Remove the Grand Company aspect entirely from Frontline

[Cidel]

Serious question, as someone who has always been on Mael from the very 1st Frontlines- probably can count number of freelanced matches on one hand (and that was just out of curiosity when it went live): Are there ever people making call-outs on Adders and Flames (especially Flames) on objectives? It appears that Adders probably do, as they always tend to be our biggest threat in most games; but Flames really look like they spend most matches actively spoiling the game for another GC rather than play around objectives and trying to win. At least on Primal, anyway.

There's truth to Zalestra's observation that Maelstrom frequently has players calling shots (with <se.#>'s: this is crucial because the tunnel vision is real), constantly observing the map and actively reeling-in (with varying success) overzealous aggressive chasing at the expense of favorable map positioning. Premades on Mael really aren't a thing (and I think most stigma about them prior to freelance were overblown), and I say that as someone who religiously solo queues and would notice if a constant group of people kept being in the same party.

I do think abolishing the GCs in Frontlines would see a better distribution of skill and probably even speed-up queues. But somehow I feel that the devs are too invested in the shallow "lore" of Frontlines to outright do anything about it. That and they've put a good amount of achievements into it that I don't think they'll want to have to adjust/abolish.

[RiyahArp]

Serious question, as someone who has always been on Mael from the very 1st Frontlines- probably can count number of freelanced matches on one hand (and that was just out of curiosity when it went live): Are there ever people making call-outs on Adders and Flames (especially Flames) on objectives?

On flames, people will call out objectives, but Mael acts in unison far more, to the point of timing their limit breaks to use together when taking a point. And mael, especially in 8 man, always has 2 healers and a ton of ranged, where flames will have a mix of melee, healers, tanks, etc. There's definitely a difference; in HW mael geenrally weren't THAT organized where they roll over people so easily, and the leads varied a bit more. I mean, you can call out stuff, but if your parties obey instantly all the time more likely than not they are premades.

[Zsolen]

Serious question, as someone who has always been on Mael from the very 1st Frontlines- probably can count number of freelanced matches on one hand (and that was just out of curiosity when it went live): Are there ever people making call-outs on Adders and Flames (especially Flames) on objectives? It appears that Adders probably do, as they always tend to be our biggest threat in most games; but Flames really look like they spend most matches actively spoiling the game for another GC rather than play around objectives and trying to win. At least on Primal, anyway.

Flames are really bad on Aether. They often either attack Adders the entire match or attack Mael the entire match, often throwing the win to the GC they didn't go after. When the other GC not winning is trying to angle themselves, so they and Flames can pincer the leading GC, Flames seem to find a way to still go after the non-winning opponent. When I'm in Flames with one or two other people (forcing freelancer), I think the one match they actually listened. The other matches they basically laughed at me trying to rally them. Adders are generally more responsive. Sometimes I have to make calls. Sometimes someone else steps up. Adders are usually ranged heavy, so chasing us a little bit on retreat is usually a coin flip on whether it is a good idea or not. Mael is usually the most organized, but sometimes they get too much bloodlust. I've seen Mael lose matches, because they had no focus on objectives with multiple people with double digit kills. I also noticed that Mel is a bit of a glass cannon. Once they are on the run, unless they can phalanx themselves, they often get swarmed.