157 replies to this topic

[Will Randor]

How do you determine if you have premades in the round?

Is it just how quickly the names load at the start (which is not that easy to read I find).

Having come back to MWO after a longish gap on other games the 4 player limit seems to make non-pre-made play somewhat better (but can still lose 10 rounds in a row sometimes) but the community clearly has poor visibility as to if it’s the matchmaker still causing the main problems or just that they got beaten by better players.

Color coding or marking premades AFTER the round would really help us all clarify – identifying them before has risks as disconnects will go up hugely.

MWO is really vulnerable to matchmaking issues as the teams are small by design (32 per side in BF3 and huge numbers in Planetside2) and the mechs are really quite weak when hit by combined and professional fire. Therefore new users can get annihilated round after round which is bad for business as they will not like it and leave.

The big issues as noted on several threads is how often do 4 man groups drop with a weight total that matches another 4 man group. The community has to accept that either those groups wait some time to get a game or it can be badly unbalanced in the round. I personally think they should wait as long as possible but clearly beyond a certain time that will be unworkable, 60-120 seconds looking at “Searching” is what the group players would get for better round quality. Otherwise as probably now it will just stick in one 4 premade and the rest PUGs or two 4 man premades on one side against PUGS.

Right now though I and probably lots of players are unsure when it’s a premade or not.

Final point, 12 premade versus 4 premade and PUGS sounds like a poor quality round to me….but although I won’t join a 4 man social group (as too small and might have to talk to people a lot) I will join an 8 or 12 so I will long term have a K/D better than my current 3 as a PUG (but the game will be worse off for it). When I played in an 8 premade months back we maybe lost just 2 in 20 rounds.

[Bilbo]

There is no way to know for sure unless they tell you.

[Team Leader]

Bilbo, on 28 January 2013 - 09:24 AM, said:

There is no way to know for sure unless they tell you.

And sometimes, they might just be PUGs messing with you. It's really impossible to tell.

[Kommisar]

I can generally tell by how they behave during the open stages of the fight. Though, I do get dupped on occasion. Saw a premade use their 2 spiders to do just that last night. They rushed them around, made some other moves in the back, in general made it look like general PUG chaos, my team went after them... then they flipped the switch.

Normally, however, just look how disciplined they are. Same with weapon loadouts, if you can see them. Lots of LRMs... problably Premade. Or the team I saw last night where at least 5 of the mechs had an LRM launcher and an ER Large Laser all saying under 2 ECM mechs. Probably not random there.

Paint jobs can be a give away. But by then, you're dead anyway.

Lot of coordinated 2x4 man team drops of late. So, don't assume that all 8 of them are not one team on TS.

[Greyfyl]

Install teamspeak and join the free US and Europe servers, bookmark them and keep them open. Put yourself in the afk area. If you really truly want to know, ask around or dig here for some of the other more common free TS servers.

I have many people on my friends list that will not pug, so if I see them ingame they are in a premade.

Asking works to a point, but many won't admit it now, and obviously like the above poster mentioned, they could just lie to you.

If you truly want to know, there are plenty of ways to find out, but it becomes work instead of play. I personally don't see PGI doing anything in regards to limiting the premades ability to pugstomp outside of ELO, hopefully I am wrong.

Edited by Greyfyl, 28 January 2013 - 09:37 AM.

[Bguk]

Only way to tell is by the score. If your team lost, then you faced a premade. If the score was 8-0 or 8-1(I think that's the cutoff), then it was a double premade.

[Kobold]

Most of the things described in the above posts as possible premades could also be more generally described as things experienced players would do. I mean seriously, slow friendly fire supports staying together inside someone's ECM?

So basically, not running around like a chicken with your head cut off = premade?

[Greyfyl]

Kommisar, on 28 January 2013 - 09:35 AM, said:

I can generally tell by how they behave during the open stages of the fight. Though, I do get dupped on occasion. Saw a premade use their 2 spiders to do just that last night. They rushed them around, made some other moves in the back, in general made it look like general PUG chaos, my team went after them... then they flipped the switch.

Normally, however, just look how disciplined they are. Same with weapon loadouts, if you can see them. Lots of LRMs... problably Premade. Or the team I saw last night where at least 5 of the mechs had an LRM launcher and an ER Large Laser all saying under 2 ECM mechs. Probably not random there.

Paint jobs can be a give away. But by then, you're dead anyway.

Lot of coordinated 2x4 man team drops of late. So, don't assume that all 8 of them are not one team on TS.

As much as I hate the pugstomping that is going on, there are many times that a group of veteran players will easily look like a premade. I had a game the other morning where all 7 teammates formed up on my ddc without a word. They all stayed close enough to support but not so bunched up that they got in each others way, and the focused fire without any targets being called. I was out front and as soon as I would open fire my target would be just getting hammered by 3 or 4 mechs. It was impressive.

Of course that was one game in about 40 or 50 pug matches that I probably did over the weekend, so it is the exception, not the rule.

Kobold, on 28 January 2013 - 09:40 AM, said:

Most of the things described in the above posts as possible premades could also be more generally described as things experienced players would do. I mean seriously, slow friendly fire supports staying together inside someone's ECM?

So basically, not running around like a chicken with your head cut off = premade?

When you see a team with 3 lrms boats and an ecm spotter with TAG, it's going to almost certainly be a premade at this point. Very few players are bringing lrms into pug matches, it's too hit or miss at this point.

[RussianWolf]

Darth Will, on 28 January 2013 - 09:20 AM, said:

Color coding or marking premades AFTER the round would really help us all clarify – identifying them before has risks as disconnects will go up hugely.

I would see this as a positive as it would force PGI to address the issue. If most Solos would simply refused to play pre-mades by disconnecting, they would either make separate lobbies for the two groups or officially be saying "screw you" to the solos.

I know which I'd bet on.

[Joseph Mallan]

If you see my name i am probably dropping with at least 1 other Lawman 90% of the time.

[Jacmac]

Darth Will, on 28 January 2013 - 09:20 AM, said:

How do you determine if you have premades in the round?

The easiest way to to pick out a suspect and google their name before the match begins or after you are dead. You can find out if it's a clan/group pretty quickly that way. If they are just a random set of 4 guys with no affiliation to each other, you will not find out they are a premade unless they announce it or something.

Edited by Jacmac, 28 January 2013 - 09:48 AM.

[Bguk]

RussianWolf, on 28 January 2013 - 09:46 AM, said:

I would see this as a positive as it would force PGI to address the issue.

It would at least show all players if there were an issue or not. We don't have our own data so we can only "discuss" on perceptions and feelings.

[Agent of Change]

Ask, or look up names. If they tell you there ya go, if they don't there isn't a good way to know.

Though those of us with clear group oriented sigs are likely going be dropping with at least one buddy at all times.

[Moonsavage]

In Assault - premades tent to stick together.
Worst case scenario - 4 x Raven 3L's lame lame lame lame lame...

Beat them by Capping, they hate that, and whine about it being a poor match... that they lost.

[Kobold]

I expect when they add in CW (and formal merc/faction support) we should be getting in game tags as well.

[CygnusX7]

They coordinate and fight smart. lol
Usually take out your ecm mechs and then roll the rest. All in about 3-4 minutes.

It's almost fun to watch. Frustrating to not be part of it.

[Phalanx100bc]

How do you tell you have PUGS in your group?

They charge headlong first getting killed almost instantly or sit camping by base while the 4 man group deals with incoming threats.

OR they sit back and go base cap when your 4man is in a furball slugfest.

trust me...we would rather not have PUGS around either...but they don't seem to mind when we do all the work and help rack up the C-Bills for them.

Edited by Phalanx100bc, 28 January 2013 - 09:56 AM.

[Magik0012]

Joseph Mallan, on 28 January 2013 - 09:47 AM, said:

If you see my name i am probably dropping with at least 1 other Lawman 90% of the time.

Listen up Lawman, law don't go 'round here, savvy?!?

[Havyek]

Greyfyl, on 28 January 2013 - 09:42 AM, said:

When you see a team with 3 lrms boats and an ecm spotter with TAG, it's going to almost certainly be a premade at this point. Very few players are bringing lrms into pug matches, it's too hit or miss at this point.

I run LRMs a lot in PUGs because then I can at least usually rack up a good deal of damage whether we win or lose.

5 LRM15s + TAG brings hurt, even if it's only around for a few minutes.

[PurpleNinja]

If each of their mechs are not running for it's own corner of the map, then they're a premade.