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100 try-hard games per server - Conclusions on each server and recommendations.


Ttoilleekul

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Interesting thoughts on Star Forge (on which I play exclusively, these days).

 

Using focus to loosely qualify quality (and I know it's not the only factor here) warrants further discussion. I took a long break from gsf (and swtor) largely including the strike upgrades. Modestly-upgraded strikes are, in my opinion, a much more consistent threat to a strong player than the middle-range loadouts used to be in the gunship/battlescout wars earlier in gsf. Between this and the added population with Seasons, it's hard to pick out threats from the team rosters. Moreover, it may not pay to focus good pilots either in DM (because it may slow your kill rate) or in TD (because it may distract from the objective) unless they are focusing you. A strong pilot on any server is going to have a lot of success unless they artificially select the best 5% of the population (or are selected by that minority).

 

I wonder if another useful test of server quality might be to limit ships to mediocre builds.

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Interesting thoughts on Star Forge (on which I play exclusively, these days).

 

Using focus to loosely qualify quality (and I know it's not the only factor here) warrants further discussion. I took a long break from gsf (and swtor) largely including the strike upgrades. Modestly-upgraded strikes are, in my opinion, a much more consistent threat to a strong player than the middle-range loadouts used to be in the gunship/battlescout wars earlier in gsf. Between this and the added population with Seasons, it's hard to pick out threats from the team rosters. Moreover, it may not pay to focus good pilots either in DM (because it may slow your kill rate) or in TD (because it may distract from the objective) unless they are focusing you. A strong pilot on any server is going to have a lot of success unless they artificially select the best 5% of the population (or are selected by that minority).

 

I wonder if another useful test of server quality might be to limit ships to mediocre builds.

 

I tried to explain that my comments about focus are not an indication of quality. Hence the "no reflection on skill or talent" bit. Its more a mentality difference between the two continents, than it is an average skill or quality thing. And focusing the best player is not always a good idea. Hence why my win ratio on DM was still 81%. If people collectively try to focus you down in a Domination, you can exploit that to your team's advantage. I've won many DOMs this way. Even in TDM, it can pay to serve your team. If 3 people are constantly on you, but you can cope with it, that gives your team a numbers advantage. So yeah I definitely want to make clear that focus has very little to do with server quality, in my experience and based on this experiment.

 

Also, without completely spoiling my closing conclusions on this - which I will put up after Leviation is complete - While the are differences between the servers, I don't think there's a lot to choose in average skill or quality of any of the servers. And the stats show this. The stats differ very little across the board. They are certainly close enough that luck can decide the differences. The biggest differentiating factor between the servers in my view is the aforementioned mentality, and how many strong players / premades reside on that server.

 

I started in 5.10, so I can't comment on how the Strike meta (prevalence of Protorp spammers) is more of a threat to a good pilot than the old meta was, since I never played in the old meta. But I can certainly see how that would be the case and would tend to agree with you. Sometimes I wish Protorps were not able to one-shot an evasion scout. or had the DOTs removed or Efficient Targeting removed. Because having 5 or 6 people trying to lock your Scout sure does make it tricky at times. But that's a different topic.

 

Flying with non-meta builds is something I have never really done. Well, I guess Battle Scouts aren't really meta anymore, but they are still devastating in the right hands, so it doesn't count for me as "non-meta." I do have a toon that is exclusively support (two bombers, T3F repairs and Tensor) and that toon has stats far lower than my try-hard damage toons, and its win ratio currently sits at 65%. Compare that to a number of toons on Malgus with 70-81% win ratios. What would you consider to be "mediocre"/ sub-par or non-meta builds that would limit the effectiveness of an Ace? Putting Feedback on T1G would be one of them I think. The really nerfs what you can do in a Gunship. You can fly T3F repairs, but honestly I've pulled some huge numbers in that ship. I don't think it limits an Ace very much. Erm... Most T1F builds are good. Battle Scouts work in a variety of builds. Did you have anything in mind?

 

Tulak Horde Stats and Conclusions added to Original Post

Edited by Ttoilleekul
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without completely spoiling my closing conclusions on this - which I will put up after Leviation is complete - While the are differences between the servers, I don't think there's a lot to choose in average skill or quality of any of the servers. And the stats show this. The stats differ very little across the board. They are certainly close enough that luck can decide the differences. The biggest differentiating factor between the servers in my view is the aforementioned mentality, and how many strong players / premades reside on that server.

 

Makes sense. I look forward to reading the wrap-up - it's an interesting experiment.

 

I started in 5.10, so I can't comment on how the Strike meta (prevalence of Protorp spammers) is more of a threat to a good pilot than the old meta was, since I never played in the old meta. But I can certainly see how that would be the case and would tend to agree with you. Sometimes I wish Protorps were not able to one-shot an evasion scout. or had the DOTs removed or Efficient Targeting removed. Because having 5 or 6 people trying to lock your Scout sure does make it tricky at times. But that's a different topic.

 

That'd be a reasonable change, perhaps coupled to increasing the protorp capacity or reducing lock-on time. While it took some time to adjust, I think the present meta is much better balanced than the old. GSF mechanics and ships are generally in good shape.

 

Flying with non-meta builds is something I have never really done. Well, I guess Battle Scouts aren't really meta anymore, but they are still devastating in the right hands, so it doesn't count for me as "non-meta." I do have a toon that is exclusively support (two bombers, T3F repairs and Tensor) and that toon has stats far lower than my try-hard damage toons, and its win ratio currently sits at 65%. Compare that to a number of toons on Malgus with 70-81% win ratios. What would you consider to be "mediocre"/ sub-par or non-meta builds that would limit the effectiveness of an Ace? Putting Feedback on T1G would be one of them I think. The really nerfs what you can do in a Gunship. You can fly T3F repairs, but honestly I've pulled some huge numbers in that ship. I don't think it limits an Ace very much. Erm... Most T1F builds are good. Battle Scouts work in a variety of builds. Did you have anything in mind?

 

Just tossing ideas around, but when I made the comment I'd been wondering about limiting a ship build to 3/5 and 2/3 upgrades on components. Sub-optimal builds still have their uses within a play style, but it'd be interesting to see what ship limitations bring a good pilot down to the level of, say, the veteran fully-outfitted average.

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That'd be a reasonable change, perhaps coupled to increasing the protorp capacity or reducing lock-on time. While it took some time to adjust, I think the present meta is much better balanced than the old. GSF mechanics and ships are generally in good shape.

Yeah I think almost every experienced player I have ever spoken to agrees the balance of GSF (ship wise) is really good. Its only minor tweaks. We already got slicing nerfed, not sure if you were returned to see that one happen? It can still cause you a big problem if you're caught out in the open and the slicer is using lock down. But for the most part its much easier to deal with now. And in DOM people cannot slice you from the other side of the node, so that's a big help to a Scout. If it were me, I would remove Efficient Targeting from the game. It would make the game a bit less missile focused and force people to either work harder for their missile locks, or put more emphasis on laser usage. And I would either nerf the damage of gunships or increase the health of all classes, so that Gunships can no longer one-shot other ships with DO. My preference here would be to increase the health of all classes, because without DO I think the damage of Gunships is about right. Even though I use DO all the time, and I one-shot people all the time, I fully understand how it winds people up. Other than those two things, and with slicing taken care of, I don't think the meta needs changing.

 

 

Just tossing ideas around, but when I made the comment I'd been wondering about limiting a ship build to 3/5 and 2/3 upgrades on components. Sub-optimal builds still have their uses within a play style, but it'd be interesting to see what ship limitations bring a good pilot down to the level of, say, the veteran fully-outfitted average.

Hmm I see. Hard to say. I've still done some really high numbers in very close to stock ships. When I level a ship, I do all minor components, shields and engines first, leaving weapons completely stock and do them last. The reason I do this is because the ship gets all its survivability first, and flies like a mastered ship, it just lacks punch. I don't have much problem at all netting kills and damage with stock weapons. Its hard to put a number on it, but I have a current toon which was stock that is still sitting at 70% win ratio, almost 60k Av.Damage, 11 kills per battle, and KDR of 5.25. As I've said elsewhere, there really is no substitute for skill and knowledge in this game.

Edited by Ttoilleekul
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