48 replies to this topic

[MadRover]

Mike McSullivan, on 22 October 2017 - 06:40 AM, said:

It works for buddies if they are on a good level of understanding the game and its mechanichs, aka experience.
If you just want to show new players MWO they quit faster than you can say Urbie.

Maybe PGI will get their heads back into reality faster then. It’s a seriously long shot but at this point, why bother?

[MischiefSC]

Jun Watarase, on 22 October 2017 - 06:34 AM, said:

Anyone else remember when QP used to allow 8 man teams to drop vs pugs, and then PGI implemented a group queue and limited QP to 4 man teams?

Plenty of units were sync dropping in QP to bypass the 4 man team limit instead of using the group queue. Because you know, "playing to win" means bypassing the matchmaker to club seals.

The original pug/group queue split was going to leave small teams in QP but we fought hard over that. Man QP with 4mans was so terrible.

[Admiral-Dan]

arcana75, on 21 October 2017 - 06:19 PM, said:

and one side was feeding intel to the other side via their private voice chat.

Assisting the enemy is a violation of the Code of Conduct

http://mwomercs.com/conduct

and a bannable offense. If you have proof for such behavior please send them to PGI so that everyone involved in that can be punished.

Edited by AlphaEtOmega, 22 October 2017 - 06:56 AM.

[Escef]

Bombast, on 21 October 2017 - 06:55 PM, said:

Unfortunately, sync dropping is not really considered a 'gaming sin' by the community at large, so people engaging in it and abusing it is ok.

Honestly, I think you are the only person, other than me, I've seen get irked by this sort of thing. Everyone else thinks its cool because, by and large, they do it too.

I don't mind sync dropping, so long as people aren't scum about it. It's just a chance to get people into the same match, and generally no one cares if you're on the same team or opposing teams. If you're on the same team, great, you get to help your buddies out; if you're on opposite teams, great, you get to shoot your friends (c'mon, killing your friends has long been a tradition in the world of gaming).

But the idea of syncing and then bird dogging/blue falconing your team? Deliberately throwing a match or rigging the outcome? Yeah, that's scummy as all hell. I've participated in sync drops with several streamers, I've hosted sync drop days. Including the "Hunt Escef Down Like a Dog Day" promotions I used to do (sync droppers that kill me get a prize, 1st kill against me get's a big prize; thus if you're on my team it behooves you to help keep me alive, keeps that competitive spirit going).

However, I will also say that sync dropping is FAR from reliable. Even during off peak hours with only one server selected there's no guarantee of getting in the same match.

Also, keep in mind that some units are just really large, so seeing 3 guys from a large unit in the same match during peak hours is not an indicator of sync dropping. And even then, a sync drop is just for random laughs the vast majority of the time it is done on purpose, and there is no match fixing going on.

Does sync dropping specifically to match fix happen? I wager it does, but I expect it to be very rare. But to be frank, I'd think it would be more reliable in group queue as a way to circumvent the tonnage restrictions on large teams (e.g., a team of 7 and a team of 5 sync dropping instead of a full 12 man).

[MischiefSC]

All sync dropping is ****. Play in group queue.

[Revis Volek]

Accidental synch drops are super rare, 60+ people in my unit with even 30 players on at one time i would only see my unit mates (either on my team or the other) 1 in 50 id say...

If you see people mutliple times in the same session id say they were trying to game the system. Even if it happens by chance and im on the same solo team as a unit mate i wont jump on comms with them. VoIP is enough anyway.

[Lykaon]

Bombast, on 21 October 2017 - 06:55 PM, said:

Unfortunately, sync dropping is not really considered a 'gaming sin' by the community at large, so people engaging in it and abusing it is ok.

Honestly, I think you are the only person, other than me, I've seen get irked by this sort of thing. Everyone else thinks its cool because, by and large, they do it too.

I was in a QP drop recently with three players with the same unit tags on my team and no obvious split members on the opfor (none with the same unit tags)

When my team lost I felt it absolutely a neccessity to razz the synch droppers for failing at cheating

Edited by Lykaon, 22 October 2017 - 08:38 AM.

[TLBFestus]

AlphaEtOmega, on 22 October 2017 - 06:55 AM, said:

Assisting the enemy is a violation of the Code of Conduct

http://mwomercs.com/conduct

and a bannable offense. If you have proof for such behavior please send them to PGI so that everyone involved in that can be punished.

That'd be great, but regardless of evidence, do you really think PGI would slap ANY punishment of their minions at NGNG?

[MischiefSC]

TLBFestus, on 22 October 2017 - 10:29 AM, said:

That'd be great, but regardless of evidence, do you really think PGI would slap ANY punishment of their minions at NGNG?

Yrs.

I think they would. They may not discuss it, but yeah.

[Deathlike]

MischiefSC, on 22 October 2017 - 12:49 PM, said:

Yrs.

I think they would. They may not discuss it, but yeah.

No, because NGNG.

Can't punish the marketing arm that you are paying for in the first place (even if it is the top two in charge of NGNG).

Edited by Deathlike, 22 October 2017 - 12:53 PM.

[MischiefSC]

Deathlike, on 22 October 2017 - 12:53 PM, said:

No, because NGNG.

Can't punish the marketing arm that you are paying for in the first place (even if it is the top two in charge of NGNG).

Why do you think PGI wouldn't hold it's own employees accountable? Look, you know I'm critical of PGI on a lot of things but employee management and customer service are not one of them. Never had an issue with a ticket I've sent in, every time I've been moderated (of course that's happened) it's been polite, fair and reasonable. I know in the past some people have had bad run-ins over moderation, however you can't tell me they were not constantly and consistently pushing the line. Not that it's an excuse for overractions but it's not like it was out of nowhere.

You guys keep trying to vilify PGI like it's Stratton Oakmont. It's silly to think they're all twiddling their (sparse) moustaches and planning their next nefarious act of game development in their ultimate plan to... I guess.... kill the IP they are leasing or something. They're a business fu of people working on a game. Whatever complaints you have about MWO balance they pale in comparison to what Sony did to Swtor for example, or 95% of the games on Greenlight. We complain about balance stuff we see because we have spent more hours playing it than most people spend working and we're the sorts of nerds who then also make tens of thousands of forum posts about it. It's probable that you and I together have written more words on this forum than R.R. Martin has written total about Game of Thrones, and in 1/3rd the time.

If someone just sent a support ticket about it instead of fencing off pasture for farming drama llamas on the forum about it they pro anly would have been talked to thw same way I would be talked to at work if I did something simple but wrong. So some guys on NGNG sync dropped. Uncool, report it and move on. Was thoughtless and a bad judgement call from people who are probably really, really jaded on stuff like that. I've probably done worse or said worse to some pug after a crappy night.

This is such a silly thing to even have a post about. To take it further and say that everyone at PGI is so morally questionable they would let someone breaking CoC slide cuz reasons... really? You and I are pretty salty about the game, but people are just people. Assuming the other guy makes mistakes because he's amoral but you do it by accident is a bad habit.

Edited by MischiefSC, 22 October 2017 - 04:20 PM.

[Deathlike]

MischiefSC, on 22 October 2017 - 04:19 PM, said:

Why do you think PGI wouldn't hold it's own employees accountable? Look, you know I'm critical of PGI on a lot of things but employee management and customer service are not one of them. Never had an issue with a ticket I've sent in, every time I've been moderated (of course that's happened) it's been polite, fair and reasonable. I know in the past some people have had bad run-ins over moderation, however you can't tell me they were not constantly and consistently pushing the line. Not that it's an excuse for overractions but it's not like it was out of nowhere.

You guys keep trying to vilify PGI like it's Stratton Oakmont. It's silly to think they're all twiddling their (sparse) moustaches and planning their next nefarious act of game development in their ultimate plan to... I guess.... kill the IP they are leasing or something. They're a business fu of people working on a game. Whatever complaints you have about MWO balance they pale in comparison to what Sony did to Swtor for example, or 95% of the games on Greenlight. We complain about balance stuff we see because we have spent more hours playing it than most people spend working and we're the sorts of nerds who then also make tens of thousands of forum posts about it. It's probable that you and I together have written more words on this forum than R.R. Martin has written total about Game of Thrones, and in 1/3rd the time.

If someone just sent a support ticket about it instead of fencing off pasture for farming drama llamas on the forum about it they pro anly would have been talked to thw same way I would be talked to at work if I did something simple but wrong. So some guys on NGNG sync dropped. Uncool, report it and move on. Was thoughtless and a bad judgement call from people who are probably really, really jaded on stuff like that. I've probably done worse or said worse to some pug after a crappy night.

This is such a silly thing to even have a post about. To take it further and say that everyone at PGI is so morally questionable they would let someone breaking CoC slide cuz reasons... really? You and I are pretty salty about the game, but people are just people. Assuming the other guy makes mistakes because he's amoral but you do it by accident is a bad habit.

I view it as a massive indifference, not just on my end, but on PGI's end as well.

We've had discussions on sync dropping before... pros and cons, consequences, and PGI's own arbitrary rules.

Unless there's a major outcry for this behavior (which I don't believe there is, outside of the regular whining that is generally nonsensical), there will be no repercussions of said thing. Even so, very few things that PGI deals with only gets a response with money is threatened.

Pretty much, the answer to a lot of PGI's responses is literally money driven (which is expected, but it is to a degree that isn't entirely wise).

In essence, this issue will get a non-statement and at best a slap on the wrist. This discussion will be have forgotten, and we'll be onto other things that bother the potato state. I'm serious when I say this... when you see rules (forum or otherwise) that are kinda generated and/or enforced at a whim, there's no real time or thought spent into it. I dunno... I don't want to overthink this. I know PGI isn't.

[MischiefSC]

If you sync dropped on a night of apathetic indifference and got caught, you'd probably get a slap on the wrist, a reminder and a warning.

Are you asking that they be beaten with a chair on the next pod cast? I don't disagree that it seems pretty apathetic - not sync dropping in QP is sorta the whole point of QP being solo only. Kinda a no brainer. However people make bad choices sometimes.

My expectation is that they'd get a talking to, hopefully make an apology on the next podcast and not do it anymore. Not like they were doing something really crappy like dodging specific teams to try and skew their positioning for MWOWC to steal a slot from a legitimately better team or the like.

[Stonefalcon]

You guys sure love whinging. The reason sync dropping is so common is because the community is too small. We do it a lot in oceanic because during our prime time there's only about 100 people playing. You split that amount up into solo, group, scouting and faction you will find the only way to get a drop is to go solo. Unless you have a 12 man, but then the other team whines about versing a 12 man. Unless oceanic actually organises drop nights we can't play group.

Were not actually silent on this matter either, shoutout to live for setting up the oceanic discord, but until PGI can boost the numbers this will go on.

So rather than whinging, how about you convince your mates to get into the game, boost the playing numbers and maybe you will see a reduction in sync dropping.

[Deathlike]

MischiefSC, on 22 October 2017 - 04:41 PM, said:

My expectation is that they'd get a talking to, hopefully make an apology on the next podcast and not do it anymore. Not like they were doing something really crappy like dodging specific teams to try and skew their positioning for MWOWC to steal a slot from a legitimately better team or the like.

I know the comp queue dodging is real. The irony is that I expected that to happen due to sheer fear instead of trying to want to get better.

If such a queue existed way back when... well, things would be different. Well, here we are anyways... talking more about the brown sea, potato farming, and the same random BS that is balance in this game. /shrug

[arcana75]

Bud Crue, on 22 October 2017 - 05:57 AM, said:

A couple years ago there was a sync-dropping thread and I said much the same because in my innocence I did not understand what the issue was or that such a thing actually occurred.

I was subsequently informed by a mod that yes indeed sync-dropping is a violation of the COC.
I asked support for clarification as I had reviewed the COC in some detail and was not clear on where this prohibition was stated or what clause covered it. Tina Benoit followed up and reiterated what the mod had said and pointed to:

The following actions are strictly forbidden:

• ‘Injecting’ third-party files that may not directly modify game files.
  
• Using a Bot application to carry out gameplay actions without user participation.
  
• Engaging in the use of hacks, scripts, or cheats.
  
• Discussing the use of hacks, scripts, or cheats.
  
• Misrepresenting your use of hacks, scripts, or cheats.
  
• Accusing other players of using hacks, scripts, or cheats.
  
• Disrupting or threatening the integrity, operation, or security of services.
  
• Attempting to defraud the MC, C-Bill, or XP systems.
  
• Attempting to misrepresent a situation or defraud Support services.
  
• Showing unreleased content that has not already been officially posted or approved.
  
• Displaying or discussing the results of altering or tampering with game client files.
  
• Displaying or discussing the results of injecting third-party files.
  
• Sharing any data not available through normal gameplay or official public release.
  
• Exploiting game bugs or mechanics to gain any unfair advantages or benefits, either for yourself, your teammates, or players on the opposing team.
  
• Exploiting or manipulating the matchmaking system.

Interesting. Throughout the 24hr stream the streamers were solo and group sync dropping. Anyway I called them out stream and got 3 different replies:
1) denial and confusion
2) saying it wasn't a big deal cuz a target lock would achieve the same effect
3) accepting that it happened and acknowledging that sometimes boo boos happen.

I was cool with all 3 replies tbh, wasn't picking a fight.

Also, side topic, from this list, is usage of keystroke macros allowed? Like those from mouse apps and apparently something called ADHD is popular for auto spacing UAC chained shots? My Logitech app can set several keystrokes to a single mouse button, which is useful for some situations eg pressing Z twice to zoom, or getting out of zoom automatically from a sniper shot to auto reset.

Edited by arcana75, 22 October 2017 - 06:13 PM.

[Bombast]

arcana75, on 22 October 2017 - 06:10 PM, said:

Also, side topic, from this list, is usage of keystroke macros allowed?

Don't take this as actual advice, but my understanding is that rapid fire macros are allowed as an exception by the developers. I believe its the only accepted 'program assistance' allowed.

[Kotzi]

There is no reason for syncdropping, and by the way, the bigger the group the faster you find a match because MM has to "work" less. Only reason is when you are bad at playing in bigger groups. Its much harder so people who suck splitt in smaller groups because EZ mode. And if you are in opposite teams and rig the game its even worse.

[DaRkInLiGhT]

HGAK47, on 22 October 2017 - 06:05 AM, said:

Well it could be worse... Everyone in QP could play like me in silly mechs, stupid lol builds and just for the fun of it 24/7! (How many Spider 5V`s, AC20 yen lo`s and lol panther builds do you want in your match? )

heres a build for you, cheers lol.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...d05cdd3efa51df5

[Johnny Z]