Players are server hopping and team stacking too much.
Baron Di Jomini
Join Date: 2012-02-17 Member: 146385Members
Join Date: 2012-02-17 Member: 146385Members
Hey guys,
I had a lot of fun playing with the new players when the game was released. Suddenly all the beta players like me got to pretend we were an elite squad of clan stompers. Anyway, the honeymoon is over and I've found some bad habits in the new members of the community to be destroying gameplay.
1) Admin/clan abuse seems to be becoming a problem. I played a game yesterday where there was a blatant teamstack and then they booted the commander on the opposing team. Really unsportsmanlike. Teamstacking seems to be becoming the norm.
2) Players quitting and server hopping. It seems that as soon as my team loses the first big battle, a quarter or up to half the team quits and then defeat is almost inevitable, but a long and slow process. I don't know how to fix this except I just try to encourage my team. Are the new players having trouble adjusting to the slow pace of an NS2 match or whats is going on here?
Thats my two cents for now.
I had a lot of fun playing with the new players when the game was released. Suddenly all the beta players like me got to pretend we were an elite squad of clan stompers. Anyway, the honeymoon is over and I've found some bad habits in the new members of the community to be destroying gameplay.
1) Admin/clan abuse seems to be becoming a problem. I played a game yesterday where there was a blatant teamstack and then they booted the commander on the opposing team. Really unsportsmanlike. Teamstacking seems to be becoming the norm.
2) Players quitting and server hopping. It seems that as soon as my team loses the first big battle, a quarter or up to half the team quits and then defeat is almost inevitable, but a long and slow process. I don't know how to fix this except I just try to encourage my team. Are the new players having trouble adjusting to the slow pace of an NS2 match or whats is going on here?
Thats my two cents for now.
Comments
I'm sick of people complaining about stacking, as if discrepancy on skill levels is the concern of better players. It's not our job, or anyone's in a public server, to balance out skill levels. That's competition and sometimes, a team ends up on the short end of the stick.
That being said: I don't vote eject commanders, belittle our team (other than a smarmy comment or two) or otherwise display bad sportsmanship. I usually make a point to explain why option B is better than A, etc. That aspect is ridiculous, rude and a detriment to the game.
Finally, if it's a clan's server and they boot the commander, or just behave like children.. it's their server and their right.
The sky is blue, and water has recently been found to be wet.
I think that you'll find that your second point pretty much stems from the first point. I know that when I'm on a server or team that's obviously being team stacked (several people with 40/3 KDR while you have green names) I'm going to leave. There's no point in continuing that game until one of the players with an absurd amount of ability switches teams. If they don't, that's when it's a team stack. I've never seen a team with two people who have absurd KDR lose, even with a commander that's horrible. Unless, of course, there are members of the other team with the same.
This has always been a problem in online games. If you see it happening, leave the server. Eventually team stackers will have no one to play with and be forced to even out the average skill between teams. Without in-game stats enforcement of average skill level per team, it's impossible to fix.
it isn't great, but not bad. would be a nice 1st step for ns2 to implement
I own the server and keep everything legit.
it isn't great, but not bad. would be a nice 1st step for ns2 to implement<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Fair enough, would be easy to abuse as a losing team when you'll get a few players with more P.Res while switching with people that have less on a successful vote.
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea. I just know any system needs to be relatively troll proof in an online competitive video game. On servers with active admin's, it would probably work really well as a mod.
Team Fortress 2 is a game with a lot of opportunity for comebacks, just due to the way the objectives work. There's often some way to win even with little time left on the clock.
However, in NS2, there's the potential for one team to hit "critical momentum" at which one team made a few too many mistakes, is behind on upgrades, and can't pull ahead. There's a lot of demand to do things correctly. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to fix given that it's core to the game's style and strategy; even more so if you're under the principle that no players should ever be discouraged from leaving a match (as I am).
Team Fortress 2 is a game with a lot of opportunity for comebacks, just due to the way the objectives work. There's often some way to win even with little time left on the clock.
However, in NS2, there's the potential for one team to hit "critical momentum" at which one team made a few too many mistakes, is behind on upgrades, and can't pull ahead. There's a lot of demand to do things correctly. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to fix given that it's core to the game's style and strategy; even more so if you're under the principle that no players should ever be discouraged from leaving a match (as I am).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That's actually a good point overall. That seems to be the problem with Aliens moreso than the Marines but that's probably just relative to player skill. As Aliens, there are a lot of ways to mechanically lose momentum that will eventually lose the game. If your skulks die too much, you get egg lock. If you lose all your resource towers at once without 10 T.Res you get resource locked. If you lose a life form it's comparatively much worse than losing a gun, especially while pushing. Lost ground is harder to make up with Marines phase gates and general turtle ability.
It's still true that Aliens seem to be winning more than losing though. And there will always need to be mechanics to make teams win or lose so these might all be balanced out at the end of the day. One amazing alien Gorge can do wonders versus hordes of dumb Marines, even if they have Exo's. With Aliens working as they do, skill with upper life forms pretty much decides the day. It doesn't have much to do with the Alien commander, as long as they aren't slacking on life form ability upgrades and chamber upgrades. It's boring to be only that kind of support until late in the game, but that's what we currently have.
Unsportsmanlike? Man, you must be new to online gaming. Prepare to cover and be covered in ###### every time you go online, in this game as in any other. It's part of the fun!
The funniest/saddest thing I've seen since release, and keep seeing occasionally: BO started with robo factory on marine side, and people actually demanding turrets. Bonus points if the commander is ejected because he won't build turrets xD .
People will learn, give it a few months. Teamstacking and the usual ######-slinging will always be an issue in pubs though.
The funnest part for me, personally, was listening to the one guy complain about "but I don't like aliens, they suck". I told him straight up "I don't care". Then kicked him a few minutes later after he continued complaining about it.