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[Thuraash]

PUGs lack teamwork, and I think that's largely because nobody has a chance to talk or plan, and we don't even know what 'mechs our teammates are running unless we dropped with them, or take a look around at the start of the match.

Pre-Match Lobby to Meet your Team
A pre-match lobby ("dropship") would make this situation a whole lot better. It gives you 45s or so to chat with your teammates, see what 'mechs, weapons, and equipment they have selected, and see what map is next. This will allow some some very basic teamwork and organization, where players can decide who they'll cover or run with, what cap points they'll go for (vs. either zerg-herd or scatter), and come up with very basic strategies or plans.

'Mech Selection in the Dropship
A great feature would be to allow you to have access to all four of your "selected" 'mechs in the dropship, and allow you to choose which one you want to drop with that round based on the map, what your teammates are using, and your battleplan. The game already has the four selection slots, so this feature would go along with that great.

Lance Selection
If PGI implements the dropship, they could put a "lance selection" layer to it, where players are allowed to group themselves into a "lance slot." There could be five lance slots that can each hold a max of 4 (just to make sure you can always have a new slot if you're rolling with a group of 4).

Lance-members would be highlighted in neon green instead of blue on the HUD, so you can easily find your lance-mates. This could be a great feature both for pre-mades who want to run together, and for people without a group, since they can quickly find one. It creates a layer of organization to allow the team to function as a set of two or three lances instead of just one disorganized swarm.

Being able to name the lance would be awesome, so merc companies can identify themselves to the rest of the team.

Best of 5 (Campaign) Mode
Another feature could be for matches to be a "best of 3" or "best of 5" instead of single runs. Matches would run for a more satisfying length of time (~20-30 mins), and could be worth more XP/c-bills per minute compared to one-off rounds. You have the same team and enemies throughout, which would be great for building teamwork and bridging the gap between PUGs and pre-mades.
Each warrior has access to only their 4 selected 'mechs for the duration of the campaign. This can have lots of interesting impacts on gameplay.

Needless to say, for the best of 3 system to work, there would need to be some penalty for ditching. A 10-minute lock-out should suffice, with maybe c-bill penalties for repeat offenders (like more than 3 bailouts in a day). You also forfeit any c-bills and xp earned if you leave early, but still pay for damage (if R&R comes back).

Persistent Damage
There are no repairs of internals, weapons, or equipment, and only limited armor repair between rounds. 33% of each section's max armor sounds like a fair amount of armor repair for an emergency refit mid-campaign. This means you need to preserve your 'mech if you want it next round, or else drop with a damaged 'mech or choose another one.

Strong team-building
If you're only playing with people for one round, they're strangers when you meet them, and by the time you get to know them, they're gone. This way, the team sticks together for longer, and gets to work together for longer.

Competitive Play with "Long Campaigns"
For competitive play between merc groups or 8-man pre-mades (or even PUG players if there's enough interest), there could be a "long campaign" mode. Everyone's got access to their 4 selected 'mechs, but this time it's a best-of-seven or even best-of-nine. This means attrition matters, and it's a real possibility that some mechwarriors might have only damaged 'mechs (or NO 'mechs left) to choose from by the end of the campaign. To compensate, it might be a good idea to have "escape zones" at certain places near the edges of the map where players can run off the map to save their 'mechs.

That sounds like an AWESOME mode for competitive/"serious" play.

What do you all think?

TL, DR: A pre-match lobby where you can meet up with your teammates, choose from one of your four selected 'mechs, see which map is next, and organize into lances would be AWESOME for PUG gameplay.

Also, could have a "campaign" mode where instead of exiting after the match to the main screen, you go back to the dropship and drop again with the same team in a best of 3 or best of 5 format. Could have a best of 9 for comp play. No repairs to criticals between