Frontlines over coordination Issues

[Bobby66]

As I said, I'm not going to presume to know the mind of the OP.

If I was going to expand their argument, however, I'd note that voice chat is a massive aid to coordination. Thus in a coordinated FL, SQEX should introduce a bespoke VC option (since a third-party tool like Discord chat currently lives in a ToS grey zone), and players would be compelled to use it or be barred from playing FL.

Obviously I don't believe that. There must be a middle path.

Players probably would not use it at all. WoW has a in game voice feature people really don't mic up using it. Even if they did use it would be a moderation nightmare in a game where they have removed chat from feast and cc I don't see SE ever doing this. I am shocked we still have chat options in FL.

As others have stated discord is not a third party greyzone. Also not presuming much when someone is arguing in bath faith, at that point the intent matters little.

[Mawlzy]

Just going to chime in that Discord is absolutely not a ToS gray zone. It does not interact with the game in any manner.

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the correction.

Interestingly, there's one extremely successful static premade on Aether, yet none of the members use Alliance chat much. No Salted Earth alerts from the DRK. Basically no directions nor warnings. Yet they have beautifully-coordinated bursts. It really shows just how powerful 4-person coordination is in winning FL matches, and also illustrates how irrelevant their 20 "teammates" can be.

[LibitIncarne]

Bring back 8v8v8.

[AdamuKun322]

Earlier in the thread a replier asked what over-coordination means in Frontlines PvP.

Over-Coordination in Frontlines PvP from what I've observed while doing it is when you recognize one full 24 player alliance gang up on another group and basically the Commander whose usually a Dark Knight pulls in around 5-10 people with their ability and then it gets followed up by the other Dark Knights in the groups followed by a Quietus timed correctly. This then over coordinates with your ranged LB and wipes out an entire team before they get a chance at doing anything. It doesn't create a fun environment and it is recognized when you notice one alliance consistently in the lead. You can then see it by pulling up the results page and sorting by most assists.

There is also the case that sometimes, there are some really solid, good PvPers in Frontlines that usually wind up on the same alliance consistently.

[Silaryn]

Earlier in the thread a replier asked what over-coordination means in Frontlines PvP.

Over-Coordination in Frontlines PvP from what I've observed while doing it is when you recognize one full 24 player alliance gang up on another group and basically the Commander whose usually a Dark Knight pulls in around 5-10 people with their ability and then it gets followed up by the other Dark Knights in the groups followed by a Quietus timed correctly. This then over coordinates with your ranged LB and wipes out an entire team before they get a chance at doing anything. It doesn't create a fun environment and it is recognized when you notice one alliance consistently in the lead. You can then see it by pulling up the results page and sorting by most assists.

There is also the case that sometimes, there are some really solid, good PvPers in Frontlines that usually wind up on the same alliance consistently.

In your opinion, what is an appropriate level of coordination? Your example, to me, sounds like a normal level (we can even argue a minimal level) of coordination. You described a team working together to win a fight.

In my opinion, something is only over-coordination when it hurts your team's chances of winning.

[Mawlzy]

In your opinion, what is an appropriate level of coordination? Your example, to me, sounds like a normal level (we can even argue a minimal level) of coordination. You described a team working together to win a fight.

In my opinion, something is only over-coordination when it hurts your team's chances of winning.

Isn't the issue primarily one of whether the current job skills produce a required level of coordination for max win-rate that is healthy/enjoyable? If you take the approach that win-rate is everything, you form a premade with a meta stack and coordinate. Those who do just that mostly conclude this highly-coordinated approach is jolly good, whereas the rest of us mostly find it tedious.

[Histrio]

Over coordination is when both alliances are ganging up to one alliance(usually with the lowest point), and pointing that out will get you kicked out! It happened to me.

Queud 3x to sealed rock, our alliance ended up last with points far from winning, but somehow, both alliances targeting us up to our base. So on my third queu and noticed the M.O., I pointed it out in alliance chat. Someone took over and lead, other alliance started attacking the other one, and then I got dismissed.

[Mawlzy]

Over coordination is when both alliances are ganging up to one alliance(usually with the lowest point), and pointing that out will get you kicked out! It happened to me.

Queud 3x to sealed rock, our alliance ended up last with points far from winning, but somehow, both alliances targeting us up to our base. So on my third queu and noticed the M.O., I pointed it out in alliance chat. Someone took over and lead, other alliance started attacking the other one, and then I got dismissed.

I hope you reported the vote kick. Yet another feature certain parties like to abuse.

[Silaryn]

Isn't the issue primarily one of whether the current job skills produce a required level of coordination for max win-rate that is healthy/enjoyable?

This thread was supposed to be bait. The OP of this thread put "over coordination" in the title to bait people into clicking on it. Nobody is going, "oh no, my team is working together too well". I responded to the person I did because I think they are being genuine but who knows, maybe their Fisher is a higher level than OP's and I took the bait. They were talking about jobs working together and the thread title claims to be about coordination so that's what I focused on. "Do these skills when comboed together make the game fun?" is a different question than "Are people working together too much?".

If you take the approach that win-rate is everything, you form a premade with a meta stack and coordinate. Those who do just that mostly conclude this highly-coordinated approach is jolly good, whereas the rest of us mostly find it tedious.

If too much coordination is bad then I would ask you the same question I asked the person I responded to: what is an appropriate level of coordination? Let's assume anything a premade can do, solo q-ers working together can do as well.

Over coordination is when both alliances are ganging up to one alliance(usually with the lowest point), and pointing that out will get you kicked out! It happened to me.

Pinching another team is normal. Ideally it should be 2nd place and 3rd place pinching 1st place but any team can be a victim of it. It is definitely frustrating when you're in 3rd place and it happens to you but there are many reasons that it can occur. Sometimes it's coordinated, like 2nd place needs to farm 3rd place for BH before they can fight 1st place. Sometimes it happens because 2nd place is either colorblind or can't read a scoreboard to save their lives (no coordination). Doesn't make it suck any less though.

[Mawlzy]

If too much coordination is bad then I would ask you the same question I asked the person I responded to: what is an appropriate level of coordination? Let's assume anything a premade can do, solo q-ers working together can do as well.

Your assumption is nonsense, obviously, but setting that aside...

There's nothing wrong with team coordination. The problems arise from the current emphasis on burst and LB coordination and the fact that players in their first match are pitted against players in their 10,000th, the latter typically stalking the field in a highly-effective premade. Add to that your lead DRK dropping a waymarker, and the whole exercise -- even when done "well" in the context of this playstyle -- involves everyone running after the waymarker in a deathball.

That is highly coordinated, and very boring.

Any team PvP mode requires coordination. Unfortunately, the current job skillsets reduce that coordination to a self-appointed commander barking instructions. Rather than headless chickens, this produces chickens tethered together, except on Shatter where they are lemmings.

And before anyone leaps in with "but there are far more interesting strategies on JP..." Sure, no doubt. On NA where half the team is only there for XP, such strategies will never emerge.

tl;dr I agree with your definition of over-coordination within a team being something that hurts the team's chances of winning, although I can't think of an example of how that would happen. My gripe is with the nature of the coordination that arises in the current meta.