Quote Originally Posted by Synnovus View Post

In the end, I attribute a lot of the complaints about these abilities to be a result of a developing meta game. People are new to the game mode and they don't know what to look for. In times of panic the default reaction is to huddle together for safety making for crippling Cometeor play. Yes, this is Team Deathmatch but that does not mean your should be tunnel visioning on a single target because you want that kill. I spend a lot of my time calling and marking targets, setting up combos, or throwing out defensive crowd control when a dangerous situation arises.

Having said that, this all comes from the perspective of a person who is leading a group. I'll be the first to admit I don't know how solo queue games play out as I've never entered Slaughter with less than 2 other teammates and we usually have a very large impact on the games when we are present. If you have any additional insight, especially from a solo queue perspective, I'd love to hear it as it's not something I'm very familiar with. I mean, as an idea I don't think I've ever made a trek down to the Manor/Market/Temple to see the +Damage nodes more than once or twice.
Actually you and I are in complete agreement, especially in the bolded part. Cometeor only becomes a problem when it is stacked, as seperate entities ,theyre managable.

Solo queue has its benefits and its problems right now. In terms of queue times, those who are complaining about long queues, I can't duplicate it. A solo queue time for me hasn't exceeded 35 minutes as a solo tank in Frontlines. Most often much shorter than that.

More than anything, what is lax in solo-que is co-ordination. This may simply be a Maelstrom trait, but even bringing one friend from my FC into PvP I noticed a significant difference in performance of my full party. Helps that I also raid with this individual.Willing healers for Maelstrom is a premium and we often suffer third place finished due to not having any healer in one of our parties.

Limit Break wise, I was unaware that using LB contributed to Aderenline generation, then again I don't play a DPS of any sort so I wouldn't notice. If this is true, the removal of it should greatly balance its use across the board.

On objectives, each of the Alphas and I believe the Beta in the center are all worth 15 points a piece, and can sway that phase of the fight. It can easily sway back once the Interceptor comes out, but the team that capture the most of these objectives clinches the game. In games in which these objectives, including the side nodes are successfully controlled (with at least one side node captured) clinch the game before the timer expires. Games in which these nodes are more distributed wind up exhausting the timer or being close.

So it's not so much the buff but the point value that matters in these side nodes. However, to clinch two of them, you'd need 16 people to successfully co-ordinate and control a neutral objective on two fronts - while at the same time not sacrificing your presence in the middle. That requires thee at least semi-organized teams - not something you're going to accomplish in such a wide open mode. In trade, an organized group holding middle is going to be more sucessful over all because the teamwork is more succinct. Middle holds more point value overall than the sides, and if you can keep the other two teams on tilt, then you can mitigate the effect of the sides.

What would counter this and provide better incentives to divide the forces into their intended 3 8 man teams would be to have a second wave of side objectives of the same point value a bit before Interceptor spawns.

The reason for this is the Interceptor is powerful, and teams that are left isolated on the center trying to take it down will be weaker compared to the teams who leave to take the sides. What happens is the side fights, depending on how successful they are will overflow into the center fight. Fresh troops in large groups will pour into a weary battlefield and try to capitalize on the situation. Likewise, the team with more buffs or more points out of the two situation have already mitigated the effects of the additional points this center objective provides.

But that's just one idea. Right now I'm considering trying to start a Maelstrom LS on Balmung in an effort to organize their grouping effort together. However, from the sound of things it seems like premades are suffering from a longer queue time.