Quitting Mid-Game & A Suggestion

[Pavane]

I am a Novice player with 13 matches under my belt and a 100% completion rate.  In two of those games the Pilot quit in the middle of the game (I was an Engineer).  In my last game the entire crew of the other airship on our team quit.  Ordinarily I would not mind so much because AI crew will shoot and repair.  The problem is that by abandoning your teammates when you are the Pilot the helm of the ship is frozen at the last setting and your airship is a clay pigeon until someone takes over as Pilot.

In the two cases when it was our own airship I eventually noticed and left my station to take up the helm.  Our team lost both matches, but that is no big deal as winning is not as important as learning.  In the case where our allied airship surrendered our team actually won the match and I didn't even notice that they crew had abandoned the match until I saw the AAR that showed that they had surrendered.

What is the motive to quit mid-game?  Is it just bad sportsmanship or is there a perverse achievement incentive built into the game?  Of the 10 players that I have recently played with one had a 79% completion rate, one 68%, one 55%, one 83%, and the rest 100%.  That is not encouraging.  I am tempted to refuse to crew on an airship where the Pilot has less than a 90% completion rate, and state my reasons over the microphone.  Is that the appropriate way to apply peer pressure to encourage players to practice better sportsmanship?  I don't expect 100% completion because the unexpected can happen in real life while you are playing, but I believe that there is an AFK button that can be used so that you can return to the match if the emergency is taken care of quickly.

The first time this happened I only noticed because our airship had been shot down and after waiting 20 sec. for the Captain to choose a re-deployment spot I did it myself.  Sure enough, there was no Pilot so I took over.  In the second occurrence I was viewing the map periodically to check out our airship's relationship to the other airships and I noticed that even though we had repaired all of the damage we continued to move away from our ally until we hit the top of the map.

I would like to see a flashing red helm (wheel) icon when the Pilot has quit the game so that the remaining crew will notice and one can eventually take over.

[Kamoba]

Firstly welcome to Guns of Icarus!
I will apologise you had such experiences so far, what you're experiencing is bad sportsmanship.. Some call it the "Call of duty effect" where people are joining with expectations of what many mainstream games promote as good gameplay, which the guns of Icarus experience is not, its all about team work and many new players come into the game not realising that, unfortunately.

Also the achievements which would encourage such behaviour are not until much later in the game, and normally most people who make it that far will avoid quitting the match for the sake of the achievement, this is not to say there are not people that do quit for the sake of achievements, but its rare.

If you think the pilot is not going to stay the whole match, jump ship find another match, its what the match competition rate it for!

To tell if your pilot is there or not, get into the habit of checking the chat box (It'll show which players connect and disconnect) also press the tab key to see the connection status of each ship!
Hope that helps!

[Mean Machine]

Your best bet is to try to look for 20+ lvl players. At least pilot. Getting to level 10 is super fast and easy, so if you see lvl 10 players they are still very fresh and unfortunately a lot of them are too impatient to even try to learn what they are doing wrong or listen to any advice. This is not an fps game where you can just jump in, pick a weapon and start shooting.
If you don't have any friends to play with, then I'd suggest you look for a clan. This game is a nightmare to paly without a clan or friends. I bet everything I own there is not a single player that is high level and still play this game solo all the time. If they are not in clan, at least they have friends and play with them.
Good luck!

[nanoduckling]

Sorry to hear about the bad experiences. Those are examples of bad sportsmanship and you are right to be grumpy. Sales are an especially bad time for this sort of thing, Kamoba has a theory that Muse market a bit too much to the FPS crowd, a theory I am slowly warming to.

Were I you I would do exactly as you suggest, don't fly with pilots with low match completion percentages. If you want to fly with a pilot who definitely wont quit feel free to add me.

One thing to realize is you are typically better off after these captains quit than you were before, as much as it doesn't necessarily seem that way. From the fact that you are concerned enough to post in the forums, care about sportsmanship and are sufficiently enquiring to try and reason out the problem I can tell you will make a better pilot than the rage quitters, even without the proper tools. Typically these fools ram too much (well they try to), point the boat the wrong way, don't listen to their crew and are generally idiots.

Simply flying the ship towards the enemy and pointing the guns will do more for your team than the rage quitter was ever likely to do.

[HamsterIV]

There has been much discussion on this topic. In fact Muse added the "Completion Rate" stat because so many people wanted a way to punish repeat mid game leavers.

My own theory as to why people leave mid game is they are trying to learn what works through trial & error, and it is faster to quit and start a new game than play a loosing game to completion. Often a decision made in the lobby screen will determine if it is possible for your team to win. These mid game leavers are making bad decisions in the lobby and leaving the match when contact with the other team shows them how bad that decision was.

It is selfish to mess up a game for 7 other people just to experiment with new ship builds like this, and stupid to alienate oneself in an online community as small as this one. However the world is full of selfish stupid people.

[Kamoba]

Also on a note, Nanoduckling also runs a new player friendly clan, you could learn a great deal from him!
Also feel free to add me in game too!
Oh and I mentioned my theory to Howard during one of the marketing chats, Muse will be taking a look at that and seeing what they can do to better advertise the game! 

[Lanliss]

Maybe there could be a punishment similar to Team Fortress two's Mann vs. machine mode. If you leave a full, perfectly good game in that, you are put onto a "low priority" list, making it take longer to find a match. The punishment point could be something like, at least three people are on each ship.

[David Dire]

Maybe there could be a punishment similar to Team Fortress two's Mann vs. machine mode. If you leave a full, perfectly good game in that, you are put onto a "low priority" list, making it take longer to find a match. The punishment point could be something like, at least three people are on each ship.

Could work, however we'd need a number. Like, one leave? Maybe there was something important that came up in real life, so we were forced to exit the match. Maybe we could make it so after 3 disconnects on perfectly full matches, then you would have a penalty?

[Pavane]

Thanks for the tips and kind words.  I am actually a discount Steam buyer, so don't paint everyone with the same brush.  I used to play the Space: 1889 computer game and Sky Galleons of Mars miniatures war game many decades ago, so Icarus was a natural genre for me.  I have no interest in FPS (arcade) games so I was cautious about the purchase until I read about the co-operative aspect of the game.  I bought the four licence deal and gave them to a friend and my two adult daughters, who all have said that they would like to play together as a crew (we all live in different cities).  That hasn't happened yet, so I thought I would jump in and get started.  I like it a lot so far, and I am excited with what I have seen of a possible Adventure mode.

I have mixed feelings about Clans at this time.  I don't really see the need for them when there are six factions, and question why there are so many, but I am sure my questions will be answered as I have more community experience.  Right now, my priorities are to gain experience and be a valuable crew member.  In that way I will have something more to offer a Clan than just an increment to the member counter should I decide to go that route in the future.

[Lanliss]

Pavane, you are the new player that we wish everyone could be. A perfect addition to the community, as these people have a low tolerance for trolls or jerks. Guns has the most friendly community I have ever seen, with a few collective pet peeves. As for sales it is less a matter of painting everyone with the same brush, and more a matter of the deep seated fear that we will get one of the bad new players, hailing from such games as CoD.

 These people do not handle learning that you cannot singularly top the community scoreboard by yourself very well. Even the wanted and bounty lists require that these players get decent crews, otherwise their score drops. So, it is not a problem with all of the new players, just that our fear of getting a bad one overshadows the hope of getting a good one.

[Kamoba]

Throughout different threads players have said many metaphors regarding Steam Sales, my favourite is comparing it to Gold Panning, you fill your pan full of what appears to be nothing but dirt, and you shake the pan up, bringing the dirt to the top and washing it away, then shake the pan again and wash more dirt away, until eventually all you are left with is heavy gold nuggets of great value.

I would suggest as you're the first of your group to play, learn how to pilot, that way your daughters and friend have a captain all ready to make your legacy in this world!

As for clans, at this tine there is no actual link to Clans and the game Lore factions, although some clans may have already named which faction they're 'fighting for' at this moment in tine clans are a player tool to help keep people together

[Mean Machine]

I have mixed feelings about Clans at this time.  I don't really see the need for them when there are six factions, and question why there are so many, but I am sure my questions will be answered as I have more community experience.  Right now, my priorities are to gain experience and be a valuable crew member.  In that way I will have something more to offer a Clan than just an increment to the member counter should I decide to go that route in the future.

A lot of people think that way and then they stop playing after few days. It's probably because they think they need to get good in order to find a clan, like you are thinking now. And it's true for a lot of games, but not for Goio. Most clans don't care about your level as long as you are willing to learn and be a teamplayer. If you can do that, they will be happy to accept you. We play for fun and that doesn't mean you have to be awesome player and keep winning, it means that you work with your crew and so everyone is doing their job and you have fun. No one has fun with people that have no idea how to play and they have no intention of learning, they are just useless, sometimes even worse, because if they wouldn't be there you could at least have AI.

Anyway, if you join a clan you will have more fun and you will learn faster. But it's your choice really. I can just wish you good luck.

[Lanliss]

I personally have always been fairly anti clan. I have always been a bit of a loner, and it has remained that way in Guns. Don't get me wrong, I am still a team player, but I still find the most fun in playing with random people, as opposed to people I have already played with a dozen times. Remember everyone that being in a clan is not a requirement, and you can have just as much fun without them as long as you still learn. Do not sacrifice yourself for their imperialistic regime.

[ShadedExalt]

1. Nanoduckling's clan is specifically to give you that experience, then you leave for a new one, or to strike out on your own.

2. Welcome!  Sorry for the bad experiences so far.

3. I am of a similar mind as you, friend, and there are many more!  It's like Kamoba says: it's panning for gold.  If you ever need a crewmate, captainm or what-have-you, hit me up! 

[shaelyn]

welcome to our community, Pavane!  I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize for the bad experiences and frustration.

let me explain a bit about clans vs factions.  factions don't currently have any impact on the game (in fact, they're not in-game at all right now, though many players use them for roleplay purposes).  they'll be used more heavily when co-op and adventure come around.  the factions will be more driven by the game - it's a mechanic we set up within the game, and how well a faction does within the game will affect events in-game (that's my best understanding, at any rate - though I'm largely uninvolved in the development of our DLC, so don't quote me!  but the point is, it's generally a game mechanic), while clans are driven by players for players.  clans are simply groups of people that want to hang out with each other in-game, or teach, or compete with each other (and set up scrims to battle against other clans for practice), whatnot.
so if you're looking for people to play with, I would also encourage you to find a clan that is active in game around the same time you are active, and also is driven by what you want to get out of the game, whether that be hanging out with people and having a good time with good players, striving to be the best in tournaments, or to learn and maybe eventually teach new players yourself, etc.

for your original post, there are a couple of ways to know if something like that's happened.  in the match chat in the bottom left corner, there should be a notification when someone joins or leaves a ship.
[Crew] (player name) has left.
I believe is how it should appear.
The tab key also shows the team/player list when you're in the match.  Though it's not a notification; you have to hit the button to see it.

as always, I recommend suggestions be emailed in to us at feedback@musegames.com - they won't get missed that way, and they can be forwarded straight to the department it pertains to.  I will send this one in, though