Jedi Cov Balance Solution!

[DeputyConvict]

Eichman here.. I have been talking to some friends about the balance problem we have. conquest has hurt and helped GSF on the server. The way it has hurt us is that people stay on one toon and don't bounce around because they want the conquest points. A few of us decided that perhaps each weak half of us would play pub and the other half imp. when we all group together we dominate too often, and it is no fun for anyone. if any other people are feeling the same way send me message in game or respond here and we can organize for the next conquest week, so every 1 can have a fun and challenging experience..

[MallocV]

There will always be imbalance issues in this game because of the small player pool. A lot of us already actively play both Imp and Pub, the problem is even though JC is a Pub server they're terrible at working together on objectives and are great at stalling loses in domination with gunships saturation.

[DeputyConvict]

no we have more population, but people are sticking o one toon. either vets need to get on new 2/3 ship toons with no upgrades or switch sides. I like GSf but I want to enjoy it, and winning all the time in slaughters is not fun. I am willing to change toon and faction I conquest on.

[MaximilianPower]

Yeah, I was in that run of matches earlier today and part of this discussion. It was absurd, we must have won something like 8 or 10 in a row, all by huge margins. I was flying bloodmark/blackbolt without dying at all in dom matches (I'm not very good in those ships) and my mostly-stock cartel GS in the TDMs (I keep that one on my bar for situations like this, when the Mangler would be total overkill). The rest of our group was mostly doing the same; I don't think any of us rolled in mastered lolships or battlescouts. Didn't matter, we couldn't lose. Got kinda boring.

 

Now, this is with a group of four experienced pilots (3 of us playing throughout, the 4th changing a couple of times but always someone good) against almost entire noob teams. I think in that set of 10-ish matches, I saw maybe three pub enemies I even recognized. The good pubs (and I don't mean our alts, lol) simply weren't playing, for the most part. There were 1 or 2 matches where we faced a legit pilot, but I don't know anybody on this server who can carry a whole team. And I can't remember ever experiencing a run of utter domination quite like that. A few games in a row here or there, sure, but not a couple hours' worth of matches.

 

All that said - small sample size. I've been on the other end of this stick, even since conquest began. Maybe it's time of day, I don't know...this happened in the afternoon, not exactly prime time (I'll hop on a bit tonight and see what the competition is like). But if Eichman is right and there is truly a faction imbalance thanks to conquest, then I'll definitely follow his suggestion and alternate weeks. My two GSF mains are in sister guilds so it doesn't really matter to me from that perspective. This is the kind of thing that could kill GSF for us, or at least maim it. GSF-related conquest goals should be a boon to the game, but this is exactly the kind of crap that scares away new players. Which I don't want to see happen.

 

I suspect we'll need some cooperation from other imp regulars on this. 2 of us aren't going to change the tides entirely, if this is really what's going on. Though I've watched Eichman rack up 31 kills in a TDM, so maybe I'm wrong about that.

 

Are any of you non-JC guys seeing this kind of thing on your servers? That is, any significant faction imbalance introduced by conquest? Maybe we're more prone to this than, say, TEH or the Bastion because of a smaller population pool.

[DeputyConvict]

Thanks max for you reply, and last time i got 31 kills in a match I lost. I use to go berserk but I have toned down, and want every1 to have fun. I even self destructed for first half a match recently to keep it even for a bit. I am not only one. Next week I will be all republic on Avidity and have at least 2 other people with me. I have nothing o prove and I don't need requ. It is all about fun for me, so whatever I have to do to make it better for the server I will. If I have to self destruct the whole match to keep it even I will do it. I do like to group with newbs so any1 who sees me send em whisper, I don't care if you are terrible. I was awful at one point.

[Odacervicix]

I was in on the slaughter as well. I tried to hang back and only engage occasionally, but ended up getting non-contributor messages. So then it was back into the fray for a bit to get rid of the NC flag.

 

I used to split my time about evenly between Arturses and Marttell, so that I could go to whichever side was getting stomped if I wanted to. It’s not like I have a hero complex and think I’m going to single handedly change the outcome of those games. I’m not that great. I fly like a bibulous elephant crammed into a mini with wings, trading paint with the steel girders around B. But I just enjoy flying those matches more. Flying on the winning side in a blowout is kind of boring (for me at least), and if I do it too many times in a row I find that I get sloppy. Then I get a real game and do something stupid like take a proton torpedo to the face.

 

But after GSH, I’ve been pretty much Imp so that I can try and hit the 35K conquest reward. I just don’t play enough or grind away at other parts of the game to do it on two toons. But after today, I think I’m just going to ignore the conquest rewards and go back to flying both sides based on what the teams are like. Hell, I’ve only hit the conquest reward once anyway. The conquest thing is too grindy for me. I won’t be missing it much.

 

And the whole not switching sides thing is exacerbated by the fact that I hate getting passed over for games. I used to solo queue more often, but these days if I do that, I sometimes miss 2 or 3 games before the matchmaker finally puts me in one. So I almost always look for at least one partner, just so I can obviate whatever the matchmaker is doing and get games. But I don’t really want to bail on a group just to switch sides because we are blowing away the competition. I’ll try and figure out some way to switch sides more frequently.

 

In any event, I also wanted to acknowledge Paxjedicron on the pub side, who didn’t bail despite being the only recognizable veteran in some of the games, and playing against insurmountable opposition. Playing against overwhelming odds, and putting up some kills while doing so, is some of the best training there is. Good job out there today.

[DeputyConvict]

Yeah Pax big shout out for playing through that terrible situation today!

[WedgeFan]

I feel that the problem is not the skill levels of the pilots on either side, but a problem with grouping. I understand that it's more fun to fly with friends and squadmates. It's admirable that folks are willing to even switch sides to help out (Hell I did it at first with Buurton). But when you switch sides and group together, the problem persists.

 

JC is heavily skewed to the pub side in GSF, so when you switch it's pub v. pub and the slaughter continues.

 

I know the responses of "Find some other pilots and group." will be forthcoming, the problem is my play time can be erratic at best and it's just not possible. I'm sure this goes for everyone, even the ppl in this thread.

 

After a couple of games like one I just had, I just stop. It's not fun. I'm sure being on the other side of a 1000 to1 domination game is not fun for the other side either. When ppl stop q'ing it's game over for all of us.

 

Apologies to any squadmates who may have thought I rage quit a game today. I didn't. My ISP likes to mess with me. I don't care how bad it gets, I'll never quit a game.

 

So until the day that squads/groups get matched against each other, we may just need a gentleman's agreement to try and keep it to a minimum. Just my .02 creds.

[Icebergy]

Hmm, can't say I've really had much of an issue myself. I've pretty much stopped flying my Imp due to conquest points and I'm still winning a good 60-70% of my games as Republic vs Imps.

 

My guild has also expanded to include a pure GSF team, and we've got some very good pilots. So maybe you guys are just flying at different times than us?

[nyghtrunner]

My guess is timing has a lot to do with it. Part of the problem is that imp side seems to be feast or famine. Not even so much friends grouping up, but it just seems like if 1 of the old dogs is on, then 6 of us are, all flying. On the off chance we get something of a balanced Pub team to play against, the games are fun. When it's nothing but 2-shippers (or close to it), I tend to just let everyone else fight it out, and go run obstacle courses (because that still gives me both some enjoyment in the activity, and it keeps flight skills sharp-ish).

 

I think I didn't really notice it so much until I started flying more and more heavily on the Pub side, and solo. The number of times I've run into a group that consisted of 5-6 guys on imp side I know (some of whom I know more because they're now my enemies than because they top leaderboards, but are still extremely solid pilots), and it's been me as the only 5-shipper, someone else has a GS, and the rest are all 2-shippers... Well, it happens a lot. And those games are generally not fun. I can sometimes keep a game interesting in that scenario, especially if I've got a competent wingman or 2, but in general, it's just a roflstomp. In Dom, if I make an early mistake with Retros or something, and fail to get my target sat, it's probably a permanent 3-cap.

 

I have no qualms about saying I'm a good pilot, and can on occasion swing matches that my side has no business winning (usually in TDM, not Dom), but if it's me and maybe 1 other guy who are the only ones trying to actually take satellites, or more likely, know how to do it without getting obliterated in 2 seconds... Well, it ends up being 5v1 or 5v2 at a sat really quickly, my team can't capitalize and take another sat, and I just get repeatedly dusted or have to run from the fight with my tail between my legs. And any satellite I try to go take gets swarmed by enemies in about the amount of time it takes me to take out the 3 turrets.

 

It could very well be that a lot more Pub pilots play than Imp-side, so it's much more as a "first come, first served" insofar as the matchmaking is concerned, whereas with the Imps, it's more of a "how long to wait until 8 or 12 of us hop in the queue?"

 

Anyway, I think a little self policing would help in the instances that this is a real problem. That includes both swapping to lesser ships or grabbing a friend and hopping factions. I've got no issues flying against anyone on the server, since it's just a game. I wouldn't take offense to getting dusted by a friend, and I wouldn't expect them to take offense as roles are reversed. It's not personal, it's a game, and the purpose is to have fun, which generally means closer matches. If that's the goal, then I think it's probably up to us to fix this particular problem as it arises.

Edited September 15, 2014 by nyghtrunner