11 replies to this topic

[GantradiesDracos]

could this failure of a mechanic PLEASE be removed in the next update, along with the inability to connect to a specific server when in a party?

 

 both are likely contributing factors to the decline the playerbase suffered in the lead-up to Adhesives implosion.

 

in my personal experience, all the  lockout achieves is preventing me from playing with my friends, either because they are new to the game, and below my (modest) ranking to the point where the game  refuses to allow us in the same servers, or stops me from playing with them because their ranking is significantly higher then mine (EyesOnly,several people i know form Oceania), and in practice, it is now borderline IMPOSSIBLE to actually get into a PVP match with a party, as it simply SITS there saying "Queued", and refuses to put your 2-3 man group into the half full sever you can see via the browser -_-.

 

 these days, im pretty much a social gamer. i play MP games as much to hang out with my friends, and connect with new ones, as i do for the actual gameplay myself, and these restrictions have had as much as a negative impact on my interest in the game long-term as the slow rate of adding additional content has (which on its own id be ok with)

 

*edit* additionally, why am i limited to one post per day? was there a forum reset or something? >.< the forum seems to think ive just made my first post ever. did something break with the account system?

Edited by GantradiesDracos, 07 July 2015 - 10:33 AM.

[talons1337]

I know people from significantly higher and lower MMRs and I can still play with them. But I have encountered MMR lock from time to time and it's quite annoying.

[LaurenEmily]

Ever since it was changed i now have to queue up like 90% of the time to even get a game. Very annoying.

[Elite_is_salty]

[StubbornPuppet]

I, too, say "No thank you."

I do not disagree that the lock-out currently limits match choices, sometimes significantly for players at the extreme ends of the skill spectrum, because you're right, it does... and it's annoying.

However, it also helps to prevent a few problems that are even worse and more detrimental to the larger part of the player base and player retention.

The current system is screwed up and needs tweaking, to be sure.  But it needs to be there.  The biggest solution to the problems it's causing will be resolved when Reloaded is able to relaunch Hawken and add a huge number of players to the base.  At that point, almost everything that is annoying about it now will go away.

As for parties, I still firmly believe they should go away - at least for public matches.  Private matches can do parties and team swapping and whatever, as long as they're not ranked and segregated from the matchmaking queue.

 

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

[crockrocket]

Lol, the old forums were down for several months before reloaded bought the game. These are totally knew forums which is why your post count got reset.

 

 

As far as the topic goes, I agree that this fuzzy bunny fuzzing sucks. The solution might not be as cut and dry as just getting rid of it though (but it could be). I think some way to differentiate between new players and old players (perhaps the level 30 distinction to determine the lock limit) would help. The current lock is too tight.

[Nightfirebolt]

Sure, let's get rid of the MMR lockout. Let top-20 players jump into 1500 MMR servers and stomp new players over and over and over again. I'm sure this will only IMPROVE our new player retention. Sure!

 

After all, we already can't stop high ranking players from making smurfs, partying up and pubstomping, I guess we should just outright allow them to do so without issue.

 

Yup. This is just what Hawken needs. +1

 

/end sarcasm

 

 

Seriously. Just party up with your friends if you want to play with them. Everybody has to wait in the queue these days, it's not just you. Until Hawken gets its numbers up, that's just what we have to deal with.

Edited by Nightfirebolt, 07 July 2015 - 04:10 PM.

[6ixxer]

Solution: Wait a month or so and rent a private server.

 

Reloaded should not kill new player experience for the benefit of a small number of existing players, otherwise Hawken won't attract/retain players which is vital to its long term success.

 

I previously asked for MMR to be overlooked when invited to a match (on the basis, if they want more players and am on their friend list then there shouldn't be objections). They removed MMR lockout from private servers (I can hope the invite system will get changed later). I can deal with that. It also means when they are higher MMR and I come last my MMR is not penalised.

 

I think I will even rent my own.

[Hek_naw]

Seriously. Just party up with your friends if you want to play with them. Everybody has to wait in the queue these days, it's not just you. Until Hawken gets its numbers up, that's just what we have to deal with.

This. And you can tell anyone in your friend list to join your server or viceversa. These are actual solutions to OPs problem, even though they are suboptimal.

 

The "create a party join a game" system doesn't really help when you want to play with several people that also want to play with you, all in a single game. This is a perfectly solid reason for using unranked servers.

 

IMO the party system could use a rework. Right now, you have to coordinate via several PMs to several friends and it's annoying to be mouse-clicking all over the user interface. Why not replace the party system with i.e. group chats, with no player limit, moderated by a "leader", who then throws everyone into a single server?

Edited by Hek_naw, 07 July 2015 - 09:46 PM.

[crockrocket]

 

Seriously. Just party up with your friends if you want to play with them. Everybody has to wait in the queue these days, it's not just you. Until Hawken gets its numbers up, that's just what we have to deal with.

If I have 2 friends max, that works fine. If I have 3 friends, we just have to wait a while. More: longer to not at all.

 

That said, partying up is generally much worse than having one player join outside their range, + or -. Especially given that parties are generally in coms together, if not in the same room. Partying is a much shittier and potentially more detrimental (to new player retention) solution than just moving the mmr lock back to what it was before, AT LEAST

[Nightfirebolt]

If I have 2 friends max, that works fine. If I have 3 friends, we just have to wait a while. More: longer to not at all.

 

That said, partying up is generally much worse than having one player join outside their range, + or -. Especially given that parties are generally in coms together, if not in the same room. Partying is a much shittier and potentially more detrimental (to new player retention) solution than just moving the mmr lock back to what it was before, AT LEAST

 

I don't like dealing with the MMR lockout most of the time either - especially now that my MMR has gone up by about 100 points in the past month and I can hardly find a server to play in anymore. But we still need a way to shield new players from the ravenous jaws of the veterans who have plugged multiple years in this game.

 

Dedicated servers for newbs is still the best solution, in my eyes.

Edited by Nightfirebolt, 08 July 2015 - 10:20 AM.

[StubbornPuppet]

I don't like dealing with the MMR lockout most of the time either - especially now that my MMR has gone up by about 100 points in the past month and I can hardly find a server to play in anymore. But we still need a way to shield new players from the ravenous jaws of the veterans who have plugged multiple years in this game.

 

Dedicated servers for newbs is still the best solution, in my eyes.

 

I don't think dedicated-servers-for-newbies will work right now, for a couple of reasons:  There aren't enough players to afford a division of the community.  (Whats worse, new players feeling beat up or new players not being able to find enough matches?)  The other reason is that there is still nothing in place to dissuade veterans from creating alt accounts.  Solve those to issues and then dedicated newb servers become a good idea.