Solo Queuing? A Match made in hell? Or a way to practice flying from your base?

[abercromb]

Although no stranger to the wonders of Star fighter. I have managed to complete my dailies on three characters every day since launch (bar one day). Increasingly I am struggling to understand how any player who does not have any access to a group finds any enjoyment what so ever in star fighter.

 

Don't get me wrong. I do also spend some time most evenings with my guild mates flying around the not so friendly skies. But when I am working on my dailies in the afternoon I am often alone and to be honest. The majority of the time it's two losses and not two wins that completes a daily. Ok call me a poor player, I am not, call me unlucky, not usually or simply call me a fool for playing against pre made groups (that could be the issue). But there is something wrong with how the groups I am seeing are formed.

 

Ok, I know there is a lot of debate about how matches are formed and the non existent player matching. But this random element of matching we appear to be seeing very often puts entire teams of 2 or 3 ship players against entire teams of 4 or 5 ship players. I play both Imp and Empire so I do see both sides and I can tell you lots of players are getting very upset and put off star fighter. Skill is not the over riding factor in the matches I am seeing. It is lots of kills in the 1st 30 seconds made possible by groups of upgraded ships against solo players or new players. From then on half the team is flying back constantly and holding on to one satellite is about all that can be hoped for.

 

So what's the solution?

 

To be honest I am not sure. Matchmaking that takes into account the number of available ships and upgrades would be a start. So would limiting the number of pre made groups on each side. But in then end what ever they decide there does need to be some change or the days of solo queuing will be over for anyone not a complete fool.

 

Of course there is always and up side. If nothing changes by the release to preferred and free to play. All us subscribers will get a lot more kills in our upgraded ships (until they stop playing).

[-KeggER-]

Which server are u playing on?

[HuaRya]

Your experience is identical to mine. I enjoy playing it. You know where the match will go when your team averages 1-3 ships per player and these block premades average 4-5.

 

GSF has huge potential but the constant losing of pugs to what seem to be single and double premades gets old after awhile. Woopie, you and your pals on voip with every ship unlocked and max gear are destroying pugs who are trying the game out for the first time.

[Lymain]

I have fun solo queuing all the time on TEH, at least when I play a scout with Barrel Roll. Yeah, I have to try to put the team on my back sometimes, and sometimes it's just way too much to overcome, but it rarely goes beyond challenging to the point of demoralizing.

[archifikoss]

I exclusively solo queue, and I have much more fun on my pub than my imp - mostly because pubs as a whole seem to be better at it on my server. I am an average player at best, and thought that I would be extremely outclassed and almost invisible on my pub - however I have played my best games on my pub pilot because everyone seems to know what they're doing and just have your back even without communication...

[Lord_Thorne]

I don't know anyone with whom I can team up, so it's always solo for me (anyone know any starfighting guilds on Begeren impside?). I've been doing dailies and weeklies regularly - it's a lot easier as a pub, since the pubs in general win way more often it seems. I'm no ace, but I usually do okay. That may be because there are lots of other pug-men like me, or that I just fly reasonably according to objectives.

[DanNV]

I have noticed that after a couple wipes, the side getting wiped stops queuing. I've also noticed the queues take longer now than they did a week ago and that was longer than two weeks ago, etc. I'm getting into way more 8v8 instead of 12v12 as well. If BW doesn't rework weapons mods and abilities and how they stack (and do so in a major way) you'll end up with fewer and fewer people playing, longer queues and a lot of mad word of mouth. I've been saying this for weeks. It seems the devs either aren't listening or refuse to admit they need to rework stuff.

[renegadeimp]

I have noticed that after a couple wipes, the side getting wiped stops queuing. I've also noticed the queues take longer now than they did a week ago and that was longer than two weeks ago, etc. I'm getting into way more 8v8 instead of 12v12 as well. If BW doesn't rework weapons mods and abilities and how they stack (and do so in a major way) you'll end up with fewer and fewer people playing, longer queues and a lot of mad word of mouth. I've been saying this for weeks. It seems the devs either aren't listening or refuse to admit they need to rework stuff.

 

They dont need to rework ANYTHING. The players however need to learn to play. Blaming the devs for your teams shortcomings is laughable.

[DanNV]

They dont need to rework ANYTHING. The players however need to learn to play. Blaming the devs for your teams shortcomings is laughable.

 

In this case, you're wrong. When weapons mods will ignore 100% of anything, there is a problem. Combine that with crew abilities that ignore a good deal of something else and you have a mess. Getting one shotted by a scout or a gunship is not a team shortcoming, it's a major design flaw if they want people to actually keep playing. Fixing that takes some major reworking, not 2% tweaks here or there. Now they're going to take this mess and add in mines and drones, which just makes fixing it way more complicated.

[wishihadaname]

Premades happen, i've been playing mostly pug in both groundside and GSF and the result is basically the same. Vs. a good premade you lose, but you can always try to give them a black eye along the way and get some practice. Unfortunately, I really really doubt the devs are ever going to do anything about premades. They wouldn't do anything that would alienate a portion of the population and potentially cause more quitting (and trust me, the worst of the premaders are probably jacking off to how hard they crush pubs and would quit if the devs made them play fair).

 

And solo que in GSF isn't so bad, just play during prime time, or wait until february when the game open up to the F2P crowd (who would never be admitted to the sorts of elitist priky premades who tend to ruin games as much as you describe). Basically the way to beat premades is to increase the participation in the game to the point where the odds of getting beat before the match starts are very low.

[ptwonline]

I have noticed that after a couple wipes, the side getting wiped stops queuing. I've also noticed the queues take longer now than they did a week ago and that was longer than two weeks ago, etc. I'm getting into way more 8v8 instead of 12v12 as well. If BW doesn't rework weapons mods and abilities and how they stack (and do so in a major way) you'll end up with fewer and fewer people playing, longer queues and a lot of mad word of mouth. I've been saying this for weeks. It seems the devs either aren't listening or refuse to admit they need to rework stuff.

 

They either stop queuing or if they see that there are enough people in the instance to have mutliple matches going, they leave ASAP to try to break the cycle and get in against non-premade group. Alas, it is often the more experienced players--who recognize the premades/organized/hevaily geared opponents--who give up, leaving the lesser players to their fate.

[CyberneticDucks]

Although no stranger to the wonders of Star fighter. I have managed to complete my dailies on three characters every day since launch (bar one day). Increasingly I am struggling to understand how any player who does not have any access to a group finds any enjoyment what so ever in star fighter.

 

Don't get me wrong. I do also spend some time most evenings with my guild mates flying around the not so friendly skies. But when I am working on my dailies in the afternoon I am often alone and to be honest. The majority of the time it's two losses and not two wins that completes a daily. Ok call me a poor player, I am not, call me unlucky, not usually or simply call me a fool for playing against pre made groups (that could be the issue). But there is something wrong with how the groups I am seeing are formed.

 

Ok, I know there is a lot of debate about how matches are formed and the non existent player matching. But this random element of matching we appear to be seeing very often puts entire teams of 2 or 3 ship players against entire teams of 4 or 5 ship players. I play both Imp and Empire so I do see both sides and I can tell you lots of players are getting very upset and put off star fighter. Skill is not the over riding factor in the matches I am seeing. It is lots of kills in the 1st 30 seconds made possible by groups of upgraded ships against solo players or new players. From then on half the team is flying back constantly and holding on to one satellite is about all that can be hoped for.

 

So what's the solution?

 

To be honest I am not sure. Matchmaking that takes into account the number of available ships and upgrades would be a start. So would limiting the number of pre made groups on each side. But in then end what ever they decide there does need to be some change or the days of solo queuing will be over for anyone not a complete fool.

 

Of course there is always and up side. If nothing changes by the release to preferred and free to play. All us subscribers will get a lot more kills in our upgraded ships (until they stop playing).

 

i am definitely familiar with low-level ships fighting high-level ships. what i don't know is why the number of ships available matters, i only play as one ship and i have three. i also don't know what a 'pre-made' ship or group is or what 'OP' means, but i have seen both many times. a queue machine that thinks would make things a lot better, but not until the game is available to non-subscribers so the group would be bigger. i am sure that you are not a poor player, when three or five ships are chasing you everywhere always hitting you with missiles and you're out of engine power, there is no way you can survive. in a 1 on 1 fight, most people beat me, so don't feel so bad.

[dancezwithnubz]

i'd rather fly solo than not fly at all.

i find that matches against pre-made, VOIP squadrons give me a great chance to practice either chasing down gunships or offer plenty of node-capping & turret destroying opportunities.

 

i am definitely familiar with low-level ships fighting high-level ships. what i don't know is why the number of ships available matters, i only play as one ship and i have three.

 

the sole advantage of buying the Cartel Market ships is the extra 750/daily and 2,500/weekly requisition rewards you get for doing missions from the PvP missions terminal.

 

with three ships, you're getting 7,500 Ship Requisition from the weekly. with five ships, you're getting 12,500 requisition from the same weekly mission.

 

convert those into Fleet Requisition and you're upgrading your ships far more rapidly than someone with access to only two ships.

 

i also don't know what a 'pre-made' ship or group is or what 'OP' means.

 

'pre-made': a group of friends who may or may not be using VOIP communications queuing together and flying together.

OP: OverPowered (or Original Poster)

Edited January 13, 2014 by dancezwithnubz

[RatPoison]

It depends on the time and who is in the que... but on JC on average I anticipate that as a pug on the Imperial side, I will have 2 wins out of every 5 matches. On the Republic side... that switches to damn near 4 out of 5. It's worth noting that a lot of matches on the Republic side, on this server, and during the times I play (evenings), a fair number if not sometimes most of the matches are against the Republic.

 

All in all, if you're wanting some reasonable certainty on winning a match, consider comparing the number of total ships per player from team to team. I tend to exclude Cartel Ships from the purchase. This gives me a relatively good idea on who has likely more experienced, and thus likely better pilots before the match even kicks off.

 

I will admit, I've bailed on several matches over the past few days (especially on the Empire) when the odds are severely skewed by ship count.

 

Anyway, on the other side of things, if the match is crap and your dogfights are mismatched often finding yourself with more than one ship on your ***, then there is always the gunship. If I've given up on a match, that's pretty much what I revert to since I'm likely to get a kill or two in before having to evade attackers.

 

Oh, and short of the first week in GSF, I've solo qued exclusively.

[Kain_Turinbar]

When preferred and F2P get access and the pool is larger I'm sure this will be better.

[Ramalina]

Honestly what I find worst about solo queuing is that the queue wait times can be 2-3 times longer queued as solo than queued as a group.

 

Jung Ma has a small enough GSF community that you do better recognizing names than counting ships when it comes to predicting match outcomes.

 

Ayden, Tsuki, and Satele on my side, good news.

 

Phaleg, Caligulas, Rumina on the other side, we're probably going to loose.

 

Those aren't comprehensive lists mind you, just some of the more notable ones that tend to play at the same hours I do.

[Lytewraith]

Well another nerf premade most my god guys it is not that bad. I am in solo ques all the time even if I have a guildy on a lot of the times ill que solo and just happen to get inteams with other good players that allrdy know what they are doing with out voip. It is not allways the voip or the premade that gets you killed it is the lack of team work once in the match a team of 1-3 squads in a match that talk to each other and know the controls and when to use there cd's is going to win every time.

A team of skilled players puging it up can beat a premade too.Heck I have entered loseing matches where they where allrdy down 300 points and I come in and since I know how to cap and kite and ill take the points from them starting in a systematic order hit the one where they are not at or only have 2.Fly close to your max range and bait one out other stays kill the one then go back in on the second one.You can alo start by flying in hard and fast and takeing there turrets outs first instead of trying to fight 1 guy on a scout and being shot by 3 turrets which is not going to end well.You have to play smart when your in a match and pug or premade if you get sloppy you are going to go down.In other words if you have no friends and fly solo then I recommend you getting yourself a pike and max it out then you can take two to 3 of the others on at the same time and kill them all or 2 and the turrets it dosent matter.

Just be in the right ship for what you are doing and know how to play it if you don't ask for advice from the top pilots.

most will help you.

[jcurri]

I play both Imp and Empire so I do see both sides and I can tell you lots of players are getting very upset and put off star fighter.

 

You play both imp AND empire, huh? So you also like both kinds of music, Country, AND Western?

[CyberneticDucks]

i'd rather fly solo than not fly at all.

i find that matches against pre-made, VOIP squadrons give me a great chance to practice either chasing down gunships or offer plenty of node-capping & turret destroying opportunities.

 

 

 

the sole advantage of buying the Cartel Market ships is the extra 750/daily and 2,500/weekly requisition rewards you get for doing missions from the PvP missions terminal.

 

with three ships, you're getting 7,500 Ship Requisition from the weekly. with five ships, you're getting 12,500 requisition from the same weekly mission.

 

convert those into Fleet Requisition and you're upgrading your ships far more rapidly than someone with access to only two ships.

 

 

 

'pre-made': a group of friends who may or may not be using VOIP communications queuing together and flying together.

OP: OverPowered (or Original Poster)

 

thank you for clearing things up about the forum terminology. the fleet requisition thing makes sense, but i wonder why someone would constantly be spending cartel coins to convert the requisition. then again, the fact that i am a subscriber for a virtual game kind of makes you think. i have a blackbolt that has mid-level major components and all of the minor components are two or three. i did all of that only with that ship within a 1 month period playing and also bought and upgraded different types of components. i mostly played with that ship twice a day until i bought my gladiator. anyway i had a high-level ship without having multiple ships, but who am i to judge.

[NRieh]

Premades themselves are not much of a problem, imo. In any sort of gaming organized team will always have advantages over a random group of soloers.

 

The problem is, that unlike with normal PvP, new SF player is absolutely unfamiliar with the process. Killing mobs and killing players is not too different, after all. I mean, at least in both cases you play same character, you know how your class works, what is also very important - player chose to play that very class and that very style.

 

The tutorial is anything but informative and helpful. A lot of new stats, feats, combos, strategies etc. And once you enter fight - you find yourself among experienced and upgraded players. I renewed my sub just to try out those space fights. I used to play both flight and space sims. I never had issues with TOR PVE space missions (some of them may look harder, but I was given plenty of opportunities to practice on lower missions).

 

My first fight was anything but fun. It was frustrating, because powered allies barely gave me a chance to make a shot while powered enemy had little problems to take me down. I know, that with some time I will improve, and at some point f2players will join the queues. But when I think of my (inevitable) first experience with the current state of balance - it does not really encourage me to keep trying, at all

[reclipsed]

Honestly what I find worst about solo queuing is that the queue wait times can be 2-3 times longer queued as solo than queued as a group.

 

Jung Ma has a small enough GSF community that you do better recognizing names than counting ships when it comes to predicting match outcomes.

 

Ayden, Tsuki, and Satele on my side, good news.

 

Phaleg, Caligulas, Rumina on the other side, we're probably going to loose.

 

Those aren't comprehensive lists mind you, just some of the more notable ones that tend to play at the same hours I do.

 

yep. I finally took out Satele twice and he stalked me for a few matches, lol. Some of these guys are minibosses.

 

Jung Ma is a weird server, just about every match has the pubs with the fab 5 and the imp side is usually the beginner's B squad with the occasional 3-4 elites mixed in.