Too many timers! Isn't "warmup" a lobby, Why late join timer, and other timers I hate

(BioSnark) #1

I don’t like all the timers. Why is there a timer if you join a match in progress? What does a timer accomplish after everyone is locked into a class/loadout? Does warmup add anything other than nostalgia in a game with a lobby menu? Why is there no map voting in post-match screen, when there’s a timer to do nothing?

Two timers I want.

[ul]
[li]Pre-match count down to: pick classes, loadouts and switch teams around. I don’t care if this is in a lobby menu or in a warmup period but pick one.[/li][li]Post-match count down to: pick map, “gain xp”, and gloat at how our team was stacked and the other sucked.[/li][/ul]

(Zenity) #2

I agree, this needs to be optimised a lot more. Almost every single time everybody leaves after a round ends, it’s pretty annoying.

Adding voting to the end of game screen would perhaps also keep players immediately engaged, so they may be less likely to leave.

And I really think the lobby and warmup should be combined. Time passes so much quicker when you can move around, so it doesn’t matter if it takes a bit longer either. At least let us immediately jump into warmup once we have locked in our classes.

(Mustang) #3

[QUOTE=BioSnark;524065][ul]
[li]Pre-match count down to: pick classes, loadouts and switch teams around. I don’t care if this is in a lobby menu or in a warmup period but pick one.[/li][/ul][/QUOTE]
Not possible at the moment, lobby is needed because mercs need to be picked before the map loads due to technical restrictions, warmup is needed because it is a massive step backwards to lose this, but also because people load in at different times. I hope at some point will can pick mercs during warmup.

[QUOTE=BioSnark;524065][ul]
[li]Post-match count down to: pick map[/li][/ul][/QUOTE]
No idea why they didn’t do this, totally makes sense.

(Glottis-3D) #4

agree with these guys.
they are onto something!

(BioSnark) #5

A client can pick mercs and loadouts after loading the map if the client joins after the map starts.

(kenpokiller) #6

It’s like they don’t lock in on purpose.

(Mustang) #7

Yea, but it’s basically a private lobby, they aren’t loaded into the map at this point.

(BioSnark) #8

It’s not the case. This is after the client loads the map. They can see people running around on the map in the quarter of a second before the lobby screen pops up. They can hear the intro announcements if they loaded a little late. They can hear game sfx.

(Mustang) #9

Well I didn’t say the map wasn’t loaded, just that they weren’t loaded into it, their character models, skins and stuff.

I agree with you btw, I’m just letting you know the reason we were told it wasn’t possible without a lot of re-coding work, so it is seen as more of a nice to have than a necessity right now.

(BioSnark) #10

I am aware of the stated reason. I do not understand why it applies to some people and not others.

(BomBaKlaK) #11

Wait 15 seconds to post your message …

(Anti) #12

When you reach the lobby you have loaded the map and the Mercs/Loadouts of the other clients, but you haven’t yet selected your Mercs and Loadouts, meaning nobody on the server knows what you have and they potentially don’t have them loaded on their client.

Once you lock-in the game syncs your data to all other clients before you join (the 15 sec wait), if this wait to sync didn’t happen you could be running around the server with a Merc the other clients haven’t loaded, which would result in issues like you being invisible/a blueman/a slenderman, ruining the game for others.

We could force all selection in the front-end to prevent this, but then you wouldn’t be able to select Mercs to suit attack/defence/the other Mercs on your team/the Mercs your team might need. Right now we feel the option we have is the better one.

(BioSnark) #13

Can you remove the lobby that occurs before the map loads and just use a lobby during the current warmup phase or is that also a technical imperative?

(Szakalot) #14

Disagree.

Imo,in casual, people choose the mercs they are playing based on what they feel like at the moment, and very rarely will they adjust to ‘oh we have no FOPS, we better get one’. If someone is joining mid-game, a part of the map is already gone, why not just let them jump into action ASAP. Besides, you can pick out of 3 different mercs, Its hard to imagine that not a single one of them could benefit the team.

Minor issue, highlighted though by all the other wait times.

End-map wait time could be cut by 50-75%.

SW mode shouldn’t have warmup after half-time; just go ahead and play already!

Map votes could happen before the next lobby - everyone loads the map first, then selects loadouts and locks in. If you lock-in early you can run around the map in warmup as an already ready-upped player. If you didn’t lock-in - take your time in the lobby menu. Once warmup ends (this warmup could be extended a little; or demand more people locking-in) and people have to watch the 20sec preparation video; lock-in automatically all the remaining players.

Lets face it: you can’t really avoid people going AFK inbetween the maps (in casual). Either kick’em or allow for a little longer warmup.

(Anti) #15

Potentially, and we do keep discussing ways to streamline the various timers in this flow. There is a lot of stuff going on during these screens though (matchmaking, syncing, reporting to the back-end etc) that is going on behind the scenes, so any re-factoring of them would be a lot of work. That means we need to pick and choose if and when we might do those sorts of changes.

(Rémy Cabresin) #16

For public I don’t really care, but for competitive can you guys remove the countdown at the start so it waits until everyone is readied up? It happens quite a lot that people crash at map startup (or the Press any key to continue freeze) and have to restart only to get back in the game and missing the first spawns (especially the first spawn is crucial in team play for map control). Also simply fits better in a competitive system to make sure that everyone is ready to go and confirm that :stuck_out_tongue:

(Zenity) #17

Perhaps an alternative would be to find ways to make all these screens more engaging. Give people something to do, after they have checked their scores / voted the map / locked in their mercs. That’s also why I like putting the map vote in the end-game screen.

(Glottis-3D) #18

add players mini stats (k/d acc etc) available to watch and run through enemy team numbers