Throe, on 10 May 2018 - 02:48 PM, said:
I'd like to point out here an extreme case for abuse in your system, and that is the ACW-1. Assuming it is correctly grouped in Division 1, that means now you're making all 'Mechs of 40 tons and heavier have to potentially face this wrecking ball on the battlefield, where the vast majority of them have *no* chance against it.
Yes that is correct. You may end up fighting such wrecking ball mechs, that's a problem. But if such mechs will always win no matter what, then it comes down to "its the mech that matters, not the skill of the player" which is the opposite of what the competitive solaris players on this forum says. If such mechs are so superior that it eliminates all others, then wouldn't that be a good sign that it needs to be nerfed?
Throe, on 10 May 2018 - 02:48 PM, said:
The population of players queueing for Solaris is plenty big enough. Based on my own observations and a little math, there are easily over a thousand daily players queueing for Solaris at last count. And overall player numbers are up significantly as of the last two seasons.
Unfortunately I've had different observations. At launch there were plenty of people to be found in all divisions, but now most divisions have 0 or 1, while one or two has maybe 4 (this is GMT evenings for reference). So if I want to play a mech that's not in one of the popular divisions, I don't get to play, or get at best a very lopsided match that is no fun for either party. My hope and intention of merging everything into one queue, is that you get to pick what ever mech you want, and not be forced to choose from a specific division. Maybe the player doesn't even have a viable mech in that division.
Throe, on 10 May 2018 - 02:48 PM, said:
And some players are not interested in fighting a Light when they're in an Assault too, but your suggestion ignores that for no apparent reason. At least with the Divisions, we have the option of piloting an Annihilator and actually avoiding most Lighter 'Mechs.
It was ignored for the sake of simplicity. There's no reason why it wouldn't be possible to set a minimum tonnage as well.
Throe, on 10 May 2018 - 02:48 PM, said:
More likely this suggestion will result in *more* mismatches, not less, but sure, we'd have more matches probably so why not? I don't actually mind mismatched fights, but I would mind being paired up against a clearly superior platform, beyond being paired up against a clearly superior player.
Well, it does have the potential of matching a superior mech against an inferior mech, that's true (same as what is happening in the divisions). But I would think that it's more likely to match you up with a player with the same skill level. But if this is a problem, then again it's a matter of mech being more important than skill.
Throe, on 10 May 2018 - 02:48 PM, said:
Some underperforming 'Mechs need to be buffed. Some overperforming 'Mechs need to be nerfed. Some 'Mechs probably just need to be moved up or down a Division instead. That is all. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Yes I do understand the purpose of the divisions, and as I said, they were a good attempt. However, your observations aside, it appears that the population is decreasing, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to find good matches. The trend goes towards there only being 1 or maybe 2 active divisions, while all the others seem to rot away. And when that happens, you actually only have a single queue, you just get limited by your choice of mechs.
The goal of the suggestion is to keep solaris going even with a low population. I noticed that a lot of players want divisions based on weight classes instead of these divisions decided by PGI. I noticed that a lot of players complained about not being able to bring their chosen mech to a fight, because they were in different divisions. And at heart, solaris is about mechs dueling right? So why shouldn't the players be allowed to pick any mech they want, regardless of division? Let the players figure out what works and what doesn't work instead of PGI having to come in every 3 months and decide for us which mechs are good and which isn't.
Edited by Morte Nilsum, 11 May 2018 - 03:39 AM.