Hi, I'm Skybane, and I'm a Premade-aholic

#1

How is everybody?

So, I’m typically part of the dreaded 4 or 5-man premade teams that pop up on Battleborn. I’ve been following the forums and Reddit for quite some time, and it appears I’m also part of a problem that many players have.

I will say that I have no intention to stop playing with my friends. It’s how we enjoy the game the most. I’m not going to be mean about it either. That’s just the way it is.

To start, I share your dread. Anytime I see that solid yellow bar, I know we could be in for a very tough game. Even as our own group. We don’t want to lose, who does?

However, often enough, our dread is premature. Hell, sometimes we wIn by a lot. Other times, we definitely don’t. If the time I’ve spent playing has shown me one thing, it’s that there is never a way to know how a match will go. Personally, I’ve never quit a match, no matter how frustrating.

Our group isn’t a super serious competitive group. And I would bet the majority of premades might be similar to us. Our communication peaks at “Want to go for middle thralls?”, and usually is something more like “Hey guys, did you see how cool I looked flying around shooting rockets?”. There is definitely a stigma surrounding premade groups, and I don’t think they are completely unfounded. But I guarantee there are more casual groups than uber serious.

The question of new players, well, that is tough. Is it harder on a new player when people quit? Or if they suffer through a brutal, one-sided match?

One can at least potentially be a learning experience. To you new players out there, don’t give up! And don’t be as scared of premade groups as you might be right now, because you could be up against my group of idiots. To you experienced players, our player base is extremely important. And while Gearbox figures their stuff out, let’s try and keep people here. Help the new guys, and maybe even see that brutal match until the end or surrender. That’s what we will be doing.

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#2

Good post. I’m mainly a solo player, and pre-mades can be scary, but yes matches can go either way, and tides can turn very quickly

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#3

For a while I was strickly a solo-queuer since none of my friends would play PvP with me. (Prior to BB I never did any PvP either)
However, it was getting frustrating solo-queuing and watching my team not work the objective and getting killed. And by and large seeing a pre-made team of 3-5 people usually meant I only had a 10-20% chance of winning while in a full solo-queue team.
So I finally decided to do something about it.

I…turned on my mic.

Then I started talking during the match. Explaining what I was doing, pointing out what was happening on certain parts of the map, ect.
I’m not one to get angry over a game, and have a great deal of patience, so I just talk away.

Everyone couple of games there would be someone who happened to have their mic on as well. And if they seemed like a decent player (not in terms of ability to play, but someone who isn’t going to rage) I’d send them a friend invite and we could then team up.

So now I solo-queue when I don’t have any friends on, and I keep my mic on to make new friends.

If I start the day solo-queuing, the goal is to finish the gaming session with some new friends that I can play with.

It’s not about making the perfect team composition to win every time. But it is about at the least having a team that communicates. By and large the people I have friended play the characters they are most comfortable with, even if it might not be the most ideal of team comp.

The goal is to have fun, and as much of a loner and solo gamer that I might be, BB is simply more fun when you’re playing with other people.

Also, I’m on PS4…so anyone can feel free to add me as a friend to play some BB.

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#4

I’m right with you Skybane, I do the same sometimes a 5 man sometimes 2-3 man teams but playing with friends is fun. The team I play with the most are not experts or pros we are just casual gamers. My overall win rate is somewhere around 60% last time I checked.

We have lots to teams of all randoms many times. We are also all level 100 and have lost to teams with no one at 100

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#5

My win rate is around 45% I think. :sob:

#6

No clue what mine is. When I’m making super jumps with Mellka, I tend not to care. It’s probably awful…

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#7

I love threads where people are just honest and don’t let egos get in the way :slight_smile:

#8

Lol, No.
This is the very reason I stick to PVE and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

If people want to promote themselves by “stomping noobs”, they can do it.
Gearbox says it’s legal.

Perhaps there is some other deep psychological need you are trying to fulfill.
But don’t expect people to line up for it.

I don’t know about others but I play for fun. I like a challenge.
Getting spawn camped into oblivion while serially taunted in game and humiliated on someone’s twitch channel sounds more like bullying or hazing than a learning experience than a challenge.

Unless of course, the lesson is “don’t play with people like that”.

Gearbox says it’s legal.
Interesting game you have.
The only way to win is not to play.

3 Likes
#9

Sometimes I win, and sometimes I don’t. I typically still enjoy it either way.

Spawn camping sucks. But even the biggest games (such as Call of Duty) still suffer from it. Even after however many iterations they have released. I wouldn’t know about being humiliated on Twitch, because that literally doesn’t matter to me.

If you don’t want to play PvP, that is obviously your choice. But I haven’t found anything in this game I haven’t had to deal with before in dozens of others.

Not sure why you felt the need to try and insult me either, I certainly didn’t do anything to bring it on.

#10

Please, talk about the game not about the users. This topic was a very nice one, lets keep it that way.

:heart: Forum Rules

For those who wish to discuss the problem of “PUG-stomping premades” please visit one of the other topics evolving arround these issues.

#11

I have nothing but respect for the vast majority of the community, no matter the actual persons skill level. I have over a 90% win rate but I dont let that get to my head. I do not taunt others unless they taunt me first. I do not bad mouth people. There might be friendly banter or advice given over voice chat which is heard by my viewers when I stream or the viewers that are watching other people in my group who are streaming.

I dont have any secrets as to why I have a high-winning percentage. My team hates playing Incursion due to backdoor potential, especially the old layout of the map. We do not take advantage of any exploits, (never used Orendi 90k damage with Shadowfire pillar, or other ones).

I feel like a big problem is the average person believes the high-level players in any game or sport are all try-hards that will do anything to win. Of course we will win but we also want competition to be as fair as possible. We want skill to be shown, not games won due to exploits or overpowered legendaries/helix skills.

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#12

Ok @devyn_stroud;

Good. Then prehaps you can help @TatzyXY. Over here with:

#13

Not once have I ever played in a premade that does this. I solo queue about 70% of the time, and also play with casuals when I am in a group. I honestly find myself losing more when I’m in a group than solo, and my overall w/l ratio is 68%.

The closest I’ve ever said to spawn camping was one game where the team was legitimately feeding kills and I was trying to reach a 30+ killstreak, and that was because they were flat out diving into our spawn every time and were at half health by the time I saw them in the beginning.

#14

I will check it out :slight_smile:

I also want to say people remember bad experiences. It only takes one bad apple to ruin an experience for somebody despite the dozens of amazing people I have met so far in this community.

#15

90%?? My pve win rate isn’t that high, haha.

I do agree I would rather have solid, back and forth matches. Not so one-sided ones. Just winning doesn’t scratch the same itch that a good competitive match does, even if I lose. That’s my opinion anyway.

I demand your secrets though.

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#16

Yea, think it is around 93 or 94%. A lot of that is playing with good teammates who understand what needs to be done to make the win happen. Exactly. We all want competitive matches no matter if we win or lose.

#17

Ah, that’s one thing that our group doesn’t really coordinate on. We can be all over the place sometimes. But we still enjoy it.

#18

And there is nothing wrong with that. Do what you all enjoy. If you arent taking the game seriously then one shouldnt always expect to win when against people who are playing seriously. No need for taunting cuz you beat a competitive team nor no reason for us to taunt your team because we stomped yall. We all are trying to play and enjoy the game. When a game is a lost cause, no point in not surrendering so everyone involved can move on to the next game quicker without hassle.

#19

I’m not sure what point you’re even trying to make here. People are saying that they prefer to play with friends. That doesn’t equate to any of the things your’e saying.

And even if it were what they’re doing then of course it would be legal. They’re not going to make rules against just playing the game the way you want to. Having a good team and getting matched against a bad team isn’t cheating.

#20

@Battleborn,
My post did not reference cheating.
My post has asked for no changes whatsoever.
I have not suggested this is cheating.

My post is as simple statement.
I am saying that no; I don’t want to play a game like the ones described below.
I know few people outside the masochist community who would.

Please feel free to review the forums for numerous 1st hand descriptions of the issues I bring up in my post.
I have watched many of these incidences.

If you want examples, start here:


or perhaps this:

This behavior is far from rare.
Just because you or OP do not do this, does not mean it doesn’t happen.
The behavior I am referencing has nothing to do with being a premade team or “playing with friends”.

If these were isolated incidences, I wouldn’t be posting.
For every forum post complaining about it, there are many other incidences not reported.

Many people experiencing this, don’t post.
They just rage-quit.
Then they stop playing the game.

For my part, I don’t want to join this kind of Lord of the Flies like environment.
I won’t be enticed into the windowless-white-panel-van that is casual PVP right now.
From the feedback I have received, I am not alone.

Hey, But PVE is a lot of fun. So I will be spending my time there instead.

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