1579 replies to this topic

[Larsh]

Random side thought. Is this a factor at all when finding a match anymore, or can this be modified so maybe players can plan ahead so they can see which mechs are currently being favored?

[Spare Knight]

I see some commenters saying the "Noobs won't listen to the drop callers," but a lot of us do. We are happy when someone calls shots. You might see something that we don't. Don't give up. Let the ones that ignore you die. The ones paying attention will continue to do so. The numbers will grow.

I know RWTumbleweed catches a lot of flak, but when I have him on my team, I always ask him, "RW, would you please drop call this match?" He has never said no.

[Polish Hammer]

This is the most fun I had with this game since creating an account.
And I really don't care about "pro-player ranking sucksssss....booooo" or "solo players no longer neededed boooooo".
Drop in a group - have fun.
Drop solo - have fun.
Care about Your "rating" - get reckt.
Groups ARE AWESOME! They maybe not the best balanced (maybe tune down a tonnage for 4 man team a bit?) - but it's SO FREAKING FUN to be able to drop with colleagues on one team!

Keep it up PGI!

[Spare Knight]

Larsh, on 29 April 2020 - 11:36 AM, said:

Random side thought. Is this a factor at all when finding a match anymore, or can this be modified so maybe players can plan ahead so they can see which mechs are currently being favored?

I'm not sure it matters. I have dropped in matches without a single light and matches without a single assault. It's rare, but I have seen it.

[The Teddy Bear]

Polish Hammer, on 29 April 2020 - 11:38 AM, said:

This is the most fun I had with this game since creating an account.
And I really don't care about "pro-player ranking sucksssss....booooo" or "solo players no longer neededed boooooo".
Drop in a group - have fun.
Drop solo - have fun.
Care about Your "rating" - get reckt.
Groups ARE AWESOME! They maybe not the best balanced (maybe tune down a tonnage for 4 man team a bit?) - but it's SO FREAKING FUN to be able to drop with colleagues on one team!

Keep it up PGI!

In the longer term under those conditions - GIT GOD. Cant even believe a prof comp would get to this stage in testing out whatever on they main still working gamemode. But let us just go down the road. Lets keep it going.....For a short sweet moment......

[Dee Eight]

Larsh, on 29 April 2020 - 11:36 AM, said:

Random side thought. Is this a factor at all when finding a match anymore, or can this be modified so maybe players can plan ahead so they can see which mechs are currently being favored?

Someone mentioned oceanic server is still dead earlier in the thread. I myself only play on the NA server as that's where I am on the planet and saddling myself with extra ping does me no good.

[Larsh]

Dee Eight, on 29 April 2020 - 11:58 AM, said:

Someone mentioned oceanic server is still dead earlier in the thread. I myself only play on the NA server as that's where I am on the planet and saddling myself with extra ping does me no good.

Ah, I should have stated it better. I wasn't discussing the servers and ping, but instead the area above that shows percentages of weight class.

[Surn]

Pros:
Random changes to dropzone. REPLAYABILITY +4

This adds a lot of replayability and changes the dynamic of quickplay. On many maps, after playing many games, I found myself robotically doing the same first several moves like a chess player with memorized openings. Shuffling the drop zones and opponent difficulty levels is terrific for advanced players!

Suggestion: Place the grouped players in a random dropzone, not always ALPHA lance for another +1 Replayability

Facing Grouped opponents. Balance +1, Difficulty +2, Replayability ?

For advanced players this is spectacular! I really enjoy fighting as a PUG and defeating grouped, cooperating, good players. The harder the challenge, the better.

Also, stand out players often use exceptional mech builds to pound on the quick play queue where newer players are still leveling mechs. This often leads to some amazing scores, but this will be more balanced as it will be a less certain outcome facing grouped opponents.


Cons:
Where to "level" mechs or play casually? Frustration +2
It will be frustrating when leveling a new mech and for casual players facing 4 identical meta mechs in a coordinated attack. If your normal encounter with the game becomes 4 stealth commandos insta-killing you...conversely, if you can't really play anymore because 4 ally stealth commandos destroy everything before you can get into the fight...

Tonnage: Balance -1
I do not understand how the tonnage is balanced. The grouped players seem to be using mostly assaults, To get quick games, I have stuck to lights which often queue at 0-10% now. Solo players seem to be drawing the short straw here.

Suggestion: If randomizing the dropzone/lances further, create ONE lance of solo players per team as the lances were previously created. Then assign the group queue and solo players around the ONE lance of solo players.

Restated: base the player/group assignment on a random old fashioned quick play queue lance.

This will mix up the dropzones and allow quick play solo players to play all the mechs without affecting the percentage of players in queue by class.

Conclusion:
Players in the top 5% thrive with this change. Either they will get more easy wins in their group or enjoy the challenge of defeating grouped, coordinated opponents as a solo player without the certainty of proven opening tactics.

Quickplay is drastically more replayable!

Edited by Surn, 29 April 2020 - 12:04 PM.

[Horseman]

DAEDALOS513, on 29 April 2020 - 09:05 AM, said:

Before they try max 2man groups.. they should try 3man's.. 2man's would be too restrictive and kill much of the fun of dropping with unit mates/friends.. yes 3man's can still influence a match but now there would be a greater chance for more groups on both sides to even things out.. anyway baby-steps are always better.. a lesson PGI never learned..

The group size is not the issue, you're complaing about the lack of a band-aid on a sucking chest wound.
The core problem is that the matchmaker does not equalize both teams by any kind of useful metric.
If PGI fixed that, then I - and many others - would happily applaud the merging of queues rather than criticize it.

Larsh, on 29 April 2020 - 10:07 AM, said:

I think some solo players don't like using Voip for one reason or another (I'm not going to assume their reasoning). But, if the pre-made group is welcome to the idea, Voip can really allow you to merge thoughts and strategies with the rest of the team. We've found this to be the case before this test, and even more so now.

Let me quote one of such person from a while ago in FP - "F*** OFF THE COMMS ARE OFF AND WILL STAY OFF I'M NOT PLAYING THIS MODE TO LISTEN TO YOUR ADVICE"
This was after his not listening to comms cost us the match because he chose to hide instead of beelining for the freaking dropship when the other three of us on the team got all the nodes and killed half of the enemy team in a 3v4.
So yeah. These types won't ever go away.

[Larsh]

Horseman, on 29 April 2020 - 12:06 PM, said:

Let me quote one of such person from a while ago in FP - "F*** OFF THE COMMS ARE OFF AND WILL STAY OFF I'M NOT PLAYING THIS MODE TO LISTEN TO YOUR ADVICE"
This was after his not listening to comms cost us the match because he chose to hide instead of beelining for the freaking dropship when the other three of us on the team got all the nodes and killed half of the enemy team in a 3v4.
So yeah. These types won't ever go away.

Sadly, for those types, the mute option is good to have.

[Surn]

Casual player suggestions

• Bring a UAV and an Air/Artillery Strike
  
• Bring AMS if your mech has low damage output
  
• DO NOT TAKE CENTER, you WILL be used as cannon fodder
  
• Find spots to fire on CENTER with cover

[Dee Eight]

Larsh, on 29 April 2020 - 12:00 PM, said:

Ah, I should have stated it better. I wasn't discussing the servers and ping, but instead the area above that shows percentages of weight class.

Yeah that's not valid info now since there actually isn't a limit on any weight class of mech using the group queue matchmaker.. its just taking the first 24 players that meant the requirements.

[Larsh]

cougurt, on 29 April 2020 - 12:38 PM, said:

[Redacted]

Not too sure who that person is in game. But, probably best to stay on original topic. Not trying to be that boy scout downer, but keeping with the original mod post from last page.

[CheechnChong]

Overall I think the time to drop is quicker. However, it seems the matches are mostly one sided 12 -0 is common since they combined the queues. Also, I thought there was a limit of 4 in a group. In 3 matches I noticed groups of 5. The matchmaking system needs to do a better job of balancing the teams.

[DAEDALOS513]

Anomalocaris, on 29 April 2020 - 10:51 AM, said:

C'mon, it's like you're willfully missing the point. I said my contributions won't matter nearly as much when there's a quality group on my team. When an organized 4-man picks a position or strategy and has the builds to execute their will in the match they're going to suck up most of the damage and kills. You can piggy back off them, or go work an opposite flank, but they're going to dictate the direction and outcome of the match in most cases. Saw it in pretty much every match I spectated yesterday.

Solos have been relegated to the back seat now in this mixed queue when a good group drops. And we're not even talking about getting cadets and Tier5s into matches with top level players yet. If you want to maintain your level of competitiveness now, you need to drop in a group. It's what we predicted would happen and it will end up pushing players out of the game. We can argue about how many players, but there will be a measurable loss if this stays as is.

Agreed .. if the 4man is going all meta and your’re in a ferret.. your dps won’t keep up with theirs.. otherwise I think you may have to rethink your builds because what used to work in solo pug queue may not always work here in ’grolo’ queue

Edited by DAEDALOS513, 29 April 2020 - 02:06 PM.

[justcallme A S H]

Larsh, on 29 April 2020 - 11:36 AM, said:

Random side thought. Is this a factor at all when finding a match anymore, or can this be modified so maybe players can plan ahead so they can see which mechs are currently being favored?

It doesn't actually work/factors in.

It hasn't since May 2018 when the MM update occurred and class restriction was unlocked from 3/3/3/3 to basically whatever it can match. So you can have 2/2/0/8 for instance. Just to make a match.

So while Heavy should read 100%, if you drop in an Assault which might be like 5%, you'll stand a BETTER chance to find a match in a weight class everyone else is in (as a solo dropper) as it can form a match faster. I know that sounds crazy but that's just how it works right now.

That was one of PGIs better changes in the last 3 years. It's a huge, huge pity that PSR was not fixed at the same time and has once again come to the forefront of a discussion about matches because of just how broken it is. If it was addressed in 2018, we might be having quite a different discussion here right now for many reasons.

[Colosos]

Polish Hammer, on 29 April 2020 - 11:38 AM, said:

This is the most fun I had with this game since creating an account.
And I really don't care about "pro-player ranking sucksssss....booooo" or "solo players no longer neededed boooooo".
Drop in a group - have fun.
Drop solo - have fun.
Care about Your "rating" - get reckt.
Groups ARE AWESOME! They maybe not the best balanced (maybe tune down a tonnage for 4 man team a bit?) - but it's SO FREAKING FUN to be able to drop with colleagues on one team!

Keep it up PGI!

I wanted to just say you took the words out of my mouth! Been dropping as a three man lately and it’s been the most fun I’ve had in a long time! Good move pgi! Now pgi needs to re-release our old maps to spice things up even more since they are not giving us any new maps

[spannerturner]

Larsh, on 29 April 2020 - 11:36 AM, said:

Random side thought. Is this a factor at all when finding a match anymore, or can this be modified so maybe players can plan ahead so they can see which mechs are currently being favored?

I've used that for quite some time to try to get into matches quicker (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't) since I usually have multiple weight classed mechs that I am working on skilling up at any one time available.

[DAEDALOS513]

Horseman, on 29 April 2020 - 12:06 PM, said:

The group size is not the issue, you're complaing about the lack of a band-aid on a sucking chest wound.
The core problem is that the matchmaker does not equalize both teams by any kind of useful metric.
If PGI fixed that, then I - and many others - would happily applaud the merging of queues rather than criticize it.
.

I know it’s a band-aid.. but it’s a great one... the waterproof kind.

Edited by DAEDALOS513, 29 April 2020 - 01:35 PM.

[Anomalocaris]

DAEDALOS513, on 29 April 2020 - 01:07 PM, said:

Agreed .. if the 4man is going all meta and your’re in a ferret.. your dps won’t keep up with theirs.. otherwise I think you may have to rethink your builds because what used to work in solo pug queue may not always work here is ’grolo’ queue

Doesn't matter. I play plenty of meta but I'm not participating in this fiasco - the results were a foregone conclusion before they started, and things have gone exactly as predicted. Not worth the in game frustration. I desperately want my solo queue back which is why I'm here. But if it doesn't happen, well, then 4/27 was my final match. Easy come, easy go.