Frontlines sucks Ultra megathread

[Takume]

Do you have a feeling for why the problem has gone away? Like you note penalties are minimal and take a long time to be enforced, yet currently the problem is minimal.

If by the problem you mean hackers then I can only just make assumptions. These hackers usually use their throwaway service accounts as to not get banned on their main accounts. So you're paying a monthly subscription to meme/have fun with cheats in a game mode just to get a reaction from players. Hackers have always been rare in case and usually if there is a notorious hacker its usually the same person playing on different alts using the same hacks, they're pretty obvious they're the same player. Can only guess they get bored of doing it/want to lay low because they finally did receive a ban.

PvP in this game mode speaks for itself in that not very many players actually care about it and the few that do care more than likely wouldn't bother cheating to gain an advantage as there's not very much to even cheat for reward wise. The last notorious hacker afaik did what they did because of drama with other players who they believed take the game mode too seriously and wanted to trigger them/get reactions/get back at them, etc.

[Mawlzy]

If by the problem you mean hackers then I can only just make assumptions. These hackers usually use their throwaway service accounts as to not get banned on their main accounts. So you're paying a monthly subscription to meme/have fun with cheats in a game mode just to get a reaction from players. Hackers have always been rare in case and usually if there is a notorious hacker its usually the same person playing on different alts using the same hacks, they're pretty obvious they're the same player. Can only guess they get bored of doing it/want to lay low because they finally did receive a ban.

PvP in this game mode speaks for itself in that not very many players actually care about it and the few that do care more than likely wouldn't bother cheating to gain an advantage as there's not very much to even cheat for reward wise. The last notorious hacker afaik did what they did because of drama with other players who they believed take the game mode too seriously and wanted to trigger them/get reactions/get back at them, etc.

Thanks. Makes sense.

[Infindox]

Premades have been extremely irritating lately, especially on the Azem Steppe map.
I know that most people are just playing to get the exp and the minion/mount atm, but I genuinely enjoy playing FL and it's frustrating to lose simply because your team doesn't care. I had to stop yesterday after 5-6 matches because either the team wouldn't follow whoever decided to step up and lead or the team that had an obvious premade would just keep coming after, and while I fight I can't do much on my own if my team isn't helping. (One match literally everyone ran when we could have beaten the small group and gotten the ovo!)

[Xylira]

With how unbalanced, easy to team stack, and RNG Frontlines is, SE should probably just stop tracking the win/loss rate for the game mode. By all means the total count of wins can and should still be tracked for achievements, but there's no reason to track and show total games and losses as well. It's only serves as something that encourages toxic behavior from the groups of PvPers that intentionally stack matches so they can brag about having unrealistically high win ratios. And yeah, it won't stop premades entirely, but it would at least take away some of the perceived incentive for them to go out of their way to be toxic in the game mode.

[Mawlzy]

With how unbalanced, easy to team stack, and RNG Frontlines is, SE should probably just stop tracking the win/loss rate for the game mode. By all means the total count of wins can and should still be tracked for achievements, but there's no reason to track and show total games and losses as well. It's only serves as something that encourages toxic behavior from the groups of PvPers that intentionally stack matches so they can brag about having unrealistically high win ratios. And yeah, it won't stop premades entirely, but it would at least take away some of the perceived incentive for them to go out of their way to be toxic in the game mode.

I'd agree that's part of it, but it also appears these premades simply enjoy the easy and lopsided wins. Moreover, members greatly value their personal K/D/A. They are posted far more frequently than win%, which is strange (is it not?), given many of these commanders make the dubious claim they are trying to improve team play.

I've tried to better conduct this discussion by understanding the mindset of those engaging in this playstyle, and frankly I'm at a complete loss.

First, I'm not even sure what a "good" win-rate looks like when you've completely tilted the battlefield. Similarly, what is an impressive K/D/A when it's being artificially boosted in this way? Finally, and most importantly, the DRK+ meta stack just strikes me as an incredibly dull and repetitive playstyle. One of the enjoyable element of games when premades are not on the field is that the match unfolds in unpredictable ways. Sure sometimes it's a complete fiasco. But I'll take that over matches that go down the same dreary path and, the vast majority of the time, produce the predictable result.

One other consequence of all this is that premades further drive away players trying to learn through the K/D/A their members achieve. Like when a serious solo player has put in a decent volume of matches, and they see a stat line like 10/0/105, they may easily conclude they are never going to get "git gud" and return to raiding.

Matchmaking by win-rate would naturally isolate all the premades into their own pool, thereby allowing the rest of us to determine if we're any good or not. That sort of fair comparison is something that drives most people to try and improve.

[Xael_Jehuty]

With how unbalanced, easy to team stack, and RNG Frontlines is, SE should probably just stop tracking the win/loss rate for the game mode. By all means the total count of wins can and should still be tracked for achievements, but there's no reason to track and show total games and losses as well. It's only serves as something that encourages toxic behavior from the groups of PvPers that intentionally stack matches so they can brag about having unrealistically high win ratios. And yeah, it won't stop premades entirely, but it would at least take away some of the perceived incentive for them to go out of their way to be toxic in the game mode.

agree with this. I've seen someone call my friend a 33%er because my friend said that their dark knight dive was unfortunate (they dove on an enemy team and nobody followed up). As a person that plays in premades, the dopamine of getting good win rates is nice but it def does inflate some egos (even my own to an extent) More harm comes from it than good.

[Mawlzy]

agree with this. I've seen someone call my friend a 33%er because my friend said that their dark knight dive was unfortunate (they dove on an enemy team and nobody followed up). As a person that plays in premades, the dopamine of getting good win rates is nice but it def does inflate some egos (even my own to an extent) More harm comes from it than good.

Concerning egos, I've never known you to be anything other than pleasant in and out of matches. Moreover, you've never claimed to be carrying out some grandiose scheme whereby you drag the unwashed masses, kicking and screaming, to FL nirvana. And to top it all, your commanding style is appropriately restrained.

It's unfortunate you get pushback from those solo players who put all commanders in the same bucket. A group which until recently included me, as you know.

[Mistress_Irika]

With how unbalanced, easy to team stack, and RNG Frontlines is, SE should probably just stop tracking the win/loss rate for the game mode. By all means the total count of wins can and should still be tracked for achievements, but there's no reason to track and show total games and losses as well. It's only serves as something that encourages toxic behavior from the groups of PvPers that intentionally stack matches so they can brag about having unrealistically high win ratios. And yeah, it won't stop premades entirely, but it would at least take away some of the perceived incentive for them to go out of their way to be toxic in the game mode.

Win rates aren't public to everyone. So I don't get why it should be purged over a small group of people. Take that away, and they're still going to hard focus on their KDAs. It won't matter.

The win rates being non-existent from CC is why rank is the way it is. There's literally no difference between casual games and rank games between bronze and platinum. The idea of not taking the game seriously seems to be working, especially for CC's case since most is only focused on the grind and not focusing on improving individual performance. Even with how many options each person has with boosting up the ranks majority of us that plays rank is more than likely climbing with a 45% win rate or loess before reaching Crystal rank.

Maybe I'm overreacting about this option since many don't seemed to take it serious to begin with. Maybe, folks won't bat an eye and continue to enjoy themselves or complain about the game. Still, you snatch that away there's really no reason to improve. You may as well switch your brain off, push for fast gameplay for whatever reward you're aiming for, and dip once you got it if you don't enjoy the mode. I mean, you already have a few people accepting others AFKing in your lobbies since games doesn't matter to them. I wouldn't be surprised if somehow more people started to accept the idea of AFKing in frontlines.

[Aravell]

I've seen people bring up egos quite a few times and I don't understand it.

How does someone's ego get inflated by stomping people who clearly don't want to be there and don't know how to play? I feel like that's the equivalent of getting an ego out of stomping passive bots in a MOBA.

I honestly don't see the fun of lopsided matches. I vastly prefer matches where the points are very close and we run out the clock. Like my favourite matches in ranked CC are those that go on for 30+ minutes because neither team wants to give up and lose.

I personally think that people who give up easily are worse for the mode than premades tbh.

[Xylira]

I've seen people bring up egos quite a few times and I don't understand it.

How does someone's ego get inflated by stomping people who clearly don't want to be there and don't know how to play? I feel like that's the equivalent of getting an ego out of stomping passive bots in a MOBA.

I honestly don't see the fun of lopsided matches. I vastly prefer matches where the points are very close and we run out the clock. Like my favourite matches in ranked CC are those that go on for 30+ minutes because neither team wants to give up and lose.

Personally, I don't get it either. I prefer more even matches, and the close matches are the more fun and memorable ones, even if they necessarily end in a win.

But I do know that there's sadly a lot of people who are all too happy to delude themselves into believing a win is a win, and that's all that matters to them. It doesn't matter to them who they play against and how they get it, it only matters that they win. And that includes people that outright cheat as well, some people are so obsessed with winning that they've deluded themselves into believing they're good players even when they're outright cheating with hacks.

I personally think that people who give up easily are worse for the mode than premades tbh.

I don't disagree. Though I will say that I most often see players give up when they're pit against premades because they feel so demoralized by stacked teams, so they're kind of one in the same issue.