SoloQ for HoT?
Even a couple in comms is a significant advantage.
Please. Even games that include a soloq system WITHOUT adapting the MMR to the party size allow couples in soloq. The advantage is mostly in your head. I wouldn’t be so certain that solo queuers are the majority. I’d say that solo and duo queuers are the majority.
Personally, I would like to see a full premade queue only, and a queue which has the curent system (with adaptative MMR), but where you could only play if your party size is three or less. Naturally, it would mean giving strong incentives for people to team up (maybe the new guild LB?), to ensure there is enough people playing in the full premade queue.
I agree with you in that it would work best to have full teams dump into a match up pool with other full teams, but I don’t think the community is even remotely close to the population needed to make that work.
I thought that for the most part soloq worked for what it was: I could hop in game and go against other soloq players and would at least be on a level playing field in terms of group coordination (i.e. both sides only had their individual map awareness, the odd minimal typed msg and/or pings/lines). If I had wanted to experience what soloQ has now become back then, I could always enter into teamQ as a team of one. I believe that in most PvP experiences players want to feel that they are on a level playing field from the start of the game and that unlevel playing field moments generated during the coarse of the match (via rotating mostly) is acceptable. One team starting with even a minor advantage such as a couple of players in communication with one another creates an unlevel playing field right from the get go. It sours the competitive experience as being a test of skill.
For example, consider if the Blue team got a small bonus to damage (or health, or armor or, etc etc) and the Red team did not. Even though it could be an arbitrarily small bonus, it would be an unlevel playing field environment and players would likely, and rightfully so, complain about this unfair buff just for randomly getting assigned to Blue team. Its the same situation here with having players in comms versus all soloQ’ers, but its made much more complex by trying to determine how much of an advantage players in comms provides. I don’t believe this is something that Justin or anyone for that matter has any chance of adequately compensating for in the match making algorithm, so I’m hoping that the PvP team goes back to how the queuing structure used to operate.
As a side note, it seems like it was too convenient for players like me to continue to soloQ and never really feel the need to transition over to teamQ and hence Anet has taken the stance of using the stick and not the carrot with this new system to push players to transition. That’s to say: if I don’t enjoy being at a disadvantage that is intrinsic to soloQ’ing in the same pool as partied up players, then the onus is on me as a player to also queue with as a party (in comms). In my opinion this is a poor basis for the designers to take as they are in essence wanting me to get mad enough to make a team? It’s a bit like the asuran thing all over again: you are mad at your opponent having a slight to moderate advantage by playing the smallest sized asuran making it difficult to see animations? Well our designer hands are tied (even though they were not). We can’t do anything for you and the onus is on you as a player to reroll and also make the smallest size asuran to level out the playing field.
Anyway, to each their own. gl out their Sorel; maybe see you in queue if you hail from NA.
(edited by Naix.8156)