By making this change, you're forcing at least 1 or 2 of us to switch not just our how we play this game play but our main toons as well. I have played a combat medic since 1.0 and I've invested years into developing my skills to keep my team alive and suddenly I am expected to play gunny just so I can get a pop with my friends? How is this fair?

And this was my point as well. I'm going to have to choose the role i prefer or my friends? This, combined with the fact they're ignoring conquest concerns about bugs and alts (which is the other reason I'm still here), will make me reconsider the money I'm spending here as well. I too have been playing my class for a long time, guardian tank since pre 2.0.

And again, i have no choice for group v group play outside of arenas, and i think we all know the issues that plague ranked and its not an objective based system.

The low population is not my fault. I've encouraged many friends to try the game, including giving them game time codes to play with us. Most of them have moved along, for various reasons.

I think there is a question worth asking though :

How will this affect servers with a lower population ?

Leviathan is well known for having a lot of games exclusively made of healers and tanks on Rep side as well as full mara Imp side. Pop times are also quite long by default because there isn't that many peoples who wants to pvp.

With the way you describe the "new matchmaking" I just see an increase in queue times here (because nobody will obviously switch, we all know that ). Will this actually impact the game in a good way or not ?

And how will your new matchmaking work with Low-Level PvP ?

All Warzone and Starfighter queues are now cross-faction

Does this include solo ranked arenas?

Does this include solo ranked arenas?

Good question.

How would this system cope with teams that queue with, perhaps, 2 tanks and 2 healers?

 

Would it stack more of the same on the opposition team? Creating one hell of a long game. Or would it prevent the team from queuing with such a composition (a bit like flashpoints force certain comps.)

As I remember the guild form a group with their guild members before start the queue and that could be why extra healers or tanks got inside the warzone. Why players make a group before go into the queue? The queue will put players in place for warzone.

In the game future update about working on solo player make a group with their own companions for operations missions and flash points missions without use the queue but only works the old way on the fleet station contacts. All companions the players are getting can be in use for a player want to group with their own companions. I like to see that in the future plan.

I think there is a question worth asking though :

 

How will this affect servers with a lower population ?

Leviathan is well known for having a lot of games exclusively made of healers and tanks on Rep side as well as full mara Imp side. Pop times are also quite long by default because there isn't that many peoples who wants to pvp.

I guess the logical solution to that problem would be to attempt to balance teams first, but if it's not possible to do so, just pop with whatever is available.

[*]The Unranked Warzone queue will now always prioritize Warzones over Arenas. An Arena match will only pop if there are not enough players to populate a full Warzone match at that time.

-eric

This change kinda means arena will pop more often.

A queue always starts with 1 person queueing, followed by a 2nd person, 3rd, 4th, ect.

Once the 8th person joins the queue the system will detect there are enough people for an arena. It then looks if there enough for 2x 8 man (which is a no at this point). Hence the arena pops. And we arrived in the vicious circle of neverending arena pops

I assume you got safeguards in place that prevents this? If I base myself on your post I foresee many arenas popping

I know one of the safeguards is team composition. But that feels a bit small to me? As the composition is a restriction for both arena and warzones.

TL;DR

Can you tell us more about how warzones should pop more often than arenas?

Great question! A pre-made (in Unranked) can only have a max of 1 tank and 1 healer in their group.

 

-eric

Will this also a play to team ranked so people can't queue double tank double heals and play for acid?

As I remember the guild form a group with their guild members before start the queue and that could be why extra healers or tanks got inside the warzone. Why players make a group before go into the queue? The queue will put players in place for warzone.

 

In the game future update about working on solo player make a group with their own companions for operations missions and flash points missions without use the queue but only works the old way on the fleet station contacts. All companions the players are getting can be in use for a player want to group with their own companions. I like to see that in the future plan.

Sword in a box?

Looking forward to these changes even though cross faction isn't my cup of tea. At the end of the day I am subbing for PVP so to me it doesn't make such a big difference if I get mixed teams.

On Darth Malgus PVP at level 70 is a massive joke with HEALER NUMBERS deciding the outcome of the matches and not skill and strategy.

I hope these changes will adress these problems.

Today I had a match in Novare coast where 2 enemy healers were healing mid and one was guarding East. You gotta be kidding me. It's a joke and it must end because it ruins gaming experience.

The irony is that these changes should have been done years ago, but it's better late than never, right ?

If I want to run a combat medic wth a tank and a healing sage to stall out a node while I have a healing scoundrel go stealth cap a node than let me run that. Who are you to say that’s unacceptable

It's people like you that make me elated that BW is finally implementing forced matchmaking. Like Trixxie said, regs will no longer be cancerous, mind-numbing parsing exercises.

Finally, the Satele Shan server won't be plagued with those stupid parsing premades by ShuRA, Swap it like it's Hoth, Jinn and Juice, etc.

It's people like you that make me elated that BW is finally implementing forced matchmaking. Like Trixxie said, regs will no longer be cancerous, mind-numbing parsing exercises.

 

Finally, the Satele Shan server won't be plagued with those stupid parsing premades by ShuRA, Swap it like it's Hoth, Jinn and Juice, etc.

 

Hate to tell you this, but "fixing" premades isn't the solution to fixing all the bads on SS

Some good questions in here so let me clarify. We will never split up a group. If you queue as 4 players in a group, you will all be on the same team. However, keep in mind what you describe above is not possible, you could no longer queue if you had two healers in your group. You can only queue with a max of 1 tank and 1 healer in a 4 man group.

 

To your other point, if you are trying to "queue-sync" two 4-man groups together to be on the same team it is always possible they end up against each other as opposed to on the same team. Especially with the new factors in 5.9.2 such as improved matchmaking and cross-faction.

 

Hope that clears up any confusion!

 

-eric

Ok so 6 dps, 1 healer, 1 tank is the way to get double premade pops

Yes it does!

 

-eric

Yayyy

Hate to tell you this, but "fixing" premades isn't the solution to fixing all the bads on SS

That is no excuse for the BS tank/heal stacked parsing premades with like 1 or 2 actual DPS on an 8-man team.

[*]The Unranked Warzone queue will now always prioritize Warzones over Arenas. An Arena match will only pop if there are not enough players to populate a full Warzone match at that time.

This is a mistake. With cross-faction, we're pretty much always going to have enough people in the queue for a WZ. You're going to kill unranked arenas.

What's going to happen is that we're going to have people entering the ranked queue with zero arena experience. Unranked arenas are important for allowing inexperienced PVPers to become familiar with specific maps and tactics. We're all going to regret this change the first time we have a ranked match where someone gets tossed off of the Makeb bridge and gets lost on the way back up. Ranked players can be very critical and I'm afraid that newer players are going to become quickly discouraged by harsh criticism when they completely embarrass themselves on maps they have no experience with.

By making this change, you're forcing at least 1 or 2 of us to switch not just our how we play this game play but our main toons as well. I have played a combat medic since 1.0 and I've invested years into developing my skills to keep my team alive and suddenly I am expected to play gunny just so I can get a pop with my friends? How is this fair?

And this was my point as well. I'm going to have to choose the role i prefer or my friends? This, combined with the fact they're ignoring conquest concerns about bugs and alts (which is the other reason I'm still here), will make me reconsider the money I'm spending here as well. I too have been playing my class for a long time, guardian tank since pre 2.0.

Based on Eric's response, it sounds like this will not be an issue. Your groups (premades) will not be able to queue up for regular WZs with more than one healer and one tank in each group, so trinity premades will still be possible, which I believe is what your guild typically runs. The only catch is that if you're trying to queue up two trinity premades (which I tend to see more from Reactor than Warpigs), you're likely to end up on opposite teams.

What I don't know is how this "rating" consideration will work, assuming that your premade members have a higher "rating" than anyone else queued up for the match with you. Since Eric stated that they will not be splitting up groups, the advantage in regular WZs is still going to firmly be with (single) premades.

My personal opinion is that premades undermine the purpose of this new matchmaking system, which is to make regular WZ matches more fair and fun for all participants, not just the select few who have consolidated better, veteran players in their respective guilds. And if they truly want to level the playing field, they would just limit regular WZs to solo queue only. I think the new matchmaking system will certainly help, but it's only a half-measure. And I know your objection - that this is an MMO, premised on being able to play with your friends and guild mates - and to an extent, I share that opinion. But I also believe that in the 6 years I've been playing this game, and in the absence of a matchmaking system that limits premades to only queue against other premades, it actually has done more harm than good to the overall player base that has had any inclination to PvP.

I also understand the argument that if you are going to PvP, you need to L2P. Players who take the time to improve their skills, understand and play toward the objectives, and min/max their gear are the people who bring competition to that area of the game. But the reality is that not everyone is able or willing to do that, so we have to consider if being a purist about PvP is worth the cost of pushing players away because they are having a miserable time in WZs. My tune has changed over the last two years about this prior to the server merges when my guild was partially responsible for killing the WZ queue on BC, and I'd rather see more people playing than less, because it affects more than just PvP in this game as I learned the hard way.

That is no excuse for the BS tank/heal stacked parsing premades with like 1 or 2 actual DPS on an 8-man team.

Read my clarification to viss's post.

I am the guild leader of the guild in question. We generally run 1 tank 2 heals 5 dps. The situation viss is describing occurs when a very specific person is online. And it is never in a 4 man.

So in fact, you will probably be seeing a second tank appear in our 8 mans. Which is more support players than we used to run.

I also repeat ny request on what happens if the queue cannot equitably match teams, and whether or not it will tell you the needed role to fill a team.

What I don't know is how this "rating" consideration will work, assuming that your premade members have a higher "rating" than anyone else queued up for the match with you. Since Eric stated that they will not be splitting up groups, the advantage in regular WZs is still going to firmly be with (single) premades.

This is what i am wondering as well. I currently split the team any time we have more than 4 people on (i.e. 3-2). I'm also going to confess that i despise playing my own team. I have no issues with us ending up in different matches; avainst each other is an entirely different story. So this might force me to stack 4 for a complete team, then add as i get people.

My personal opinion is that premades undermine the purpose of this new matchmaking system, which is to make regular WZ matches more fair and fun for all participants, not just the select few who have consolidated better, veteran players in their respective guilds. And if they truly want to level the playing field, they would just limit regular WZs to solo queue only. I think the new matchmaking system will certainly help, but it's only a half-measure. And I know your objection - that this is an MMO, premised on being able to play with your friends and guild mates - and to an extent, I share that opinion. But I also believe that in the 6 years I've been playing this game, and in the absence of a matchmaking system that limits premades to only queue against other premades, it actually has done more harm than good to the overall player base that has had any inclination to PvP.

Honestly my other major objection is i completely despise arenas. I feel ranked is full of cheaters and heavily biased in favor of team composition more than actual skill. I also have more than 4 people on wanting to pvp every night.

The population has apparently declined to the point where it isnt possible, but the real solution would be group v group objective based play. My guys are objective based players. There are plenty of guilds that have better dps than certain people i keep around. There are few who objective as well as we do. And with all due humility here, few tanks who could pull off some of the stunts i have in terms of sheer survival.

So i admit, this does feel like punishment for being decent but not liking ranked or arenas.

Looking forward to these changes even though cross faction isn't my cup of tea. At the end of the day I am subbing for PVP so to me it doesn't make such a big difference if I get mixed teams.

 

On Darth Malgus PVP at level 70 is a massive joke with HEALER NUMBERS deciding the outcome of the matches and not skill and strategy.

Rarely, in my experience. (Emphasis mine.)

Read my clarification to viss's post.

 

I am the guild leader of the guild in question. We generally run 1 tank 2 heals 5 dps. The situation viss is describing occurs when a very specific person is online. And it is never in a 4 man.

 

So in fact, you will probably be seeing a second tank appear in our 8 mans. Which is more support players than we used to run.

 

I also repeat ny request on what happens if the queue cannot equitably match teams, and whether or not it will tell you the needed role to fill a team.

 

 

This is what i am wondering as well. I currently split the team any time we have more than 4 people on (i.e. 3-2). I'm also going to confess that i despise playing my own team. I have no issues with us ending up in different matches; avainst each other is an entirely different story. So this might force me to stack 4 for a complete team, then add as i get people.

 

Honestly my other major objection is i completely despise arenas. I feel ranked is full of cheaters and heavily biased in favor of team composition more than actual skill. I also have more than 4 people on wanting to pvp every night.

 

The population has apparently declined to the point where it isnt possible, but the real solution would be group v group objective based play. My guys are objective based players. There are plenty of guilds that have better dps than certain people i keep around. There are few who objective as well as we do. And with all due humility here, few tanks who could pull off some of the stunts i have in terms of sheer survival.

 

So i admit, this does feel like punishment for being decent but not liking ranked or arenas.

The horror or having to play premade against premade.

The horror or having to play premade against premade.

It won't even come to that, we'll just screw the four other players on one side when one of our premades leave.