Quote Originally Posted by Aidorouge View Post
Except in your "scenario" you had anywhere from 3 to 7 other people hobbling other racers to make sure they took the placements right behind you. It's indeed fixed in your favor when they're collaborating to make sure nobody places above 5th or 9th outside of your friend group.
Firstly, my scenario was actually based more on solo play as that is what I do most. Secondly, the maximum party size that can queue together for FL is 4 players.

However, if you want to apply it to premades: "Hobbling" would be win-trading. It would be me intentionally placing team members in enemy teams to actively sabotage them.
Which is, obviously, not what a premade does. They're simply a group of regular players who join together to coordinate their attacks using complementary classes.

It's simple: skill difference.

Yes, it can be annoying. Yes, there can be some very challenging class combinations which a few class adjustments would maybe help. Yes, there's countless times I've been playing solo vs a premade team and lost because me and my team's coordination and awareness just wasn't up to it. But the point remains that the core issue is skill difference. No changes to FL that you make will alter that:
Adjust classes, the meta will change - they'll adapt, they'll still take the lead.
Even ban premade queues - there will still be steam-rolling teams, it'll just be a matter of which team had the most regulars by rng.

Even now, players will automatically label a team as 'premade' purely because the team are doing extremely well and dominating a game? When, in reality, it's just a bunch of regulars playing solo that rng decided to put together.

It's not self-fulfilling prophecy, it's playing the mode as intended now. Either be in a premade, or accept being a useless solo-queuer.
Defeatism and, yes, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You believe there's no hope, so you give up.
The outcome? You lose. That attitude just snowballs - because you didn't try, the players on your team who are determined are having to work harder to make the difference for your lack of effort, hindering their chances of success.

So, in effect, you'd be the one doing the hobbling...


Giving up is the only choice for someone in my position, and I'm "just here for the Series XP" from now on because I'm not going to be gaslit into thinking I can contribute anymore, and the only "improvement" to be found here is if I party up with others and hop into voice chat.
Continue to try and there's always that chance. Stop trying and you're only guaranteed to fail.