Varuna here! I'm not really very well known, nor was I able to be considered an Ace, though I do consider myself way above the average player and standing above 75% win rates at the moment with this character, pubside. Most of the times I don't see a lot of truly dangerous people in The Ebon Hawk. Sometimes I do, and those times I might not even lose as well because I'll be grouping with Sriia, Rhint, Aimbot and a few others who help me win, but that's not even the topic, the thing is.

I'm opening here for discussion the notion that there's a disparity between the amount of higher skill-level players in the Republic Side. I might not have been here for as long as most people, but I've wanted to make this clear, as this makes me want to not play pubside because then I feel like my victories aren't earned, and if I play impside... Well, just had a few disgusting matches on a new character with a stock ship where I suffered a massacre DESPITE the fact that I manage to contribute accordingly, do objectives well enough and have a positive KDR. Aaaaand I derailed on the topic again. Coming back to it!

Does anyone feel the same as me? Does the Republic really really dominate the Ebon Hawk? Why should I even play GSF if I know that the matches will be easier there and there is no challenge? And why should I turn impside if I know I won't even be able to get a chance to fly when there are going to be one or two aces for my tail whenever I make a kill or two and show I'm getting some relevance in the game, while my team hasn't the experience to do anything else, and if there are aces in my team, well, theirs will have even more.

I feel like the Empire isn't being able to win enough. I feel an imbalance, though I might be wrong. I'm opening this message because I strive for balance and I want a healthy environment for people to play in. Consider this.

- Is there an imbalance in The Ebon Hawk among factions?

- In case positive, How has this come to be? Why has the Republic acquired such a dominant ground in the GSF scenario in this server?

- Can anything be done to strive for a more healthy balance and keep the atmosphere positive and optmistic with chances of victory for either side?

- What are the impacts of such decisions, what will this incur in the future, short and long term?

I know I might be stubborn and might sometimes come off as an anushole, but I never have the intention of offending anyone or looking pretentious. Contrary to all beliefs I always try to improve my game and I strive to someday receive callouts as an Ace pilot ny more than In Character (IC) among the community. For that reason I believe I am not learning a lot by facing with a not really formidable opposition (IN GENERAL. SOME GAMES THE IMPS PULL THEIR ACES AND IT'S A BLAST) and I've decided to start another character, impside, and perhaps even make that my main. I believe migrating more skilled pilots into Impside might be a solution, so as I am a little bit skilled, though not the best, I believe I am making my part, but I also want to have fun. Besides, it's pretty to have a high W/L ratio too, isn't it? Admit it.

Please, let's keep the discussion civilized. I might be wrong but I'm seeing a problem, and all I want to do is improve our community. Thank you.

Last night in particular had a lot of very one-sided matches, at least for me. It was either a near-full 5-ship team for the Republic vs a pretty even spread of 2-5 ships for Imperials, or 6 2-ships vs Imperials' even spread.

Personally I think a good way to try to alleviate this is to encourage people on both sides to have an alt on the other faction and use them. If Republic are stomping super hard, send a few over to Imp side to play, and vice versa.

Eclipse Squadron forms the bulwark of Imperial GSF strength on TEH. A lot of us are on vacation and taking it easy this week because we burned so hard on conquest last week.

Last Sunday we GSF'd nonstop and won almost every match we were in, even some against Aimbot and Yuuko's latest alt. We had to play soft so as not to kill the queue.

It is very rare that you will get balanced matches one way or the other. Usually, the presence of a single elite ace will trump everyone else in the match, especially in Deathmatch.

Unfortunately, matches that pit elite aces against each other are rare. And when they do occur, then the match falls to whichever team can counter the others elite ace more effectively.

Anyway, my point is that you can't judge a server from even one week of play. The population is not big enough to even out the peaks and valleys that occur naturally due to varying playtimes.

I do think that Republic probably has more veteran pilots, but not by a huge margin. If you are interested in flying with quality pilots Imperial, be sure to check out Eclipse Squadron in my forum sig.

Honestly, the biggest turn off from switching Impside to run GSF is the chat channel. I've seen some pretty bad attitudes on there, and it's a massive turnoff from actively participating.

I'm not saying it's like that all the time, or that every Impside flier is like that, but I think the Republic side has a much stronger sense of community, teamwork and friendship that the Impside just seems to lack. I feel like that's a hindrance in terms of attracting and keeping regular fliers running matches on Impside.

Eclipse Squadron forms the bulwark of Imperial GSF strength on TEH. A lot of us are on vacation and taking it easy this week because we burned so hard on conquest last week.

 

Last Sunday we GSF'd nonstop and won almost every match we were in, even some against Aimbot and Yuuko's latest alt. We had to play soft so as not to kill the queue.

 

It is very rare that you will get balanced matches one way or the other. Usually, the presence of a single elite ace will trump everyone else in the match, especially in Deathmatch.

 

Unfortunately, matches that pit elite aces against each other are rare. And when they do occur, then the match falls to whichever team can counter the others elite ace more effectively.

 

Anyway, my point is that you can't judge a server from even one week of play. The population is not big enough to even out the peaks and valleys that occur naturally due to varying playtimes.

 

I do think that Republic probably has more veteran pilots, but not by a huge margin. If you are interested in flying with quality pilots Imperial, be sure to check out Eclipse Squadron in my forum sig.

I see, Nem, thank you for the insight. So it's safe to say the win rates for both factions are not out of control, in your opinion?

I see, Nem, thank you for the insight. So it's safe to say the win rates for both factions are not out of control, in your opinion?

Well, it is hard for me to say, as my perspective is skewed. My personal win record is around 90% for TDM and 75% for Domination. So for me, Imp win ratio seems fine.

I think the rest of Eclipse Squadron trends toward positive win ratio as well.

As for the rest of the Imperial side, they probably get farmed by Saberwing, just like Eclipse farms unguilded Pubs.

Faction is most irrelevent on both sides. It's about aces and guilds, just like ground PvP.

Well, it is hard for me to say, as my perspective is skewed. My personal win record is around 90% for TDM and 75% for Domination. So for me, Imp win ratio seems fine.

 

I think the rest of Eclipse Squadron trends toward positive win ratio as well.

 

As for the rest of the Imperial side, they probably get farmed by Saberwing, just like Eclipse farms unguilded Pubs.

 

Faction is most irrelevent on both sides. It's about aces and guilds, just like ground PvP.

I have the advantage of being a player who primarily solo queues, and I respectfully disagree with this assessment. I play Republic side most of the time, and yes, I've been on the losing end of a few matches with Eclipse Squadron before.

But overall, Republic teams tend to dominate, and my win ratio (70% overall) backs this up. I have a somewhat irregular schedule right now, so I'm not just playing in a time slot when Republic players are doing well, either.

I don't play Imperial GSF much. The community there, at least when Eclipse Squadron isn't around, is just absolutely terrible in my experience. People don't communicate in ops chat most of the time, for one, and when they do, it's only to whine about how they're losing. They don't try for basic strategy in domination. They don't call out for help or give tips on who might be dangerous. Solo queueing for Imp side GSF really is like playing with a bunch of bots. That's probably why my Imp side win ratio is lower, at 59%. To be fair, that's not that much lower, but I still have fewer than 100 matches there so it's not a good representation.

Imperial GSF does have a problem, I think, but losing is just a symptom of it.

But then, I don't spend much time logged in Imp side these days, so the repeated negative experiences may just be a fluke.

I have the advantage of being a player who primarily solo queues, and I respectfully disagree with this assessment. I play Republic side most of the time, and yes, I've been on the losing end of a few matches with Eclipse Squadron before.

 

But overall, Republic teams tend to dominate, and my win ratio (70% overall) backs this up. I have a somewhat irregular schedule right now, so I'm not just playing in a time slot when Republic players are doing well, either.

 

I don't play Imperial GSF much. The community there, at least when Eclipse squadron isn't around, is just absolutely terrible in my experience. People don't communicate in ops chat most of the time, for one, and when they do, it's only to whine about how they're losing. They don't try for basic strategy in domination. They don't call out for help or give tips on who might be dangerous. Solo queueing for Imp side GSF really is like playing with a bunch of bots. That's probably why my Imp side win ratio is lower, at 59%. To be fair, that's not that much lower, but I still have fewer than 100 matches there so it's not a good representation.

 

Imperial GSF does have a problem, I think, but losing is just a symptom of it.

 

But then, I don't spend much time logged in Imp side these days, so the repeated negative experiences may just be a fluke.

This pretty much. I used to swap sides to help out the imp side on TEH but now I refuse to because they're for the most part monkeys who would rather flame each other than get better or accuse people like Aimbot and I of hacking. Or if they don't think we're hacking, think that we're purposely trying to make their lives bad. Why would I play with people who just make my game less fun.

To the extent that I've transferred my imp toon to the bastion and don't plan on returning her.

This pretty much. I used to swap sides to help out the imp side on TEH but now I refuse to because they're for the most part monkeys who would rather flame each other than get better or accuse people like Aimbot and I of hacking. Or if they don't think we're hacking, think that we're purposely trying to make their lives bad. Why would I play with people who just make my game less fun.

 

To the extent that I've transferred my imp toon to the bastion and don't plan on returning her.

I'm very sorry to hear that. I usually try and defend you guys when I hear that nonsense. Though admittedly, a lot of new pilots read "Aimbot" as literal boasting or hax, rather than ironically.

Eclipse Squadron rarely talks on [Gsf] anymore, mainly because there is no way to restrict its membership, and a single troll can ruin the channel for a night.

Instead we just spot the reasonable people and recruit them, then chat on [Guild]. I would invite anyone who wants to fly Imperial, bur doesn't want to take their chances with the mob, to join us.

I wonder how many people are on Pub [Gsf] vs. Imp [Gsf]. We (Eclipse Squadron) still advertise and encourage people to /cjoin [Gsf] in [Ops] chat during every match. That keeps a pretty steady flow of new people joining the channel--some of which we then recruit into the guild.

Does the existing Pub [Gsf] membership still advertise the channel and encourage new people to join it? Or is its membership mainly static, consisting mostly of Saberwing and Windwalkers guildmembers, or early GSF enthusiasts that I brought into the channel when I created it (back when I flew as Nemarus)? If it is the latter, then it would explain why the Republic community seems more pleasant--it is mainly a curated list, whereas Imperial side, we push everyone who flies to get into [Gsf] and then refine by pulling quality people into Eclipse Squadron.

That would be a shame, since our goal on the Imperial side has been to broaden th base of the community -- but what if we have been diluting its quality to the point where it turns people away?

Perhaps Imperial side needs a new GSF channel that we advertise more carefully...

Or maybe the two sides have the same channel advertisement patterns, and the Imperial population at large just has more obnoxious people, so more show up in GSF.

I'm curious what you guys think. Is Pubside [Gsf] more exclusive? Does Imperial side need something more exclusive?

I play both sides (Despon on imp, Beriss on pub) ... from what I've seen lately, imp GSF channel is a ghost town when I'm around. The pub GSF channel is a lot more active, and people there are more willing to discuss tactics and help people new to the channel (and GSF) to understand the game more. Pylan is always giving advice when he's on, I try to as well. Rahima often does. There are a number of other enthusiastic mainstays that are usually chatting on there, too.

I didn't know that Eclipse doesn't use the GSF channel impside. My initial reaction is that leaving the GSF channel to rot is a really bad idea, and trying to get everyone that plays into a single area regardless of guild is a good idea if your intent is to teach the game to people and have it grow. I mean, sure, if you scoop up literally everyone of quality into Eclipse I guess you can go that route. Seems like a lot might fall through the cracks though.

There are a lot of pilots (on all servers) that are GSF-illiterate and don't know where to turn. In my opinion, making it well known that any server you go to has an active GSF channel is the best way to reach the maximum number of people.

- Despon

I play both sides (Despon on imp, Beriss on pub) ... from what I've seen lately, imp GSF channel is a ghost town when I'm around. The pub GSF channel is a lot more active, and people there are more willing to discuss tactics and help people new to the channel (and GSF) to understand the game more. Pylan is always giving advice when he's on, I try to as well. Rahima often does. There are a number of other enthusiastic mainstays that are usually chatting on there, too.

 

I didn't know that Eclipse doesn't use the GSF channel impside. My initial reaction is that leaving the GSF channel to rot is a really bad idea, and trying to get everyone that plays into a single area regardless of guild is a good idea if your intent is to teach the game to people and have it grow. I mean, sure, if you scoop up literally everyone of quality into Eclipse I guess you can go that route. Seems like a lot might fall through the cracks though.

 

There are a lot of pilots (on all servers) that are GSF-illiterate and don't know where to turn. In my opinion, making it well known that any server you go to has an active GSF channel is the best way to reach the maximum number of people.

 

- Despon

Well, perhaps ES can make a more concerted effort to fill Imp [Gsf] with goodness, to try and squeeze out some of the bile. I didn't realize there was such a huge discrepancy in channel quality. Honestly, the few times I've logged onto pub characters, I see the same complaining in that [Gsf]. I really don't understand how people get so upset about whether a match is won or lost. The only meaningful difference is the audio you get from Aygo and Ranken.

Even if your team is doomed to lose, you can still have a good personal performance, earn some requisition, and learn.

Anyway, we will d ok what we can on Impside. But in the grand scheme of things we are a pretty small guild, and we can't change the community alone. If you want better faction balance, both in terms of skill and attitude, the best thing you can do spend time on both sides. I do invite anyone here, if you decide to fly Imperial, to ask on [Gsf] if there are ES groups open with room.

We do still often advertise open slots, too.

Unfortunately, I'm traveling until Friday, so I can't do much this week.

The only time we had a premade of self destructors trying to make us lose was on Ebon Hawk (and yes, we could farm enemy foodships slightly faster than three guys barrel rolling into rocks with every respawn could die- we actually won, beating both the enemy team and our OWN team).

It's a high pop server, and it's RP. There are more toxic people there than anywhere else in GSF, and I don't think that's even up for debate. Certainly, I've gotten more hate tells there than anywhere else I've played. The per-capita toxic player isn't known, that one is way less certain- the simple fact is, there's more, uh, capita.

So when I see a thread like this, I don't know what to think. I know I've seen people on both sides of Ebon Hawk loudly complain about faction imbalance over the months, and the only one with serious credibility is Nemarus, who pointed out that it actually was republican favored for quite a bit, though I have no idea what it is now.

My assumption is that it naturally changes over time, and I would normally expect the top players to have characters on both sides, and switch around at times- and it sounds like you guys try to do that, but get abused for your troubles.

I guess my only suggestion would be to roll both sides and just /ignore instantly anyone who wants to cry.

Well, I have put out a general call to ES to try and do a little more positive engagement on Imperial [Gsf]. I cannot promise immediate results, but hopefully we can start to make a difference. Either way, I think threads like this one are good! Thank you Varuna and Kintosi for starting the conversation. Hopefully you can see that there are veterans on both sides who want to see things remain somewhat balanced and civil

It could be worse--we could have no one queueing, save for a handful of ESers and Saberwings. We were nearing that point a couple of months ago. With greater participation, there are naturally going to be more bad apples.

 

My assumption is that it naturally changes over time, and I would normally expect the top players to have characters on both sides, and switch around at times- and it sounds like you guys try to do that, but get abused for your troubles.

 

.

This basically. The /ignore alternative isn't ideal in my opinion though. I'd rather play with people and meet new cool people if you catch my drift.

Nem, uh, can I mention that it's very, very ironic to me, that after creating the GSF channels on both sides to begin with, you would at any point advise people (yes, of one faction only, but still!) to not use it. That just blows my mind, I would have thought that you'd have tried to stick with it despite the difficulty of trolls.

Any channel's going to have troll troubles at some time or another. That I haven't seen any on the Repside GSF channel doesn't mean that they haven't occurred.

But to speak of the Repside GSF channel for just a moment, that is, in fact, the primary draw for me to stay flying Repside. Most folks know that I have Imperial alts that I fly, and have even mastered ships on. But I don't fly those alts, because Impside just does not have the same sense of community as Repside. I know everyone Repside. I enjoy hanging out with everyone Repside. There are very, very few people in the channel that I would say are real jerks, or out for themselves, or are out to make other people unhappy. Most everyone has some level of skill, wants to attain some level of skill, or just have fun.

Impside is a different story. And if those in the know want a condensed version of that story, here you go: The last time I flew regularly Impside was when Rainbow-dash was around. And folks will remember the vitriol that was thrown around in the Impside GSF channel in those days. I didn't enjoy it, I didn't enjoy being a part of it, I didn't enjoy being around it, and I made a conscious decision not to be.

Now. If the regulars of the Impside GSF channel are willing to make an effort to be friendly, regulate the bad influences on the channel, and promote the best interest of the server as a whole (in short, what Eclipse Squadron is doing!), then I'll be happy to try and move over.

Nem, uh, can I mention that it's very, very ironic to me, that after creating the GSF channels on both sides to begin with, you would at any point advise people (yes, of one faction only, but still!) to not use it. That just blows my mind, I would have thought that you'd have tried to stick with it despite the difficulty of trolls.

 

Any channel's going to have troll troubles at some time or another. That I haven't seen any on the Repside GSF channel doesn't mean that they haven't occurred.

 

But to speak of the Repside GSF channel for just a moment, that is, in fact, the primary draw for me to stay flying Repside. Most folks know that I have Imperial alts that I fly, and have even mastered ships on. But I don't fly those alts, because Impside just does not have the same sense of community as Repside. I know everyone Repside. I enjoy hanging out with everyone Repside. There are very, very few people in the channel that I would say are real jerks, or out for themselves, or are out to make other people unhappy. Most everyone has some level of skill, wants to attain some level of skill, or just have fun.

 

Impside is a different story. And if those in the know want a condensed version of that story, here you go: The last time I flew regularly Impside was when Rainbow-dash was around. And folks will remember the vitriol that was thrown around in the Impside GSF channel in those days. I didn't enjoy it, I didn't enjoy being a part of it, I didn't enjoy being around it, and I made a conscious decision not to be.

 

Now. If the regulars of the Impside GSF channel are willing to make an effort to be friendly, regulate the bad influences on the channel, and promote the best interest of the server as a whole (in short, what Eclipse Squadron is doing!), then I'll be happy to try and move over.

Yeah, it was a combination of the pony and another with apparent split personalities (let's call him Bob) that drove me to pay less and less attention to [Gsf]. I just got fatigued. And even though I ignored the trolls, I had to repeatedly warn others in ES to do so too.

"Bob" in particular is frustrating because he can be super supportive and welcoming one second, and psychotic the next.

And then the channel just seemed to fill up with fatalists who believed the Empire never won, so why bother? It's really frustrating for me to hear that, since I win the vast majority of matches. But a lot of pilots seem to only notice when they lose, rather than noticing when I or other ESers carry them.

Anyway, venting done. I'll try to muster up some patience and energy.

Having played a wee bit on EH in the past, on Imp side (IGN: "Valladeen") I had some fun matches and met some good people. Nem and Eclipse Squadron inparticular are great guys. However, I've got to say, I too found some of the attitudes in the Imperial /GSF channel off-putting, and as a result ending up drifting away from it all and returning to my far friendlier native habitat on The Progenitor, where at least if rivalries in GSF occur, they're based on the pew-pew, not the chat channel.

However, reading this thread makes me want to give it another a go and lend a hand. If I'm around EH primetimes, I'll start making an effort to pop my head in and do a few matches. Maybe Eclipse Squadron will even forgive me for abandoning them and let me back in!

See you in the stars (or the skies of Kuat) o7

I don't fly over on TEH that often (like 3 times/week, usually just for the daily/weekly), but I've never noticed any real vitriol. There's some QQ on occasion by people when Saberwing is running, but never any outright hatred that I've noticed/seen. Most times, the GSF channel is pretty quiet.

I'm not too active over there, because it's not really "my" community. I still don't know any of the imp regulars, and not sure if I've run into too many Eclipse peeps, but as for the faction imbalance, it really only seems unbalanced if Saberwing is running. It seems I win about 80-90% of my matches over there unless I run into Renegade/Rhint/Friendly along with friends, at which point it turns to about a 10% winning percentage. But to me, that's kind of as it should be? It's pretty obvious that my side is a rag-tag collection of peeps, whereas several on the opposing team know each other and/or are in voice, which makes it kind of hard for a solo or a couple of solo pilots to carry.

Is that what you're seeing? Or are you seeing something different?

Having played a wee bit on EH in the past, on Imp side (IGN: "Valladeen") I had some fun matches and met some good people. Nem and Eclipse Squadron inparticular are great guys. However, I've got to say, I too found some of the attitudes in the Imperial /GSF channel off-putting, and as a result ending up drifting away from it all and returning to my far friendlier native habitat on The Progenitor, where at least if rivalries in GSF occur, they're based on the pew-pew, not the chat channel.

 

However, reading this thread makes me want to give it another a go and lend a hand. If I'm around EH primetimes, I'll start making an effort to pop my head in and do a few matches. Maybe Eclipse Squadron will even forgive me for abandoning them and let me back in!

 

See you in the stars (or the skies of Kuat) o7

We would love to have you back

"Bob" in particular is frustrating because he can be super supportive and welcoming one second, and psychotic the next.

Ootch. Yeah. "Bob". I almost forgot about him...

*winces*

Ootch. Yeah. "Bob". I almost forgot about him...

 

*winces*

I'd like to point out he has been less active of late and the pony has completely disappeared, so the worst /GSF has seen impside is the occasional post-loss rant, but usually just silence.

Imp GSF chat hasn't been too bad since I've been back to the game. We did have one knucklehead spouting off how everyone sucked but the one game I played with him he did 3800 damage total so it was good comedy at least.

I will say that when I came back there was a clear difference between the factions. Winning on pub side is more like punching the clock. You load in do a little damage and your team of five ship aces dominate the game. So I re-rolled a new toon on imp side. It can be a rough sometimes getting 3 capped in under a minute.. think your doing good in a death match get a couple of kills look at the score and its 20-5 pubs on top.

But when we win it feels good.

I am solo logging in around 7PM eastern and seldom play more than an hour a couple times a week. Sometimes I bring in solo friends to the GSF, as I'm not on enough to join a GSF guild. I've seen balanced play on TEH between Pubs and Imps. However, it seems Imps queue less regularly unless the Eclipse pilots are on.

Both sides are very skilled. My own experience is there are plenty of fresh pilots on both sides.

I agree there is more chatter and help on the Pub side.

Imp GSF chat hasn't been too bad since I've been back to the game. We did have one knucklehead spouting off how everyone sucked but the one game I played with him he did 3800 damage total so it was good comedy at least.

 

I will say that when I came back there was a clear difference between the factions. Winning on pub side is more like punching the clock. You load in do a little damage and your team of five ship aces dominate the game. So I re-rolled a new toon on imp side. It can be a rough sometimes getting 3 capped in under a minute.. think your doing good in a death match get a couple of kills look at the score and its 20-5 pubs on top.

 

But when we win it feels good.

Oh, I know you! You were making my life real difficult the other day!