Solution for the anti-merc crowd: opt out with penalties

[handerhank]

The merc system is necessary. End of story.

But what if you really, really, REALLY don't want to play alongside the opposing faction?

How about this: if you turn merc "off", you queue with a 50% penalty to favor/prestige/experience gains.

You're choosing not to participate in the system that is providing everyone with faster queues, more favor/prestige, and a fantastically improved overall pvp experience, so you don't get to enjoy the benefits of said system. You'll still have short 1-2m queues, but your rate of favor/presitge/xp will be more like what we saw on average from the previous system.

Oh, and max-geared P40 players who don't merc? Since they have no need for favor/prestige, they suffer a 5% penalty to all stats and 100% reduction in experience gain.

[Charlice]

They've already been told to suck it up tbh.

[handerhank]

I know, but this way they get to make an honest decision between the favor/prestige/xp rate we all currently enjoy and the horrendous equivalent most of us suffered under the previous system.

[Kerin]

I know, but this way they get to make an honest decision between the favor/prestige/xp rate we all currently enjoy.

You mean "we all currently enjoy, at the expense of those who hate being the mercs that are 'needed' to make it happen".

Yup, sounds like the usual self-centered view we see a lot.

[Meina]

You mean "we all currently enjoy, at the expense of those who hate being the mercs that are 'needed' to make it happen".

Yup, sounds like the usual self-centered view we see a lot.

This ^

There have already been systems proposed with a penalty in the form of longer queue times for people who opt out. Much more than that and your starting to get into punitive and, dare I say, vindictive penalties. Pro opt outs are people too.

But, as Charlice said, it's a dead issue. Trion has told us to suck it up because the merc system is here to stay. Did we really need to start beating this dead horse again?

[Zargo]

F that. If I wanted to play defiant I would play my defiant char, if I wanted to play guardian I would play my guardian chars. I want this to be mutually exclusive!!!!!

Right now queue times are too fast, I don't have time to quest between pops on my alts and run factions grinds on my r40s.

Give me an option to turn off Merc queuing with no penalties and I will be much happier.

[Trisian]

I still don't heal defiant mercs if I can help it.
After the 1.8 Warden nerfs tho, I simply won't heal. lol

[Laban of C O]

I still don't heal defiant mercs if I can help it.
After the 1.8 Warden nerfs tho, I simply won't heal. lol

It's ok, we Defiants are used to having next to no heals anyway since most healer players and warrior players seem to prefer Guard side. And our rogues prefer to pew pew rather than bard. In all honesty, I think the 1.8 warden nerf will hurt Guardians more than Defiants heh.

[Zaros]

You mean "we all currently enjoy, at the expense of those who hate being the mercs that are 'needed' to make it happen".

Yup, sounds like the usual self-centered view we see a lot.

Because opting out of mercing is so selfless, right?

[Meina]

Because opting out of mercing is so selfless, right?

Selfless? no.

But it's not being vindictive either.

[Zaros]

Selfless? no.

But it's not being vindictive either.

Actually, it is, since you're not willing to play with the opposite faction.

[Cienn]

I think a longer queue time is enough penalty. I, for one, am quite jazzed to have insta-queue. I don't care what side I play on, personally, for the warfront. If people don't mind the longer wait, let them opt out. *shrugs*

[Baramos]

If enough defiants decided that mercing sucked and opted out they would not only be affecting their gameplay but other defiants gameplay as well since the queues would go up.

Mercing is here to stay.

[psionicalpha]

If enough defiants decided that mercing sucked and opted out they would not only be affecting their gameplay but other defiants gameplay as well since the queues would go up.

Mercing is here to stay.

I agree that having the merc system here is a great idea and needs to stay, but there needs to be the option to not participate if you don't want to.

Your idea that queue times would get longer if too many people opt out is incorrect - queue times for those opting in get shorter the more people opt out (regardless of side). If you're willing to merc, you should also be in favor of an opt-out system because it makes you more valuable to the match making system.

Lets say that there are 100 guardians in the queue and 5 defiants. Every time the 5 defiants queue, they're instant in, while 95 of the guardians sit around complaining about queue times. Every guardian who doesn't care about being a merc can opt-in to the feature and suddenly be instant queueing, because there are enough people on the opposite side to play for. Eg, say 10 guardians suddenly opt-in, so now there are 10 more people who can be on the defiant side, and 90 people stuck waiting. Those new 10 people are all getting instant queues as the pool to play against is still 90 large.

Lets say 50 of them opt in, so now you have a pool of 55 people who can play on the defiant side. Now you'll end up with mostly opt'd-out guardians playing opt'd in guardians, but still have near instant queues as both sides are equal.

This theory works for every single variation in numbers you can think of except where there are not enough people to start a warfront in the first place, so all of the complaints about "if everyone doesn't play then the system won't work" are invalid. The only possibility of someone having longer than average queue times are the optd out people. People who choose to be mercs will have even SHORTER queue times than today, because they will be in higher demand due to some people having opt'd out. This is a win/win for everyone. Even with low populations this will work out just fine, as long as there are sufficient enough people to be creating matches in the first place.

[Violacea]

The merc system is necessary. End of story.

But what if you really, really, REALLY don't want to play alongside the opposing faction?

How about this: if you turn merc "off", you queue with a 50% penalty to favor/prestige/experience gains.

You're choosing not to participate in the system that is providing everyone with faster queues, more favor/prestige, and a fantastically improved overall pvp experience, so you don't get to enjoy the benefits of said system. You'll still have short 1-2m queues, but your rate of favor/presitge/xp will be more like what we saw on average from the previous system.

Oh, and max-geared P40 players who don't merc? Since they have no need for favor/prestige, they suffer a 5% penalty to all stats and 100% reduction in experience gain.

From a coding and dev stand point, any opt out is a step back and possible inhibitor of their improved system. It just won't happen. It has nothing to do with anti mercs not taking a heavy enough 'penalty' for wanting to override their sysem. It has to do with overriding their system would just open up a can of worms that isn't neccesary to deal with.

You could make it so everytime you opt out of mercs the devs get 2c. I'm pretty sure they still wouldn't do it because those are not the things that would persuade them. They turned it into a 1 pool matching system (generally speaking) for pure efficiency and logical reasons. Nothing really complicated about their move.