Messages

61

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Problems with matchmaking

« on: October 25, 2014, 12:17:32 pm »

@Shaelyn,Greenbreeze

None of the restrictions proposed above actually disallow you to play with your friends. Instead of friend joining lobbies or mid-match, one of you would simply have to wait a bit for the other to finish and then queue up together. Voila, now you're both playing together AND promoting healthy game balance and quality. I don't have any idea as to why everyone considers this such a huge compromise that would apparently destroy the so-called community aspect of the game and whatnot.

As for the 'but I only want to play 4 harpoon mobulas and mm wont let me!' argument, the answer is custom games. Get your friends who enjoy that kind of thing, host a custom game, have fun the way you want to have fun. You want it to be public because you also enjoy meeting strangers while doing your thing? Amazing, utilize the global chat and advertise your custom lobby.

If these were serious reasons for a self-respecting game not to have matchmaking or to impelement is so badly crippled, Dota 2 wouldn't have matchmaking because some people want to play 'all mid rikimaru-only' games, and some others can't stand the thought of their friends being in a game which they can't join right away. These examples are outside the norm and not what the average game is supposed to look like or actually looks like. To be absolutely honest I feel like the game's potential's been held back because of our (the community's) very very weird expectations.

62

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Problems with matchmaking

« on: October 25, 2014, 06:07:47 am »

Relying on players' good will in balancing the games is more of a problem than a solution

63

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Problems with matchmaking

« on: October 25, 2014, 03:57:56 am »

Everyone finds joy in different aspects of the game, there's no arguing that. You think instajoining on friends, finding a game quickly, spectator jumping and singing while getting stomped is what makes the game fun. I think it's challenging, well balanced games that do so. Nothing wrong with either. You feel the current system is too restrictive, I feel it's not restrictive enough. Unfortunately, the game can't keep us all satisfied. The problem is, muse are trying to.

As it is right now, the game's standing with one foot on a very compromised matchmaking system, and with the other one on the old lobby system, in an attempt to make everyone happy (but disappointing everyone instead). What I'm wondering is, what is the current matchmaking system offering? It's been suggested over and over again for a long time now in, an attempt to fix long-standing problems within the game and its playerbase. Yet lobby quality is still crap, lobby balance hasn't improved in the slightest, stacking is still unresolved (there always are 5 high-skill stacks split among 4 games, stomping them instead of being put against each other). 

If you're not dedicated enough to a matchmaking system, one that adresses these issues and attempts to improve the game in that regard, why the fuck do we have a matchmaking in the first place? Might as well return to the casual, fun for some, sing-while-getting stomped lobby system.


ps; I know this is the internet, where everyone complains and knows everything, but you have to admit that from a design perspective current mm implementation neither fixes nor improves much (save maybe for the lobby wait time), as it's so easy to bypass. This isn't meant to be a rant but rather constructive criticism, and I apologize if it feels like one.

64

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Problems with matchmaking

« on: October 24, 2014, 05:35:32 pm »

Spectator swapping refers to joining a game as spectator, picking a side on your own and joining it as a player. In current implementation, a mm lobby will also allow a player to change sides by first swapping into the spectator slot and then rejoining any side he wishes, but that's just a bug I assume.

65

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Problems with matchmaking

« on: October 24, 2014, 02:29:50 pm »

Imo, the ability to spectator/ship/slot jump or friend join should be removed to begin with. These just contribute to a poorer lobby balance and are easy to abuse. There's crew formation for people who wish to play together.

66

Gameplay / Re: Poor Squid

« on: October 24, 2014, 02:04:52 pm »

Squid is simply bad, be it with carro/flame or whatever else.

67

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Problems with matchmaking

« on: October 24, 2014, 07:22:04 am »

Once a game's ended, people should be returned to queue if they wish to continue playing, either solo or with the friends they initially queued with. This way lobby quality will improve over time, as people will either end up in the same lobby (assuming there's no better one) or in one they're better fit for. If there's a lvl45 pilot in queue and 3 lvl 5 pilots, they shouldn't be placed in the same lobby at all. At the very least, ask the minority to switch to another class that has somewhat of a lesser impact in the outcome of the game and the enjoyment factor for the rest of the players (and himself).

Also scramble makes no sense anymore. Game 1, you're lvl 40 with a lvl 1 ally vs lvl 38 and lvl 5 ally. Game 2, lvl 40 is with the lvl 38 versus the lvl 1 and 5. ()

Instead of scrambling ships and further reducing a lobby's quality just send everyone back to queue. If they are so eager to rematch or whatever there's always custom games.

ps; Wunds is ofc right. I'm horrified of queuing alone (even more than I was of playing alone in the past), as the game tends to throw me into a lvl 5 ship versus a full 2 ship stack in a dumb attempt to balance things. If game's superempty at a moment and there's no people playing, keep it as is. Otherwise, matchmaking should take a look at currently running lobbies and the players within them, and have freshly queued people wait accordingly. Once these running games are over, and the participants are thrown back into the queue, there will be far better potential balancing of the next few games, resulting in more happy players.

68

Gameplay / Re: Here come the Banshees

« on: October 21, 2014, 01:41:58 am »

It doesn't do that much balloon damage, at least versus unsprayed balloons. Anyway, it's a legit gun now, certainly far more powerful and versatile than it used to be. I still don't think it's reliable or specifically effective enough to be used as a primary gun in most bifectas, but it can be extremely dangerous as a 3rd (/4th) gun that shoots every once in a while (e.g. pyra side, junker tri, mobula pilot gun etc). Situationally, it could even be somewhat viable as a primary gun for disable based hybrid builds (e.g. carro banshee instead of carro flamer, for easier balloon pops and more perma damage potential at the cost of far less fires and engineer interruption, or hades banshee instead of art or flak, gaining more fire damage and harrassing power at the cost of explosive/raw disable).

69

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Fire Stack Timeout

« on: October 18, 2014, 04:35:44 am »

pls no

70

Gameplay / Re: Is Moonshine superior to Kerosene?

« on: October 15, 2014, 05:24:58 am »

Kero for scrubs, moonshine all the way.

71

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Hull and armor system overhaul

« on: October 10, 2014, 11:35:45 am »

squid op pls nerf

72

Gameplay / Re: Heatsink: Good or Bad?

« on: October 09, 2014, 02:42:54 pm »

This is the problem though. Who uses heatsink for its intended purpose?

I do, and I can count some of the best players currently involved with the game who also do or specifically ask for it when piloting.

Anywhere else you people like a bit of ol' heatsink?

Heatsink has the most DPC (and long-run DPS, as you spend more time shooting and less reloading) on Heavy Carronade, which is a gun that benefits greatly from this as it relies on prolonged fights. Close-range, past the first Heavy Clip balloon pop, with each pellet hitting, Heatsink is by far the the best ammo to use. Switch to Lochnagar pre-ram for that huge damage spike. Incendiary has the advantage of forcing enemy engineers to include spray in their rebuild routines, and Charged has more damage per shot, but Heatsink is still generally superior.

Heatsink is also superb if not ideal on mercs, as Geo already stated.

It increases the dpc of a light Carro as well (+1 shot versus Greased), but the dps suffers slightly. Still perfectly viable, I sometimes pick it over Greased depending on ship and loadout (a permabuffed heatsink light carro is pretty scary).

73

Gameplay / Re: Heatsink: Good or Bad?

« on: October 09, 2014, 12:55:10 pm »

You can succesfully reload quite a lot of guns while under flamer fire without them overheating. It's not like you'll always be put against a greased flamethrower tunneling vision on your gun from point blank range. You can also preload them, or you can properly time the reload. You can use heatsink to slowly reduce a sprayed gun's firestacks while repairing it with wrench to keep it healthy at the same time. Heatsink isn't supposed to be the penultimate counter to fire, it doesn't replace an engineer. What it does is give an additional option against fire, even if it is to provide the engineer with some additional reaction time, while being a pretty decent ammotype to begin with.

Opinions will always divert- I can testify to the fact, however, that Heatsink has saved my guns innumerable times. And I'm not talking about pubs only- I've always used heatsink when main engineering on Fiasco's ship and as a matter of fact I've even succesfully used it as cover ammo on mortar on that same ship as buffgi/2nd main versus fire-happy teams. I always pack Heatsink when using the heavy carro as a gunner, and almost always on all other guns (with some exceptions, of course).

74

Gameplay / Re: Heatsink: Good or Bad?

« on: October 09, 2014, 10:04:05 am »

Heatsink is a great ammo type- however, like all ammo types, it's situational. Its' main uses are two; protecting a gun against fire and increasing some guns total damage per clip at the cost of damage per second and range. When should one use Heatsink?

• As gunner, heatsink is a viable 3rd ammo type on many conventional guns. Use as an alternative to chem spray when engineers are preoccupied or  unreliable, or proc many reloads at opportune moments to slowly extinguish guns and relieve pressure off engineers.
• As a gunner, heatsink is an exceptional ammo type for guns that benefit greatly from the bonus shot(s) and the arming range reduction- these include heavy and light carronades, flaregun, light flak, lumberjack. Beware of the side effects though- quite often there's another ammo type that's more effectively paired with those guns, depending on many variables such as range, gun's health, enemy ship condition etc!
• As an engineer who's supposed to spend a lot of his/her time shooting (on ships with many guns such as the mobula, or as gungineer on a pyramidion etc), you should generally avoid Heatsink. You already have a superior fire supression and immunity tool, which negates the need for Heatsink. There always are exceptions, but you should probably be using the ammo type that's considered optimal for your gun, instead.
  
• As an engineer who's expected to not spend any considerable time shooting but still has access to nearby guns, which otherwise noone would use (e.g. as main engineer on a pyramidion). Heatsink becomes a valid option. In the heat of combat you won't and shouldn't include the sideguns of a pyramidion in your spray and repair circles. This can often lead to these guns dying out of a fire stacks, which went ignored for the duration of an engagement. This becomes increasingly relevant when the enemy uses a flamethrower, even more so if it's a primary source of damage. Preloading Heatsink into these can potentially save the guns and allow you to use them when the moment comes, or at the very least save you the trouble of having to rebuild them (while simultaneously acting as damage shields for your hull during the fight). Especially effective if these guns also benefit from Heatsink

75

General Discussion / Re: What's wrong with heavy guns?

« on: October 09, 2014, 01:22:39 am »

Neither galleons nor heavy guns are weak kek, quite the contrary. They just have quite high a skill requirement to fly effectively, which most teams and individuals fail to meet. A well positioned galleon with accurate gunners is nothing you want to be faced against. As usual, though, people are so eager to strongly comment on stuff from a safe distance. If you think a blenderfish can negate a galleon's threat you clearly haven't played on or against a good gally.