Ban premade parties in Frontline please

[Teno]

I think 7.1 made a lot of people quit frontline - we lost a lot of decent shotcallers and players in EU. I took a break for a few months.
In this time a number of new shotcallers started playing who are getting to grips with how to do it well. Some quicker than others and some have overdone macros for EU (looking at one specific individual :P).

7.2 has so far been pretty awful in terms of level of quality in EU, so much so I am taking another break to let rouletters catch up with their rewards.

Picking up my self appointed commander role in 7.2, trying to coordinate burst, trying to coordinate team movement has been bad.
You get people actively working against you in every possible way - getting berated in chat, getting vote kick initiated because they don't like even minimal macros, removing my markers, and plain trolling. Having a premade with you is a luxury in this situation - you at least know that SOMEONE has your back for when you go in.

Playing on NA, even solo, i found it to be way less toxic for example, and I am finding my winrate to be way higher on NA than EU currently just due to this.

Absolutely haven't seen that on EU, if anything there's more shotcallers actually, and less of those that shot call but don't know what there even shot calling.

Not much change in the "quality" as a whole.

[Teno]

Not gonna lie, I think basically every data center is about the same atm. Lot of shot callers stop early with how much negative reception they get, and feels bad to get a caution or strike when you’re trying to help.

Most of them would rather just group up and Vc where they won’t get flamed as hard.

Haven't seen any negative reception of shot callers recently. If anything I actually see thanks for the calls after games, for once. Of course this is my experience but I play a sh ton of FL so it's a good sample size I base this on.

[TofuLove]

Absolutely haven't seen that on EU, if anything there's more shotcallers actually, and less of those that shot call but don't know what there even shot calling.

Not much change in the "quality" as a whole.

Your mileage may vary. That was my experience of first week of 7.2.
Chaos and Light are becoming increasingly more different to play on in my experience.

[Mawlzy]

A couple of updates on this issue on Aether, which I find very interesting and mostly positive.

There are now shot-callers who do not incorporate SFX into their macros, with the possible exception of pinch warnings/danger bongos. For me, this is a massive improvement.

I also suspect it's one reason commanders have been getting less pushback. I've seen much less of the snarky "relax, bro, it's only FL" and basically none of the more direct criticisms of commanders.

I'd add that this is in the context of more shot-callers who are demonstrably not very good.

Not sure what all this means in total. I just wish I found more than two of the maps playable, because otherwise FL seems in a really good place right now.

[Exmo]

I wouldn't worry too much about shot callers who aren't very good. Over time they get better at the game, come to understand the ebb and flow of battles and improve their situational awareness. I think a lot of shotcallers start off as bad because they read some guide online that offers rudimentary, decontextualised advice, and they haven't yet learnt how to adapt to the flow. That will come with a bit more experience.

[Mawlzy]

I wouldn't worry too much about shot callers who aren't very good. Over time they get better at the game, come to understand the ebb and flow of battles and improve their situational awareness. I think a lot of shotcallers start off as bad because they read some guide online that offers rudimentary, decontextualised advice, and they haven't yet learnt how to adapt to the flow. That will come with a bit more experience.

One would certainly hope they'd improve. Equally it might be better if they got more games under their belts before deciding to lead attacks reminiscent of the Charge of the Light Brigade.