Please prevent pre-made parties from queueing into Frontline

[Valence]

It's always the same debate you find in every team based multiplayer game ever. Premades vs solo players. And while it can offer a small advantage, the things they do together is usually not rocket science most of the time. At least not something that randos can't attempt on their own. DRG/DRK combos? Come on, don't tell me it is hard to find randoms willing to switch to DRG/DRK and follow simple commands if they know about the combo. Duo or trio premades in CC? Again, at best they'll be able to combo LBs more efficiently, else I don't see what they could pull more than what randos can, and they're still screwed by a non compliant team that just play like clowns (suiciding into enemy blobs solo, chasing all across in narnia, not following objectives...).

People grossly overestimate the gap premades bring when they're only partial. And I do feel it's somewhat exacerbated a lot by the fact that the players that generally take the time to form premades and act as teams are usually good players and/or tryhards, and they stand out a lot more because of it, while the random solo player that got lost in FLs their first time with half their pvp skills missing from their hotbars or the casual that is just here to level up their dailies will be feeding on the other end of the spectrum. It's like saying gear or job balance makes or break the deal, but in actuality it's mostly a player skill issue at the deep core of it.

[sparroww]

The only issue with pre-made are the bad balance jobs, (drg/drk/ast) these 3 if premade will win almost every match and ruin the match for both other teams. if Se can nerf drk then it will be fine, idk why is drg still being buffed.

[IDontPetLalas]

The only issue with pre-made are the bad balance jobs, (drg/drk/ast) these 3 if premade will win almost every match and ruin the match for both other teams. if Se can nerf drk then it will be fine, idk why is drg still being buffed.

A premade will usually (not always as you say) however there's nothing to stop anyone from entering with their own party. I've been in an alliance with randoms where we beat a pre-made that clearly had drks and dragoons syncing their skills, they got us so mad that we beat them - all that it took was a number of people with experience marking and not giving up.

Before calling for nerfs or saying that jobs are poorly balanced , you have to be careful on how it's applied, one of FL's challenge is the lack of control over party composition- we already saw that happen with summoners. You don't want a job neutered so that it's really not fun to play because 2 players (or more) use their heads and sync their skills.

[sparroww]

I dont care about premade but drk skill pull is not what you call balanced.

[ptown2]

How do they ensure they all end up in the same alliance?

They don't, the queue sync is to guarantee they're in the same instance, but the RNG to be on the same team is different from just doing that. All comes down to pure luck to what team you get.

[Valence]

They don't, the queue sync is to guarantee they're in the same instance, but the RNG to be on the same team is different from just doing that. All comes down to pure luck to what team you get.

I don't disagree, I was just taken aback by the mention of "premades of 6-8 players" and "queue syncers", whatever that meant?

A better solution (although it would take work from the devs) is to make it so the duty finder prioritizes putting pre-made groups on opposing teams. That's already how the matchmaking works in most other PVP games too.

That I totally support.

[Kowen]

Title. I've lost so many Frontline matches just because I happened to queue in to an alliance that didn't have a pre-made party. They're easy to spot. If you see a group of 6 - 8 players, all with battle high V, you've run into a pre-made party and there's nothing you can do about it except hope the match ends soon so you can try again afterwards.

I see you're on primal, so I know the regulars you're talking about and I agree it can suck the fun out of the match being against them.

The problem is that Frontlines is the most "casual" PVP mode in the game. If you take away people's ability to queue with their friends it'll tank the population. I have multiple friends who love PVP, but didn't resub for Crystalline Conflict simply because there's no easy way to play with friends. I think making FL the same way would be a mistake.

A better solution (although it would take work from the devs) is to make it so the duty finder prioritizes putting pre-made groups on opposing teams. That's already how the matchmaking works in most other PVP games too.

[Xylira]

I see you're on primal, so I know the regulars you're talking about and I agree it can suck the fun out of the match being against them.

The problem is that Frontlines is the most "casual" PVP mode in the game. If you take away people's ability to queue with their friends it'll tank the population. I have multiple friends who love PVP, but didn't resub for Crystalline Conflict simply because there's no easy way to play with friends. I think making FL the same way would be a mistake.

A better solution (although it would take work from the devs) is to make it so the duty finder prioritizes putting pre-made groups on opposing teams. That's already how the matchmaking works in most other PVP games too.

If FL is supposed to be the most casual of the PvP game modes, then there shouldn't be any team queuing for it. Premade teams are quite literally the opposite of a casual friendly mindset for a game mode. They ruin the fun for solo queuers, and put an onus on other players to have to form their own premade teams to have a fair chance, by evidence of so many people in this very thread telling people to do it if they don't like being stomped by premades.

I do agree though that CC should allow for teams. In fact, ranked should be only premade teams queuing against other premade teams. Seems like a fair compromise to remove team queuing from FLs and add it to ranked CC.

[Kowen]

If FL is supposed to be the most casual of the PvP game modes, then there shouldn't be any team queuing for it. Premade teams are quite literally the opposite of a casual friendly mindset for a game mode. They ruin the fun for solo queuers, and put an onus on other players to have to form their own premade teams to have a fair chance, by evidence of so many people in this very thread telling people to do it if they don't like being stomped by premades.

IMO what makes it fine in Frontlines is the fact you can fully communicate in party and alliance chat. A solo queue DRK who marks themselves and calls out a countdown before they dive in can be just as effective as one in a pre-made (assuming people pay attention).

[Mawlzy]

IMO what makes it fine in Frontlines is the fact you can fully communicate in party and alliance chat. A solo queue DRK who marks themselves and calls out a countdown before they dive in can be just as effective as one in a pre-made (assuming people pay attention).

Hmmm. Compare typing into alliance chat while trying to move around to an experienced premade on voice coordinating their LBs. I'd suggest the latter is far more effective, particularly at n00b-stomping. Unfortunately, irrespective of the actual effectiveness of premades, there is a growing perception that they are dominating the mode. That both turns people away and adds to toxicity.

Slightly orthogonally, I had an idea that has probably been brought up before and dismissed. Why not make PvP mentorship meaningful by assigning each team a non-combatant commander? This came to me after a FL match in which half my team were galloping very confidently towards an objective, only to be passed by the other half of our team galloping in the opposite direction. Just use any mentor who queued in, and reduce the contest to 23v23v23. That's a little closer to 8v8v8.