Team stacking and autobalance

[sc1ence]

As many of you know, we have turned off autobalance because it often leads to more frequent server crashes. Lately I have noticed a disturbing trend. Players are switching sides to play with their friends. This frequently results in severe imbalance. I had to randomize teams today for the first time ever. Once I did, about 1 minute later I noticed that the teams were stacked once again. It was mostly TG tagged people that were congregating on one side.

In general this is less of a problem during prime time hours. But during daytime hours and late evening this can be a very big problem.

In general, stay on the team you log on to. If you think there is strong imbalance, please let an admin know. If this problem persists expect autobalance to be on more often (and the server to crash more often).

[HiTestFest]

So its not only a POE2 problem huh.

[sc1ence]

Originally Posted by HiTestFest

So its not only a POE2 problem huh.

It rears its head from time to time during off hours. During prime time play (4:00 pm-12:00 AM EST) it is almost never an issue. Today was especially bad. I figured I would post this now rather than wait to see if the trend continues.

[L10N]

Ya, I was on the receiving team in tunis, I can't remember a time where I have seen a team more locked down into their uncap. I have to say I am really disappointed to see stacking like this, does no one want a good fight? The only way to get better is to join a weaker team where you need to rely on yourself more. When you stack you ruin the game for everyone, the opposing team doesn't have fun, and you certainly aren't getting any better for it. Just think when you join the server, do I want a fun challenging time, or do I want a stupidly easy domination of some pubbies.

[Superfast]

Yes i agree. I think the stacking started with cerbere, but got really bad at tunis. My squad defended eastern docks, but our team had all the flags and it quickly got boring. I actually pulled us back to junk to try to open things up, but it didn't really help. sc1ence mixed us up at 250-60 tickets or something. Good call!

It's only ok to change teams if you aren't stacking the teams. If in doubt, don't.

But i can't help it if i stack the team i'm on, i'm simply being awesome.

[Zhohar]

Team switching isn't a problem if both the parties keep the team skill balance in mind while doing it. For example if A is on winning side and B on losing and they want to play together. Instead of B switching to A's side, let them talk in TS or text to figure out which switch would make the server more fair.

Of course, this doesn't stop the people who just like to get on the team that's winning but it does address a part of the problem.

[timusafa]

If my team is seriously stacked I'll usually try to change over to the other team and contribute. I'll usually wait 2-4 rounds to see if the other team can pull out of a losing streak though, because sometimes trends just happen. In general people should just stay put on whatever team they start on. It's not just TG, but pubbies will sometimes switch to the winning team because you get more points and glory.

[TOOmuchMcLovin]

lol i think tg switching is mostly to play with friends, not to win doesn't negate the problem but at least its not being a sore loser :P

[Lorax74]

I rarely switch teams and actually derive more pleasure from killing friends than kill with them...

[Thesleeper01]

Originally Posted by L10N

Ya, I was on the receiving team in tunis, I can't remember a time where I have seen a team more locked down into their uncap. I have to say I am really disappointed to see stacking like this, does no one want a good fight? The only way to get better is to join a weaker team where you need to rely on yourself more. When you stack you ruin the game for everyone, the opposing team doesn't have fun, and you certainly aren't getting any better for it. Just think when you join the server, do I want a fun challenging time, or do I want a stupidly easy domination of some pubbies.

Yesterday I was on for a little bit and the server crashed. I got back on and the game had about 16 people per side. I am sorry L10N but from where I was standing it was all the -F- people on the other side with one TG player versus my side with with 2 TG players and the rest on both sides being filled by pub’s. We lost for 7 hours straight, even when more people logged on. I am not joking nor am I inflating it. After about that 7 hours of taking a beating I logged off was gone for maybe 1-2 matches before the teams were rebalanced.

It was the first match I was on the winning side all day. Prior to that the other team was around 160+ tickets every time they won except for 2 fights that they won with 20-30 tickets. Again today out of all the matches in the last 7-8 hours we won maybe 10-20% at most.

In all honesty there was one fight today where the game was reversed partly because for some strange luck every time I threw a grenade I got a couple –F- players, at the end I was expecting that more then a few were cursing or mad and I even saw what I thought was Lyra tea bagging what appeared to be my corpse.

I have a great time going head to head versus anyone as long as it is an even match up, in the last few days it has not been at all.

[L10N]

I would be surprised if we had more than 3 or maybe 4 of our guys on at a time. I would also love to point out the fallacies of your claims about today, but I don't need to be calling names. I remember seeing more than 1 or 2 tg guys on the other team yesterday and today, but I digress. I won't say we couldn't have evened it up, but why do we need to point the finger? This isn't a problem solely with tg, or -F-, or any other clan, it is a server problem.

[Zhohar]

Originally Posted by L10N

it is a server problem.

Would you mind clarifying this please?

[L10N]

as in it is up to every player playing to make sure the teams are not stacked.

[Superfast]

It's all Zoopy's fault! He's been teaching you the evil ways of the norwegian dark death metal music!

[Thesleeper01]

I am sorry if it seemed I was pointing fingers at you or -F-, L10N. You post seemed to indicate that you & -F- were above stacking problems. Looking back at the BR file if I am looking at the right one and I think I am the first match was not actually the numbers I said, there was that I could see about 6 on each side but it still was not even.

Let me just say that I am very unhappy at the team stacking that has been going on in the last few days. There was nothing I could do I was already on the side that needed the help. I asked for an admin, none were on. Later that day when my side raped the other side 2 games in the row some others and I switched sides to even it up.

8 hours of one side is way too long of one side destroying the other for everyone on the other side to do nothing.