[SUGGESTION]Small QoL additions to Mahjong

[MenmaHonma]

Me and my friends really enjoy playing Mahjong among ourselves, but there's a few small things that we've noticed that we were curious if they'd be able to be changed.

1) Ability to mouse over tiles and see what they are specifically when it's not your turn
While not strictly necessary because of the readability the Doman tiles have, but it can still be a bit confusing to try and straighten out what your hand possibilities are outside of your turn when going off of strict pictures and not just the plain text of the tile.

2) Background NPC's in the parlor
Right now, with how empty the instanced Mahjong parlor is, it feels like we just kinda broke into some part of Doma Castle and started playing Mahjong. There's multiple tables setup and even what looks like a receptionist desk in the lobby, which makes the emptiness feel even weirder

3) Gpose in the instance
Pretty plain. As it is right now, taking cool screenshots is fairly limited because of the lack of Gpose in the instanced parlor of Mahjong, which is a shame because it looks really cool!

4) Animations (or a lack thereof)
One small thing I've noticed is how static all of the characters at the table are. The only way our characters show any emotion (or motion at all) is if we do it manually, when it feels like there could easily be some sort of auto setting for emotes upon certain actions. Maybe /handover when we place a tile, or some sort of celebration when we Ron?

I do not know if any of these are reasonable or possible, as I have little to no experience in game dev work, but I still figure I would put the idea out there on the off chance that they are easy things to work in. Thank you for the fun game mode, Yoshi P!

E; a fifth addition would be if we could, in a private 4 player party matches, have the option to implement a timer? its a fun little thing that adds an extra bit of chaos, but as of right now we can only do it on an honor system.

[Aeliott]

Good thread.

I'm not sure about auto table emotes, since it's all done in the game interface...but the room + table is cool, so...

Speaking of our faces...at risk of sounding vain I always wonder what my character is doing...I wish I could see my own :X

I'd also request a furiten indicator. I find it surprising that it tries to help inexperienced players with the discard warning levels and such, yet there's no warning whatsoever when you're in furiten.

[Kietsu]

4) Animations (or a lack thereof)
One small thing I've noticed is how static all of the characters at the table are. The only way our characters show any emotion (or motion at all) is if we do it manually, when it feels like there could easily be some sort of auto setting for emotes upon certain actions. Maybe /handover when we place a tile, or some sort of celebration when we Ron?

I've noticed the little profile images for the other players perform emotes for certain actions (Off the top of my head, some/all players will react to Riichi, Tsumo and Ron). The weird bit is that only the profiles seem to animate - I don't think the models at the table do. One would think that could be changed pretty easily, and it would add a tiny bit to the visuals. Gpose after match completion would be nice as well.

(And on that note, I'd also like a profile picture for our own seat - it wouldn't interfere with the UI buttons at all if they use the same left margin as the other seats' pictures)

I'd also request a furiten indicator.

Agreed. The aggro markers definitely take *other* player's furiten into account, but a little warning symbol on tiles in your discard to indicate 'hey this little fella you abandoned has disabled your Ron in protest' would be very helpful - furiten isn't always obvious.

My own unrealistic wish would be the ability to play songs from your orchestrion collection, for yourself only. I know one can always just disable ingame music and start up a music playlist elsewhere (unless you forgot to disable it before starting a match fffff), but the default loop is really grating considering how long a match can go.

The fact that the reward for hitting 1600 rating is that damned song is almost an insult.

[NaiaLalita]

Totally agree with first post's suggestions!

What brings me here today, however...
The Novice Mahjong duty queue needs to be re-worked.

I managed to achieve 5th Kyu a few weeks into the release. I have not progressed at all since then. Higher ranked players (including 1st Dan) are still allowed to queue for Novice Mahjong, and earn points and cause others to lose points in the matches. They will virtually always win thanks to their skill, unless the luck of the draw is exceptionally kind to someone else and unkind to them. As such, the high-ranked player(s) always come in first (and second), and the lower-ranked players are stuck (losing) in third and fourth place. Lower ranked players are incapable of progressing their rank, and are losing mahjong rating points in the process.

Today I attempted to reach the 1600 mahjong rating required for Tile and Error I - so I could earn the Doman Distractions Orchestrion Roll. I started with a score very near to 1600.

I played match after match, at first trying to win, and then desperately trying to come in any place but last.
In all of my matches, there was ONE (1) that didn't have any 1st Dan players in it.

I lost track of how many matches I played. I just wanted to earn back my points.
I started close to 1600, in pursuit of the Tile and Error I achievement.
I finished barely over 1300.
These numbers refer to my mahjong rating.

I understand, from the high-ranked players I run into on repeat, that the Advanced Mahjong queue is intolerably long. So I understand why they choose the Novice queue.

So, I figure there are two things need to be addressed with this:
1: Within the existing matching system, matches that contain players from drastically different ranks need to have their impacts rebalanced. If a 1st Dan is in a match with two Novices and a 6th Kyu, there should be no penalties to the low-level players for coming in 3rd or 4th. They won't gain anything, but at least they won't lose anything, either. The rewards to the 1st Dan player in this scenario should be much lower, too - in much the same way leve rewards are scaled when done at a higher level than intended.

2: The requirements for the Advanced Mahjong duty need to be adjusted to allow players with more ranks than just 1st Dan; OR a new Intermediate Mahjong duty needs to be added with a mid-tier rank requirement for queuing. Until there's a playing field for mid- and high-tier players that is accessible and active enough, those players will stay in Novice Mahjong queues, and actual beginners and low-level players will never be able to have a fair shot at the game.

I've met a lot of people who wanted to enjoy Mahjong, but because of the way the queues are set up right now, most have been completely demoralized and turned off to it. The Novice queue isn't currently for Novices, and that's a problem.