Quote Originally Posted by Mawlzy View Post
So this was Shatter? I think premades are still an issue on that map, but as Archeron notes, that is more a result of an effective shot-caller than the power of a DRK+ premade. (It seems DNC is the critical component of the burst now.) One of the reasons Shatter is so ghastly is that it is so predictable with a very limited number of spawn patterns. Simply putting your team in the right place is 80% of the battle. Sure the diving tricks and the more coordinated burst a premade can produce have an impact too, but if one team has a commander who knows the solution to this p.o.s. map and half the team follows them, it's a massive advantage.

The net result on Aether is that, outside of Shatter, premades are not a major issue. I imagine that will change assuming the usual suspects keep playing the mode and perfecting their strats. Look towards the rising sun for how that might develop.
As I've said a few times, the problem is the nature of premades give teams a huge advantage. It has little to do with DRK or team composition. If job abilities changed, the team composition would change, but the premade would still dominate.

I've played tons of games with shot callers who are not obviously in a premade. Having someone call shots and coordinate is not itself a problem. The problem is premades, no question about it. Do not match premades with solo players and the problem would go away.

As said before, the problem is most evident on Shatter but it's also there on the nadaam.