I do have played in fixed tiers before the mixed ones. the games was a lot more awful than it currently is for me and my friends.
In fact they never touched pvp before the mixed tiers systems (well they did a few times before going full pve). Now sometimes we do squad the 3 of us and do pvp and have fun in the games. Why that ? Because we don’t fight veterans with high end ships anymore (you know the one who have all ships with full synergy and don’t want to go higher tier because he’ll win less).
I do agree that squading shouldn’t be penalized, it should just be matched with other squad, That’s all. and the first option in this poll is exactly what I’m looking for.
It gives you clear goals to aim for. If I get rank 3 (is it 3?) ships then I know I’ve got the best ships in the tier and I can fly those to get better and save up for tier 2 without feeling like I’m being farmed.
You said it yourself, that having lower than top tier rank will be “being farmed” which represents actually 2/3 of the game.
For all those saying gear matters more than skill - please explain why i have that score in a R8 ship vs R13-14-15. Gear? T5 has @ +4 more passive mod slots and WAY higher and better ship stats. It’s skill. So when you decide to bring that topic back up, think twice… no, ten times.
The option not to face veterans? Good lord, please, think… if you are a low end n00b in a higher tier you will be matched against lower tier veterans (screenshot says it all again). There’s no difference, and no, you don’t get an extra chance.
Wanna solve it? There have been extremely good suggestions lately from a few people, and it sounds like this:
lock tiers
good players will be matched against good players of the same tiers
bad players vs bad players
Basically split each tier in 2 separate queue lines. Or even 3. Not rank based, but skill based. Or do you accept the fact that SR, capture points and other such data is a pile of crap?
I’m all for the fixed tiers. Now stop whining about elusive ‘chances’, ‘better ships’, ‘squad teamwork’, ‘better gear’ and all that sh*t. You have the chance to do the same, but you won’t take it. And if you actually CAN’T take it, then be matched in the lower queue line, it’s that simple.
**stated earlier that squaddies were also below T5 - i mistook the screenshot for a later game where we went R11 max in our roster
The only difference mk1 vs mk4 modules actually affects is 2400 vs 3100 range. I agree that gives an edge, but if you are skillful enough you can do it.
Your squad-mates are in 4 T5 Ships each. Do not lie, please.
IMO, the problem is not the Matchmaking, but the playerbase. No Matchmaking can fix low playerbase. I agree that T1-newbies (playing for 2-3 days or so) should not be matched against higher tier players. So, out of the given answers, I chose to lock tiers. Just so long that you have the playerbase to support MM like NeoCodex suggested. GW was fine with that, so can SC – given a high amount of players, casual and competitive.
I’m making this post because I heard about this poll this morning and I really really hope you decide to fix the tiers again because then I might actually play this game.
I have quite a few friends who started playing a long while back and they really liked it but all but one have given up on the game due to changes. When I ask why they stopped they all make mention of the mixed tier system. None of them want to play when they might get put in a match against tier 3 pilots and I don’t think I want to either.
I asked my friend who does still play and he said that if I did start playing we wouldn’t be able to play together because matchmaking punishes squads. That sucks. I want to be able to play with friends and yes I do want strong players to come fly tier 1 with me so that it’ll be easier. I want that because it’s easier to learn the game when you have someone to show you what to do.
…
I don’t understand why you have mixed tiers in the first place. This game sounded really cool but whatever you did you drove all my friends away. Looks to me like it was mixing tiers that did it.
I just remembered also have 3 more friends I know through TS that are playing other games since they introduced the mixed tiers.
On the day of ship role change and mixed tiers in 0.8 I have 3 friends that introduced me to the game but stopped playing it and never played again since than because of MIXED TIERS.
Reasons they stopped playing:
Ship role change, the ships they owned before have changed, and they cannot access what they want trough the new system
Mixed tiers. This completely outraged one of my friends when he saw T3 ships in our T2 game. He quitted the game that day and I only convinced him to play it one more time since than. And it was T3 against T4 this time, raged again, and doesn’t want to play again. He told his friends community opinion about the game: it’s pay2win because of mixed tiers. This is the general opinion that is going around! I know, a lot us veterans know that this game is NOT pay2win, but A LOT of players think that. You made people think the game is P2W WoT because of mixed tiers!
Maybe you forgot to read that I have full T2 purple roster, but I’m not playing in T2… I have also full T3 roster (Phobos, Swarm, Prometheus, Templar S (grinding creds for the Crus right now), and I have been matched in Tier 4 games.
So far I’m doing fine.
Locking tiers would be unfair. Top rank in tier with top modules will just have unfair advantage, and bottom rank in tier with stock modules will have unfair disadvantage. You need to mix tiers to give equal opportunities to anyone.
I must admit that maybe Tier 1 should be locked, but just T1.
Wow, unfair, really? It is not hard to progress to MK3, and it is not a big change. Skill matters 100 times more. Get over it.
No that it can, it just does. It is so much more. You are just overestimating the value of the gear. It does not influence nearly as much as you say, having some purples flying around in a locked tier is not game breaking.
Flying without leveled ships and gear just means you have to be a bit more careful at the start. Learn it and earn it. it’s like that in every game out there that has equipment progression. Hell, in MechWarrior Online, buffs to leveled “sinergized 'Mechs” and once you reach elite mastery gives you even a better equipment edge than here in SCF. And guess what, nobody is complaining. People just grind it out, because there are no mixed tiers there anyway. You just grind out what you want if you want maximum efficiency, which again, does not compare to proper battle positioning and knowledge. I have some maxed 'Mechs there that have been expensive and grindy to make elite, they are way, way better than what you get at the start and guess what? I still suck against veteran players, even after 400 games played - and all that with premium account and boosters. My elite 'Mech/Ship doesn’t help me much if I didn’t master the basics.
The point was, that Astraal did very well in a T5 game with his mix of unmaxed T3/T4 ships, when you guys complain that you have no chance against higher geared ships.
He worked with us as a team and we did just fine. And that is proof right there.
No that it can, it just does. It is so much more. You are just overestimating the value of the gear. It does not influence nearly as much as you say, having some purples flying around in a locked tier is not game breaking.
Flying without leveled ships and gear just means you have to be a bit more careful at the start. Learn it and earn it. it’s like that in every game out there that has equipment progression. Hell, in MechWarrior Online, buffs to leveled “sinergized 'Mechs” and once you reach elite mastery gives you even a better equipment edge than here in SCF. And guess what, nobody is complaining. People just grind it out, because there are no mixed tiers there anyway. You just grind out what you want if you want maximum efficiency, which again, does not compare to proper battle positioning and knowledge. I have some maxed 'Mechs there that have been expensive and grindy to make elite, they are way, way better than what you get at the start and guess what? I still suck against veteran players, even after 400 games played - and all that with premium account and boosters. My elite 'Mech/Ship doesn’t help me much if I didn’t master the basics.
Skill is not an unlock.
You are comparing two different games. In MWO no matter the mech you have, it can be useful to your team. All lights have different perks, all mediums have different perks, same with heavies and assaults. But they are more or less balanced between them, so no matter what you chose, you will be in equal ground against other mechs.
Here a Hercules rage doesn’t stand a chance against a Deimos 2 or a Phobos. Period.
PS: I also play MWO; I have Centurions, hunchies and catapults elited. Playing with hunchies and the Catapults now. And it is totally different.
IMO, the problem is not the Matchmaking, but the playerbase. No Matchmaking can fix low playerbase. I agree that T1-newbies (playing for 2-3 days or so) should not be matched against higher tier players. So, out of the given answers, I chose to lock tiers. Just so long that you have the playerbase to support MM like NeoCodex suggested. GW was fine with that, so can SC – given a high amount of players, casual and competitive.
agreed, playerbase is too low and it will not rise with mixed tiers
The point was, that Astraal did very well in a T5 game with his mix of unmaxed T3/T4 ships, when you guys complain that you have no chance against higher geared ships.
He worked with us as a team and we did just fine. And that is proof right there.
Remember: i actually flew only the Wolf. It’s even countured in the screenshot. I did have a R11 and 12 in my roster, but didn’t fly them.
You are comparing two different games. In MWO no matter the mech you have, it can be useful to your team. All lights have different perks, all mediums have different perks, same with heavies and assaults. But they are more or less balanced between them, so no matter what you chose, you will be in equal ground against other mechs.
Here a Hercules rage doesn’t stand a chance against a Deimos 2 or a Phobos. Period.
PS: I also play MWO; I have Centurions, hunchies and catapults elited. Playing with hunchies and the Catapults now. And it is totally different.
You start with trial mechs in MWO too, and we all know they are xxxx. You don’t stand a chance against an elite Centurion with DHS and FF too. Period.
It takes a while to earn your first mech. And to earn 3 of them. And to make them elite. I would say, longer than the road from Phobos to Deimos 2.
You start with trial mechs in MWO too, and we all know they are xxxx. You don’t stand a chance against an elite Centurion with DHS and FF too. Period.
It takes a while to earn your first mech. And to earn 3 of them. And to make them elite. I would say, longer than the road from Phobos to Deimos 2.
It is not that costly if you don’t want to have XL engines in all of them. In fact engines are the only things expensive in the game. All the weapons and the equipments are interchangeable between mechs as you know. In fact, all my hunchs and cents share ACs, MLs and SRMs I didn’t bought the equipment for all of them.
Concerning your “first real mech” dunno how is today, but when I started, you had bonus earning the first 20 games or so, enough to buy a brand new mech (except assaults) making it elite will give you some time, I agree, since you need to grind the three variants in that mech to get the elite status. But anyway, the perks are like synergy here. They can give you an edge, but is not that high.
But anyway, you are comparing two different games, and two different grind and MM models. I won’t discuss this anymore.
The problem is never the MM. The MM was adjusted because of the low playerbase. This game has NO pilots to make a good, balanced MM system, so the devs balanced it out to keep the queue times to a minimum.
However, IF (and that’s a very BIG if, mind you) the playerbase increases when the game goes live, the MM is going to NEED an overhaul, probably back to locked Tiers and squad v squad queues. This is what’s needed, not some optimal thing for every occasion. You can’t be a jack-of-all-trades because you’ll end up being master of none. And that’s how the MM is set up, atm.
Breaking news : you know that only hardcore gamers plays MWO ? They did a lot of advertising and still don’t have too much players. Because they aim to a specific kind of gamers. I think SC tries to be a more “standard” game => playable by everyone.
when I began playing and was in T1, in more than half of my game I had an ennemy with full purple top tier ship and was skilled. I was being farmed half of my games… I left at the third game. I came back after 2 months because I had friends playing PVE. I then tried pvp once per week to see if it was better. I wasn’t having fun at all.
Then they mixed tiers, I tried and for the first time of playing SC I had a funny COMPLETE day with a dozen of good games.
Of course skilled T1 players may be matched with T2 but only if they’re skilled (I don’t take squad into account here since I don’t want squad to be penalized) and having lots of victories. I made 2 other friends join this month and they never faced T2 because they don’t have skill, they even have difficulties in pve T1, but they improve a bit and go pvp sometimes.
I think there should be a middle ground in this tier MM. For example, there should be a soft limit between tier : I’l explain with numbers.
the gap before being matched in higher tier should be bigger when crossing tier, for example a +1 should be enough to go from rank6 to rank7 but it’d need a +3 to go from rank9 to rank10. This way people who get to top tier but are average player will stay in same tier while aces in top tier will be in the tier above.
I will vote the second option, but only if squads just get matched with other squads AND randoms, so you don’t have ONLY SQUAD queue and separated forever alone queue.
