Main > General Discussion
Ship Scrambling and Other Upcoming Features
Captain Smollett:
--- Quote from: dragonmere on November 17, 2013, 10:54:54 pm ---Why are we blaming this on organized teams? I do NOT understand. At all. Give me some proof. Please.
--- End quote ---
I don't think Muse is blaming anything on organized teams. They're trying to ameliorate a known and well reported issue in the game community that is only is slightly related to clans. I've seen no less than 3 threads with long discussions about stacked teams so there must at least be some issue if it's getting that much discussion.
I think Muse's heart is in the right place with this in that they're trying to make the game fun for everyone. It really doesn't come off as a personal attack against clan/competitive players. I don't feel very strongly either way regarding the "scramble". I don't think it will solve the issue and it certainly doesn't stop teams from making new lobbies to stay together. For me the game really wouldn't be changed much by it either way, if the swap happens and it seems like the match will be fun cool, if I want to stay flying with my fellow captain or the swap doesn't seem fun I'll leave to a new match.
HamsterIV:
I didn't read the all the rants, but I have a new point:
When you get stuck on a team with a captain who doesn't know how to work a ship and refuses to learn/take advice the ship (lets call him Leroy) the scramble would be a blessing. It will spread the burden of having to put up with Leroy around to each ship on the server. It will give an exceptional captain a chance to show they can win regardless of how stupid their ally is. It will also give the last captain to fly with the Leroy some catharsis as he pummels Leroy into the ground.
When I am stuck flying under a bad captain I feel no sorrow for abandoning him. When I am flying with a good crew and a bad ally ship I feel bad leaving a crew that did nothing wrong.
Keyvias:
--- Quote from: Omniraptor on November 17, 2013, 09:33:59 pm ---Personally, I think most team stacks are not malicious. I suggest rolling out the "ship swap" feature first and seeing whether the issue resolves- ship and crew swap is perfectly voluntary and most people seem to have no problem with it, and it serves mostly the same purpose as mandatory ship scrambling, which is controversial and maybe not a good idea.
Since the community at large is pretty cooperative/nice and most stacked matches (in my experience) don't "unstack" because it's too difficult to get everyone to move while preserving crew composition. Once switching sides becomes a matter of two mouse clicks, I think people will be much more willing to move around.
Implement the switching mechanic first, wait on the more drastic scramble mechanic. However, if it's still a big problem after switching gets implemented, then maybe mandatory scrambling is in order.
--- End quote ---
Yup, player controlled ship and crew swap is on it's way first. Nothing to test there, it's something we've been missing and we're happy to put it in as soon as it's ready.
If I never see a stacked teams thread after this. I will personally lead the charge into getting rid of anything scramble related.
I'm really happy with everyone stepping back and talking about the issue, even if you don't agree with this plan.
We have a community meeting tomorrow and have no doubt this will be first on the agenda.
I know it doesn't look like you guys are making a lot of traction, but I'll let you see behind the curtain for a moment. I promise all your feedback is taken very seriously.
Since this thread I've had 4 impromptu meetings about better ways to solve this problem and as I said I've got another tomorrow.
I'll do my best to keep everyone up to date after we have our fifth (and I doubt final) meeting.
Keep up the ideas and the discussion though! I'm going to have this thread open tomorrow.
ramjamslam:
I agree with dragonmere in that Muse should look deeper into why players don't stay, that is if they haven't already. This is to say that I don't think these details need to be public knowledge, but I would consider investigating scenarios such as whether:
* players who hit rank 4 with ranks 4 3 3 (any class) are more likely to continue playing than players who hit rank 4 with ranks 4 1 1
* similarly players who hit rank 4 with greater than X matches are more likely to continue playing than players who hit rank 4 in less than X matches
* players who are using a clan tag with other similarly ranked players are more likely to continue playing than players who don't use a clan tag
* players who are using a known clan tag are more likely to continue playing than players who don't use a clan tag of an existing clan
* players who obtained a copy of the game through a 4 pack are more likely to continue playing than players who bought a single copy (I have no idea if you can actually track this)
* players who use party chat regularly within X matches are more likely to continue playing than players who don't use party chat
* players who join non novice matches within X matches are more likely to continue playing than players who stay in novice matches
* players who take part in training matches (novice match with trainer/CA on ship) are more likely to continue playing than average player
* players who rarely experience 5 to 0 wins or losses in their first X matches are more likely to continue playing than players who only experience 5 to 0 matches
* players who typed 'gg' into chat after all of their first X matches are more likely to continue playing than players who type 'noob crew' into chat after their first X matches(and some bonus ones)
* players who have a pyramidion with 'Ram' in the name (named after me of course) are more likely to continue playing than players who have never even met me D:
* players who have burned lots of ships with flamers and banshees are more likely to continue playing than players who use boring old gat/mortar
Discovering where (most importantly) the stayers are coming from should help plan tweaking the areas Muse should address. The items I list above are things I assume you have data on, but I do not know how much you do or do not keep a record of. Answers to the above questions could spur innovation in different directions such as tournaments for level locked clans, more recruitment drives from existing clans into novice matches, more support for players to keep in touch with each other in game (through a clan communication system), a greater drive for CA and trainer presence in novice matches, reevaluating the novice match lockout at level 4 or Pyramidions being named 'RamJamSlam Pyramidion' instead of 'Pyramidion Pyramidion' by default.
Lastly, I would like to say that I understand that GoIO player data is confidential and I don't assume that you would share it with the community, just that you would take it into consideration when planning.
-Mad Maverick-:
I think what we need to do is overhaul the entire matchmaking process. I mean let's be honest if the teams are "stacked" sooo badly that it causes someone to go and take the time out and make a forum post or message a dev about it they aren't going to stick around for five matches anyway.
every other game that is pvp and has a steep learning curve like HON or madden have a comprehensive ranking systems for each player. these rankings based on things like games played, kdr, etc. will help us make a pairing system that would put players if similar rank together(or as closely ranked as possible). without an accurate way of assessing skill levels we will always risk having players feeling in over their head.
the "quick join" option as it is at this very moment is completely unhelpful and often detrimental to someone's experience. for instance; I'm Johnny newbie and I was to gun and I have no other friends who play the game. I log in do the tutorial and feel ready to roll. I select my class and hit "quick join" only to join a match and have my crew mates asking me to "log out change my class to engi and log back in". what a bunch of jerks these guys are trying to get me to quit just because I'm new(because I don't understand that they are actually giving me helpful feedback) well I'm just going to mount this gun and fire away cuz screw these guys.
I hope you can visualize this very real scenario and begin to see that a scramble isn't even a bandaid to the actual problem. what we need is an ACTUAL matchmaking system.
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