When in a match, you can switch teams. By doing this, you can be on the team with the players you want to be with.
This is not too known for all players, most players just kinda stay on whatever team they’re put on, but a lot of more experienced players know that you can switch teams.
So what the experienced players do is… Let the game auto select balanced teams, then when the game starts they switch to whichever side they want to be on, and after they are on a team together, they pub stomp players. They are using the feature to gain the advantage. I would consider that an Exploit.
Why am I telling you this?
I want the devs to fix this problem. The game should auto-balance teams at the beginning of every match, and they should be locked in. The ONLY time it can change is if the Shuffle System is voted and agreed on.
Why is this bad?
For some players, they have a good time teaming up and playing together instead of fighting each other, so I can see how that appeals to them, BUT for other player trying out this great new game, they are getting STOMPED by the players doing this Team Stacking.
New players get frustrated that the Team Balancing is crap, they can’t win, and are just getting rolled, so they stop playing this game. Bad reviews of balance and pay 2 win are then placed on the Steam Reviews. (This is bad for your game devs.)
Overall this is terrible for everyone. New players aren’t having fun and leaving the game, Experienced players are losing their community because players are not sticking to the great game, and Devs are losing customers.
How can this Exploit be fixed?
Don’t let players switch teams. That’s it, easy fix. Put it in the next patch. Wipes hands clean
More details of how and why the feature is broken and can be Exploited.
Let’s talk about a PERFECT WORLD SCENARIO…
In a perfect world, each team would have equal skill distributed between the 2 of them. So let’s create that scenario.
Players will each have a skill level, to keep it simple will we range that skill level from 1-10.
Perfectly Balanced teams
Team 1 - 10, 9, 8, 7, 5, 5, 2, 2 (8 Total Players) 48 Team Power
Team 2 - 10, 9, 8, 7, 5, 5, 2, 2 (8 Total Players) 48 Team Power
I’d expect this match to be pretty fair, making for a great game experience.
So how can I exploit this perfect world?
Team 2 has a player drop from the game, unknown reason, and it was one of the 5s.
If any player from Team 1 that is above 5 changes team to Team 2 now, let’s just say the 9 switches, then Team 1 will be down a player, and Team 2 will have a Stacked Team.
The numbers would look like this.
Team 1 - 10, 8, 7, 5, 5, 2, 2 (7 Total Players)
Team 2 - 10, 9, 9, 8, 7, 5, 2, 2 (8 Total Players)
So Team 1 now has about 39 total team power, while Team 2 is sitting at 52 team power.
There is still an available slot for someone to join Team 1, but the random player that joins is like rolling the dice, you are going to get a player level between 1-10, but you don’t know what level, and the game never accounted for this player in its original team balancing at the beginning of the match.
Even if Team 1 gets another 10, their team power is still only at 49 compared to Team 2 at 52 team power.
This is pretty close to being perfectly balanced, but in the end, one team is still Stacked.
Another way this can be done.
The Exploit doesn’t only rely on “if a random player drops” is at the beginning of games, if both teams aren’t completely full yet this can happen…
Team 1 - 10, 9, 5, 2, 2 (5 Total Players)
Team 2 - 10, 9, 5, 2, 2 (5 Total Players)
So here we have 2 balanced teams that still have 3 slots each before the teams become full.
How can I Exploit this?
The match starts and about 2 minutes into what looks like is going to be a pretty fair and balanced game some random newcomer joins Team 1. Now Team 1 has an extra player, so anyone from Team 1 can join Team 2 if they choose to. Let’s say the 9 from Team 1 decides to switch teams. This is what it looks like after using the “Change Team” feature to stack a team.
Team 1 - 10, 5, 2, 2, ? (5 Total Players)
Team 2 - 10, 9, 9, 5, 2, 2 (6 Total Players)
Now the teams are stacked. Team 1 has a newcomer with an unknown skill level, that wasn’t balanced by the original match balancing, while Team 2 has an extra player, and that player is a 9. So Team 2’s now has a 37 team score while Team 1 has a score ranging from 20-29, because we don’t really know how good that new player is yet.
With both of the scenarios the game might end up filling out with players, and who knows what kind of player will join your match, and I know there are many other variables, this is a simplified version of what is happening in a majority of matches.
Conclusion
So even with a PERFECT WORLD SCENARIO the Change Team function is an easy way to break the balance of any game. Hence it needs to be removed from the game, and let Shuffle do the work of balancing, along with the original match start team balancing.
TL;DR
People are using the Change Team function to Stack 1 team with good players and pub stomp. AKA Exploiting a game function.
