Why not cater to the atmosphere of the game by implementing PVP bots a little better and renaming them something like “Imperial Pilot”, or something long those lines, depending on which side they are on/ship they are in?
Or we could just do away with bots… you know… uphold the term PvP… It does mean “player vs. player”, not “players and bots vs. players and bots”
Just a thought…
P.S. Bots in T1 are fine, since they are an excellent way for new players to practice and learn the game. Bots in T2+ are just unnecessary.
T1 bots are fine? They are the REASON pilots exit T1 without knowing how to play. When your team is 80% bots, it’s kinda hard to tell what you’re supposed to be doing…especially since T1 bots are REALLY REALLY REALLY bad. Not just bad. But like “stop moving so they can just die” bad.
Bots in lower levels keep new guys from learning the basics of teamwork. They do nothing but fight against bots and with bots for t1 and t2 so by the time they reach t3 they still have no concept of tactics and team interactions. Basically bots have stagnated the skill development of the game.
No, the change in progression mechanics and punishing of squads did that.
Bots in T1 are needed, because most people don’t play T1 anyway, and a certain range of players are denied into T1 games.
Bots in T1 are needed, because most people don’t play T1 anyway, and a certain range of players are denied into T1 games.
T2 also veterans should not be playing there either.
Then of course the low player base…
T2 also veterans should not be playing there either.
Then of course the low player base…
T2 is ok, most ships are not energy stable and you don’t have most of the good stuff for balancing ships.
I went to tier 2 last weekend to play a bit with my newly bought razor, and I find myself as another player, doing good, but not rofl pwning people.
Also big and instant games. Hell yes.
PS: also, I don’t get angry because some guy in my team sucks. It is expected, they are newb1es.
T2 is fun with Doomsdays!
Then again any tier is fun with them…
T2 also veterans should not be playing there either.
The current mechanics of the Pilot Skill rating have forced a good many of those so called 'Veterans" out of T2.
Even though you may not give a RAT’s BEHIND about the SKILL number you find that even being in the top 3 of every match with the highest effecency points you are constantly dropping points.
Not sure if it has been published but there seems to be a set number\level for each TIER.
Oh though when all the other tiers are real small… you can still go in there and play… but to remain there…NOT ANYMORE !
Also that set number\level for each tier may be working the OTHER way hence the reason that some ppl are playing in the HIGHER tiers than they really should be… Keeping a artifically high score ? I call it
“Keeping up with the Jones”
The current mechanics of the Pilot Skill rating have forced a good many of those so called 'Veterans" out of T2.
Even though you may not give a RAT’s BEHIND about the SKILL number you find that even being in the top 3 of every match with the highest effecency points you are constantly dropping points.
Not sure if it has been published but there seems to be a set number\level for each TIER.
Oh though when all the other tiers are real small… you can still go in there and play… but to remain there…NOT ANYMORE !
Also that set number\level for each tier may be working the OTHER way hence the reason that some ppl are playing in the HIGHER tiers than they really should be… Keeping a artifically high score ? I call it
“Keeping up with the Jones”
Yeah, i noticed that in the last few days as i’m trying to “elite” my T2 ships; my score has been dropping even though my skills at the game are improving. I was wondering how players could get 8000+ ratings while i was struggling to keep it at 3000… Well, the reason is obvious now.
I stopped caring about skill rating altogether now that people have to jump through hoops to see it. But from what I understand it no longer measures skill anyway.
But from what I understand it no longer measures skill anyway.
It never used to. It sort of does now bearing in mind what tier someone is playing
I have to weigh in on this, The problem with having bots is complex. These are based on my observations and should be taken with a grain of salt
Pros:
- Fills small games and adds population
- Adds a bit of a challenge
- Makes games a bit more interesting
- Allows you to see how badly a human player is compared to a bot
Cons
- Destroys the PVP meta
- Most people dispise bots in general
- Some bots are extreemely good against even good players because of the way they are programmed. (E.G ECMS and Snipers)
- Bots are not smart to the specific game mode and can ruin some outcomes
Ah crap, we are even at the pros and cons. so there is good and bad. remember bots are only in T1 and T2. I don’t think there are in T3 and higher. (Correct me if I am wrong here)
Ah crap, we are even at the pros and cons. so there is good and bad. remember bots are only in T1 and T2. I don’t think there are in T3 and higher. (Correct me if I am wrong here)
Umm Ummm maybe when an BOT ECM stuns the heck out of you and the frigging BOT Gunship knocks into that little timeout corner…in T3 you would KNOW. :00555:
To be honest, I would rather play against bots in my server region than any human outside of my server region.
I spend most of my year in China, and a “good” ping for me in this game hovers in the 200’s. Flying tier 1 against mostly bots maybe isn’t as much fun as playing against people, but at least it worked. The lag was rarely so bad that I couldn’t play an active part in game.
Now I’m slowly grinding my way through tier 2, and there are more players, and sometimes it’s more fun. The problem is more players + far away server = more lag. Most games I get into are on the RA (450+ ping, with 2-20% packet loss), or EU with widely ranging pings and packets loss. I’ve noticed some maps are always worse than others too. Sooner or later I’m going to have to quit entirely. I imagine tier 3 will just suck so hard core. Time will tell, and I may just putter around tier one for a while.
So that’s my sad story… All things being equal, bots shouldn’t be worth as much as a human player in terms of kill rewards. Sometimes they are deadly, but mostly they are just in the way and provide enough distraction to make the game feel bigger. That’s their value. The dev’s don’t absolutely have to shuffle us off to foreign servers, if we can accept playing against bots until the player base builds up. I for one am willing to make that trade
Bots in T1 are needed, because most people don’t play T1 anyway, and a certain range of players are denied into T1 games.
Only if you don’t think there are enough players in T1 to make a 4 on 4 game…which would be kinda ridiculous for any game developer to think that more people are in the mid-game than intro…
No. All bots simply need to go. We are actually getting enough players to have games without them now imo. I’m tired of seeing a 6 v 6 with a bot on both teams. Just make it 5 v 5 and be done with it.
As for T1, when you get a 6 on 6 and it’s only 2 v 2 because 4 pilots on both teams are bots, then you start thinking “Huh, is the playerbase low?” It’s not that T1 lacks pilots, it’s that the matchmaker seems to think that it just needs 2 pilots on each team and it can fill the empty space with bots. It doesn’t try to look for bigger teams in most cases.
Only if you don’t think there are enough players in T1 to make a 4 on 4 game…which would be kinda ridiculous for any game developer to think that more people are in the mid-game than intro…
Welcome to online games where most players aren’t at the beginning. I’ve played a lot of MMO’s, and normally the player base is at the end, not the beginning. From what I’ve read on forums, it seems the player base for this game is stagnating in tier 3, because tiers 4 and 5 are stuck together for PVP.
Maybe once I finish out my tier 2 grind I’ll feel the same way about bots. Until then, the idea that there are enough players to support this game doesn’t ring true. Or at least it heavily depends on region. Over the past several weeks I could count on one hand the number of times I played in my home region, and I’d have most of my fingers left over. Try to imagine what it would be like if 9 out of every 10 matches you were forced to play on SA or RU, and maybe you’d get an idea about what playing this game is like in China, where almost every match is hosted far far away.
I am tired of my hulls being used for Boris and Natasha’s target practice. I want to play against people also, but the connection is crap when the game is hosted on the other side of the planet. SC already has bots, so why not make the most of them? Some regions can probably do away with bots entirely. Some tiers can most likely eliminate bots also. However, there is no blanket statement that will perfectly cover all tiers and regions. The game should be really be closely examined. There are times,regions and tiers where bots are a better choice than laggy unplayable matches.
MM needs to do a better job at finding lag free matches. People should be able to play in their home region. Bot’s have a role to fill in gaps in the player base. It’s not perfect, but it will be a better, more playable game if some careful thought went into when to use and not use bots.
Your bots have names like Boris and Natasha? That’s awesome. Didn’t know there were names like that haha
Russian stereotype names. GG engle.
And btw Arctic complains about 100 ping when others have at best 200 or 300.