19 replies to this topic

[mistlynx4life]

So I think I understand the PSR business as much as it can be understood. I wish, though, there was a way I could nerf myself in order to revert back in Tiers. Like, only a select set of chassis - maybe just the trial 'mechs - could be used in T5. I played this game because it looked awesome and I logged a billion hours in MW3 and MW4: Mercenaries. I kept playing because the community was so friendly and welcoming. As time has worn on, however, I've discovered things get saltier as I rise through Tiers. This may not be true for everyone's experience, I understand, and I'm not complaining about a challenge level, mind you, but just the general overall (subjective) 'fun-ness' of my average experience.

What if I could toggle some setting and drop in T5 with a trial 'mech (or even some pre-made 'mechs similar to the trial 'mechs designed/nerfed for this purpose)? It might lure more experienced players to the novice Tier where advice and tactics could be shared and the fresh perspective of newer players might inspire the veterans as well. Thoughts?

[Humpday]

I just use my Humpday alt account.

But Tier5 i mean...you can get your Ace of Spades 5x over in in T4-5.
Its a pretty extreme drop in skill level. Now when progressing through tiers in the beginning you dont' feel it, but If you go from T1 to T5, you can feel the difference significantly.

Now it is fun on the shenanigans side of things.

Slap the stealth armor on and go trolling. It doesn't work nearly as well in higher tiers BC people are more aware.
T5 though, they usually just kinda stare at you confused, then if you feign shooting at your own team while they are watching you, they REALLY get confused.

Its pretty funny TBH.

[mistlynx4life]

That's a good point too - turn off achievements for sure, lol. I mean, I just started an alt account to test a few things out and I killed the VIP with the SRM Jenner trial 'mech and got 900dmg+ or something, if I recall. It's absolutely something that would have to involve some sort of safeguards against experienced players running down there just to wreak havoc.

Still.

Maybe a Trainer 'mech or something. Mostly a support loadout (Light or Medium w/ECM, TAG, A/LMS, NARC, TC, etc.) that only earns c-bills like a Trial 'mech and doesn't affect PSR or achievements or event progression to entice veterans to mingle with the newbies. I dunno. Maybe it's just me. I'd love to do that though.

[Angel of Annihilation]

I just want to go back to Tier 2 because the game play experience I am having at Tier 1 isn't remotely fun. I am not sure what the hell the MM is doing with me but since I hit Tier 1 my K/D rating as went from 1.69 to like 1.45 which is huge considering I got like 6000 matches played and I only hit Tier 1 about 3 months ago. I am also finding that if I don't play some cheesy meta build, on some meta mech or another that I can't seem to compete where it was never a problem to just play what was fun in Tier 2/3. Finally the amount of complete stomps has dramatically skyrocketed for me and it seems that 75-80% of the matches I play are stomps, oh and it also seems I am now seeing my team lose 75% of the matches at well. I think I have like 5 wins out of 20+ matches since last Friday. I have only played around 20-25 matches since last Friday because after the 3rd or 4th loss (Usually a Stomp) in a row, I just get disgusted and quit.

Honestly I got to say that this situation has gotten me so frustrated (because you would think just by random chance I should at least be able to win 4 out of 10 matches), that I am seriously debating closing up shop and moving back to WoWS or some other game.

So yes, absolutely please free me from Crap-Tier 1 and get me back down to a level (Tier 2-3) where I actually enjoyed playing the game, either than or fix the MM that keeps placing me on the losing team. I sometimes swear that the MM sets up matches where I am grouped with poorly performing players with the expectation that since I am Tier 1 I will be able to carry them againsta more highly skilled opposing game or at least that it how it feels. This perception and I will admit that this is all it may be, is further reinforced by the strange fact that 9 times out of 10, whenever any of the known, highly skilled players and youtube community contributors show up, they are always on the enemy team (and my team gets stomped of course).

[Brain Cancer]

You want to club people in T5 with Trials?

New accounts are always free.

You want to be downtiered because your high tier is no longer fun?

Nope. The whole system is designed to funnel all remotely competent players into the top, regardless of how good they are. PSR is inevitable and irresistibly biased to advancement, and the system is basically an exp bar.

Edited by Brain Cancer, 21 November 2017 - 01:47 PM.

[FupDup]

"Sharing insightful experiences" my foot.

Most people would want this so that they could have an easier time carrying since everyone around them would be weaker than themselves. Trial mechs won't change that.

[HGAK47]

You cant please everyone but not everyone is salty. Plenty of cool / chill people out there.

As for going back to T5 early days, I think its appeal is slightly rose tinted and would lose its fun quite fast. Trust me I felt the same as you when I progressed in ranks and felt the behaviour of other players change a lot. Now I embrace it all, the wins the losses the challenges and the stomps. Just my 2p.

[mistlynx4life]

I want to be clear about something: I'm not asking to go back so I can stomp. I'm specifically wishing there was a way I could handicap myself in order to go back to the tiers where, in my experience, players are friendlier and more helpful generally and perhaps even impart some experience and wisdom on the incoming pilots. New accounts mean setting up another e-mail and bloat the Active Players numbers and boards. Also, this:

Quote

PSR is inevitable and irresistibly biased to advancement, and the system is basically an exp bar.

...is demonstrably not true. The PSR can be gamed using damage, which is what happened to me. I'm a solid T3 player. MLX-G comes out, drastically increasing my damage potential per match, and I rocket into T2 despite my efforts at stalling. I don't mind bringing non-meta builds to QuickPlay but I refuse to purposely hamstring my team by not trying. I'm not in T2 because of any other reason than increased damage that the MLX-G can put out. This doesn't mean that all players are gaming the PSR (certainly there are some really great players out there) but it means that casual players like myself can easily float upward with enough damage to outweigh our 'skill' (which explains a lot of the 'I don't feel like a T1 player' folks).

I would readily take a 'mech specifically scaled down in some way so that I could play in the T5/T4 crowd. I realize it's unlikely to happen but wondered if anyone else felt the same.

[Brain Cancer]

Quote

and I rocket into T2 despite my efforts at stalling.

That would basically be saying that you're pushed up by the system to higher tiers whether skill is involved or not, thus the system is biased towards advancement. And despite your efforts, irresistibly.

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

mistlynx4life, on 21 November 2017 - 08:59 AM, said:

So I think I understand the PSR business as much as it can be understood. I wish, though, there was a way I could nerf myself in order to revert back in Tiers. Like, only a select set of chassis - maybe just the trial 'mechs - could be used in T5. I played this game because it looked awesome and I logged a billion hours in MW3 and MW4: Mercenaries. I kept playing because the community was so friendly and welcoming. As time has worn on, however, I've discovered things get saltier as I rise through Tiers. This may not be true for everyone's experience, I understand, and I'm not complaining about a challenge level, mind you, but just the general overall (subjective) 'fun-ness' of my average experience.

What if I could toggle some setting and drop in T5 with a trial 'mech (or even some pre-made 'mechs similar to the trial 'mechs designed/nerfed for this purpose)? It might lure more experienced players to the novice Tier where advice and tactics could be shared and the fresh perspective of newer players might inspire the veterans as well. Thoughts?

Me in an IS stock mech is capable of imbalancing a T5 level match, I'm the guy poptarting in a trial nova putting full durations into CTs before I fall. Skill tends to beat mech choice in this game, the idea would just let the new players get stomped on by really good players.

You could always just make alt accounts over and over and over again if you want to do stuff. I made an alt more recently to play only a Highlander 733C, was in T3 before I finished 10 matches, couple matches in super stock.

[JediPanther]

You'll have to make an alt. Or just play horrible to drop your stats to terribad levels. I run derpy fun builds and only half way on the t3 xp bar. You have to really get some bad teams to jump between tier levels. It happens if you are on the edge of a tier. I saw my brother 'bounce' between t3 and t4 just because he got stuck with horrible teams that did about all the novice mistakes you'd expect some one just starting to learn the game make.

[Xmith]

Brain Cancer, on 21 November 2017 - 01:45 PM, said:

You want to club people in T5 with Trials?

New accounts are always free.

You want to be downtiered because your high tier is no longer fun?

Nope. The whole system is designed to funnel all remotely competent players into the top, regardless of how good they are. PSR is inevitable and irresistibly biased to advancement, and the system is basically an exp bar.

Mostly true, however getting to the top does take some doing. You have to put up the right numbers to move up.

Case in point, there are a lot of Founders still stuck in tiers below 1. Why is this a fact? It's because they do not or will not do what it takes to get to T1. Time played is not the issue. Performing and putting up the right scores will move you up in tiers. Just showing up wil not help anyone to T1.

[Brain Cancer]

By "right numbers", you mean a 250 or so match score per game.

That's basic competency in MWO. You can game the system to advance faster by padding your score with AMS/spread damage or the like, but you can't really slow it down unless you are so lost at playing that the R and W key give you issues in comprehension.

There are certainly Founders who fail at that along with everyone else. Just because you gave money doesn't mean you ever learned how to play.

[mistlynx4life]

Quote

That would basically be saying that you're pushed up by the system to higher tiers whether skill is involved or not, thus the system is biased towards advancement. And despite your efforts, irresistibly.

What you said was that it was basically an xp bar, which is not true. It's based towards a specific kind of advancement - reliably consistent high damage will override any other factor. It's not just 250 match score, it's higher than that*.

The solution, drastic though it may be, is for me to make another alternate account and specifically hold my fire for the first few matches, biding my time in T5 and amassing c-bills from the cadet bonuses until I can purchase a 'mech that I can loadout with things that don't deal a lot of damage - a Zero Damage account. I'm happy to do that but I'd so much rather just toggle something in Settings menu that flags me as unable to change in PSR, gain achievements, etc. and let me drop as a T5 with a nerfed 'mech because the first way just feels gross and messes with the numbers for the game.

*Edit: working from the information we've been given about how the PSR stuff works, which isn't complete.

Edited by mistlynx4life, 21 November 2017 - 04:08 PM.

[ANOM O MECH]

I have experimented with lots and lots of accounts.

I am not very good.

My first alt after ten games I was put in tier 2.

They were giving away a NCIX mech so I thought that would be a way to sand bag myself so I started another. Used trial direwhale and persistently ventured off on my lonesome. A quarter of the way through tier 4 is where I landed (assaults are my absolute worst weight class, followed by anything slow....).

So if you want to use trial mechs and mess around and see the differences for yourself, create a new account. PGI has no problem with you doing so as long as you don't join a different unit to be a snake with one or stuff like that.

What you will find is that there is quite a bit of difference in tier 4 and 5. Tier three plays with everyone and is sort of interesting sometimes.

But even in trial mechs, anyone in the upper almost semi competent tier.... will dominate.

[mistlynx4life]

Yeah, sorry - I'm not only interested in T5 as much as the ability to go down in Tier at all.

It's cool. I was just wondering if anyone felt the same way. Thanks for your input, folks.

[Humpday]

I think I made it into Tier 1 in about 2-3 months.
From the looks of it, it was season 8-9-10

[xengk]

I wish they would reset Tier 1 and Tier 2 into Tier 3 for new leaderboard season.

[Jackal Noble]

Ya, not a firm believer of mentality proliferated in this thread, for the most part.
I think you should stick to your @#$% original account. But mah epeen!
NO.
Anything else is tantamount to farming, and artificial boosting. Not to mention demeaning to initial players that will get turned off by that type of behavior. but hey, it's apparently the popular attitude. No wonder this is so niche.

[chucklesMuch]

I created an alt recently for curiosity... 3 games to hit tier 3. Currently tier 2... not sure I see the point. T2 account regularly faces T1 (nearly as often as my T1 account but with fewer mech choices and actually having to unlock skill maze node by node).