191 replies to this topic

[Secundus]

Why is it that 4 man groups almost never announce to the rest of their teammates that they are in a group and where they are going? Every round I'll ask what's the plan and only rarely will someone will speak up, I'll throw out some commands, some people will follow, then I'll notice half our team going the other way. I'll pester and then basically tell everyone to redirect with them since they're apparently too newbie to know how to chat. Then toward the end of the round we'll find out they were a group but were simply too lazy or stupid to say anything about it. For the amount of complaining on here and for how rare it is for a plan to be shared or communicated it seems like you're your own worst enemies. I'd even call out that you're simply bad players. At best the odd group might say in chat "SQUUAAAAKKKK", whatever that's supposed to mean (squad?).

[Lefty Lucy]

Seriously, when I'm playing PUGboss, it's almost always the silent "we're doing our own thing and don't give a frak about the rest of you guys" pre-mades who are the ones not following the plan.

Ideally, they should be the ones leading, since they have the advantage of voice coms, so even a simple "we're a pre-made, so follow along please" and then calling priority targets would suffice.

[Dagnome]

If someone asks I will tell them when I am in a premade and in the occasional off game I will announce it. You want to know what the stigma is?

70% of the time the other 4 individuals on my team DONT DO anything intelligent thus I just consider them all glorified meat shields for the 4 of us to actually attempt to win the game.

Much love
-Dagnome

[Gristle]

I've tried this when playing with my group. Mostly nobody ever responds, not even a "rgr" when I say "Form up at E5" or "going to boat". Then in the heat of battle there is no time to be calling focus targets or providing intel through text chat.

[Secundus]

That's funny, because as a lone wolf, when I just throw out commands more often than not people are responding, or saying they're scouting instead, or what have you. Way more often than not. You groups are fools. How hard is it to simply say it in chat at the start of every round while the countdown is going "We're a 4 man lance, we're going water"?

Edited by Secundus, 01 December 2012 - 11:46 AM.

[Gristle]

Secundus, on 01 December 2012 - 11:44 AM, said:

That's funny, because as a lone wolf, when I just throw out commands more often than not people are responding, or saying their scouting instead, or what have you. Way more often than not. You groups are fools.

Not my experience at all. Only occasionally does someone respond. I keep trying though, it's only in my teams best interest to try and get everyone on the same page.

I've been trying to come up with a way to help with the text chat using my keyboards macro capability. Still trying to find a workable solution. What would be nice if there was a "Chat macro" system built into MWO. Something like tribes and PS2's chat macros (v, 1 = thanks, v,2 = need health etc.in PS2) or a commrose like in the BF games.

[Icebound]

In my groups we will usually try to start a game with a basic command (go cave, turn right here and run, stay together, go straight, etc.) But most of the time we're ignored and the others get picked off, so I can see why most teams don't bother trying to inform the pugs.

Gristle, on 01 December 2012 - 11:50 AM, said:

I've been trying to come up with a way to help with the text chat using my keyboards macro capability. Still trying to find a workable solution. What would be nice if there was a "Chat macro" system built into MWO. Something like tribes and PS2's chat macros (v, 1 = thanks, v,2 = need health etc.in PS2) or a commrose like in the BF games.

I feel like those are kind of expected nowadays. They're really handy for people without mics to get their point across without having to type out a sentence. It would definitely go a long way to getting pugs to cooperate.

[Secundus]

Icebound, on 01 December 2012 - 11:53 AM, said:

I feel like those are kind of expected nowadays. They're really handy for people without mics to get their point across without having to type out a sentence. It would definitely go a long way to getting pugs to cooperate.

These kinds of things are expected, it's been around since at least the Quake 3 TA days, was heavily used in the RTCW and ET games. These are the kind of oversights that make me feel like we're dealing with a very amateur team, or at a least a team of veterans who have never been on the project management and conception side of things. These are not hard to implement and there's really no excuse for it not be in there by now, especially with the $5m dollar boost they got from founders. Can't blow $10,000 on a few voice lines?

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare team have already done a re-record of a bunch of lines to make it sound better and it's only been out since October. That's a self-funded team of 7 guys who have a game on Steam that's been in the top 10 sellers list since early October, including during the black Friday sales.

Edited by Secundus, 01 December 2012 - 12:00 PM.

[Lefty Lucy]

Dagnome, on 01 December 2012 - 11:41 AM, said:

If someone asks I will tell them when I am in a premade and in the occasional off game I will announce it. You want to know what the stigma is?

70% of the time the other 4 individuals on my team DONT DO anything intelligent thus I just consider them all glorified meat shields for the 4 of us to actually attempt to win the game.

Much love
-Dagnome

Gristle, on 01 December 2012 - 11:42 AM, said:

I've tried this when playing with my group. Mostly nobody ever responds, not even a "rgr" when I say "Form up at E5" or "going to boat". Then in the heat of battle there is no time to be calling focus targets or providing intel through text chat.

So you guys have tried it a few times and decided it never works. Right.

In every single game I'm in a group, I tell the other people we dropped with. A lot of the time it's another group, some of the time the other group wants to coordinate, and some of the time they want to do their own thing and lose horribly. A lot of the time it's PUGs, and even every once in a while we'll get a PUG player say "thank god." That PUG player usually follows along *very* well. A lot of the time the PUG players go along with us fairly well. Some of the time, they say "you're not the boss of me" and do their own thing.

Last night we had 3 people on, and we won a game pretty handily after communicating with our PUG pickups. After the game, I got a friends invite from one of the guys, toastersupreme. We got him into the group, got him on TS, and he ended up being the super star in a few of the drops that night.

It's a social game, and if you can't communicate well with people you don't know, you're gonna have a bad time.

[Gristle]

Yea, I really like the the way Tribes had it configured. You could put together whole sentences with just a few keystrokes.

http://tribes.wikia....ice_Game_System

[Lefty Lucy]

Gristle, on 01 December 2012 - 11:58 AM, said:

Yea, I really like the the way Tribes had it configured. You could put together whole sentences with just a few keystrokes.

http://tribes.wikia....ice_Game_System

VFF

[Gristle]

Lefty Lucy, on 01 December 2012 - 11:58 AM, said:

So you guys have tried it a few times and decided it never works. Right.

No. I frequently use text chat at the beginning of a round to try and get the whole team on a plan. Not always, but mostly. And my experience is that the other players rarely respond.

[Secundus]

The lance should also have someone take control of the battle command and start placing markers on the maps of where they're going. I've seen that happen maybe once or twice in a few hundred rounds.

[Dagnome]

Lefty Lucy, on 01 December 2012 - 11:58 AM, said:

So you guys have tried it a few times and decided it never works. Right.

In every single game I'm in a group, I tell the other people we dropped with. A lot of the time it's another group, some of the time the other group wants to coordinate, and some of the time they want to do their own thing and lose horribly. A lot of the time it's PUGs, and even every once in a while we'll get a PUG player say "thank god." That PUG player usually follows along *very* well. A lot of the time the PUG players go along with us fairly well. Some of the time, they say "you're not the boss of me" and do their own thing.

Last night we had 3 people on, and we won a game pretty handily after communicating with our PUG pickups. After the game, I got a friends invite from one of the guys, toastersupreme. We got him into the group, got him on TS, and he ended up being the super star in a few of the drops that night.

It's a social game, and if you can't communicate well with people you don't know, you're gonna have a bad time.

Tsk tsk you generalized me off a post. I take MWO on a game by game basis though generally, yes, it is to no avail so I do not always take the initiative to engage with my 4 teammates.

[Vapor Trail]

Lefty Lucy, on 01 December 2012 - 12:00 PM, said:

VFF

[insert minedisk]

VGO
VGTA
VGTB
VGS
VGG
VGB

Edited by Vapor Trail, 01 December 2012 - 12:05 PM.

[Wired]

the people I group with tend to try to open communications with whoever isn't AFK in our drop. Sometimes we simply follow the biggest herd of PUGs. When there is a commander, we make sure we work with what he wants to try.

Usually though, even the PUG doesn't talk to itself.

[SpiralRazor]

Lefty Lucy, on 01 December 2012 - 11:40 AM, said:

Seriously, when I'm playing PUGboss, it's almost always the silent "we're doing our own thing and don't give a frak about the rest of you guys" pre-mades who are the ones not following the plan.

Ideally, they should be the ones leading, since they have the advantage of voice coms, so even a simple "we're a pre-made, so follow along please" and then calling priority targets would suffice.

I try but i can only type when my screen engagement is low.

[Red1769]

Quote

And my experience is that the other players rarely respond.

Maybe not by the chat, but try to pay attention to their actions. I often don't respond with the chat, but through my own actions by following along whatever plan. And if need be, I'll say what I'm going to do or respond with a "On it" or "roger". Not very often, but I do.

Edit: To add onto what SpiralRazor said, if I'm not getting shot at either.

Edited by Red1769, 01 December 2012 - 12:10 PM.

[LynxFury]

A big help would be some icon next to the names to know the group that dropped together. Even when pugging, it's often doubtful whether the guy calling the shots is even part of a team.

A dedicated mech commander slot as part of group drops would be a nice touch as well. (think somewhat like BF2 2142)

[Anders]

Secundus, on 01 December 2012 - 11:36 AM, said:

Why is it that 4 man groups almost never announce to the rest of their teammates that they are in a group and where they are going? Every round I'll ask what's the plan and only rarely will someone will speak up, I'll throw out some commands, some people will follow, then I'll notice half our team going the other way. I'll pester and then basically tell everyone to redirect with them since they're apparently too newbie to know how to chat. Then toward the end of the round we'll find out they were a group but were simply too lazy or stupid to say anything about it. For the amount of complaining on here and for how rare it is for a plan to be shared or communicated it seems like you're your own worst enemies. I'd even call out that you're simply bad players. At best the odd group might say in chat "SQUUAAAAKKKK", whatever that's supposed to mean (squad?).

Mr. Secundus:

That sounds like you encountered some Tetatae pilots. Allow me to load my Tetataian to English translation software.

"SQUAWK" = "Hello, how are you doing this wonderful day?"
"SQUAWWK" "I am taking heavy fire in D4 from a Streakapult, I need assistance"
"SQUUAAWWK" = "Returning to base, I see that we are being captured, I don't need any assistance at this moment."
"SQUUAAAAKKKK" = Thanks.

It's all very subtle.

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