Lessons from the free weekend

[Jank]

Remaster the sounds for the "understacked" team? Even a cosmetic change like that could be enough to drag veterans one way or the other, in search of newness.

 

[HellsJanitor]

The stacking issue isn't a numbers problem where one team has more players than the other, the problem I encounter when I play is that Axis is often made up of a majority of vets who have selected that side, leaving an Allies team consisting of mostly inexperienced players. I can only speak for myself, but I see that situation on most of the EU and NA campaign servers when I play. Russian and straight TE servers tend to be more even.

So, if you know of a way to have a server auto balance based on rank, I know some admins who'd be interested in hearing about it.

Completely agree with this.

Why should they be forced on particular sides based on one's rank?

They shouldn't based on rank. They should however be placed on a team at random at the start of a game or be auto-assigned by default.

If you have a server balancing system in place (auto balance) then how do you think the more experienced players seem to magically still be able to stack onto one team or the other?

Easy. All the vets immediately pick Axis at the start of the game or switch over from Allies once a slot opens.

If I join a server and it says the Axis is full, then I either select the Allies so I can play or I sit there and wait for however long it takes for someone else to join and select the allies so I can then join the Axis unless two friends or two random players join and pick one side and then the other which brings me back to the same situation of either waiting or just picking the available team and start playing. Sitting around and waiting is just a waste of time really.

On most servers you can go +2 on any side before Auto-Balance kicks in and restricts it. Even so, you would only have to wait a minute or two at team select or just play Allies for a few minutes before switching (I've seen this happen dozens of times with losing Allies teams where players will switch before the game ends).

To me, you idea feels more like a punishment system for having a better rank than others, in that because you have a higher honor level, you don't get to choose as freely as lower ranking players.

I don't think it should be based on Rank, but it would be neat if you could. What's wrong with balancing vets with experienced players to make a fair game?

If that were the case, then I'd just continually reset my stats via the console so I didn't have to be bothered. Having lower level weapons is meaningless when you still have the same gaming experience as a player.

It's doubtful you would even notice it. If it gave the option to select a team but restrict the option once max-number of vets allowed is filled, it would be just like the current system.

Which leads to another problem with the OP's idea of rank limiting the TL/SL classes. If I decided to reset my stats for whatever reason, despite me knowing the game inside and out and having a pretty good track record as a TL, because my rank is too low, I am no longer able to pick the class and thus, my team loses out if nobody else of equal ability is available to take the class.

I'll bite; why would you decide to reset your stats?
Regardless, if you are experienced and starting from lvl 10, it wouldn't take you very long to get to the lvl 20 or 30 requirement to play TL or SL. I think this idea has lots of merit; too many games have been ruined when a new player picks TL but doesn't call arty or is a lvl 10 SL.

 

[The_Wanderer]

There is an another problem with the autobalancing that probably haven't been adressed here yet: You can't really play with your Steam friends on a same side.

 

[Raven1986]

This whole Axis stacking goes absolutely bananas now, it's like this political correctness bull**** that orders you to call a black person no longer black but max-pigmented. Gents (and ladies too), I believe that we all know that in democracy people have the freedom to decide for themselves what they want to do and what not.

I also did run as far as I could from the free weekend. I have experienced this constant tk's and slaughterhouse. People do not know when to stick their head out and when to stay in cover.
This is surely not an RO only thing. I bet if there were free weekends on games like ARMA, the same bogus would go off there.

I came to RO in the closing days of RO Combined Arms, I experienced 3.3 and I went online without ever entering the practice mode. I was slaughtered but the more I died, the more I said to myself that I mustn't give up.

If new players join, particularly Allies, they believe that Allies won the war, so they'll win by default. They believe that Germans are "da dumb Nazi's" they know from CoD and MoH who can be gunned down by the billion and will hardly fire back or do anything else that could harm them. IF they get hit they know that the bloody screen comes along and in 5secs they are back from cover and it goes on.

The truth is that you are battling human players not AI that is deliberately stupid. Humans make mistakes that the AI would never do, but they in general behave far more intelligent. Particularly if you believe you can outsmart a player who has over 500 or like me close to 1,000 hours on record you are doomed to fail. I know exactly when you are trying to sneak around and get me from behind. I will be waiting for you.

Also if you are hit, you are lucky if you are allowed to bandage and you are not done for.

Patience is the key, don't run in the open unless you are just crossing the street. If you hear whizzes from gunfire, stay down and don't you dare stick out your face.


This is simply to harsh for those who believe that they are gonna rack up their killstreaks and get their kill rewards that will win them the match.
RO2 is not CoD on Greenhorn difficulty. People gotta learn that and it's better if they do in the first few hours of a free weekend than keeping servers occupied as whiny folk.