11 replies to this topic

[Marquis De Lafayette]

question for the community:

Whichever side has the lower active population due to Merc swings (both sides have experienced this in Civil War) gets instadrops more often than not. Experienced FW players can usually set their own decks fine in the time allowed. However I have found that without VOIP in the lobby it's often not possible to both set your own deck and communicate what kind of deck we would recommend any PUGs or smaller groups run to match up with what our group is running. There just isn't time in an instadrop.

This is actually probably an unintended (by PGI) disadvantage to the side getting the instadrop as the other (waiting) side might have had several minutes of (boring) waiting to communicate on what to run...as we often have done when we are the ones waiting.

I wouldn't mind a 15-60 second increase in the countdown timer when the match gets made to allow both sides to be on more equal communication footing with teammates. Even 30 more seconds might just allow that....and yes I know that many PUGs don't have always have dropdeck options, don't want to coordinate or don't listen anyway. This is for the ones that do want to try to work with what a unit dropping with them is calling.

Thoughts on a slightly increased time in a "made-match" lobby?

Edited by Marquis De Lafayette, 01 September 2017 - 07:54 AM.

[Ryoken]

It's a good idea. Do it.

[Van mw]

Issue to the public MWO issue-tracker added.

[Leone]

I completely disagree. I completely understand wanting to assist the pugs, but don't see the need to expand on the timer.

You pick your mechs based on the map, and a minute's always been enough for me, even without swapping dropdecks. It's really the pug discussion that's the drawback, and that could take more'n just an extra minute. If you wanna help someone out with dropdeck suggestions and CW mech drop strategies, I'd suggest chatting with em in game between waves, and inviting 'em to group up after the match.

You can rely on experience players to get set up with a quick, "Mid-range to brawl, heaviest to lightest please." The ones who'll need more time'll prolly need more'n just an extra minute, so take em aside after the match.

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 01 September 2017 - 02:11 PM.

[Van mw]

Leone, one minute was enough for me when I was playing FW a lot. But once I stopped dropping there on regular basis it became tough to make changes in time. Because now I should remember what mech has which loadout. And it used to be easier becase we, at least, knew the mode beforehand. Today you don't know anything before you start counting down.

If my team has dropcaller one minute is not enogh - 20 seconds are spent on listening to requirements and only 40 seconds left for actual pick-the-right-Mech mini-game.

[Commander A9]

You got plenty of time to organize mechs and weapons BEFORE you click launch....

[Deathlike]

The issue is more about communicating this to teammates rather than your own deck.

If your team is already set up and waiting, then usually this "combined group" doesn't need additional time. It's when you're than "solo pug" or group that was just added to complete the required number for dropping is when that time isn't sufficient to communicate with everyone else (1 minute is good enough for setting up your own dropdeck, but not necessarily syncing it with everyone else).

This is why I usually advocate for people to join up faction TSes in advance so that such preparation is done beforehand. There's no functionality currently set up in MWO to do that (only until you actually drop is when you can directly communicate, but by then, it's too late to adjust mechs you need for the drop).

Edited by Deathlike, 01 September 2017 - 10:21 PM.

[Marquis De Lafayette]

Leone, on 01 September 2017 - 02:09 PM, said:

I completely disagree. I completely understand wanting to assist the pugs, but don't see the need to expand on the timer.

You pick your mechs based on the map, and a minute's always been enough for me, even without swapping dropdecks. It's really the pug discussion that's the drawback, and that could take more'n just an extra minute. If you wanna help someone out with dropdeck suggestions and CW mech drop strategies, I'd suggest chatting with em in game between waves, and inviting 'em to group up after the match.

You can rely on experience players to get set up with a quick, "Mid-range to brawl, heaviest to lightest please." The ones who'll need more time'll prolly need more'n just an extra minute, so take em aside after the match.

~Leone.

It think you misunderstand what I was raising as the question. It's not the time to craft a major plan or give instructions that would be really helpful...Actually it's the time to be able to simply type in "bring Short range brawlers vomit wave 1" or something short, while making any mech swaps you might need to make in your own deck that is the question. So, Is 60 seconds always enough to both swap mechs out and give even a one sentence typed instruction early enough for them to read and adjust their decks to? Or would 75 secs (or more) make a difference to the instadropping team? I can make 4 swaps in 40 secs...it's the time to see the map and mode, make a call on what to bring and communicate the call in chat and make 4 possible swaps where it gets tight time-wise. But maybe it's just tight, but enough time...idk....that is why I was asking the question. I really didn't have an agenda in asking the question. It just crossed my mind and thought it would be worth having the community weigh in.

Edited by Marquis De Lafayette, 01 September 2017 - 10:26 PM.

[Tier5 Kerensky]

This is very true, two days ago I switched to Clan and even the waiting time to get a friendly team is quite a lot, after that we still have plenty of good time to talk a little about what mechs to take ect. Never really had that when playing IS.

[Khalcruth]

I will also note that the 60 seconds we have now...really isn't 60 seconds. I think we've all become used to the fact that if you don't have your changes in by the 10 second mark, it probably won't "take", and any changes you made will not apply to the current match.

Personally, I'd love it if the timer was 90 seconds rather than 60.

[LordNothing]

no to increasing the timer (there are enough of those time sinks in the game as is imho), but voip in lobby is a thing that should be. and really all it takes is 'go light', 'assaults first' (which is the default mind you), 'bring range', 'go brawly' and my personal favorite 'no lerms' are usually enough. i can imagine a pug having trouble quickly making changes to their decks being an issue the first couple times. eventually they learn to keep alternates in their favorites list or have a couple decks with different usage scenarios ready to go.

and really the worst pugs are the stubborn ones who claim they know whats best, then bring a bunch of trials, unmastered mechs, lerm boats and other terrible builds.

Edited by LordNothing, 06 September 2017 - 09:32 AM.

[Marquis De Lafayette]

I would for sure be down with trying voip in lobby as an alternative.. as is (after a week on the IS side with nothing but instadrops) I have to say I have gone from "this could be a real issue" to being a believer that it kinda, actually is real disadvantage to the instadropping team . For the reasons listed above in this thread

I get the timesink issue....I (and 07') have been Clan for the last year, so I hate the crazy waits...but let's face it....active population is stacked Clanside at the moment....and if any "population stacked" side unit or solos doesn't like an extra 15-30 seconds of waiting (on top of a long wait to get a match) they could always try moving to the less populated side. No waiting at all for a match.

I mean it's hard to make the arguement that you are willing to wait 20+ mins for a match, don't want to do anything yourself to help balance population (by switching sides...shorting your wait time) and are yet also totally unwilling to wait even 15 secs more so the other side can feel they can set up in a more equal (or at least basic) manner. I mean even 30 sec more wouldn't be a big deal

Edited by Marquis De Lafayette, 08 September 2017 - 10:47 AM.