New Shatter map... something Feels off.

[Aravell]

I have more fun playing against Olivia than with her. The central issue is fairness. I understand why someone would exploit mixed queueing. You're absolutely right that the object of the exercise is to win, so given the effectiveness of a voice-coordinated premade, people are going to run them. (Until they graduate college and real life intervenes.) But premades lead to dull games and cement the couldn't-care-less attitudes of far too many players in FL. Something I think everyone who cares about the mode would like to reduce.

Note also the presence of premades greatly complicates the balancing issues that SE is not always great at addressing. By mixing queues, they have to balance jobs for both solo players and 4-person, highly-coordinated statics. The endless complaints about DRK, for example, evaporate if they are not stacked in a premade.

While I understand the wish for a fair match, it's not a remotely likely prospect not only because of the highly-coordinated premades you mentioned, the queue needs to also get rid of the people who do the bare minimum for their roulette exp, because those people drag down teams with their 'don't care, tryhard' attitude.

The only way we could possibly get mostly fair matches is not to completely remove premades, but to introduce a hidden rating that we get matched on so everyone in the match is of roughly the same skill level. That way, premades or not, there's a lot less fodder running around and no easy BH5 for anyone.

[Archeron]

While I understand the wish for a fair match, it's not a remotely likely prospect not only because of the highly-coordinated premades you mentioned, the queue needs to also get rid of the people who do the bare minimum for their roulette exp, because those people drag down teams with their 'don't care, tryhard' attitude.

The only way we could possibly get mostly fair matches is not to completely remove premades, but to introduce a hidden rating that we get matched on so everyone in the match is of roughly the same skill level. That way, premades or not, there's a lot less fodder running around and no easy BH5 for anyone.

The solution to premades would be adding that invisible rating you mentioned, but also limiting premades further down to 2 players, and I'd go as far as implementing the maximum 2 player restriction to all PvP modes. (Except ranked CC.)

Also on a side note, I think Battle High V needs to either be outright removed, or vulnerabilities need to be applied in exchange for the boosted damage they recieve. It just makes comebacks even less likely in a mode that favors RNG node spawns, and premade nuking.

[Mawlzy]

While I understand the wish for a fair match, it's not a remotely likely prospect not only because of the highly-coordinated premades you mentioned, the queue needs to also get rid of the people who do the bare minimum for their roulette exp, because those people drag down teams with their 'don't care, tryhard' attitude.

The only way we could possibly get mostly fair matches is not to completely remove premades, but to introduce a hidden rating that we get matched on so everyone in the match is of roughly the same skill level. That way, premades or not, there's a lot less fodder running around and no easy BH5 for anyone.

Despite the fact I use it for leveling, I think there's an argument for reducing the roulette XP to make it less attractive to those who don't give a tinker's cuss. But while I dislike the presence of those who don't try, they have far less impact on a match because they are more likely to be evenly distributed and the net result is a wash.

The vast majority of FL players are not in a premade, which makes the presence of one extremely disruptive. You need a premade to counter one unless a miracle occurs and a bunch of randos identify and disrupt the threat. (This does occasionally happen.) And it essentially means the majority of us are playing in solo mode alongside a completely different form of PvP. This seems to me to be an unreasonable concession to ~ 5% of the FL player base.

Matchmaking is an interesting idea. It's complicated because different jobs generate different stats even when played well. One could reduce the wins credited to party queues. If four of you queue as a light party, you get 1/4 of a win. But I imagine that'd be less popular for the 5% than simply separating solo and party queueing.

Premades will still get BH5 rapidly even against semi-competent opposition IMO. It's a consequence of the powerful synergy of coordinated LBs as the skillset currently stands. When Olivia is doing her book club thing, for example, I saw all 4 of them get BH5 in 3 minutes. As I mentioned before, you can't simultaneously balance FL for solo players and light parties running certain comps, the synergies are too powerful.

[Valence]

You need a premade to counter one unless a miracle occurs and a bunch of randos identify and disrupt the threat. (This does occasionally happen.) And it essentially means the majority of us are playing in solo mode alongside a completely different form of PvP. This seems to me to be an unreasonable concession to ~ 5% of the FL player base.

This is somewhat of a blanket statement. My experience has been different, and I've seen a lot of premades lose constantly because their team just didn't have favorable outcomes, notably on seal rock or onsal. I'd tend to agree on shatter though, one premade wipes a team in their safe big ice, or blocks both at least once, they get a lead that only grows and they win. It's usually how it happens.