28 replies to this topic

[pierrethemonkey]

been playing since the game came out - 8v8 sucks - thanks for coming to my ted talk

[Tesunie]

First of all... why is this a feature suggestion?
Second, very informative post. So descriptive. Such depth. So much knowledge.
Third. Mind explaining why it "sucks"? Personally, I think it might be nice to return back to 8v8 days. Fewer mechs on the field means fewer eyes and weapons, meaning it might be easier to sneak around and less likely to suddenly find yourself dead.

I feel anything that increases time to kill/die is a good thing for this game (within reason). Fewer mechs will make match making easier, faster matches, longer times to kill/die, and overall easier to do probing and sneaky stuff.

The biggest issue I can see is that many of our maps have increased in size from the older 8v8 days. This means that, unless everyone kind of agrees to wander towards or near the same points, it might be easier to completely miss opponents, or to find where the action is. A lot of mechs have also received quirks that might be more balanced towards 12v12 rather than 8v8. But testing can help with this.

[Ekson Valdez]

This thread was moved to General Discussion

[KingScar]

With 8v8 we have pretty much lost brawling, Now we just get people sniping and sitting at mid range and with the changes to squad size we have had many players in our clan an otherwise say they will not come back if those changes stay kind of defeats the point of clans if we can't even play with each other solos need to get with the program and join a clan....after all it's clans vs clans not solos vs solos.

[Tesunie]

KingScar, on 11 August 2025 - 02:40 AM, said:

With 8v8 we have pretty much lost brawling, Now we just get people sniping and sitting at mid range and with the changes to squad size we have had many players in our clan an otherwise say they will not come back if those changes stay kind of defeats the point of clans if we can't even play with each other solos need to get with the program and join a clan....after all it's clans vs clans not solos vs solos.

I would have thought brawling and close range combat would be easier in 8v8, as you should find it easier to get around the enemy team unseen. I can't say much about current day practices, but brawling happened all the time in the old 8v8 days.

As for group play... That is a different subject and I don't think 8v8 will change it much. If anything, group play will likely become more powerful, as you control a greater portion of the team now. I think the only issue you likely have is that, instead of a 4 man max from before, isn't PGI testing 3 man max teams? I can see that being more of an issue. I'd suggest your group comes back to test 8v8 when group sizes are back to default sizes.

As for the hate you seem to hold for solo players, not everyone is interested in joining a unit. Some people just want to log on, blow some stuff up, and log off. They don't want to worry about socializing and finding other people to form groups to get into a match. Solo play should be just as valid as group play. Now, could adjustments be made between solo and group players? Sure. But forcing solo players into groups isn't really an honest solution.

[GargoyleVine]

KingScar, on 11 August 2025 - 02:40 AM, said:

With 8v8 we have pretty much lost brawling, Now we just get people sniping and sitting at mid range and with the changes to squad size we have had many players in our clan an otherwise say they will not come back if those changes stay kind of defeats the point of clans if we can't even play with each other solos need to get with the program and join a clan....after all it's clans vs clans not solos vs solos.

all I did last night was brawl, it was fun, just ran my bacon mech Atlas with a super simple build

[Tesunie]

GargoyleVine, on 11 August 2025 - 08:29 AM, said:

all I did last night was brawl, it was fun, just ran my bacon mech Atlas with a super simple build

I hate to be one to say this, but I think it's true for some people here... If you can't find a way to brawl in 8v8, it might be a skill issue. Key word here is "might". Each match is different, against different players, with different teammates. So some matches might be easier to get into a brawl than others, but if one "can never get into a brawl" with 8v8, I don't see how it was easier in 12v12...

[Allen Ward]

Well, 8vs8 is not everyone's cup of tea. But I would like to see 4vs4, 8vs8 and 12vs12 like a permant option.

Quicker (and shorter) matches might bring in new players but create way more games on the CPUs at the same time. The currently experienced lags might actually be a direct result of this. It would take time and money for PGI to invest in sufficient server hardware IF they even think about that in their business plan. After so many years the graphics, the maps, the game modes are aging. I doubt that this game will see any substantial improvement anymore. They just try to find out if running on 8vs8 permanently will give them a few more years without punishig the current hardware too much.

Tesunie, on 11 August 2025 - 06:11 AM, said:

I would have thought brawling and close range combat would be easier in 8v8, as you should find it easier to get around the enemy team unseen. I can't say much about current day practices, but brawling happened all the time in the old 8v8 days.

As for group play... That is a different subject and I don't think 8v8 will change it much. If anything, group play will likely become more powerful, as you control a greater portion of the team now. I think the only issue you likely have is that, instead of a 4 man max from before, isn't PGI testing 3 man max teams? I can see that being more of an issue. I'd suggest your group comes back to test 8v8 when group sizes are back to default sizes.

As for the hate you seem to hold for solo players, not everyone is interested in joining a unit. Some people just want to log on, blow some stuff up, and log off. They don't want to worry about socializing and finding other people to form groups to get into a match. Solo play should be just as valid as group play. Now, could adjustments be made between solo and group players? Sure. But forcing solo players into groups isn't really an honest solution.

The worst drawback of 8vs8 games is a random player disconnect on startup. Being one low now really hurts.

[Paradoxbound]

I brawl, I snipe I mid range. 8v8 is terrible. Just once disco or AFK and you are already at a significant disadvantage. It doesn't matter what is said in these forums. The data PGI collects will give them the picture. If fewer games are played 8v8 vs 12v12 the experiments ends. I won't be playing much until the experiment is over.

[Void Angel]

Aaaaaaaaaaaah! Post on the existing topic, please.

Tired of having to repeat myself.

[Tesunie]

Allen Ward, on 11 August 2025 - 10:45 AM, said:

The worst drawback of 8vs8 games is a random player disconnect on startup. Being one low now really hurts.

Paradoxbound, on 11 August 2025 - 11:29 AM, said:

Just once disco or AFK and you are already at a significant disadvantage.

FYI: Any match with a disconnect or AFK player is always a rough time. It doesn't matter the match size, though it is less impactful the more players you have in a match. It's always been a rough problem with no real solution at hand, as you can't always control things... like power outages or internet connection issues... I don't think it's an issue to really emphasize on as feedback with 8v8 vs 12v12. Sure, it's more noticeable, but it's always been an issue.

[topgun505]

Have to agree. If someone on your team disconnects (which happens way WAY too often for a game of this age). Or you have someone who YOLOs off and gets themselves killed in the first minute or two, this hurts significantly more than a 12v12 format. It may have been an interesting experiment. But yeah .... no. This blows.

[Tesunie]

My question to people, as 8v8 is not only a throw back to older days but also an attempt to ease the stress on the MM system to find and create matches... What might people think of this idea? The idea (to be brief here) would be to implement a form of Drop Decks into public matches. Should ease MM due to less constraints, as it will no longer be looking to match the 3/3/3/3 mech types it currently does (with 3 lights, 3 mediums, 3 heavies and 3 assaults per team). It would now only need to match via PSR alone, as everyone would have a drop deck of 4 mechs within a specific min and max tonnage combo. Would also provide 3 respawns for players, so they should be active almost all game, as well as forces matches to focus on objectives more than only TDM.

And for ease of everyone's minds here, I wont bring this up again in this thread, as any farther discussion on the subject likely would be off topic of 8v8...

[pbiggz]

no it doesn't

[Void Angel]

Tesunie, on 11 August 2025 - 05:55 PM, said:

My question to people, as 8v8 is not only a throw back to older days but also an attempt to ease the stress on the MM system to find and create matches... What might people think of this idea? The idea (to be brief here) would be to implement a form of Drop Decks into public matches. Should ease MM due to less constraints, as it will no longer be looking to match the 3/3/3/3 mech types it currently does (with 3 lights, 3 mediums, 3 heavies and 3 assaults per team). It would now only need to match via PSR alone, as everyone would have a drop deck of 4 mechs within a specific min and max tonnage combo. Would also provide 3 respawns for players, so they should be active almost all game, as well as forces matches to focus on objectives more than only TDM.

And for ease of everyone's minds here, I wont bring this up again in this thread, as any farther discussion on the subject likely would be off topic of 8v8...

It's actually not quite off-topic, since it's a parallel solution to the problem this post... "addresses." I'm not sure how much it would help, because there's issues with min tonnage and the like - but it is intriguing.

[Djinnhammer]

Tesunie, on 11 August 2025 - 06:11 AM, said:

As for the hate you seem to hold for solo players, not everyone is interested in joining a unit. Some people just want to log on, blow some stuff up, and log off. They don't want to worry about socializing and finding other people to form groups to get into a match. Solo play should be just as valid as group play. Now, could adjustments be made between solo and group players? Sure. But forcing solo players into groups isn't really an honest solution.

It's not hate per se, it's the attitude that goes along with that solo-ness.
The whole why should I? rhetoric. A multiplayer online game you should have at least some expectation of socialising-and you should not EVER talk derivatively of those that do engage in the normal behaviour of an online game.
"Some people just want to log on, blow some stuff up, and log off. " Quite a few of these players really don't care about results or guilty of play or about any of the other players on their team either. The lack of engagement and care for their time does affect other people in the negative. You should be able to solo if you want of course, but you shouldn't ever be of the opinion "groups aren't fair" or you need seperating from those who engage in social play-which is the norm for online, multiplayer games.

[UMPA Viper]

I know this is somewhat off topic. Myself , and a bunch of others , would love if PGI would investigate and fix the heat bug thats been going on now for many months instead of playing around with this 8v8 experiment. Yesterday was very bad , both teams had it for 3 matches in a row that i was in. People overheating and dying constantly. There are many glitches and fixes that are needed currently versus running an experiment like the 8v8.

Edited by UMPA Viper, 12 August 2025 - 04:59 AM.

[Spare Knight]

I think the 8v8 should be made permanent. It has brought out the best Tier 4 and Tier 5 players I have seen and I am proud to be a part of it. Let the seal clubbing continue.

[Khosumi]

honestly 8v8 should stay. End the deathballing meta. It's so bad. You can't just run as a deathball anymore if you have even just a couple mechs in better positions.

[MacKerris]

Personally I found the 8x8 to be horrible. Matches take just as long to start, if not longer. According to what I have run into, many just stopped playing and won't be back until it's back to 12x12.