Joining a lobby at the wrong time

[Jereven]

So... this isn't the first time this has happened, but it's still frustrating, and should probably be fixed sometime.

I decided to join a lobby my friends were in.  I managed to pop in with less than one second before the match started -- in a random slot, on a random ship... still in my pilot role from earlier.  At no point did I actually /see/ the lobby screen.

So, now I'm stuck as a second pilot on a ship.  My options are pretty much increase our odds of losing, or take a Leave.  Abandoning and rejoining the match doesn't allow me to change class (and, IMHO, is a bit of a cheat anyways) -- I'm told I can find the lobby through the match list, but I didn't catch the name of the lobby either (I joined via friends list) and, still, I think that's a bit of a cheat.

There should probably be some sort of deal to fix this -- perhaps a (partial?) reset of the timer if someone joins the lobby in a ship slot, and/or a preference for having people who join during the timer go to spectator slots.  The former would at least allow time to react (and leave with no penalty or adjust correctly), though there's the risk of a match never starting if someone repeatedly leaves/joins (there's probably a way to fix this.)

[Goldenglade]

They are working on a reset of the leave count from what i hear. I can't 100% confirm that as i've heard the information second hand. However the best way to go about it is to always set your class before it happens.

Additionally players won't pay attention to leave counts unless they are largely in proportion to the amount of games you've played.

[Captain Smollett]

I'm not sure the proposed solutions would be great fixes but the problem has been ongoing since as long as I've played guns (ie a long long time).

Maybe we need to start spamming Muse inboxes.  I'm sure the fix is probably a lot of work but it would be nice to see eventually.

[ramjamslam]

When you click on a running lobby it doesn't put you in a crew or spectate slot so maybe the same should happen if the countdown timer is less than 10 seconds.

[Andika]

Ram's idea would be the best solution, either simply do not allow players to join in the last seconds (only when the match has already started) or put players to the spectate spot (although if many try to join in the last seconds, that can get tricky, but we are talking about the last 3 or four seconds anyway).

[Goldenglade]

true story

[Piemanlives]

I'll have to agree as well.

[Wundsalz]

I also see the need for such a feature. A favored spectator slot during the last 10 seconds prior to the match start, a leave count removal if a last second joiner leaves the game within the first 1-2min after game start or a combinition of both would work fine imo.
I personally tend to stay in lobbies I join like this, but there are certain no goes (e.g. lion gun op galleons flown by powder monkeys) where I outright quit the game straight after joining.

[GeoRmr]

As I exclusively play gunner when crewing, when this has happened to me either by joining as a second pilot or gunner, my solution has been to Use the afk feature (Esc AFK) to allow an AI to fulfil the role for me (Although this prevents other human engineers from joining I assume that the captain does not mind continuing with an AI as they were happy to begin the match under-crewed in the first place.)

I am however a firm believe that the leave counter is entirely unnecessary and detrimental to the community, as is echoed by my own solution which blocks other people from joining, I avoid racking up leaves out of my own vanity.

[GeoRmr]

When you click on a running lobby it doesn't put you in a crew or spectate slot so maybe the same should happen if the countdown timer is less than 10 seconds.

Maybe this should happen by default anyway, regardless of the countdown timer.

[ramjamslam]

When you click on a running lobby it doesn't put you in a crew or spectate slot so maybe the same should happen if the countdown timer is less than 10 seconds.

Maybe this should happen by default anyway, regardless of the countdown timer.

That could be good, there may be a problem with lag though with the voice chat unless you only enable voice chat for people holding either a crew or spectate slot.

[HamsterIV]

I always join a lobby ready to go as a main engineer then swap my equipment out base on captain request if there is time. I wouldn't mind if I could swap classes with a leave rejoin, for those occasions when the pilot quits.

[Ernest Wolf]

Always be ready before a lobby, my friend.

And ram's idea is very decent, I agree on it.