MichiNeko Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 The faction imbalance is getting ridiculously high on my home server of the Shadowlands, and it sounds as though most other servers have the same problem. It's almost impossible for the Empire to win a match. Personally, I really do not find it fun when the outcome is so predictable. I normally fly on the Republic side and do pretty well, but I end up feeling guilty when we usually beat the Imps so badly. I try to fly on the Empire side when I can to help the balance, but we sill lose most of the time. Somehow I"m always at or near the top of the team score even though I usually die twice for every enemy ship I beat. It really does not make sense to me why the imbalance is so bad. I'm sure many will dismiss it, but I increasingly suspect that the Empire side has some kind of handicap in GSF pre-programmed into the game. As it is, flying on the pub side is like being a vulture with friendlies trying to take kills from each other, and flying on the imp side is just frustration. The only really fun close matches these days are same-faction battles, which usually only happen on the Republic side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armonddd Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 It really does not make sense to me why the imbalance is so bad. I'm sure many will dismiss it, but I increasingly suspect that the Empire side has some kind of handicap in GSF pre-programmed into the game. As it is, flying on the pub side is like being a vulture with friendlies trying to take kills from each other, and flying on the imp side is just frustration. The only really fun close matches these days are same-faction battles, which usually only happen on the Republic side. I have flown literally hundreds of matches on both sides with a win ratio of approximately 77% republic, 73% imperial. If there's any pre-programmed handicap, it's not affected my flying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoloGrinder Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 The faction imbalance is getting ridiculously high on my home server of the Shadowlands, and it sounds as though most other servers have the same problem. It's almost impossible for the Empire to win a match. Personally, I really do not find it fun when the outcome is so predictable. I normally fly on the Republic side and do pretty well, but I end up feeling guilty when we usually beat the Imps so badly. I try to fly on the Empire side when I can to help the balance, but we sill lose most of the time. Somehow I"m always at or near the top of the team score even though I usually die twice for every enemy ship I beat. It really does not make sense to me why the imbalance is so bad. I'm sure many will dismiss it, but I increasingly suspect that the Empire side has some kind of handicap in GSF pre-programmed into the game. As it is, flying on the pub side is like being a vulture with friendlies trying to take kills from each other, and flying on the imp side is just frustration. The only really fun close matches these days are same-faction battles, which usually only happen on the Republic side. You are right and I think it will kill the game. Be thick skinned though there are those that will speak out against you if you join the call to balance it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sadishist Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 You are right and I think it will kill the game. Be thick skinned though there are those that will speak out against you if you join the call to balance it. How about you just use one forum account to make complaints? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama-Eight Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 If there is any imbalance, it's most likely to be in the quality & quantity of the players on each since, and the distribution between F2P (only just got access to GSF), Preferred & Subs (had the most time to practice & upgrade their ships). I would be incredibly surprised if the stats on the Rep ships were better than the equivalent Imp ships. Maybe your server just has a lot more Imp F2Pers ('cause lets face it, the Imp side is cooler, in terms of ships & class skills/etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOLANX Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Both Kuat and shipyards have an empire handicap towards Satelite B. on Shipyards the pubs have a clear shot while empire have to maneuver around/through a huge rock. on Kuat there is a convinient opening in the Rocks the Pubs can fly through, that for the imp side has a gate, so the pubs can reach the satellite a few seconds earlier. if you dont believe me take a strike fighter at the start of the match on both sides and boost straight to Satelite B (with power to engines) in shipyards i can reach satelite B with a single boost from pubside, from impside i run out of boost about 7500m away. also and i cant explain this, the Novadive is superior to the empire equivilent the blackbolt. i dont know how or why but the Novadive just feels like the better crash and i get better stats for it (still lousy as i suck at piloting scouts). I am also on the shadowlands, so maybe it is a bug just on the shadowlands server? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foambreaker Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 You are right and I think it will kill the game. Be thick skinned though there are those that will speak out against you if you join the call to balance it. Why would anyone want to be thick skinned when you can just do something else that is more fun? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brewski Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I'm on The Shadowlands, and the faction imbalance is quite noticeable. There are some really good Empire pilots out there, but in general the pool is much deeper on the Republic side. Although I think it's hard to say that the Empire can't win (because they do), it is fair to say that it's a lot harder to win solo queuing as an Empire pilot. I think the root cause is that Matchmaking system seems to value opposite faction matches over fairly balanced matches from an experience/equipment level. Thus having a faction imbalance in terms of the number of players playing on each side leads to some matches being very unbalanced. Matchmaking should really take experience over faction when pairing groups up, meaning on The Shadowlands we would see a lot more same faction matches. That way no matter which way the factions are balanced/unbalanced on a given server the game play would still be balanced, leading to more fun matches for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reclipsed Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) How about you just use one forum account to make complaints? Although i disagree with most of the meat of his posts, he is right about faction imbalance...at least from my own personal experience on my own server. Republic wins just about 80-90% of the time in GSF. It's not that the Imps have bad pilots, it's because most matches has 1-3 ship new players against the same 4-7 mastered pub pilots all day everyday. And before someone parrots the "it's the pilot skillz not the ships mastered tiers that makes him good" (which I partially agree on some points) it can only take you so far. I don't blame bioware though. They can't force players to play a faction. A few suggestions would be cross-server queue and more participation from pilots on IMP side to premade it up EDIT: matchmaking seems to not be working even after 2.6, did they forget about it or realize it would cause hour long queues? Edited February 7, 2014 by reclipsed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptwonline Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I'm on Shadowlands too. There are simply more people playing GSF Republic side. I think the imbalance was greatly exagerrated by the ridiculously dominant pre-mades early on, and discouraged a lot of the Imperial players. Republic players get more matches (so many of the matches are Pub vs Pub) and more vets that were not discouraged early on and are now dominant. With the influx of new players we will see the cycle perpetuate: Republic dominates, Imps give up on GSF, and Republic end up with more matches, more geared up ships, and more experience. This is why it was so damaging for Bioware to release this without decent matchmaking, and the damage is long-term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armonddd Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Both Kuat and shipyards have an empire handicap towards Satelite B. on Shipyards the pubs have a clear shot while empire have to maneuver around/through a huge rock. on Kuat there is a convinient opening in the Rocks the Pubs can fly through, that for the imp side has a gate, so the pubs can reach the satellite a few seconds earlier. if you dont believe me take a strike fighter at the start of the match on both sides and boost straight to Satelite B (with power to engines) in shipyards i can reach satelite B with a single boost from pubside, from impside i run out of boost about 7500m away. I suspect (but can't confirm) that on Kuat the imps have the advantage at A and C to counter the advantage the pubs get at B. Besides, five seconds of flight time does not a significant advantage make. In reality, it hardly matters at all. The giant rock on Lost Shipyards between the imp capital ship and satellite B is hardly worth mentioning. It's not hard to fly through it -- in fact, that's the straightest and thus fastest path to the point anyway -- and it can be used to break line of sight in a retreat, which is handy at times. Much more important is the increased distance to the satellite, which again is hardly an issue because the actual combat around the satellite is a much bigger determinant of control. also and i cant explain this, the Novadive is superior to the empire equivilent the blackbolt. i dont know how or why but the Novadive just feels like the better crash and i get better stats for it (still lousy as i suck at piloting scouts). No. Not at all. You don't even have any real claims to make here, much less evidence. On the other hand, there are dozens and dozens of players who have identically stocked blackbolts and novadives and can switch between them with zero problems -- because there's no difference whatsoever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steyates Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I'm sure its psychological but I also feel the Blackbolt/Rycer seem inferior to the Novadive/Starguard. I know they're not but I just don't seem to be able to perform as well on an Imperial alt as with a Republic alt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianDavion Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 the faction imbalance isn't exactly BW's fault as others have said. Hell given that the ground PVP imbalance has long favored the Empire I doubt BW could anticipate Republic dominance of space. cross server queing isn't going to solve the problem as every server seems to be having the Republic dominance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuaRya Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I think the root cause is that Matchmaking system seems to value opposite faction matches over fairly balanced matches from an experience/equipment level. Thus having a faction imbalance in terms of the number of players playing on each side leads to some matches being very unbalanced. You nailed it. And to backup your theory I can count on one hand how many Imp vs Imp matches there have been on Shadowlands since GS launch. Human nature compounds the problem. Many I've talked to have actually started up pub toons simply to play GS on Shadowlands. Nobody likes the underdogs and wants the easy wins even if they are simply riding on the coat tails of one of the many pub premades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimessiah Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I play on the Shadowlands (Imp side) and don't think it's bad. In fact we've been dominating the new Death Match zones and usually we win Domination. I have to add that I primarily que with a pre made group. When I que solo... yea I guess I can see what you mean. Definitely more losses than wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwiftDuck Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) I play GSF on shadowlands as a republic pilot. I agree with the OP. Imperials on shadowlands are literally some of the worst players. Thats simply it. I will dominate imps with a 20/0 score. It's almost guaranteed for me to score 10+ kills and no deaths vs imps. But then we get a pub vs pub and the games usually end very very close. It is kind of strange but imps do not have any kind of real disadvantage other than a PEBKAC error =P Imps do NOT play objectives. They often play gun ships and hover around their own spawns doing nothing but trying to snipe people. Doing this is completely counter productive. (EDIT) If the imps get brave enough to try and come to a satellite pop one shot or missile lock on them and they go running with their tails between their legs to the spawn. In doing so, they leave the nodes completely open to cap. So the real cause of the imbalance has nothing to do with the mechanics of the game...it is shear lack of ability. Edited February 7, 2014 by SwiftDuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuaRya Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I play GSF on shadowlands as a republic pilot. I agree with the OP. Imperials on shadowlands are literally some of the worst players. Thats simply it. I will dominate imps with a 20/0 score. It's almost guaranteed for me to score 10+ kills and no deaths vs imps. Put your money where your mouth is. Try showing how good you are by switching to Imperial Faction. Lead the charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianDavion Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I play GSF on shadowlands as a republic pilot. I agree with the OP. Imperials on shadowlands are literally some of the worst players. Thats simply it. I will dominate imps with a 20/0 score. It's almost guaranteed for me to score 10+ kills and no deaths vs imps. But then we get a pub vs pub and the games usually end very very close. It is kind of strange but imps do not have any kind of real disadvantage other than a PEBKAC error =P Imps do NOT play objectives. They often play gun ships and hover around their own spawns doing nothing but trying to snipe people. Doing this is completely counter productive. (EDIT) If the imps get brave enough to try and come to a satellite pop one shot or missile lock on them and they go running with their tails between their legs to the spawn. In doing so, they leave the nodes completely open to cap. So the real cause of the imbalance has nothing to do with the mechanics of the game...it is shear lack of ability. gonna agree here. the Imps just don't have the "heart to fight" that you see from the reps. they try all sorts of cute little gunship tactics and the like but it's rare to see them actually play agressivly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimessiah Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I play GSF on shadowlands as a republic pilot. I agree with the OP. Imperials on shadowlands are literally some of the worst players. Thats simply it. I will dominate imps with a 20/0 score. It's almost guaranteed for me to score 10+ kills and no deaths vs imps. But then we get a pub vs pub and the games usually end very very close. It is kind of strange but imps do not have any kind of real disadvantage other than a PEBKAC error =P Imps do NOT play objectives. They often play gun ships and hover around their own spawns doing nothing but trying to snipe people. Doing this is completely counter productive. (EDIT) If the imps get brave enough to try and come to a satellite pop one shot or missile lock on them and they go running with their tails between their legs to the spawn. In doing so, they leave the nodes completely open to cap. So the real cause of the imbalance has nothing to do with the mechanics of the game...it is shear lack of ability. Not against my squad. We destroy the Pubs time and time again. It's pretty embarrassing actually. gonna agree here. the Imps just don't have the "heart to fight" that you see from the reps. they try all sorts of cute little gunship tactics and the like but it's rare to see them actually play agressivly I see way more Pubs flying Gunships (and now bombers) than Imps. Trying all sorts of cute little tactics that we chew right through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brewski Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Actually it has very little to do with who has the "heart" and who has the "skill" anymore. The empire actually sports some very good pilots, but they have learned that the only way they can get a match with a full team of "good" Empire pilots to fight a full team of "good" Republic pilots is to queue as groups. The simple fact is that if you queue solo on the Empire side as an experienced pilot, you are pretty likely to end up with 2/3rds or more of your team as inexperienced and under geared players compared to the Republic side. In short, it's not quality it's quantity. Since the game seems to rank opposite faction fights over evenly matched fights, there are lot of unbalanced fights. This unfortunately leas to a lot of Empire noobs either leaving the Empire to fight for the Republic, or just giving up on it altogether, which in turn makes the problem worse. I've been playing both sides since day 1, and I fight just about as well on both sides with similar k/d and damage ratios, and yet my win/loss record is twice as high on my republic toon. Even I have a hard time wanting to queue Empire some nights. People who claim one faction is superior on any server are only making the problem worse. The real problem is matchmaking. We need it to be better for the sake of both factions on all servers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancezwithnubz Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 'faction imbalance' is purely a problem of more players flying for Republic than for Empire. there is no advantage for one side or the other either in maps or ships. we can argue various crew-member skillsets, but that's also pretty even. the answer, my friend, is to get organised. about the only thing BioWare can do is include built-in, opt-in VOIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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