Ban premade parties in Frontline please

[Kahnha]

but quing into frontlines with my friends is the main reason I run it xD

you think I want to play with 23 randoms, cease

[Rolks]

As much as I personally dislike premades, either being with them or against them, the key to winning any match in Frontline is getting your whole alliance to work together and not be spread out across the map. Your alliance will get slaughtered if they are split in two and fighting on two different areas of the map. How many times have you typed into Alliance Chat "Focus Red, stop attacking Blue" or something to that effect? A chaotic free for all is a sure fire way to lose.

Therefore, people who actually take the time to try and coordinate attacks are important if not vital, be that with waymarks, sound effects, or whatever. Punishing them for rising up and volunteering to be the leader of an alliance should not be punished, nor should their tools be taken away.

And, you know what? If you don't want to follow the leader, don't. You don't have to listen to them.

[Mawlzy]

I play exclusively solo. I've had a change of heart on this topic, which absolutely infuriates AlienTilt because, according to him, it's all part of my cunning plan to get more "updoots" (which, it turns out is not slang for a medical procedure that rhymes with "crap gear").

Here are the reasons why.

1. People do enjoy queueing in with friends. Given how little there is to do in 14 right now, it would be a shame to deny them that opportunity.

2. I'm convinced this was a complete accident, but the 7.1 changes have neutered the previously dominant DRK+ stack.

3. The only map on which premades remain oppressive is Shatter, which IMO is crap anyway so I don't play it.

4. I agree with Olivia's assessment that premades are less oppressive when the players on the field are somewhat competent. Unfortunately, many players are not. The promised 7.2 changes have the potential to eff this up again by making certain light party stacks as bad as the previous DRK+ meta. If this does occur, my preferred solution is to introduce some form of matchmaking so that effective premades all get shoved in the top tier of matches. This likely requires cross-DC queues.

The biggest abuse of FL queues has, IMO, always been the solo-job Q-synchs that are not filtered on an off-DC language. They are a ToS violation. Fortunately, the new hit detection introduced in 7.1 is sufficiently janky that my volume is low enough that this has ceased to be a problem. Or maybe those guys stopped griefing the community, I dunno.

Padders are a bigger menace than light parties who optimize to win.

I would be absolutely fine to never be on the field with premades, but I've concluded banning them is heavy-handed, particularly during a content drought in which casual play-with-friends options are so limited.

[Exmo]

2. I'm convinced this was a complete accident, but the 7.1 changes have neutered the previously dominant DRK+ stack.

The meta is alive and well on Light. Changes in 7.1 merely weakened it slightly.

Just don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Many people queue up in pairs or 3 looking to grab an extra. Maybe there are really good premades out there but the arguments made here feels like pointing a hose at the smoke and not the fire.
Purify for one thing was a great update as it gives 3 seconds of resilience. Maybe we need a few general actions that offer protection, but I don't want to nerf the gameplay.

These types of tweaks will only ever be spit to the inferno. Slight changes to how agonizing it is to play against a premade. I suggested in the first post that premades could be only matched against other premades. That would even the playing field while still allowing solo players to play against one another on equal terms.

(I suspect fans of premades won't like that idea because the reason they love being in a premade is because they steamroll any opposition.)

[Mawlzy]

The meta is alive and well on Light. Changes in 7.1 merely weakened it slightly.

What composition are they using? (The problematic premades.)

[Gunz_Zbestest]

If you're suggesting that means I win 33% of the time because I land with a premade and that I should be satisfied, I'm sorry to say that's not the case. Playing alongside a premade saps all the fun out of FL. It's the real "turn off your brain, do what you're told" game mode out of all pvp. No skill needed, no thinking, just follow instructions.

Edit: sorry, you asked how often I run into premades. I would say once or twice a week, most often on Shatter but also regularly on the nadaam.

Just don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Many people queue up in pairs or 3 looking to grab an extra. Maybe there are really good premades out there but the arguments made here feels like pointing a hose at the smoke and not the fire.
Purify for one thing was a great update as it gives 3 seconds of resilience. Maybe we need a few general actions that offer protection, but I don't want to nerf the gameplay.

[Dzian]

It's an MMO many people want to play together with friends. Fcs linkshells etc.

It's the entire point of an MMO so can't ban parties from participating

[Exmo]

It's an MMO many people want to play together with friends. Fcs linkshells etc.

It's the entire point of an MMO so can't ban parties from participating

They can and they did. Crystaline Conflict.

[Xrono_Amber]

They can and they did. Crystaline Conflict.

...but wasn't there an option for custom match, premade party VS premade party? But I suppose some might not be aware of it, since default is just solo-queue plus no rewards for custom matches as a reason not to use them.

[MsMisato]

They can and they did. Crystaline Conflict.

CC is more of a ladder competition if anything and it was an answer to wolves den and not frontline.