48 replies to this topic

[Ttly]

Quicksilver Aberration, on 29 July 2025 - 08:27 PM, said:

No system is going to stop smurfing (bar not being an F2P game, ie gatekeeping new account creation a bit) and some half-brained BV system that is somehow used for matchmaker is bound to fail harder than balancing for skill. Copying builds is easy (there's even plenty of resources for copying and importing good builds), making them work less so.

Skill has been and probably always will be the bigger impact to perception of "bad games" than matchmaker or balance.

Go ahead and try carrying teams while running handicapped builds that you would otherwise never run even if everyone else in the match is in one as well.
This game puts a decent amount of importance in builds, I seriously doubt an entire team of T1 (very wide range of skill I know) players in horrible/handicapped builds would have an easy time against a T4-T3 one in good ones, it's a fairer metric than PSR you ask me.

[Meep Meep]

Dunno about that one. T4~t3 can't aim and make terrible positioning choices. As long as the t1 players are not rocking completely stupid fits like smalls and lrm etc they are still going to come out on top. A t1 in a poopy mech is still a t1 after all.

[Ttly]

Meep Meep, on 29 July 2025 - 10:48 PM, said:

Dunno about that one. T4~t3 can't aim and make terrible positioning choices. As long as the t1 players are not rocking completely stupid fits like smalls and lrm etc they are still going to come out on top. A t1 in a poopy mech is still a t1 after all.

It's a rhetorical statement, not to be taken literally, and the point is it won't be an easy time for the T1s just because builds matter just as much as claims of skill.

[RickySpanish]

Ttly, on 29 July 2025 - 08:40 PM, said:

Go ahead and try carrying teams while running handicapped builds that you would otherwise never run even if everyone else in the match is in one as well.
This game puts a decent amount of importance in builds, I seriously doubt an entire team of T1 (very wide range of skill I know) players in horrible/handicapped builds would have an easy time against a T4-T3 one in good ones, it's a fairer metric than PSR you ask me.

Back when I was playing with my brother, who was new, I created an alt account and handicapped myself by only piloting Trial 'Mechs. There is (or at least was!) a pretty big difference in situational and map awareness between tiers. Builds are important, but someone with experience playing the game has quite a measurable advantage. Also, hey guys, how's it hanging?

[BlueDevilspawn]

Ttly, on 29 July 2025 - 11:30 PM, said:

It's a rhetorical statement, not to be taken literally, and the point is it won't be an easy time for the T1s just because builds matter just as much as claims of skill.

There are Div A compies (by default all T1) who play stock to give themselves a challenge and they still come out on top. Skill trumps all.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

Ttly, on 29 July 2025 - 08:40 PM, said:

Go ahead and try carrying teams while running handicapped builds that you would otherwise never run even if everyone else in the match is in one as well.
This game puts a decent amount of importance in builds, I seriously doubt an entire team of T1 (very wide range of skill I know) players in horrible/handicapped builds would have an easy time against a T4-T3 one in good ones, it's a fairer metric than PSR you ask me.

This day and age, you most definitely can play a handicapped build and still do well. I've run plenty of awful builds/mechs in the past and still managed my way up to tier 1.

Maybe back in the heydey of 2015/2016 where you could get a full tier 1 lobby it might've been more difficult to not drop PSR, but since then where skill has consistently evaporated out of the general population of the game, yeah it's not that hard if you are good enough.

[pbiggz]

Ttly, on 29 July 2025 - 08:02 PM, said:

PSR doesn't stop smurfing. At least not that well if that's their goal.
Nothing actually stops a new/smurfing account from grabbing a netbuild (or just playing some of the trial mechs with strong builds like the 3HPPC Thunderbolt) and sealclubbing other than the lack of persistent progression incentive (i.e lootbag events, battlepass progression) on their main account while build rating would by putting said player into a match with people that runs similar build strength regardless of account age and stats. And hey, your impact in a match is determined a lot by the build you bring anyway.

And genuine new players/people that don't care about running those loadouts gets put up with less of them.
Oh and also it would get rid of de-boosting your PSR to lower tiers just to get better MM times or whatever if that's relevant.

Anyway yeah, it's really just a thought/wishlisting because no coders bla bla bla.

I have yet to see convincing evidence that smurfing is the plague that people seem to want to think it is, especially for a game with a player base now that is this small.

[Ted Wayz]

Does PSR take into account grouped v non-grouped? Have been in multiple matches with people on my team do not have weapons active because they did not put them in a weapon group pre-match and do not know how to do it during a match versus sweaty teams with a 6-person group.

I do not care about PSR but still scratch my head some games with the results, both green and red.

[BlueDevilspawn]

Ted Wayz, on 04 August 2025 - 04:12 AM, said:

Does PSR take into account grouped v non-grouped? Have been in multiple matches with people on my team do not have weapons active because they did not put them in a weapon group pre-match and do not know how to do it during a match versus sweaty teams with a 6-person group.

I do not care about PSR but still scratch my head some games with the results, both green and red.

No, it does not. Simply your personal performance relative to the entire lobby of 24 players.