Getting super discouraged by the constant stacking.

Discussion in 'Feedback' started by Cordt, Jan 28, 2017.

  1. Cordt

    Cordt Member

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    Hey guys...I started playing Empires almost a decade ago, played hard for years, took a nice long break and have recently been getting back into it.

    I just wanted to say though, more often than not I leave after one or two matches because of the insane team stacking that goes on. It seems like there are actually quite a few newer players or players that aren't as good as some of the oldschool/regular group of players but the ones that are pretty good at the game kind of just stack one team and refuse to split, or even refuse to even the teams out when it turns into a 9 vs 13 halfway through the match.
    How is this fun for anyone? I don't even know how this is fun for the people stacking, let alone the people that are continuously getting dominated match after match.

    Now I know if you force team shuffles some people might get pissed and leave, but in my opinion those people are toxic to the game overall and we don't need that kind of player here. All that accomplishes is to completely alienate the new players and abandon any chance of ever growing the player base and holding on to the new players if and when they do actually come over.

    Just my 2 cents...hopefully someone can provide some feedback on this or do something about it. Even just a server plugin that allows it to auto balance teams when people start leaving would be nice. Forced team shuffles would be another beast to work out but as it stands I am getting extremely discouraged from playing regularly because of this.

    edit: I forgot to mention, I actually invited 2 new players to the game recently and they both gave up almost immediately because we were getting curb stomped game after game.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2017
  2. Paradox

    Paradox I am a gigantic asshole who loses people's hard wo

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    tldr admins need to grow some balls
     
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  3. NekoBaron

    NekoBaron Member

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    The best anti stack empire server was one years ago called frogs I think that made you always random pick a team even if you clicked BE/NF and on top of that once you selected a team you were blocked from joining any team (other than spec) for like 10 mins which encouraged people to just accept the teams they got or get stuck in spectator for 10 mins, eventually people got used to it and it at least kept the general stacking semi automatically sorted.

    That idea/plugin would never work any more though because the community is petty and would rather spectate instead of playing on a different team.
     
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  4. Cordt

    Cordt Member

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    Let them, they sit in spec more often than not anyway. Currently this is destroying any chance of ever growing the community IMO.
    I actually recruited 2 new players to the game recently but they both quit because we were getting curb stomped constantly, game after game.
     
  5. Señor_Awesome

    Señor_Awesome Member

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    Welcome to empires for the last 5 years. The problem comes from several things, but an important aspect here is that this game is old and obscure enough now to the point that there's basically no middle ground for player experience. You're either 1000+ hours and can hit moving targets with mortars or you're some poor sap who picked up the game yesterday cause it looked interesting and was free.

    So if you random teams, it still basically comes down to who gets more 1000+ hour players
     
  6. Paradox

    Paradox I am a gigantic asshole who loses people's hard wo

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    another big problem I notice is, with low player count. Like anything below 12v12 or even 15-15 stacking becomes worse and worse.

    When I play saturday nights on 20v20 I feel like less stacking occurs because the impact of stacks is just less. I have a hard time winning the game on my own when its 20 v20.
    When its 10 v 10 any 1000+ hour player can join in and just completely change the tide of battle and even win the game singlehandedly
     
  7. Cordt

    Cordt Member

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    I understand that but at least the new players get to ride the coattails of those players for a while until they get some experience and a basic understanding of how to play. As it stands you get at best 1 or 2 decent players on one team and the entire opposing team is seasoned vets stomping all over them map after map.

    And again yes if you force some changes many people will sit in spectate until they get their way, but to me giving in to them is like giving in to a toddler, and since the spectator "team" usually outnumbers the actual teams anyway it shouldn't really change much in that aspect.... It solves nothing and ruins everyones experience.
     
  8. Misfire

    Misfire Always Lost

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    Agreed, I'd rather they spec'd than stack against a team of noobs. With new players beginning to show up it hate to see them run off.
     
  9. Misfire

    Misfire Always Lost

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    At the root of many stacks are vet players that just have no patients with new learning players. You can't fix that. Only manage it

    BTW, is that frog plugin still around. If it's a sourcemod, I should be able to update it pretty easily
     
  10. Paradox

    Paradox I am a gigantic asshole who loses people's hard wo

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    As a vet plyer its just not fun to play on a team with too many noobs because there is no teamwork at all. No revives no strtegy. Everyone does their own thing.
    Playing together with a squad of vets make the game 10x more enjoyable
     
  11. flasche

    flasche Member Staff Member Moderator

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    so stacking is cool even if it drives players away - because fuck it empires has enough players anyway?
     
  12. Cordt

    Cordt Member

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    that is pretty much the complete opposite of what I am trying to say, but ok.
     
  13. Paradox

    Paradox I am a gigantic asshole who loses people's hard wo

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    I think hes replying to me
    @flasche Im not saying stacking is ok, Im just saying I get why people stack and why I sometimes stack. I dont wanna play a gme I dont enjoy.
     
  14. flasche

    flasche Member Staff Member Moderator

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    so its only not ok if others do it?
     
  15. Cordt

    Cordt Member

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    I don't even know how stacking a team is fun for the winning team....the best games are the ones that stretch for 45 minutes and end up with both teams having 75% of the tree researched, mad bases everywhere and you have to actually start watching the tickets.
     
  16. Misfire

    Misfire Always Lost

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    I understand completely Paradox, not everyone is wired to be a game tutor. I'd only ask one thing of the stack team.... Go a bit easier on them. Give the tutors on the noob team a chance to teach. And if they don't have a tutor, at least give the noobs some time to play around and learn a bit before crushing them. If that's too much to ask then I'm back to working out other ways to manage it.
     
  17. Misfire

    Misfire Always Lost

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    I recall matches I've thanked the stack team for backing off giving us time to instruct the new players a bit. Noobs were improved the next round because of it. If you want a game you enjoy then isn't it best to get more worthy opponents trained up instead of running them off.
     
  18. Paradox

    Paradox I am a gigantic asshole who loses people's hard wo

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    thats not what Im saying, Im saying I understand why they do it because I experience immense frustration when playing with a completely noob team. Its not fun to play at all
     
  19. Paradox

    Paradox I am a gigantic asshole who loses people's hard wo

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    Its not the winning part thats fun, its more the being able to play empires at full potential.
     
  20. flasche

    flasche Member Staff Member Moderator

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    but you do realize you kinda justify it? or at least you didnt distanciate enough to make it clear you think stacking is not ok at all.
     

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