PVP Idle Timout / Request for Chancge

Hi There

Since new PVP Map hit, I really enjoy putting it into my daily roulette routine.

But some thing really freaks me out, it´s the idle timer.

I´m signing up as DD, and as that, that one minute for preparation und filling up unused spots, is... well just waiting time.

Now it struck me 3-4 times while waiting to get started, i turn away and do some stuff on my Laptop as i wait.

Then i hear the start signal, i turn back to my pc, just to see the monitor fade to black
"you have been removed due inactivity" ... 30 minutes ban, and even lost my daily bonus once (bug?)

TL;DR

so my request is, to disable the idle timer, or increase/delay it for just a few seconds (+15) while in the preparation phase.

TIA

Losing the daily bonus seems like it would be a bug, yes.

In truth, the idle timer is fine. It's the wait time itself that should change. No one - and I mean no one - needs a full 2 minutes after the FL queue pops to prepare. After the first minute, people just stand there waiting for the walls to open. Meanwhile, people can miss their queues due to the high health (and thus combat duration) of certain mobs in the open world (quest-specific mobs or otherwise) if they're in combat when the queue pops, so that extra time wasted in the pre-game prep phase would be more useful there.

The best solution to all of these problems is simple:

• Increase time to accept Frontlines queue from 1 minute to 2 minutes.
• Decrease pre-game preparation phase duration from 2 minutes to 1 minute.
• Leave the idle-timer at 2 minutes.

Problems solves. Even multi-pulls in the open world can be ended in 2 minutes, so there's no excuse for missing a queue, plus it lowers the chance of missing the queue due to, say, going to the restroom and suddenly having it pop while you're afk. Once inside, people won't have to wait that extra minute, bored, awaiting the start of the upcoming match. And, of course, due to that, you'd not need to go do other things for that extra minute while you wait for the match to start, so the idle timer won't be a problem anymore except for people who AFK 1 minute into the match.

I'd be in favor of them bumping the time it takes to get booted for being idle by 10 seconds.

I do think the 2 minutes is pretty important at the beginning of the match and it can take a bit of time to respec all my skills, eat food, put out stoneskins/protects, then discuss with the group what the plan is.

Another big reason to keep the 2 mins at the start is oftentimes there are several missing spots in the alliance from people that didn't click, so having the full 2 mins gives you a decent amount of time to get new people to fill those spots. It can be pretty debilitating when you don't have a full alliance.

If pvp skills allocated were tied to jobs and I think you could make an argument for decreasing the start time to 1:00 - 1:30 instead of 2:00.

Reducing the preparation time from 120 seconds to 90 would solve this

Yeah this happened to me, I was so angry.

I accepted queue & didn't need time to prepare so I minimized waiting for the sound.

Match begins & I'm booted instantly for AFK.

It's like when you're defending a node, but the entire nodes life no one comes to attack it, and you're looking at a different screen or whatever.

Suddenly boom, kicked due to inactivity while you were sitting on a node defending.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ditto

It's like when you're defending a node, but the entire nodes life no one comes to attack it, and you're looking at a different screen or whatever.

Suddenly boom, kicked due to inactivity while you were sitting on a node defending.

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Thats actually the "do something useful" auto kick feature

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CeveArthu

Thats actually the "do something useful" auto kick feature

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You mean like run off and get yourself killed like everyone else does? Or how about the times when 2 GC's are competing over 1 node, and my GC is here with 2 nodes, and we're defending. Should I run off and turn the 2 way battle into a 3 way battle with the tiniest group possible like they also do?

That sure wins those matches.

1st Place: ∞ (Victory Rate: 100%)

Or you could just snipe nodes away from the main enemy groups, generally nets you alot more points than you'll lose through deaths

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CeveArthu

Or you could just snipe nodes away from the main enemy groups, generally nets you alot more points than you'll lose through deaths

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If those nodes are left undefended, which they usually aren't. Any time I check a node to try to take, there's at least 2 - 3 people there. There isn't much you can do to take that node when the only person who decided to go with you is a chicken and is afraid to go in, or they retreat, and you're left with no node, and just running around like a nut. It happens often.

The datacenter/GC I'm on is just bad. I don't go in expecting wins anymore lol. And the times where we actually stand and put up a fight, it's RNG that is then against us, spawning nodes continuously in the enemy base, S ranks included. It's harder to take a node than it is to defend them if the other team has at least half a brain, which they usually do.

That's how it goes. And that 'node sniping', other teams can do as well. Me staying at a node to defend it keeps them from doing that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ditto

It's like when you're defending a node, but the entire nodes life no one comes to attack it, and you're looking at a different screen or whatever.

Suddenly boom, kicked due to inactivity while you were sitting on a node defending.

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If you're looking away from the screen while "defending" a node, then you're not defending very well. Part of defending is calling out incoming before you actually start combat. That won't happen if you're not watching.

What you're doing, then, is called "being AFK", even if it is near a node that may need defense.

The auto-kick feature is working as intended.

I honestly don't feel the timer is justified in a mode like Seal Rock which inherently incentivizes passivity by rewarding defensive play and non-engagement.

@Ditto - I'm sorry if I came across as offensive. My little antagonistic flair in the message may have been a bit much, but I was only really trying to state a fact. You see, multitasking is a myth. By multitasking, you're actually doing each thing less effectively. If you're multitasking with something out of game while defending a node, then you're not defending it anywhere near as well as you could be. Your reaction and call out speed for incoming enemy forces will also be drastically reduced on average, which greatly reduces the effectiveness of your defending the node.

Sure, maybe you're not actually AFK as I exaggerated in my last post, given multiple monitors, but you're surely holding yourself - and your team - back if you try to multitask while defending a node. Besides, if you're multitasking for enough time to where you get booted for not moving an ilm in over two minutes, then your focus is definitely not on the game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vandril

@Ditto - I'm sorry if I came across as offensive. My little antagonistic flair in the message may have been a bit much, but I was only really trying to state a fact. You see, multitasking is a myth. By multitasking, you're actually doing each thing less effectively. If you're multitasking with something out of game while defending a node, then you're not defending it anywhere near as well as you could be. Your reaction and call out speed for incoming enemy forces will also be drastically reduced on average, which greatly reduces the effectiveness of your defending the node.

Sure, maybe you're not actually AFK as I exaggerated in my last post, given multiple monitors, but you're surely holding yourself - and your team - back if you try to multitask while defending a node. Besides, if you're multitasking for enough time to where you get booted for not moving an ilm in over two minutes, then your focus is definitely not on the game.

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Of course, but there are often matches where just the entire match, the other 2 GC's are just nuking each other on the opposite side of the map, while we're all hugging a node for our life on the other side. I get what you're saying, but once you've done Frontlines long enough, you'll know where they'll come, and if they'll come or not save for a few scenarios like whether or not 1 GC will target you or target the other first. I keep my map open, keep my camera panned at the direction they'll likely come, especially if I have other people surrounding me all playing defense as well, and just look at my other screen for a little. I still pay attention to the game and watch the map for movement, but I wont sit there and frantically search every corner of the node for enemies, when they're all dooking it out on the other side of the map.

Some matches are just that boring, and Mael and Adder just seem to be at each others throats the entire time.

http://i.imgur.com/7jK3Ifl.png
(Which we won)

Even now we're just sitting here with 2 nodes, 1 of which is an S rank at the very start of the match, yet Mael and Adder are at each others throats over there. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's seen matches like this either, this new frontlines in general seems to promote passive, sneaky play instead of full on assault. It leads to some pretty boring matches where now and then I'll just defend a node, and then look at something like the forums while waiting for it to deplete. I don't do it all the time obviously, and I head out to a new node when the one I'm at is around 10%, but I still contribute just as much as others do. I'm also a Drk, so the instant I see someone, I'm on their ass immediately if I can without being hit by their entire alliance.

If people think that's poor play then whatever, we win matches, we lose matches. When it comes down to it, me looking at my other monitor when there isn't anything to do but sit on a node and defend isn't going to change the outcome of the match. Getting up and walking away completely, sure, but I don't. I keep an eye on the map, on movement, and if someone tries to ninja a node, I stop them. If a force is moving towards us, I warn the alliance, which is more then a lot of others can say with negative k/d ratios who thought they were Rambo and just continuously fed the other team while thinking they're a ninja, trying to take nodes from 3 - 4 people at a time.

And as I said, it isn't often I'm actually looking at my other screen for the entire kick out duration, but it can happen every now and then, and when it does, it's just aggravating (Even if my fault). I had a match where we literally just owned the majority of the nodes every time, and Mael and Adder just had a bounty out for each other, completely ignoring nodes. People in Alliance were literally reminding people to move around a bit, because a few people were getting kicked for inactivity. And then we all got on our Manacutters and swarmed everything like a bunch of bees.

The only thing I'd change is have it so the idle timer does not start until the circle drops for the match. Seen sooooo many non-heals get booted just because there's no prep for them to do at the start of a match so they just alt-tab waiting for the engagememt music to play but get booted instead. Sometimes they get replaced, no big deal; other times we're undermanned the rest of the match which kinda sucks.

To OP: Don't listen to the naysaying trolls. I spam Seal Rock mamy times in a day. What you have described has happened to me 2 times. I agree that either the afk timer needs to be lengthened or they should remove it altogether.

@Ditto - Fair enough. Doing something else during downtime while playing a cooperative team-based game still doesn't sit well with me, but I have to admit that the negative effects of doing so in situations like you described are virtually nonexistent so long as you do so responsibly and stay wary.

I'm amused by that screenshot, too. There's literally nothing that Adders and Mael could have done to turn that around unless they made some sort of silent truce and both zerged your S-rank until you lost it - which would be a miracle in its own right. If Mael hit you, Adders would swarm their node. If Adders hit you, Mael would swarm their node. Since you had the S, Flames was likely to sit on it and not hit any other nodes. The safest thing for Mael and Adders to do would have been to sit out that spawn of nodes, but instead they acted more realistically and took the next best action, hitting the GC which was the bigger threat to their base atm - one another.

I love the dynamics of 3-way PvP...