Auto-balance

**CingularDuality** · 09-21-2007, 08:54 AM

OK, let's see if we can keep this one open.

There are folks that really want to play on the same team with some of their friends. Being auto-balanced just minutes after waiting for a long time to finally get on the same team with your buddies is extremely frustrating. What can we do to reduce or eliminate this problem?

Right now, you can not join a team that has more players than the other team. Everyone agrees that this is a good thing?

Right now, whenever one team has two less players than the other, someone is bumped to the smaller team. As Tybalt suggested: With our server being full and having a list of people trying to get in most of the time, what if we turn this off? Assuming people join the server and pick a team and class quickly, the imbalance will correct itself fairly quickly. Would it be quickly enough to not ruin the game for the weak side? We would need admins to turn auto-balance back on when primetime ends, as the less people there are on the server, the more vital quick balancing of the teams becomes...

Any other suggestions to this problem?

**Pokerface** · 09-21-2007, 09:15 AM

I'm cold and heartless on this one.

From experience, you can't presume that a server will fill, nor can you count on people connecting and joining a team quickly (especially as games and maps get bigger and more complicated technologically).

My suggestion, if you're genuinely upset at getting autobalanced away from your buddies, is "get over yourself". The playercount is low enough that the loss of a single person is enough to be missed rather quickly, and if you're two players down (the condition for autobalance) the difference can be very readily apparent.

Imagine a football offense with two less down linemen against a full defense, and you'll start getting the idea. Even with one play in that condition, the offense stands to lose a lot of ground,

Playing AGAINST your friends can be fun too. I suggest trying it.

**BHack** · 09-21-2007, 10:01 AM

I like the OP's idea. Being teamswitched towards the end of the round is downright annoying.

**Anospa** · 09-21-2007, 10:29 AM

Sometimes, its actually quite fun to get teamswitched. You know how their defense is set up, and can try to exploit it. Can make things very interesting.

**Tempus** · 09-21-2007, 10:34 AM

This is a difficult situation. I completely understand the need and purpose of autobalancing, but those who are simply disregarding the viewpoints of those who really do look forward to playing with their friends/squadmates are probably doing so because they're only used to CSS and NS, where the concept of squads/IHS does not exist.

The squad structure that became popular with BF2/2142 really did elevate gameplay and expectations to level that is not being represented by those who are simply saying 'too bad' when it comes to being switched away from your fellow sqadmates.

**Pokerface** · 09-21-2007, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by Tempus

This is a difficult situation. I completely understand the need and purpose of autobalancing, but those who are simply disregarding the viewpoints of those who really do look forward to playing with their friends/squadmates are probably doing so because they're only used to CSS and NS, where the concept of squads/IHS does not exist.

The squad structure that became popular with BF2/2142 really did elevate gameplay and expectations to level that is not being represented by those who are simply saying 'too bad' when it comes to being switched away from your fellow sqadmates.

With 31 players on a side, that team structure (along with larger maps) was a requirement for the game to function at all. It elevated gameplay because there was little alternative to the free-for-all that 2.5 dozen people per team would represent.

I look forward to playing with my friends, but I'm willing to play against them. It's the playing together that matters.

**Polska** · 09-21-2007, 11:20 AM

I say keep it on. I always play with a friend of mine and ya it may suck getting autoed but I enjoy killing him just a much as anyone else (especially when I can rub it in his face on Ventrilo).

Last night (I forget the map) my team was pushing very hard and we had managed to push to the final stage of the map very quickly. We had 20 minutes left to cap the last flag. I then got autoed and though to myself, gg I got thrown on the loser team. Well to my surprise with my addition to the team we held them off for 20 minutes and won.

SO a) I ended up having fun b) teams got balanced c) losing (well winning in the end) team ended up having fun. d) I got to kill my friend many many times

.

**Zoopy** · 09-21-2007, 11:27 AM

Well, in most cases people leave when they are losing, so when you get autobalanced you almost always get switched near the end of the round to the losing side. This is frustrating since all the work you put in to helping your team win is moot because you are now on the other team in a disadvantageous situation.

**kormendi** · 09-21-2007, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by Pokerface

I look forward to playing with my friends, but I'm willing to play against them. It's the playing together that matters.

Indeed, and given the small maps and dominating/nemesis/revenge system, it offers plenty of opportunities to get a good laugh and interact with the opposing team on a deeper level than just defeating the faceless enemy feeling I always got when playing BF2.

**icky** · 09-21-2007, 11:39 AM

It is absolutely brutal to get teamswitched near the end of the round. If the API supports it, the ideal solution in my mind is to turn off autobalance 8 minutes into a 10 minute round.

I don't think we can turn it off altogether, so barring something complicated like the above, my vote is to leave it on.

**DirtyLude** · 09-21-2007, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by Polska

Well to my surprise with my addition to the team we held them off for 20 minutes and won.

Yes, I find that an Auto-Balance actually does what it's supposed to, which unfortunately more than not now is bring on a Stalemate.

So, does the AutoBalance work like mentioned above? More than 2 player count difference forces the balance? I would certainly not want to play with it off, then. Usually the server fills up fairly nice at nights, but number of players is a major factor to a team. Especially when alot of people tend to drop off when a map changes.

**Hidus** · 09-21-2007, 11:56 AM

To me the level of gameplay that you get when you mix-n-match random players is drastically inferior to what you get when you play with the same people. Yeah I could play with randoms against my friends and I have many times before. It just doesn't do anything for me. The whole reason I ended up at TG in the first place is because TG provided an environment that really focused on developing tight squad and team based gameplay. If I wanted mix-n-match gameplay I could just play pub servers for free.

Originally Posted by icky

It is absolutely brutal to get teamswitched near the end of the round. If the API supports it, the ideal solution in my mind is to turn off autobalance 8 minutes into a 10 minute round.

I don't think we can turn it off altogether, so barring something complicated like the above, my vote is to leave it on.

That would be cool if it was possible. I have a feeling that TF2 just won't have the mechanics in place to do something like this. I hope I am wrong.

**Pokerface** · 09-21-2007, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by Zoopy_T

Well, in most cases people leave when they are losing, so when you get autobalanced you almost always get switched near the end of the round to the losing side. This is frustrating since all the work you put in to helping your team win is moot because you are now on the other team in a disadvantageous situation.

You'd rather continue an utter domination of a team half your size?

**Pokerface** · 09-21-2007, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by Hidus

To me the level of gameplay that you get when you mix-n-match random players is drastically inferior to what you get when you play with the same people. Yeah I could play with randoms against my friends and I have many times before. It just doesn't do anything for me. The whole reason I ended up at TG in the first place is because TG provided an environment that really focused on developing tight squad and team based gameplay. If I wanted mix-n-match gameplay I could just play pub servers for free.

That would be cool if it was possible. I have a feeling that TF2 just won't have the mechanics in place to do something like this. I hope I am wrong.

You're not going to get mix-n-match random gameplay if you know and respect every player on the server. It might seem like it if you never leave the tight circle of your squad, I suppose. :-/

**Zoopy** · 09-21-2007, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by Pokerface

You'd rather continue an utter domination of a team half your size?

It's better then falsely punishing people's teamwork by throwing them to the other side near the end of a round.

Thread Tools

Display

Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Re: Auto-balance

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

Project Reality: ArmA2 v0.15 -...

Rayne's Eye on Independant Gaming:...

Panzer Corps Named Wargame of the...

Two New Multi-Mission Events for...

Tactical Gamer Podcast Series - TG...

Recent Blog Entries

More Feedback from YouTube Viewers

:d

The Best Video Feedback

Beyond SOPA: ACTA, WIPO, and the...

Common Mistakes: #10