#1

People are doing it now whenever they don’t get Alani. It’s an unnecessary feature to begin with since all it does is ruin the match before it starts, so just get rid of it. Or at least force people who back out to wait like 20-30 minutes before they can play again so that if they legitimately have to leave they don’t get punished, but if they’re doing it whenever they don’t get the character they want they have to wait in order to try again.

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#2

Too bad you can’t pick your character prior to the matches. I don’t even know if that’s possible. With so many drop outs in PvP and PvE, it’s been very discouraging. Today I only had 2 hours to play and I spent about 30 minutes being disconnected for lack of players or sitting in matchmaking.

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#3

Yeah, it’s extremely annoying. Matchmaking times are long enough without people backing out like a sore loser.

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#4

The easiest way to avoid most of these issues is to have your own party to play with. Unfortunately, everyone I’ve added is either on a different schedule or not interested in matching up.

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#5

That’s true, but you have to have a full party for it to be a sure thing. Even with three people we’re having it happen. It also doesn’t stop the enemy team from doing it and making you search for a new match.

#6

then they can just close the application and boop back up though :mask: … i see you mentioned the cooldown idea very bright you are my bad this is a good idea.

#7

At least the close app makes them take the time to load the game back up in addition to searching. I mean, I just had two matches in a row where my teammates backed out because they couldn’t be Alani, and it was the same guys each time. We knew enough to back out, but the enemy team didn’t, which means that it took them longer to stay in the game and wait for the DISCONNECTED screen than it did for the jackoffs who caused it to happen in the first place.

#8

that is true i suppose. hopefully a system can be made for the hype is too good for the more sore players and in general rage quitters.
even in pve i qued random, 3/5 people (full group) chose alani then 2 left :kissing_smiling_eyes:… not as much of an issue but still a bit annoying.
its something they dont want to deal with but know they got to somehow.i thought making them choose a random character would be a nice idea as well then complete a mission to choose again :kissing:

#9

This is an unfortunate side effect to having a team based game where only 1 person gets to control X character. When new characters are introduced, EVERYONE wants to play it. But only 1 person on the team will get to. So people will get upset and some will even leave to try and jump into a different game and pick the new character.

The simple fix would have been if Gearbox understood and foresaw this, like how it happens in literally every other MOBA, and designed the game around allowing multiple copies of a character being on the team. Then everyone could play as that new character and no one would dodge.

#10

Nah, I really do think that making pick unique characters keeps things interesting. It’s just that introducing one new character at a time makes things more difficult. They COULD just not limit the number of people who can play as that specific character. It’d let people scratch that itch without breaking the game. But honestly, just adding a penalty for backing out, the same as if they had quit the game, would probably solve the problem completely.

#11

League of Legends has a penalty for leaving character select and that doesn’t stop people from backing out when they don’t get to pick the brand new champ, lol.

#12

or at the character select screen show everyone who we have highlighted already

#13

This would not be a simple fix though as it would require massive changes to the character balancing. Imagine 5 Galileas on one team! 3 Montanas with 2 healers. They may not all work, but people would come up with combinations that would force GB to balance against them.

The easy solution is people need to realize that they may not get to play the new character at launch. Yes, we are excited to play them, but this is just the reality in this game (and many others that have similar character releases). Take them for a spin in a private match or solo mode and hope for the best when you play with randoms.

#14

I´ve come across the issue of people simply leaving long before Alani was released and not only in the selection screen, but also during the match.
So a penalty definitly is overdue.
Although it would be nice to distinguish between leaving on purpose and disconnecting because of network problems (because I´m sufferung under a bad connection myself sometimes >.>) .

#15

I’m going to counterpoint here. Not because I like leaving a game. But let’s be honest: there are games that are just lost causes. And people, for whatever reason, are adamant about sticking it out to the final bell. I like a test of wits, not a test of wills. If an opposing team chooses to forfeit, I respect it. But I’ve got nothing but derision for people who want to keep banging their heads against a wall, because they don’t want to.

I can easily respect a team that plays smart, outmatches me and my guys and beats us. It happens to everyone. Take the forfeit, and be a good sport about it. It’s when someone needs to get dragged over the loss line like a stubborn dog on a choke chain, that I don’t want to play anymore. Spending 20 minutes to reach the same point with just more frustration and “why am I playing this” moments, robs me of any enjoyment.

A penalty for leaving, will only discourage people from playing PUGs. Because they’re already stuck not playing until the match they left, is over. If I know I HAVE to keep playing with a tank that TD’s like he’s competing for the Gold in Bad Tanks, or a healer that thinks they’re the only one who ever needs healing and it costs us the game, I’m not gonna play random period. Why deal with that aggravation?

#16

What you are describing is the nature of PUGs as they have always been in any game. Yes it sucks to get stuck with teammates who are not playing well. But this comes with the territory. The best solution will always be to play with a pre-made. But if you choose to play a PUG you have essentially agreed to play that match regardless of who you get teamed up with. Don’t get me wrong, I get your frustration. However leaving mid-match (especially early on as many do) ruins the match for everyone else. That’s 9 other people who sat through the queue and character selection just like you did who now will have less fun in the game. It’s a behavior that harms the community and there needs to be a system in place to discourage it.

#17

You’re right Rathborn, it IS the nature of PUGs. But let me ask you this: what’s the alternative?

I was just in a match, where for some reason I was lagging like crazy. I was yellow-barred, but was losing to a red-bar Rath that was just hitching right out of my Caldy’s line of fire. And that was the BEST case scenario. I was having no fun, not because I was being outplayed, but rather a technical hangup.

Since I was doing the best on my team, I offered a surrender. Now remember, that’s six minutes of a 30 minute match, that I have to wait to do what was clear four minutes in. No one bit. Now, because of the way the forefeit mechanics work, I have to wait six MORE minutes, where nothing gets better. So we’re already up to 12 minutes of wasted time before I can make ANOTHER “Hey, we’re not going to win this, let’s just let it go.”

Why should I stay in a game where I am having no fun, to enhance the fun of other people. And for anyone who might be saying it’s cause I’m losing, I don’t CARE about the loss. I care about the FIGHT. If the fights are all the same regardless of who wins them, I’m bored. A few times I’ve gamed against a lot of new players. I don’t just partake in a PUG stomp because I’m 100 and they’re still single digits. I do things to have fun, give them a chance to take me on WITHOUT the huge teamfight advantage I have. I can get killed and don’t mind; at least they’re learning something other than how to get rocked. Maybe they’re even having a little bit of fun from it.

But when I’m on the receiving end, I just want it over. I’m not going to mysteriously learn something from the sixth or seventh Rath Dreadwind where my healer dekes on me and lets me get squashed as a Tank, or when Ghalt yanks me in with his chain, and I find myself jammed in a 2v1 because everyone decided to chase a healer who’s already out of reach. We’re not going to win, so let’s just lose with a modicum of respect for the skill of our opponents.

I’ll be honest; the day a penalty is installed for leaving a PUG game, without a concordant level balancing system to the matchmaking at least, is the day Battleborn goes to the used bin for me. I’m not here to be someone else’s plaything for 30 minutes. if I’m not having fun, the fact that others are means nothing to me.

#18

The lag thing sucks. And that is a no win situation for you. Again I totally understand your frustration. It is the same thing I feel when someone leaves a match at character selection or a few minutes in. I absolutely feel that my time is being wasted at that point. And yeah, I’ve been angry when I felt my teammates were feeding or just playing terribly. I honestly don’t know what the right system is that needs to be put in place to solve this issue for everyone. Ideally it would work in a way that it hardly effects those who leave infrequently due to life interruptions or just a random early exit for the reason you describe. And the people who leave habitually would see harsher punishments. It doesn’t need to be bans necessarily, but it needs to make people think “is this punishment worth me not finishing this match”? Otherwise people who don’t care will continue to not care, and there are enough of them around that this is a major concern. Clearly you do care or you wouldn’t even bother to put the thought in to it that you clearly have.

You ask what the alternative is with things as they are now. The lag issue aside I feel a lot of your other concerns could be avoided by teaming up with other players who also are also interested in good, coordinated team play. Start sending out friend requests to players you enjoyed teaming with if you aren’t already. The discord server this community has set up seems like a good place to find others to group up with. This thread is a good reference- Community Created Discord/Teamspeak Servers