We should not let...

[Jimen]

I don't get why autobalance keeps being brought up, since you can't force people to fly on a team they don't want to fly on - if AB locks them to that team, they'll just quit and either wait it out in NOAT or start a second game and play in that one. Instead of whining about unbalanced teams, why don't you attack the cause: unbalanced commanders? By the way, that happens because most of you $#@!ers would rather whore, so the only people who'll step up to comm are the few vets who've learned to deal with how much you guys suck, and the many newbies who don't realize how much you guys suck. Stop talking about rank. STOP TALKING ABOUT RANK. Even fertz is a 10. When I check to see if a game is balanced, I don't look at the total AS, I check to see if either team has even a single person I trust to not totally suck (and there has to be one there, because if there's no competent pilots online then I don't even bother logging on). I see people accusing that attitude of being "selfish", but maybe I have better things to do with three hours of my time than playing two @#(!ty games full of @#(!ty people and trying to figure out which @#$%@#s are Curlys, which ones are Larrys, and which one are Moes?

[Gandalf2]

OK here's a proposal - pay for advertising space on other company's webspace, or to be a sponsored link on google.

[Vortrog]

QUOTE (l1ngus @ Jul 21 2010, 08:51 AM) I don't see one proposal in this thread even worth considering.

That must mean you have a better one, for you to judge others not worthy against your own. Do share.
If anyone can add some value to a proposal it would be you Lingus, so if nothing else, shoot down the proposals in a wall of text please so they can be enhanced or scrapped.

[Jimen]

Why are we losing newbies? Because anyone can grab comm, but no one will fly for them unless they're wearing a squad tag and are known to have gone through six months of progressively more exclusive training. Put a $#@!ing vote thing in there so a comm no one is going to fly for can't grab $#@!ing comm seat in the first place and jerk up the game for half an hour while people whine and whine and whine and whine and whine and whine and whine and whine

[vogue]

QUOTE (SharpFish @ Jul 20 2010, 06:07 PM) As a 0 said on the server the other day "I have never played any MMO in which the old players so were abusive to the new guys".

LOL??? Are you serious? If you've played ANY other mmo then alleg would be a cake walk, the only difference is that it's a small community so you see those same vets on a daily basis, and it seems like your getting ridden on more often. Honestly I can't think of a game in wc3 where I haven't been flamed/"abused" for just being worse than other players. Alleg is probably the first mmo i've come to that actually had vets that were ready to help and had a program even dedicated to teaching noobies. So don't use this excuse just because you get picked on.

[OTDT_Hunter]

I think KG's idea's are the best way to get more people to stay. I know alot of people wouldn't like those changes because they are alot more controlled compared to with the freedom the common alleg player has now.

When I started allegiance there was alot of games going on at the same time and more players. It was a new game yes. It also was alot more controlled. It started going down hill when the control got less and less. I think Allegiance would be better with more structure and control.

I don't think the ranks will do much good. The rank doesn't really mean a whole lot and not very many people even care what there rank is. A newbie might care in the start but down the road they will care less. Maybe more stats will help some.

The gameplay issue is a difficult one to fix. We already have alot of training programs out there to help. I think one thing that would help quite a bit is more people useing Teamspeak during games. It makes it faster and easier to communicate. I remember a time I went through a aleph and died to prox and brood was right behind me. He died aswell because I couldn't type fast enough to warn him. It also gives us a better chance to get to know eachother and help eachother out. I would much rather fly for a team with comm on TS then the team without comm on TS.

[cashto]

QUOTE (Gandalf2 @ Jul 20 2010, 03:50 PM) "Everyone sucks nowerdays" is a complete misnomer - it's the player moaning about it who has gotten better.

+1. I find it much harder to believe there has been some mysterious and heretofore unnoticed global demographic trend with people's IQ, and much easier to believe that the people who have played this game day in and day out for over a decade and racked up countless games in the command chair have simply gotten very very good at noticing the mistakes of people who don't play as often, for as long, or who don't comm.

And maybe we're losing a very very small handful of those elite players at the very top. I'm fine with that. I hope they go start their own all-star league or something. Allegiance will survive without them. Meanwhile at the other end of the pipe we're hemmoraging dozens of potential new players monthly because all they hear is how much dumber they are than the newbies of five years ago. If we lose those players, there won't be an Allegiance around to complain about.

QUOTE (Jimen @ Jul 20 2010, 04:05 PM) Why are we losing newbies? Because anyone can grab comm, but no one will fly for them unless they're wearing a squad tag and are known to have gone through six months of progressively more exclusive training. Put a $#@!ing vote thing in there so a comm no one is going to fly for can't grab $#@!ing comm seat in the first place and jerk up the game for half an hour while people whine and whine and whine and whine and whine and whine and whine and whine

This is not a common problem. Newbies usually give up the seat pretty quick if an older player asks for it. Hostaging happens sometimes but it's not the cancer that's killing Allegiance. The real problem is that there's no one in NOAT asking for the seat, because they know they're no match for AwesomeVet on the other side even if they are so lucky to draw balanced teams.

[fwiffo]

what if AwesomeVet commander comes with handicap factor .1 where mining speed is +10% slower, 10% less yield, all ships 10% slower, 10% less ammo, damage, etc etc. similar to the way faction bonuses work but adjustable under game settings (but work across the board on all stats on top of the faction specific perks)

would tweaking handicap factor high enough distribute players more evenly as well as make up for the difference in command skill?

[Elzam_]

If we're looking for better comms, then I suggest training more of em. Backseating a comm while telling them that they suck is NOT making them a better commander. I think the issue (May have been stated before) is EVEN commanders. No pug is gonna be epic, get used to it. But if you see Elzam v Trombe, you know they both suck, but they're both learning and you should try to HELP THEM without making them feel uncomfortable for taking commander. Don't stack, keep it even. At the end, tell them ways to improve.

QUICK EDIT: I believe stacking is an OK thing to do, but only to balance the COMMANDERS. Stack the underdog. (But keep it reasonable. No reason it should be 5:1 AS Stack)

[BlackViper]

QUOTE (Shizoku @ Jul 20 2010, 03:34 PM) Population usually takes a bit of a nose dive during summer, it's nothing much to be worried about.

Quoted for accuracy. It has always been this way in the summer.