the opposite issue. The matches were actually ending too quickly to build good scores. This week, instead of a win streak, it's a loss streak. The common denominator in both events, was that the losing team had an overwhelming number of bad players who had no reason to be in FW.

What are y'all's thoughts on gating access to FW? I know that PGI put that pop-up disclaimer in there for when people click on FW, but it does not seem to deter people in the slightest from trundling in where they shouldn't be.

Wow let's bar players from playing FW huh?

That's a great way to make MORE people leave this game.

Edited by KursedVixen, 27 August 2017 - 07:40 PM.

[Commander A9]

Balance Faction Warfare, eh?

The only way that'll happen is if units are banned from playing. Don't give 'em any funny ideas...

[Jun Watarase]

In the perfect MWO, we wouldnt need to gate FW, because only new players would be playing against new players anyway. But everytime someone suggests matchmaking they just get flamed by tons of newbie bashers who don't want free wins taken away from them.

I dont mind a minor gate, but please tell us how you plan to convince PGI to do anything about it, since we know that convincing PGI to do anything is a massive task in of itself.

[Commander A9]

We're not asking for a gate or preventative measure-in fact we're asking for more people to be allowed to play because Faction Warfare needs it.

What we ARE asking for is for people to enlighten and prepare themselves properly for Faction Warfare because, precisely, there is no matchmaker, and there won't ever be one, because there doesn't need to be one, and why should there be one?

In actual combat, and in other military-esque games which require the coordination to play as effectively as the major teams do in this one for control over a persistent map, there is no system that picks your opponents for you. Steel Beasts doesn't have one, EVE Online doesn't have one, Planetside 2 doesn't have one. This one won't either.

Why? Because let's say you get a team of all-tier-1 players dropping together...how do you suppose they'll ever find a match if they have nothing but random pugs cuing up against them? What's your response then? "Oh well-guess no one's playing Faction Warfare tonight! Victory IS!" right?

Look, let's call this like it is...the people calling for a matchmaker are the ones who have the despicable unfortunate circumstance of dropping into FW alone, and finding themselves staring down the barrels of a 12-man. Who's fault is that? Theirs! Not PGI's, not their opponent's, not the system: THEIRS! Why? Because when you click "Fight Now," you give your consent to the system cuing you up to fight and pitting you against whoever's next in line. We all assume that risk, and we are all liable for our choices.