
Originally Posted by
Meina
Okay, here it is again (man, I really need to notepad this so I can C&P it next time).
1) Everyone queues as they do now.
2) When the WF pops, you will be notified that you have been chosen to be a merc on the invite screen.
3) On the invite screen, there will be an additional, new button that says "I don't wanna be no stupid merc!", or something like that.
4) If you choose the "Don't wanna merc" button, you are removed from the current list of invites and you will wait until the next WF where you do not have to be a merc becomes available.
5) When a WF becomes available where you don't have to be a merc, you get a new invite to that WF. At this point you either enter the WF or leave the queue, just the way it is now.
Items of note:
1) There is no permanent opt out setting. Everything is handled on a case by case basis within the queue system during each queue. This will keep the status of sync queuing just as it is now.
2) If you leave the queue, be it to enter a WF or bail on the queue to requeue, your opt out setting is reset. Every time you queue you will run the same chance of being chosen as a merc. Again, this keeps the status of sync queuing just as it is now and it also makes people would tend to opt out make that decision every time they get chosen as a merc.
3) By opting out you, in essence, step out of the line giving your spot to the next person in line. This means the person opting out will have to wait a bit longer for his / her WF while the people behind him / her move up in line. In other words, if the next person in line has no preference in regards to mercing, he / she will be invited to the WF that you just opted out of. If 2 people opt out, the next 2 people get an invite to the currently populating WF. If 3 opt out, the next 3 get invites. And so on.
So, in theory...
1) People opting out will experience slightly longer queue times while they wait for a WF where they won't have to be a merc.
2) People that do not have a preference to which side they play on could experience shorter queue times as they will be moved up in line whenever someone opts out.
3) If the claims that the people who would want to opt out make a small minority of the player base, there should be no noticeable increase in the average queue times because of 1 and 2 above.
If those claims are incorrect and there are more people who would opt out than we imagine, then queue times might go up marginally, as in double, maybe triple what they are now. That's still less than a minute and a half to two minutes, if the current average wait times have been reported accurately here on the forums.
If the people claiming that the number of people who would want to opt out is waaaay off, and they do indeed make up the majority, yes, queue times would go up quite a bit. The thing is, if this turns out to be the case, Trion needs to find a new fix for long queues because, obviously, the pro-option crowd makes up the majority.
I'll also point out that since the recent exodus and the recent server shuffle, I can't say for sure that there still is a faction balance problem. I base this on the fact that there seems to be inconsistencies in the merc system in regards to who gets merced and when. In my experience, a Guardian is just as likely to get merced as a Defiant, (I'm personally running between 40 to 50 %, as a Guardian) which would not be the case if Defiants still outnumbered Guardians by the margin people claim.
(Did I miss anything?)
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