Cut the ability to queue as a group in Frontline

[Astralrisk]

that would be awesome, wouldn't it. no chat, no markers, no playing with friends. and don't allow emotes. and like, why is there even pvp in pvp? we should just focus on the objectives and not hit each other at all

George Orwell's 1984

[Exmo]

Meh. If premades are gone, the next thing people are going to complain is realizing that decent/average players can understand callouts to coordinate, so they will call for chatbox function removal or bring in CC’s quick chat commands next lol.

Maybe even ask for waymark/marker removal too, because god forbid people try to increase their chance to win legitimately…. Or you know, just wanting to have some fun with their friends.

Preventing people from spamming waymarks would be a good move from the devs. Make the game a little less brainless. Make it so people actually need situational awareness and can't just follow the self-appointed leader. Imagine if people actually engaged with the game mode

[Aravell]

Expecting people to suddenly develop awareness after removing markers/waymarks is a stretch. You know what normally happens in matches where no one is leading? People keep on chasing the enemy until their spawn point and then wipe out there, or they run around like headless chickens, split off too far and start fighting a losing battle on 2 fronts.

The overall match quality of FL needs to increase higher than the floor before any radical changes can happen or it will just lead to far more unenjoyable games where no one works together and everyone thinks someone else is the reason they lost the match.

[Exmo]

Spamming waymarks is not the only way to lead a team in FL. Getting rid of the ability to spam waymarks does not stop people from being able to lead at all. It just means the mode is no longer a brainless, boring game of "follow the waymark". So long as people can turn off their brains like they can now, they won't magically develop into more skilled players.

[TofuLove]

Spamming waymarks is not the only way to lead a team in FL. Getting rid of the ability to spam waymarks does not stop people from being able to lead at all. It just means the mode is no longer a brainless, boring game of "follow the waymark". So long as people can turn off their brains like they can now, they won't magically develop into more skilled players.

So premades will just use linkshells/discord/mods to communicate...

I really don't see how waymarks and macros are a problem and frankly I think they are beside the point of this thread.
It's a group mode - coordination as a group is important, communication is super important. Waymarks are just that and anybody can use them.
Having a player on your team who, even if playing solo, can guide less experienced players is hugely valuable and can level the playing field when going against sweaty premades. I have certainly done it, and done my fair share of mistakes doing it as well, but when it works out - it's great.
Appreciate that the style of communication needs to be considered and positive and respectful to be effective - which takes a certain kind of person and not everyone can do it, even if they have the experience to back it.
Surely you want that, no?

The alternative is what we have when there is no guidance and going against stacked groups can just be painful (less so since the current pvp changes, but still).

[Exmo]

So premades will just use linkshells/discord/mods to communicate...

I really don't see how waymarks and macros are a problem and frankly I think they are beside the point of this thread.
It's a group mode - coordination as a group is important, communication is super important. Waymarks are just that and anybody can use them.
Having a player on your team who, even if playing solo, can guide less experienced players is hugely valuable and can level the playing field when going against sweaty premades. I have certainly done it, and done my fair share of mistakes doing it as well, but when it works out - it's great.
Appreciate that the style of communication needs to be considered and positive and respectful to be effective - which takes a certain kind of person and not everyone can do it, even if they have the experience to back it.
Surely you want that, no?

The alternative is what we have when there is no guidance and going against stacked groups can just be painful (less so since the current pvp changes, but still).

I'm saying spamming waymarks is bad. I'm not arguing against using chat to communicate and coordinate.

[AristocraticCorgi]

What I gather from this thread: what ought to be is not always what it is.

We all would like to have fun competitive games, but since we are playing with thousands of other people different than us, it will not work, as that approach collides with SE's philosophy.

For more or less competitive challenges there is Crystalline Conflict. I played FL for about 3 years before quitting. In my experience it's always been about 5-10 people trying to carry an entire alliance and it gets old and boring pretty quickly because it's like trying to herd cats and guide them towards a goal.

And then there's the botting issue, and then the "I just wanna vibe" crowd, then the "I just want to hang out with friends" crowd... lmao

Since everyone gets a participation medal at the end of it, there are literally no incentives to improve, unlike in CC, which comnes with its own set of problems as well.

Very unfortunate.

Thank you, SE, I guess.

[PvpRaiden]

Strong disagree, but appreciate the perspective. There are not enough LONG TERM rewards for PVP like titles for killing or winning x amount of games in frontlines only seasonal stuff, which is super easy to grind out. Getting rid of the ability to team will only make the game mode more boring, as people will not want to try to put effort in and will just sit and press one button while watching Netflix the entire match for their exp.

[PvpRaiden]

What would help is getting rid of the ability to check whos on the enemy team via macros, maybe offering built in duty support for shot calling so its more digestible to those who don't wan to hear a thousand sound effect macros (I personally took sound off of a lot of my macros), what would help frontlines is reducing some of the cc and getting rid of zant instead of saying its just a player skill issue when half the classes have a lot of aoe focused abilities...