Focus Testing Part 1: Stopwatch, Canary Wharf, Trainyard and Waterloo

(badman) #1

To help us get things into shape for the wider Closed Beta, we need your help testing several key areas of the game, including maps and modes. To help us achieve this and get everyone focused on the right stuff, we will be streamlining the content we’re running on the servers for each testing period.

The first focus test is all about Stopwatch on Canary Wharf, Trainyard, and Waterloo. All servers will be switched over to this setup for a limited time starting tomorrow at 1700 U.K. time / 10 am PST.

Please spend time playing these maps and let us know how well they work with Stopwatch, as well as if there are any improvements you’d like to see.

While we understand the inconvenience that comes with being limited to a smaller set of content, we think it’s the best way to get this stuff into top shape and ready for when we go wide.

Stay tuned for more on this and subsequent focus testing events!

(prettzl) #2

Sweet deal! Focus is a great way to get things going!

One step closer to release!

(BAMFana) #3

Somewhat unrelated to this focus test, but very related to stopwatch mode on public servers: It tends to create long strings of frustratingly lopsided games. The problem is that while on objective mode you may have to suffer through a boring one-sided round, but you know the teams will change next round so at least there’s a decent chance it will get better in a short while, on stopwatch mode the teams never change unless a significant amount of players leave. That means it’s very possible you’ll be stuck with the same lopsided teams playing boring round after boring round for the rest of the evening (and in my experience that’s what usually happens).

One solution could be to have the teams rotate randomly on map change, but that wouldn’t work well for competitive play, so you’d need to make a server setting or a “competitive stopwatch” mode without that feature.

Of course that won’t fix the other problem with stopwatch; when the teams are lopsided and the weaker team gets put on attackers first. Welcome to twenty minutes of misery for both teams.

#4

About uneven teams:

Auto random teams on each new map, fixes problems of uneven teams. CODBO1 does this on public servers and I like it. Benefits are more even team, and focus is on winning.

With friends playing on same team, you often get “pub stomp” / pub train effect, where the people in same lobby are usually better players as solo players but also better as a team since they know eachothers playstyles and what places on maps they like to hang out on, so teamplay gets better without effort.

Its not a solution everyone likes, but its a good one according to my taste, cause its fixes the problem, and if Im playing with 2-3 friends on TS/Vent, Im gonna play for 45-90 min perhaps, and in that time we will be on same team atleast sometime.

Pubbstompers who wants an easy win, will not be happy of course with auto random teams, but those matches often cause people to disconnect and find a new server anyway.

Another benefit of random teams at each new map is that, if you get bad team on one map, atleast you know its only bad teams for this map, and its likely to get better next map.

(FireWorks) #5

Exactly what the posters described before: The stopwatch games on pubs have a tendency to becomming abominations of games. Boring, lobsided and frustrating. I rarely join them and often leave for said reasons. I can stand a objective match for a few mins but Im not wasting my time for 20mins fullhold and the reround (which gladly ends at the first won objective now).

Auto balance became a must have feature in my opinion. So if players leave, the teams at least have the same amount of players. That was one of the biggest faults in Brink, you quickly ended with a winning team against an empty one. And an empty server a few mins later. TF2 also knows lobsided games but due to the autobalance the teams will be some kind of fixed in most cases and game gets filled up again pretty quickly. So theres a few mins of bad game and then fun part goes on.

Important would be a mechanic so not every smart ass cheats the autobalance. The dedicated TF2 servers often run a plugin that prevents switching back to your former team and prompts a chat message: “xx is trying to rejoin. For shame”! Its the servers where you can find the most intense games as there it became normal to play with and against your friends. Sure the moment of autobalance is frustrating when your effort turns against you, but the server you play on stays fun for a while for you and all other players too.

Personally it shouldnt only prevent switching the team, but also joining spec and waiting for a slot in the other team. Depending on server size, one man down is deciding matches very quickly.

“Tomorrow 17h gmt” is thursday or friday 17h?

(Glottis-3D) #6

shuffle vote, needed
(avi during a match as well)

(Ch4mpixx) #7

[QUOTE=krokodealer;493343]shuffle vote, needed
[/QUOTE]

Totaly agree, a button in the loby for shuffle teams can be great, also bring back the warmup can be a good thing for ‘manualy balance teams’.

(davidemo89) #8

Yep, please no auto shuffle on map end. Sometimes the teams are great and we don’t want to shuffle. A vote system should work great when teams are not belanced

(malarky) #9

Skill-based matchmaking is the long-term solution for those epic mismatched stopwatch games. It’s always going to be a problem for competitive games, and it’s particularly a problem in the ET-style games, so it’ll be interesting to see how it works for us. Matchmaking had a massively positive impact on core PC games like Dota/CSGO, and basically made the competition mode in those games playable by a wider range of people.

I think it’s one of maybe three missing pieces we need on the service side of the game to allow it to take off - new user education, skill based matchmaking, and a meta-game.

(DarkangelUK) #10

Very happy to test stopwatch, don’t like getting stuck on defense, rather play offense, but at least this way it’ll be an even mix.

(meat) #11

I like stopwatch, but it is hard to keep the teams even when you can’t change teams in the lobby, or before the match begins. Waiting until the game starts just doesn’t work. Once the game starts the only time most people will change teams is when the other team is down several players. If there was a warm up there would be a chance for players to adjust the teams for a more even skill level balance.

(Loffy) #12

Feedback on the game or also on the maps (e.g. missing textures, missing CLIP brush, et cetera)?

(Violator) #13

I would like to know how the current autobalance works - I had a previous gripe that I was always being put on defense and smaller team and lo and behold last night the reverse was true on the whole. It seems to be completely random and doesn’t attempt to split players on score or k/d at least from my analysis of end-game screenshots. I usually avoid stopwatch for the reasons Fana stated - its boring to be rolling or rolled.

btw you can switch teams in lobby if you type ‘switchteam’ (no quotes) in the console.

(FireWorks) #14

[QUOTE=Violator;493406]I would like to know how the current autobalance works - I had a previous gripe that I was always being put on defense and smaller team and lo and behold last night the reverse was true on the whole. It seems to be completely random and doesn’t attempt to split players on score or k/d at least from my analysis of end-game screenshots. I usually avoid stopwatch for the reasons Fana stated - its boring to be rolling or rolled.

btw you can switch teams in lobby if you type ‘switchteam’ (no quotes) in the console.[/QUOTE]

I was under the impression it just takes half of your team and mixes it with half of theirs.

#15

[QUOTE=krokodealer;493343]shuffle vote, needed
(avi during a match as well)[/QUOTE]

Shuffle vote, in my experience, is to ask people:

  • to be fair (to lose advantage of unfair teams)
  • notice the text about vote
  • know what shuffle teams even means

In my opinion shuffle vote works as intended 5-10% of the time at most.

(Glottis-3D) #16

[QUOTE=JBRAA;493438]Shuffle vote, in my experience, is to ask people:

  • to be fair (to lose advantage of unfair teams)
  • notice the text about vote
  • know what shuffle teams even means

In my opinion shuffle vote works as intended 5-10% of the time at most.[/QUOTE]

dont know exactly what you meant. but in quakelive shuffle is used after every match in clanarena. if teams shuffled badly - players reshuffle. not that it takes a lot of time to press f1

#17

I meant in Wolfenstein Enemy Territory.

I know about Quake Live though. Those players actually use the vote system.

(Glottis-3D) #18

[QUOTE=JBRAA;493452]I meant in Wolfenstein Enemy Territory.

I know about Quake Live though. Those players actually use the vote system.[/QUOTE]

the reason, why QL-voting is working, is because of ‘callvote teamsize’ and large spec-capacity on the server.

if we could vote for 5v5 or 6v6 (or 8v8, i just dont like it) AND we had 6 more spec places. then there would be more continues games, some players leave - spectators join, vote for shuffle (if needed) - bingo !

(FireWorks) #19

[B][U][I]Yes, spec places.

And allow specs to change the mercs.[/I][/U][/B]

Brilliant :smiley: Sorry for marking spree:P

(trickykungfu) #20

I really don’t think testing SW on a Public Server makes much sense. Always uneven teams wich results in a long first round and a 2 minute second round because the offense completed the second round at the first objective.

Very very very very very very frustrating…

For SW at competition side i would love to see spawn times at 35-45 seconds. But first you have to make sure you can’t complete 2 objectives because of bad spawns. Happens often on Trainyard or Waterloo.