20 replies to this topic

[pattonesque]

A lot of folks in this game like to dropcall, with, ah, let's say *mixed* results. While it's usually nice to have someone herding cats, oftentimes the more vocal dropcallers will actually be detrimental to the team.

How is that, you say? I will demonstrate. How many times in this game have you heard someone (their voice tinged with a rising panic) say something along these lines:

"They're BEHIND us!"

That's great information, right? Except it's really not:

1. Who's 'they"? A single stealth Flea? an out-of-position LRM boat? Nine assaults?

2. Where are they? On top of a ridge 100m away? In a valley 800m away?

3. Which us? people rarely are all crammed into a single grid square, and not everyone is necessarily facing the same direction.

The way to solve this is pretty easy: give concise details

"They're BEHIND us!" -- bad, confuses your own team, zero ability to gauge the severity of the situation

"D4, two lights high ground behind our folks in D3" -- good, gets the attention of the correct people, allows them to react accordingly

This applies to many other situations!

Oh no, there is a light!
"Shoot the LITTLE GUY!" -- oftentimes there are many lights on the field so this is not good

"E2 Bravo Locust, left leg" -- this calls out a specific location on a specific light in a specific grid square, so this is good

Oh no, someone is attacking you!
"Help me! HELP ME!" -- where are you? what's attacking you?

"B6, Brawler Atlas on me" -- people can determine whether or not they're close enough to help you and what they can expect when they get there

Oh no, your base is being captured!
"THEY'RE RUSHING OUR BASE!" -- obviously bad

"Four capping Spiders rushing our base, need help now" -- communicates the urgency of the situation

Honestly if you're not following this one simple rule, you're better off *not calling to begin with*. Hope this helps!

Edited by pattonesque, 22 June 2024 - 08:26 AM.

[LordNothing]

also less is more.

"uhm there is a light in d3 ...uhh... delta three i think he is going after..."

assault mech dies

"...our assault in d7 uh delta seven. oh, uhm, stupid team"

Edited by LordNothing, 20 June 2024 - 01:41 PM.

[Heat Skink]

pattonesque, on 20 June 2024 - 01:13 PM, said:

A lot of folks in this game like to dropcall, with, ah, let's say *mixed* results. While it's usually nice to have someone herding cats, oftentimes the more vocal dropcallers will actually be detrimental to the team.

How is that, you say? I will demonstrate. How many times in this game have you heard someone (their voice tinged with a rising panic) say something along these lines:

"They're BEHIND us!"

That's great information, right? Except it's really not:

1. Who's 'they"? A single stealth Flea? an out-of-position LRM boat? Nine assaults?

2. Where are they? On top of a ridge 100m away? In a valley 800m away?

3. Which us? people rarely are all crammed into a single grid square, and not everyone is necessarily facing the same direction.

The way to solve this is pretty easy: give concise details

"They're BEHIND us!" -- bad, confuses your own team, zero ability to gauge the severity of the situation

"D4, two lights behind our folks in D3" -- good, gets the attention of the correct people, allows them to react accordingly

This applies to many other situations!

Oh no, there is a light!
"Shoot the LITTLE GUY!" -- oftentimes there are many lights on the field so this is not good

"Locust Bravo E2, left leg" -- this calls out a specific location on a specific light in a specific grid square, so this is good

Oh no, someone is attacking you!
"Help me! HELP ME!" -- where are you? what's attacking you?

"Brawler Atlas on me in B6" -- people can determine whether or not they're close enough to help you and what they can expect when they get there

Oh no, your base is being captured!
"THEY'RE RUSHING OUR BASE!" -- obviously bad

"Four capping Spiders rushing our base, need help now" -- communicates the urgency of the situation

Honestly if you're not following this one simple rule, you're better off *not calling to begin with*. Hope this helps!

The only thing i'd like to point out on this is your not always going to see what's capping your base.... you could be on the other side of the map.

Edited by Heat Skink, 20 June 2024 - 02:10 PM.

[pattonesque]

Heat Skink, on 20 June 2024 - 02:10 PM, said:

The only thing i'd like to point out on this is your not always going to see what's capping your base.... you could be on the other side of the map.

Oh for sure. In most cases this rule is just “say what you know” and if all you know is the base is being capped, that’s fine to say

[LordNothing]

of course the other side of it is to get good at calling you do need to start somewhere. i tend to trip over my words so i mostly use the command wheel, or my weapons.

[Asylum Choir]

Comms can also be improved by being a good listener.

[D V Devnull]

pattonesque, on 20 June 2024 - 01:13 PM, said:

The way to solve this is pretty easy: give concise details

Hey there, patton... This may be simply my opinion, but I really think you should put this one line in 18pt Bold because of how much it sums up the entirety of your posting!

~D. V. "feels like a tiny pinch of formatting was missed on your June 2024 Info Calls PSA to everyone" Devnull

[pattonesque]

D V Devnull, on 22 June 2024 - 06:13 AM, said:

Hey there, patton... This may be simply my opinion, but I really think you should put this one line in 18pt Bold because of how much it sums up the entirety of your posting!

~D. V. "feels like a tiny pinch of formatting was missed on your June 2024 Info Calls PSA to everyone" Devnull

I'll do you one better

[D V Devnull]

pattonesque, on 22 June 2024 - 08:25 AM, said:

I'll do you one better

I meant the whole line should be 18pt Bold formatted or larger, but I guess that will probably do for showing off the primary message!

~D. V. "had a slightly broader formatting specification in mind for your delivery of the message" Devnull



[Edit due to a formatting error in their post... It should now be fixed!]

Edited by D V Devnull, 22 June 2024 - 09:13 AM.

[Samara 6J]

Good post. Remember to speak loudly and clearly as well. The people you're talking to are being swamped by audio feedback already - weapon impact sounds, weapon firing sounds, Betty's callouts, the Clan commander shouting "WE'RE HALF DOWN!11!!!1" at 8 billion decibels in your ear, etc. You need to make yourself audible over all that crud.

I let somebody die the other day in Terra Therma because he was trying to ask me to push and cover him, but he didn't speak up and I couldn't make out what he was saying over the impact sounds of somebody plinking me with AC2s. Feelsbadman.

[Battlemaster56]

Eh I try all this but the pug queue is to brainless to get basics directions other than Nascaring away from the enemy.

[Gasboy]

Battlemaster56, on 24 June 2024 - 04:06 AM, said:

Eh I try all this but the pug queue is to brainless to get basics directions other than Nascaring away from the enemy.

It is my experience that there are usually enough people in each match who will listen and respond appropriately to comm info and suggestions.

[pattonesque]

Battlemaster56, on 24 June 2024 - 04:06 AM, said:

Eh I try all this but the pug queue is to brainless to get basics directions other than Nascaring away from the enemy.

this is true, honestly a significant percentage of the MWO playerbase routinely do the absolute worst thing in any situation regardless of what you say to them.

however:

Gasboy, on 24 June 2024 - 06:53 AM, said:

It is my experience that there are usually enough people in each match who will listen and respond appropriately to comm info and suggestions.

like I'm just an OK player and I've had comms straight-up save me before because someone called out a flanker and I turned around. it's worth the extra tiny bit of effort

[feeWAIVER]

There's nothing worse than a light mech running around the map constantly calling targets in coms and ending the match with 200dmg. They think they are scouting but they aren't.

[feeWAIVER]

Samara 6J, on 23 June 2024 - 10:23 PM, said:

Good post. Remember to speak loudly and clearly as well. The people you're talking to are being swamped by audio feedback already - weapon impact sounds, weapon firing sounds, Betty's callouts, the Clan commander shouting "WE'RE HALF DOWN!11!!!1" at 8 billion decibels in your ear, etc. You need to make yourself audible over all that crud.

I let somebody die the other day in Terra Therma because he was trying to ask me to push and cover him, but he didn't speak up and I couldn't make out what he was saying over the impact sounds of somebody plinking me with AC2s. Feelsbadman.

This is a good point.
Go to settings and change your volumes. I have mine set as:
Master Volume 100.
Effects Volume 0.26
Music Volume 0.00

I think Cauldron lowered the default mouse sensitivity.. They should probably look at default volume settings.

[The6thMessenger]

That's too much letters to type.

[LordNothing]

yea i have a hard time pulling it out of the effects when its mixed with game audio. my headset has its own speaker, more like an old type of headphone than one of those in ear abominations so i can kind of hear the effects when no one is talking, then when someone does its well above the noise floor. i think you can use the windows setting that lowers volume when comms are in play, but that kind of breaks immersion. my only complaint is that command wheel guy doesn't come through the voip speaker as well. it mixes ok because its a high quality audio file rather than a low quality voip stream. apparently there is something about mixing low quality audio with high quality audio that makes it hard to understand.

Edited by LordNothing, 24 June 2024 - 06:37 PM.

[Gasboy]

LordNothing, on 24 June 2024 - 06:35 PM, said:

yea i have a hard time pulling it out of the effects when its mixed with game audio. my headset has its own speaker, more like an old type of headphone than one of those in ear abominations so i can kind of hear the effects when no one is talking, then when someone does its well above the noise floor. i think you can use the windows setting that lowers volume when comms are in play, but that kind of breaks immersion. my only complaint is that command wheel guy doesn't come through the voip speaker as well. it mixes ok because its a high quality audio file rather than a low quality voip stream. apparently there is something about mixing low quality audio with high quality audio that makes it hard to understand.

I'm in the same boat. Game audio (with music turned off) is separate from voice chat. Can't hear vc when it's mixed with laser fire and explosions.

[feeWAIVER]

Gasboy, on 25 June 2024 - 04:39 AM, said:

I'm in the same boat. Game audio (with music turned off) is separate from voice chat. Can't hear vc when it's mixed with laser fire and explosions.

I'm telling you people- turn down your Effects Volume, and keep your Master Volume up
It's in the game settings.

[LordNothing]

unless you rely on effects to hear other mechs. using a separate speaker works best.

Edited by LordNothing, 25 June 2024 - 08:23 AM.