There has been quite a bit of discussion over the 3 person squads. Here is an analysis of the situation that I believe will be helpful to everyone.
There are many players who feel at a disadvantage, since they are playing alone and feel that the squads are a primary cause of defeat. However, should you handicap players for learning good teamwork skills? If players happen to be good at working together, should you really handicap them for doing so or should you perhaps encourage other players to work together as well.
Player vs Player combat is all about teamwork. Obviously the game developers cannot and should not simply ignore players who choose to fight alone, but should they handicap others to help the lone wolves out? In my opinion, PvE is the perfect mode for someone who wants to work alone. However, I do believe that all of these new players that are struggling in battle and may want to fight alone in PvP combat should not be at such a disadvantage.
I believe that it is the matchmaking and not the squad size that is at fault. The problem is not teamwork, the problem is that the average player cannot fight a Tier 3 squad in a Tier 1 ship. When T1 games are swamped by T2 and T3 players, the odds change drastically. Therefore, in my opinion, the problem lies not with the squad size, but with the unfair mechanisms of the matchmaking system. A full squad of experienced T1 players is still, just a squad of experienced T1 players. A squad of T3 players whether experienced or not, has a very big advantage over T1 players.
There have been multitudes of screenshots showing the results of bad matchmaking and I believe that it is the matchmaking system at fault. Please comment below with your opinion from your experiences in the game.
My bud’s and I rocked a 4 man squad of T1’s against this silly mixed tier 2 and 3 matchmaking last night, we won the majority of the games… There is teamwork for you… don’t take that away.
I believe that problems like this (co-op play vs pugs, and mixed tiers ) have to be solved on matchmaking side, BUT you can not solve those problem on matchmaking side because there is yet to be a sizable player base in same time. At current state of the game it is obvious that gaining huge player base is somewhere at the bottom of priorities, due to lots of content not implemented, testing stage. Even servers are going nuts when we see 2k players online. So reduction to 3 man squads imho… kinda … aww squeezing my heart to hard… are TEMPORARILY acceptable. When we get enough people after release or pre release stages, when servers can support, when we get advertisements, than matchmaking shall be reworked to accommodate group vs group play, and reduce mixed tiers.
i personally would love to see games with 6 man squads put in separate queues to form 12v12s, that would be epic, but you need 10x amount of players to achieve something like this.
I believe that problems like this (co-op play vs pugs, and mixed tiers ) have to be solved on matchmaking side, BUT you can not solve those problem on matchmaking side because there is yet to be a sizable player base in same time. At current state of the game it is obvious that gaining huge player base is somewhere at the bottom of priorities, due to lots of content not implemented, testing stage. Even servers are going nuts when we see 2k players online. So reduction to 3 man squads imho… kinda … aww squeezing my heart to hard… are TEMPORARILY acceptable. When we get enough people after release or pre release stages, when servers can support, when we get advertisements, than matchmaking shall be reworked to accommodate group vs group play, and reduce mixed tiers.
i personally would love to see games with 6 man squads put in separate queues to form 12v12s, that would be epic, but you need 10x amount of players to achieve something like this.
The problem with this is, they are going to lose a tone of people such as myself and my friends due to changing this now. Then, as a small “MMO” goes, the game will probably be long forgotten by us when they “release” it.
The problem with this is, they are going to lose a tone of people such as myself and my friends due to changing this now. Then, as a small “MMO” goes, the game will probably be long forgotten by us when they “release” it.
Many players that came into the game, come with expectations of full and complete product, which is not. Imagine they start promotions and advertisement campaign right this moment? we get lots of new players, blow servers, every one leave = game will never recover. Any development has a long term plan, we are not in the stage to prioritize to keep every single player in the game. Yes it is frustrating for player side because we want this game to be complete right now at this moment so we can enjoy it. But we have to be honest to ourrself, how much more stuff has to be implemented, there is still tremendous work up front, months worth of work, i do not see a release before christmas or even later. Understanding all of this and lowering my expectations to a reality level is the only thing that allows me to force myself to temporarily accept this change, damn hard btw.
Many players that came into the game, come with expectations of full and complete product, which is not. Imagine they start promotions and advertisement campaign right this moment? we get lots of new players, blow servers, every one leave = game will never recover. Any development has a long term plan, we are not in the stage to prioritize to keep every single player in the game. Yes it is frustrating for player side because we want this game to be complete right now at this moment so we can enjoy it. But we have to be honest to ourrself, how much more stuff has to be implemented, there is still tremendous work up front, months worth of work, i do not see a release before christmas or even later. Understanding all of this and lowering my expectations to a reality level is the only thing that allows me to force myself to temporarily accept this change, damn hard btw.
I understand what you are saying, I felt the same way for a long time. But the .9 patch and then this… its 10 steps back one step forward
with this momentum the game will never be finished and even if it is, it wont be something that I remember falling in love with
Well besides the Empire R10 or Jericho R10 implants and engine mods there isn’t much difference between T4 and T3.
From what I’ve noticed since the patch as a decently rated player: When I queue T3 I automatically get put in T4 games…only 1 game out of maybe 8 so far today that was exclusively T3. This doesn’t seem like that big of an issue as a decent T3 squad can hold their own against a T4 squad.
Oh I’ve been solo queueing the entire time i’ve been online…a good trick is if you get in rotation with a bad group of players, wait a few mins for the next game to start then requeue so you get a new group of players.
Many players that came into the game, come with expectations of full and complete product, which is not. Imagine they start promotions and advertisement campaign right this moment? we get lots of new players, blow servers, every one leave = game will never recover. Any development has a long term plan, we are not in the stage to prioritize to keep every single player in the game. Yes it is frustrating for player side because we want this game to be complete right now at this moment so we can enjoy it. But we have to be honest to ourrself, how much more stuff has to be implemented, there is still tremendous work up front, months worth of work, i do not see a release before christmas or even later. Understanding all of this and lowering my expectations to a reality level is the only thing that allows me to force myself to temporarily accept this change, damn hard btw.
Belive me I understand the development process of software… however, as aformentioned by many, many voiced opinions and facts this is not the way to fix the problem they are stating is caused by 4 or more players grouping to play together, there are other avenues which make more sense, and would keep us happy at the same time. It was just a poor decision from any aspect.
If I wanted to take it to the extreme, I don’t need three people watching my back and helping me get kills. I have to do it myself with a bunch of people I don’t know.
It is inherintly harder to play a multiplayer game without a “team” or group of people working with you BUT THAT IS TO BE EXPECTED. Especially in an objective based one. This is why games like CS have 5 man teams, but Quake could have 1v1’s. But limiting group play is hardly a way to make things easier on new players. Either you are bad at the game, and never learn to be better. Or you get better at solo, then start to do well, then find a corp or group of friends and continue on that path. Fracturing or inhibiting others from one of these paths is a bad decision. I mean, it’s not like we are questing in “insert generic fantasy based MMO name here.” There, solo play is a norm as you level up, now, playing with a group there benifits you as well but in a game like this where PVP is a giant portion of the current content, this is a silly change.
It is inherintly harder to play a multiplayer game without a “team” or group of people working with you BUT THAT IS TO BE EXPECTED. Especially in an objective based one. This is why games like CS have 5 man teams, but Quake could have 1v1’s. But limiting group play is hardly a way to make things easier on new players. Either you are bad at the game, and never learn to be better. Or you get better at solo, then start to do well, then find a corp or group of friends and continue on that path. Fracturing or inhibiting others from one of these paths is a bad decision. I mean, it’s not like we are questing in “insert generic fantasy based MMO name here.” There, solo play is a norm as you level up, now, playing with a group there benifits you as well but in a game like this where PVP is a giant portion of the current content, this is a silly change.
I hope you understand the “Take it to the extreme part.” I fly solo. I don’t believe the long term benefit of the game is best by eliminating squads.
But, have you ever noticed that people that tend to fly in squads have a higher DSR? Having one third of your team on teamspeak and the rest not benefits the squad more than the team. I’ve seen plenty of times squads have not communicated to their teammates. That tells me they want the squad to win, not the team. Yes, squads are beaten. I’ve seen it plenty. If they didn’t lose, they’d be like a frigball and eliminated.
A 3v3 squad can play together, have fun together, and only be a quarter of the team instead of a third. Compare that to Mk.I and Mk.III.
Long term, something other than 3 person squads need done. I’m looking at a <800 active players right now, I’ll probably get 3v3 matches in T3. The squad will probably win.