Main > General Discussion

AN OPEN LETTER: "Return to crew form or rematch?"

(1/5) > >>

Enochh:
Hi to all, i'm Enochh, the leader of the Ra clan
I've decided to write this letter to share with everyone my point of view about a very burdensome issue.
Many people complain of matchmaking because low-level players often find very unbalanced matches and they encounter ships full of members of the same clan or friends with high-level.
Often these high-level teams, after winning the game, instead of doing rematch, they go for 'return to crew form'.

An example. Yesterday for the first time I could get two ships full of Ra members. I found a game and immediately all opponents left. Only one player remained (whose name I won't say here), and started complaining about the problem I have explained before. He did pressure on us to split up, he pushed for that. I assured him that after that match we would have done a rematch. He could hardly believe it, but in the end we did rematch and all ended up well.
Now, a little premise.
We members of the Ra clan, always try to help the community in different ways: accepting on match lower level players and trying to teach them, we are very sociable in the lobbies, and many other things such as trying to balance the matches (I have seen other clans doing that, for example, the SREP, the DAGZ, the TT). But sometimes I think it's normal for friends, or members of the same clan, wanting to play together for various reasons, including training for the official competitions. I can understand the problem of the players because I was low level too. Everyone here has been low level. I also understand the need to try as much as possible to balance the games. But this can not become a matter of aggressive discussion every time or even become a requirement. It is not our fault if we were put in that lobby. Also the clans sometimes need to be able to practice playing together against other people. I remember that, when I was low-level, those situations helped me more than anything to learn and grow my determination to improve myself in this game.

I thought about it a lot and I came to the conclusion that one of the causes of this problem is this:
I noticed that if I participate in 3 games, I can meet players of about 20 different clans. I think that the ease with which you can create a new clan (as well as increasing the possibility of trolling clans) also contributes to the dispersion of the community. Often these clans have very few members and then often the members play alone. Or often, having all members of that clan low level, it is normal that they have higher chances to be put in an unbalanced match. I believe that it should be harder to create new clan (and remove inactive or with few members clans) to encourage new players to try to get into the most active clans. Within these clans, the low level players will be able to participate to games with more experienced members. That will increase the chance to have more balanced matches and clan versus clan matches.

Then I would suggest the developers to make it harder to create new clans because I think that this will make the community more united and furthermore enhance the education of new players from those with more experience.

I also want to encourage all members of the major clans to try to balance games as often as they can.

My greetings!

Enochh

Extirminator:

--- Quote from: Enochh on February 10, 2015, 08:47:18 am ---
I thought about it a lot and I came to the conclusion that one of the causes of this problem is this:
I noticed that if I participate in 3 games, I can meet players of about 20 different clans. I think that the ease with which you can create a new clan (as well as increasing the possibility of trolling clans) also contributes to the dispersion of the community. Often these clans have very few members and then often the members play alone. Or often, having all members of that clan low level, it is normal that they have higher chances to be put in an unbalanced match. I believe that it should be harder to create new clan (and remove inactive or with few members clans) to encourage new players to try to get into the most active clans. Within these clans, the low level players will be able to participate to games with more experienced members. That will increase the chance to have more balanced matches and clan versus clan matches.

Then I would suggest the developers to make it harder to create new clans because I think that this will make the community more united and furthermore enhance the education of new players from those with more experience.


--- End quote ---

While having low level players join in on other clans so they can play together and increase their skill level is a nice utopia, you are forgetting that not all low levels are so invested in the game that they want to stay and sharpen their skills. See as proof the giant fluctuation of players between non-sale and sale times. The harsh truth is that most new players are just in for a few matches for a game they picked up on sale.

Another issue with this way of thinking is the assumption that all low levels, want to be associated with a clan that is not their "core-4-players-who-just-bought-their-4-pack", they wanna play with their friends, and until they don't develop any other friendship bonds in-game with other people, I honestly don't see a reason for them to want to join a foreign clan, never mind how active it is. On the other side of the coin here you have the higher skilled players that are oriented with a clan already, that are basically being forced lower levels upon - No one asked them if they want to befriend the foreign people who you just added to their clan.

Ultimately, The system for making new clans shouldn't be harder. It wouldn't stop new players from confiding into their small play groups, they will keep playing with those 4-core-players, only without the clan tag. While I agree "troll-clans" are annoying, the way to stop them wouldn't be to stop them from creating a clan, it would just constrict their level of customization and creativity in-game - they would still be trolling people I assure you. Also, if what you want is only a few core active clans that are available for people to join in on, what would be the requirements for a clan to be a "core clan"? What is it that makes a clan, in this new system you propose stick out and serve as a "core clan"? Is it the amount of players? activity? Commendations? Strong competitive base? because as I see it, there isn't a good way to classify a "core clan" as you call it - All clans deserve to exist.
I would say that if you are going for only a few "core clans" to be in existence, for the unified community, delete all the current clans, and make one clan for each faction. Which is sort of what adventure mode is gonna be. Btw, I think that this clan for each faction deal in skirmish mode is totally idiotic, but a cool idea for adventure mode.


Also, one last side note -

--- Quote from: Enochh on February 10, 2015, 08:47:18 am ---Often these high-level teams, after winning the game, instead of doing rematch, they go for 'return to crew form'.

--- End quote ---
From my point of view at least, every time there is a stacked lobby, the skilled side wants the rematch because of the scramble feature. However the low level side have already had enough of it, and they vote for returning to crew. Thus giving birth to an infinite ever lasting cycle of death and terror concluding the end of the glorious times of normal match list.

Kamoba:
Personally I think the word "Rematch" is what makes new player go for crew form, because as I see it the word rematch suggests keeping the teams the same, especially to new players who don't know the scramble feature, thus encouraging them to select crew form in the hopes of a better match up, perhaps rematch should be renamed to a word more appropriate to scramble than Rematch..

a DuSt NiNjA:
One of the issue Extirminator points out is one of the most important, and that is the troll clans and core 4 players who dont want to make friends will stlll exist regardless of the system made for clans. Even if they arent in a clan (because many dont figure it out right away), they will still run together. Regarding any changes to the game itself, I think that the "rematch" button could be changed to only appear when scramble is off, and a better word or phrasing used in most public lobbies where scramble is on to imply clicking that option will randomize the lobby. Also informing people of the swap ship and slot functions could be very helpful. One of the biggest reasons this game's community is the way it is is because of the nature of the game itself. Muse made one of the most team-dependent games ever, and it shows at the highest levels and best players to the newest ones. If someone gets the game alone and refuses to make friends, or doesnt find anyone agreeable, they will most likely leave the game. If the "core 4" IRL friends get bored, or one goes inactive, or they all think the learning curve is too high, they will leave. The troll clans leave when they get into serious trouble or when they get bored. I was personally extremely anti clan prior to playing this game, but the nature of the game depends on making friends to play with, online or bringing them with you. Im not sure if there is a solution to this problem, and Im not sure if i want there to be one. I enjoy the small community, and the emphasis on clan team work and competition. But, if I had to make any suggestion for the seasoned Guns players to help the newer ones, it would be this: stomp once and switch. Every vet has the right to play with their clan. Its fun, coordinated, and its great to play with people who are competent and even better than yourself. However, we cant keep complaining/worrying about the community size and quality if we stomp all the time. I am DEFINITELY not for stopping every stomp, but switching things up the 2nd round causes a positive reaction even in the worst bad sports and rudest new players. You get to play AGAINST your own friends/clan members as well, which is always a good challenge.

Just for those who dont want to read all my thoughts, the summary is this. Vet clans should "stomp once and switch" to help new people but still play with their clan. Also, the only change I think would be good to the game is the rephrasing of the "rematch" button when scramble is on to something more related to "shuffle teams".

From Dust

Extirminator:
I like the proposition of having the scramble visible on the ending screen of the current game, even before entering the new lobby. Simply have the scrambled ships have some sort of indicator on them - hinting how next match should look like and then, if the person is happy with the new teams - he can vote for a rematch of the displayed scrambled teams, or returning back to crew if he isn't happy with it.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page