19 replies to this topic

[Brandeis]

This is really ridiculous. Every match I am in, at least one person will DC or suicide either before the match starts, or just after, or will sit idle in the base and not do anything. This leaves the teams unbalanced, and the one with the AFK or DC or Suicide, almost always ends up losing because of being out gunned.

My solution is to modify the reward system so that if you don't participate in a match, you don't get any money, you don't get EXP, you don't get anything. In order to be able to collect a reward, you must have a kill assist, damage done, a spotting assist, or a capture assist. Things you get by actually playing the game.

This would help with all 3 variants of C-bill grinding. If you DC before the battle starts, if you suicide instead of attacking the enemy, if you just AFK idle. You get nothing at all for not participating. I know it won't stop people from rushing into battle in a light mech and taking a few potshots before DCing, but at least it makes it more work than "Join Match, DC, repeat."

[cmopatrick]

i personally agree with all but one premise of your post: few folks are actually farming.

first, i agree that if we are crashed to desktop, we should not get any income... but likewise, our mechs should not get a huge repair bill for something we could not control; you do know our mechs stay in the game and get fine folks like yourself who badmouth us as afk farmers to blast the motionless and otherwise uncontrolled mechs apart bit by bit, don't you?

similarly, if we crash in-game (not deliberately disconnect), we should not get reward or damage after the point we are gone. the servers know we are not communicating properly, they can (or should be able to) track that.

just to be clear, i am not talking about the person who discons half a heartbeat before they would die, just those of us who are doing just fine and suddenly our screen locks, our controls are gone, and our teammates report us running in circles or doing whatever we were doing last... including heading across the map for an uncontrolled suicide.

considering that i had two (2) ctd last night alone out of maybe 12 matches, and my ts pug-made (not in a unit, but premade from pugs in lfg) teammates reported at least 4 in the same timeframe. being down a person (rhymes with "ducks"), but i for one would appreciate it if you not simply label good players as the moral equivalents of cheats just because you must not have any problems, glitches, or bugs in the game.

to sum, yes, feel free to make sure there is no money coming... or taken away from... folks who are not in the fight until killed or one side wins. it solves both our problems. but until that happens, remember the next time you crash, you are now an afk farmer yourself.

[Brandeis]

I understand people who CTD or have other issues, however I am not talking about them. I specifically stated, that I am talking about people who DC before the countdown timer hits 0, or just after the start of the match. Or those who suicide right at the very beginning of a match. Not those who have legitimate issues during play.

I have had CTD, but never during the countdown timer. I have died by my own hand many times due to overheating, but never within the first 10 seconds of a match starting. I do not rule out that it is possible for this to happen, but it seems too consistent for it to be just a glitch in the code, otherwise more people would be complaining about getting DCd right at the start of a match, rather than that other people are DCing and causing them to lose.

Perhaps I am wrong though, maybe all of these people are just having bad luck. Or perhaps the game really is that glitchy, and I am one of the extremely lucky few to only have had issues a handful of times. If that is the case, then I am sorry for offending.

Edited by Brandeis, 24 November 2012 - 09:56 AM.

[focuspark]

This is a beta exploit that should be rectified by release.

[BoomDog]

The only problem with this is that the game is buggy as hell.

Still getting the black screen of death at the beginning of matches. Getting CTDs in the middle of matches.

I'd hate to get punished for something I had no control over.

[sycocys]

What I've noticed is that it only occasionally unbalances things, and usually when it does it's because "omg another dc, lets cap rush" or another manner of jumping right to unorganized tactics.

Both teams suffer from the dcs/suicides equally - so in that regard it's not really a balance problem.

The compensation - though I agree that we don't have an issue with afk farming at this point, we should encourage the devs to sort out a system that promotes involvement in the outcome as a priority. Reducing the overall base reward and implementing more/higher action rewards would likely be the way to go.

[Brandeis]

I certainly understand that there are bugs, and I'm not ruling out the possibility that some of the people I am complaining about are having legitimate problems. It just seems like too much of a coincidence, though, that a single player will get DCd before the game even has a chance to start, and no one else seems to have any problems. If it was a bug, I'd expect a little less consistency in the numbers. More than 1 person in a match getting disconnected, more than 1 person being listed as suicide, would make me lean more towards a common bug.

As for people who are having legitimate issues, I don't mind people getting credit for a win/loss if they actually participated, such as dealing damage, or getting a spotter assist, or a kill assist, and then after they have some issue that they can't avoid. Same goes for those who DC after they were taken out by an enemy. I'd even go as far as to say that the people who DC don't have to pay mech repair costs if their mech was blown up during a fight they got kicked from if it happened before the match even started.

I specifically want to target the people who aren't participating at all.

[LynxFury]

Or perhaps just make the maintenance fees and rewards a % of the game time they were connected.

Player disconnects 30 seconds into a ten minute game he gets 5% of match end fees & rewards etc.
Bug disconnects someone at 5 minute part they get 50%.

It would disincentive deliberate disconnects without punishing the unintentional bug disconnects.

[PhoenixGSR]

That's a good idea LynxFury!

[Max Liao]

I like LynxFury's suggestion as well. I don't mind missing some XP/C-Bills if I disconnect - even with the numerous disconnects that seem to be happening now.

The only issue I see with it is regarding the AFK player. I was in a match on Saturday where the player said, "Ima AFK. Hope you win for me." True to his word, he never moved. If it wasn't for the TK penalty, I'd have taken off his limbs myself (and I am vehemently against that behavior).

[Taipain]

Ffs stop with all the niceties....
The scumbags that are doing these things on purpose are simply ridiculous. It is an unbalancing of the match, and a disgrace. Not only should these people be stopped from receiving any exp, or cash, they should be banned for exploiting!

As for any one who just CTD as I have many times, who gives a rats ***? The system should be set like wise, if you don't do **** you don't get ****!

Further more we should have a thread calling out all these exploiters... like last night I saw the same guy( DAVID LEE ) in three different matches suicide right at the start. David Lee caused his team to get the snot kicked out of them each time! David "scumbag " Lee should have been billed for all the damage done to his teammates! Or just simply be banned for being an anti-gaming piece of dog squeeze! The many many more out there doing the same as David Lee should be called out as well.

It is up to us to shape this community, and the more we sit back and try to play nice, the more we are saying it's not that big of a deal, until we look around one day and realize no one is left to even shoot at!

Stop the damn exploits! Free to play or founder alike, lock those accounts! They are not playing the game anyway....

[sycocys]

Maybe he is a new player and not quite understanding the heat mechanic or why he keeps overheating -> suicide? A lot of the technical details of running a battlemech aren't really apparent if your not acquainted with the franchise.

Also I'm sure your quite aware of the name and shame rules - if you think there is a legitimate problem forward a message to the support staff.

[Elder Thorn]

Brandeis, on 24 November 2012 - 09:48 AM, said:

I understand people who CTD or have other issues, however I am not talking about them. I specifically stated, that I am talking about people who DC before the countdown timer hits 0

i do that, when i have fps bug or black screen.

On a side note: if you disconnect during countdown, you will get punished as you do not get ANY payout for the match, but you will have to pay for repairs

[Taipain]

Well, if it smells like **** and looks like ****, I am going to go out on a limb and just call it ****
. Why must I be censored?! Let the foul live! Free the foulness!

Edited by Taipain, 26 November 2012 - 07:16 AM.

[JustAStick]

The problem with this solution is that the game is extremely buggy right now and often my game will crash before the game even loads a match. I wouldn't be awarded any c-bills for a crime I didn't commit. First the bugs need to be fixed in order to create a more stable game and then we can talk about fixing the c-bill farming issue. Secondly, the income system needs to be changed to award people with more c-bills per match, or the repair system needs to be removed. When I play this game I don't think of each match as a battle I am dropping in to and having them happen as if they were real events, I think of them as separate instances that don't correlate with reality, like a match of Halo. These issues need to be addressed first, and then when c-bill farmers have nothing to excuse farming then they can be prosecuted and stripped of their ability to farm.

[Taipain]

Why should you or me or anyone receive cbills or xp for something you didn't participate in? As for it being "buggy as hell" I disconnect every once in a while or have a screen bug like the overheating screen not reloading my hud,
and as a result I get killed. "punished"...
It is a separate gripe all together. Losing some cbills and exp sucks but I would rather that, than to continue feeding exploiters cash

[Ritter Cuda]

Brandeis, on 24 November 2012 - 09:48 AM, said:

I understand people who CTD or have other issues, however I am not talking about them. I specifically stated, that I am talking about people who DC before the countdown timer hits 0, or just after the start of the match. Or those who suicide right at the very beginning of a match. Not those who have legitimate issues during play.

I have had CTD, but never during the countdown timer. I have died by my own hand many times due to overheating, but never within the first 10 seconds of a match starting. I do not rule out that it is possible for this to happen, but it seems too consistent for it to be just a glitch in the code, otherwise more people would be complaining about getting DCd right at the start of a match, rather than that other people are DCing and causing them to lose.

Perhaps I am wrong though, maybe all of these people are just having bad luck. Or perhaps the game really is that glitchy, and I am one of the extremely lucky few to only have had issues a handful of times. If that is the case, then I am sorry for offending.

how do you know if ANYONE dc before the counter reaches 0? I have 4 DC/crash to desk top last nigh alone. if you could find out I would bet 90% of the dc/afk are do to game bugs.

[pLaGuE DoG]

those that keep suiciding at the begining of the game should just be banned from beta since they are not being productive at all.

[pLaGuE DoG]

Taipain, on 26 November 2012 - 07:51 AM, said:

I disconnect every once in a while or have a screen bug like the overheating screen not reloading my hud,
and as a result I get killed. "punished"...

hit p to power down and restart the mech, the over heating screen will go away

sycocys, on 26 November 2012 - 06:56 AM, said:

Maybe he is a new player and not quite understanding the heat mechanic or why he keeps overheating -> suicide? A lot of the technical details of running a battlemech aren't really apparent if your not acquainted with the franchise.

Also I'm sure your quite aware of the name and shame rules - if you think there is a legitimate problem forward a message to the support staff.

theres a difference between over heating in combat and over heating as soon as the match starts

[Mazgazine1]

I've played a game where 1 cicada suicides, and there was an atlas and cat both AFK at their base. That made it 5 vs 8..

It will be impossible to stop suiciders, but AFK/Disconnects should just get nothing. Its harsh on those the system crashes on, but they also don't get a repair bill as a balance. At least if a mob suicides together, it actually turns into a decent rush atttack lol...