Yeah, this is very bad sportsmanship, and is extremely dishonorable imo. Even some really good or really bad starts to a match can have the tables turned, and by SDing you are robbing not only yourself but everyone else on your team of a chance for a glorious turnabout. And trust me, I’ve had some really bad teams. Unwinnable matchups. Like this: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1109126927471616100/1136534462876876830/image0.jpg And what did I do? I fought to the last breath, even when it became clear that victory was impossible. Because if I was going to lose, I was going down fighting, even if it meant going 1v8 against their entire team. Throwing the match brings the utmost shame and dishonor upon you, and I hope that you will reconsider doing so in the future.

You say trying to get “steel vs steel” matches is rare? Well, want to guess what happened just last night, 24 hours ago? Some people queued. It got competitive. Before you know it, I was in command of a premade of four top-notch pilots, flying against an opposing premade of eight additional skilled pilots in a series of extremely heated matches. How heated, you may ask? How about this? https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/377920985841664011/1136190689160478731/Star_Wars_The_Old_Republic_Screenshot_2023.08.01_-_23.13.30.67.png This screenshot is taken from the leader of the premade against me. I don’t recall how much had gone on, but I (Sang) was grouped with 3 others and were the top four in damage in the red team (the red team in screenshot). The premade against us was at least 6 of the team shown in green. And this was still early in our clash. Let me remind you that this happened not just recently, but LAST NIGHT. It hasn’t even been 24 hours since then. Now, you may ask, how did these premades form? Was it to have easy matches? Hell no! In fact it started off as random queue and both sides called in reinforcements until we were in a slugfest with more skilled pilots than not. I’m pretty confident that without each other, neither premade would have formed. Both premades were formed ad hoc specifically to do battle with each other. And y’know what? You know what you would have had to do to join either side? Just a single whisper to any member of either group, or a single message in “/cjoin gsf” indicating that you’ll do your best and you’re in. Hell, at any point in time if I’m queuing and someone shoots me a whisper asking if I would group with them the only qualification required is to be nice and to try. That’s it. And if I see, as said below: The only reason I’d so no is if I’ve already got my own counter-premade in the works and in that case you’ve earned an invite. And y’know what? If I happen to be in the premade that needs countering? Then bring it on! I think 50-0 stomps are BORING for BOTH sides. I mean sure all of the players from the groups could have soloqueued and been placed randomly, but matchmaker isn’t known for making balanced teams. With premades we can forge our own teams, fight with our friends against our hated rivals, and share triumph or struggle together in defeat, the loser always searching for another ally to even the odds. TLDR: Premade vs premade can be and is the most exciting type of match. Not only that but you can make new friendships with those you team up with. Bonds forged in battle are the strongest of all, and even if the going is rough then you can always add your groupmates as friends or on other platforms and fight together later. And it’s not like premade vs premade is rare. When’s the last time it happened? Just last night.

Hey there! Personally, I’m not a fan of joining “stomp group” premades that queue against randoms when there’s no competition and it’s a free win every match. However, this is the very definition of a “skill issue” (not in a dismissive way, but in a factual way): being in a premade doesn’t give you any advantages aside from ensuring the skill levels of some of your team. The real counterplay to times like this, where there’s an enemy premade, is simply this: Step 1: Get good - again, not dismissive, the better you are as a pilot the better chances you’ll have. If you’re weaker, and have to hope to be carried every match, your chances will be worse than if you become a skilled pilot in your own right. Step 2: Make some friends Step 3: Call on those friends so that when you see the enemy premade, you can form a premade of your own and have an epic premade vs premade battle Alternatively, when you start running into the premade, you can recognize which people aren’t in the premade who seem competent and ask if they want to join your counter-premade group. That way you can try and even the odds against the enemy premade. And yeah, I know my advice boils down to a combination of “get good” and “make your own premade”, but honestly some of the most fun I’ve had in GSF is premade vs premade, and it can make for some really intense and memorable games. In fact, writing this I’m reminded of a night a couple of weeks ago where I was in a 6m premade and we were fighting intensely against an enemy 6m premade led by one of my friends. It was a great time with some really competitive matches.

Your second point is why I suggested objectives that would not be so easily obtainable by self-destructors. In particular X matches with at least Y medals. No self-destructor is going to be able to get that one. I also suggested that all medals counted, to encourage people to try and get more than just the defense ones, with a high enough number of medals needed that self-destructing/afking would not be a viable way to achieve the season objective.

Please oh please make it a high number. Like at least 100 medals. More would be even better. Make all medals count, not just the ones that currently count for the season objectives. Don't make it based on matches played, and if you do, make it so that wins count for a lot more than losses. GSF has had enough trouble in recent history with people throwing matches for rewards (in particular there is a player who is known for logging into multiple accounts at once and queuing them all for GSF and then self-destructing on all of them), and I'd love to see season objectives that encourage players to actually try to win and fly well, rather than to just queue and throw for the rewards. I'm one of the top pilots in GSF, and I know for a fact that a lot of other top pilots feel the exact same way. So my suggestion is to make ALL medals count toward a GSF season objective, that way players are awarded for assists and kills, which help progress the match. The previous (galactic) seasons objectives have either been based off of matches played - with little incentive to actually play well aside from getting 2x progress if your team wins - or been based off of only capture, defend, and damage medals. Capture and defense medals are only even available in domination matches, and to get them all that's required is to fly to a node at the start of the game and get the medal or capturing it, and then literally sitting afk under it for the defense medal. First of all, camping on a controlled objective isn't even usually a great way for good players to try to win the match, as attacking enemy nodes or moving between two controlled nodes for a more active defense is simply better, meaning that these medals only encourage newbies to go afk under a node for the entire match. Instead of this, all medals should be counted, and there are lots of medals. There are medals for repairs, kills, assists, etc., which help your team to actually try to, y'know, win the match. Then just make the number required for the season objective be high enough that you need to actually fly in order to get it. Something like the PvP one where you have to get X number of matches with at least Y medals in each would be welcome too. Before someone says something to the key of "omg she's an elitist and only wants the top players to be able to get it!" or something like that, no, that's not the case. What I want is for there to be objectives that encourage people to at least TRY. There are some who queue for GSF and not only don't help their team, but ACTIVELY HINDER their team and make them lose on purpose. PS please please fix the fact that self-destructing and respawning only to self-destruct again counts as "contributing" for the purposes of allowing a player to be vote-kicked. Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.