31 replies to this topic

[Tahribator]

I suggest not asking questions at round start, but straight up telling the team what to do(go upper/lower, go 3/7 line, defend E5 . . .). By the time someone responds to you most of the team will already be scattered.

Just make sure what you say is logical for the map.

[Inviticus]

buttmonkey, on 12 February 2013 - 05:37 AM, said:

f we ever run in premades, we usually et the team know asap. we say something like "4 of us going down 3/4 line)"
then the puggies can either come with us or risk it on their own. usually they come with us, its also nice just to acknowledge that they are there, i do feel sorry for pugs sometimes

If a group announces themselves and their intentions, I always follow. It's almost like a 5man at that point. Just take note of the names of those players moving together in case you get separated from the 4man group.

[bloodnor]

as a PUG i give this advice when in trouble

DO A BARREL ROLL

[Inviticus]

Tahribator, on 12 February 2013 - 05:43 AM, said:

I suggest not asking questions at round start, but straight up telling the team what to do(go upper/lower, go 3/7 line, defend E5 . . .). By the time someone responds to you most of the team will already be scattered.

Just make sure what you say is logical for the map.

I like asking questions though. It puts the idea in the rest of the team to follow the group and proceed accordingly. I think there is a powerful psychological effect at work when you know you're following a premade. I've seen it work quite often. Hell, I played 10 solo matches last night employing this idea and only died once or twice. It was really amazing.

[Stymir]

download teamspeak
find the RHoD serve
join a team or join group of LNW
communicate
Have fun

[Inviticus]

Stymir, on 12 February 2013 - 07:22 AM, said:

download teamspeak
find the RHoD serve
join a team or join group of LNW
communicate
Have fun

Not everyone wants to have to use a voip program for any nunber of reasons. My suggestion is to use the tools available in the game to work with those 4mans in a meaningful and productive way.

[MischiefSC]

Awesome post OP. Great advice.

I always ask if there's a premade team who wants to take the lead. Currently I've done that in ~1100 matches. Probably gotten responses in ~300 or 400 of them.

I can count on 1 hand the number of those responses that have been obnoxious premade teams.

I really like pugging with premade teams. I truly believe the problem is that not enough cool premade teams speak up, leaving only the screaming in chat after they die or trash-talking when they win sorts to represent them and that's created a terrible and undeserved reputation.

All due props for this post, all good advice.

[Inviticus]

MischiefSC, on 12 February 2013 - 08:55 AM, said:

Awesome post OP. Great advice.

I always ask if there's a premade team who wants to take the lead. Currently I've done that in ~1100 matches. Probably gotten responses in ~300 or 400 of them.

I can count on 1 hand the number of those responses that have been obnoxious premade teams.

I really like pugging with premade teams. I truly believe the problem is that not enough cool premade teams speak up, leaving only the screaming in chat after they die or trash-talking when they win sorts to represent them and that's created a terrible and undeserved reputation.

All due props for this post, all good advice.

Thanks.

To be perfectly honest, the current state of the matchmaker has me on the verge of quitting this game. I don't normally like to have to use 3rd party tools in order to enjoy a game I play casually. I've been trying to find ways to even the playingfield when it comes to the PuG vs Premade debacle and this seems to work some of the time.

[Greyfyl]

I usually call out my plan at the beginning, almost always I get at most 2-3 players that follow along. The others just scatter. Usually I will just adjust my path and follow the herd, hopefull that the players that originally were following me will continue to do so.

Lately though I've consistently seen pug games where there aren't more than 2 players from my team anywhere close to each other, it's almost as if they are trying to stay as far away from each other as possible. Many times you can see that the match is lost in the first 15 seconds unless the other team somehow has 6 or 7 ******* on their side as well.

It's been brutal. I had one game last night where 6 of the other 7 players followed me in my DDC. Of course the one that refused to stay with us was the only other assault, he died after doing a whopping 17 damage about 25 seconds into the game.

[BLUPRNT]

For you solo players these ideas work. I and 1 partner pair often for matches and will usually run builds that work well with each other. All you have to do is ask and we awnser if we see it. The other night a player noticed on his own the 2 of us working together in a conquest and his Hunchback joined us, following us everywhere and fighting when needed. At the end we won and the 3 of us were the only ones left. It doesn't take much to change the way the game feels and turns out for you.

I don't type fast so I don't use chat much. My mech will stop before I can even type "Go".

[Serapth]

Thing is, everything in the OP just boil down to good strategy, PUG or premade, except the last point.


There is only one good piece of advice you can give PUGs.

Be prepared to lose, a lot, by no fault of your own, because PGI have made a poorly balanced game and don't really care about making it better for you.

If you want to actually enjoy it, play outside US primetime hours. Otherwise, simply expect a lot of 8-0 rolls, with very little to nothing you can do about it.




I've frankly given up on any chance of seeing a simple fix to the matchmaker ( premades balanced per side... it aint brain surgery )... as PGI seem to be focusing on the premade side of the equation ( esports? Really, with the **** matchmaker you have in place now ), even though that demographic resulted in a complete ghosttown on the 8man queue.

Now that my premium time is up, I simply dont play most evenings, that I suppose is my answer. When I do, and when I am in the face of an obvious premade, I just score myself by a different system. I aim to be #1 on the losing side, if I do that I figure the game is 100% on the **** matchmaker. On top of that, I assign myself a value based on the mech Im in ( 400 damage in assault, 300 in heavy, 200 in medium or light ) and see if I can exceed that amount of damage.


Hopefully ELO will make the situation just a little less awful sometime in the future.

[Inviticus]

Serapth, on 12 February 2013 - 01:03 PM, said:

Hopefully ELO will make the situation just a little less awful sometime in the future.

Here's to hoping.