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Such as a system has three key problems.
First, Each team will be forced to drop with no less than 8 people. A group of 5 or 6 players is going to be at a significant disadvantage over a team with 8 players.
Second, Each team will have a strong incentive to drop with as much tonnage as possible. e.g. The 6-8 Atlas team. Of course, it is certainly possible for a more diverse selection and better teamwork to prevail. But it is clear teams will be better off in mostly Heavy/Assult mechs versus mediums or lights. Players who are more interested in piloting mid-weight mechs will be discouraged from doing so knowing their opponent will likely be mostly Assault/Heavy mechs.
Third: Even with the current matchmaker, there isn’t much reason to take a Commando or a Flea over a Jenner. With the new system, there is even less incentive. Teams will take a fast moving Jenner or two as their scout, and ignore any lighter mechs.
All three of these issues stem from 8 man groups having single resource to manage: Number of players on the team. Groups will optimize their composition to maximize their firepower for the number of players they have. My solution is to add a second resource: Tonnage Class.
Solution:
Have 8v8 premade drops balance by tonnage class. There would be 4 weight classes A through D. Each class is a range of total tonnages for the team.
Example:
A - 650 to 800 tons (Assault)
B - 500 to 649 tons (Heavy)
C - 350 to 499 (Medium)
D - 0 to 349 (Light)
When the group leader clicks “Launch” the matchmaker adds up the total tonnage for the group and assigns a tonnage class to that team. That team is then compared against all other teams looking for a group with the same weight class. The matchmaker will then pair any two teams of the same tonnage class for a match.
This solves each of the problems I outlined above:
Teams with less than 8 people can be paired against teams with a smaller weight class. A six man team whose total tonnage is 600 tons (Class B, all Atlas team) could be paired with an 8 man team whose total tonnage is between 500 and 650 tons. While the 6 man team has fewer players, their disadvantage is mitigated because they have roughly equal tonnage.
Players can launch with whatever mech they want, regardless of tonnage, and know their team will be matched against another team of roughly the same weight class. The player in the hunchback doesn’t need to worry he is holding the team back by not dropping in an Atlas. A team of mostly light mechs do not need to worry about facing a team of mostly assault mechs.
More coordinated teams can intentionally take lighter mechs to optimize their weight class designation. Example: An 8 man team’s total tonnage is 655 tons. That means they will be playing in the “Assault” class. However if one player uses a Commando instead of a Jenner, their total tonnage would be 645, and so they could play in the Heavy 'B' class instead.
Ideally this system would supersede the need for a “Battle Value” based matchmaker, and group leaders can be given a clear indication of what their tonnage class is at launch. Once all players are ready the group leader could get a “Tonnage Class” Letter and total drop weight indicator next to the launch button.
Note: I do not want this thread to be derailed into discussions about optimal team composition.Optimal team composition is a wonderful discussion that can happen elsewhere.
Edit: Spelling/Grammar
Edited by Eldragon, 15 November 2012 - 11:55 AM.
