Why does so few players choose mercs based on what the team needs?

(Overd0se) #1

This is something that is bugging me more and more and I felt the need to write a bit about it in order to ventilate and let out my frustration…

Whenever I´m playing a match in DB I pretty much always base my choice of merch on what the team needs in order to win, not on what will give me the highest killcount or XP. I strongly believe that every team should have atleast one, preferably two, healers, engineers and skyhammer/arty. If we´re playing defense and have a couple of rhinos and are low on healers I pick aura and stay on the rhinos, and I care more about healing and revives than about kills (killing is a job for the rhinos, not the healer). If we´re attacking I go with proxy if needed, if we have plenty of engineers I supply ammo, healing or high damage covering fire, whatever the team needs.

This just seems like the obvious thing to do, it´s about winning, not just getting a nice k/d. But when I´m playing solo and not cooperating with friends, this seems like rocketscience to most people. I see a lot of people playing sniper on offense even if the team is low on engineers and/or supportmerchs. When we´re playing defense and have several rhinos, people still swap away auras for naders and when we need to destroy the EV they swap away skyhammers and kiras for redeyes and phantoms.

And even worse is that a lot of these people really suck at using their merch´s strengths. I see a lot of healers that barely do any revives, never charge the defib and never put up healing stations or health packs other than heal themselves. There are tons of skyhammers who barely throw down any ammo and use their airstrikes to score kills instead of destroying the EV. People simply seem more interested in their k/d than helping the team and winning the game.

If you like playing sniper, go with vassili when playing defense on a big map, don´t use him all the time, every time. If you love playing nader or phantom, do it when the team already has healers and engineers. If you´re playing engineer, forget about your death-count and just keep rushing on the objective, if you´re a healer, focus on revives and healing wounded teammates… Like I said, this seems so damn obvious, but apparently people find this very hard. Today I actually saw an aura defusing a bomb while a proxy was standing right next to her reviving a downed teammate…

I can understand if low level players who hasn´t really gotten the hang of the game yet makes some crappy choices, but I see a lot of mid- and high lever players also doing this.

Am I alone thinking along these lines or are there others out there who shares my frustration?

(Verticules) #2

K/D Ratio… final answer!

I know your frustration all too well

(XavienX) #3

Well, it’s kinda based on luck on how your team is formed. Medic is a hard role to play since it’s human nature to just like to kill stuff, not watch other people kill and you revive them and continue watching them kill while eating popcorn.

(Gi.Am) #4

Because fuck the Meta :smile: thats why.

Seriously tho, while I usually do have an rough eye on my team composition and switching over to engineer or support of the day if needed.

You gotta understand that some people specialize in one role only (and yeah quite often it is Sniper). IMO thats fine as long as someone is there to do the objective in a decent time. Even if I end up being the one.
I rather have people play a Merc they know how to use than being a dead weight with one they can’t handle. Some people are generalists some are specialists. And a good sniper in your team is a heaven send especialy on attack, gets alot easier if half the defender team isn’t showing up to the fight :wink: .

And if we are talking Pubs then team composition is out the window anyways. Pub is fun first, winning second. If everyone feels like running around as Aura so be it.

(Edzer) #5

Because I carry hardest with fragger/skyhammer. No way in hell am I going to rely on my teammates in pubs and play a medic.

(Amerika) #6

Haha, I prefer playing the type of medic that kills everyone or uses newly revived people as meat shields to get an upper hand :slight_smile: I do revive and heal teammates…I just don’t sit around waiting for people to die. Which is why I am kind of glad the medic train is mostly gone in competitive play with the change to finishing downed players. Playing puppeteer behind a Fragger just wasn’t as much fun for me.

(InvaderGir) #7

Because 90% of the time I’d be forced to play medic.

(Reddeadcap) #8

Because I’m a Sky/Arty that actually drops ammo, A Rhino/Nader that knows when to switch to their primary, A Fragger that uses grenades for large groups of enemies, a medic that actually heals/revives others, An Engineer that actually repairs objectives?

(Ghosthree3) #9

People want to play what they want to play. Is this a serious question? Did you not figure that out on your own.

(DMaster2) #10

For pubs:

  1. Because they may have support, combat or game mode quests that need to be completed.
  2. Because people may be good with a certain merc and not others
  3. Because people may feel they want to play a certain merc rather than other ones (ex. on Underground attack i ALWAYS pick Vassili no matter if there are other 3 Vassili in the team already)

For comp:

People should try to cover the basics, 1 assault, 1 engi and 1 medic/recon should be what people pick in the team. But then again a lot of people are just stubborn and want to have their way whatever the cost.

(Faraleth) #11

I agree it kinda sucks… Earlier I had a game (7v7) where the team was 1 Sparks (me), 2 Rhino and 4 Vassili. We were attacking, and of course, we lost. Wonder why.

Of course, I had missions for combat exp and game-mode exp, but… was forced into playing medic because without it, my team wouldn’t have even stood a chance. Too bad it was in vain :c

(Vilerin) #12

Solution: Go competitive for team composition or teamplay. On public games you need friend or luck - many ppl learn their mercs not participating in obj at all.

(JesseKomm) #13

I typically play Rhino and usually it’s nice, I can hold off an entire enemy team if I have an intelligent medic(Usually an Aura). This is rare though, most players do not play medic, at least never on my team. Anyway, the mentality is that people will play what they are most comfortable playing, sometimes you need to deal with that when you got 4 useless Vassili’s on your side not helping with the advance. I’m biased however, snipers tend to be useless to the team no matter what numbers they have.

Anyway with that said I try to fill one of two roles, assault, or medic. I’m a good Rhino but I tend to be lacking with my skills as Aura. When Pheonix comes out though I feel this will change, perhaps I may even main with medic instead.

(KattiValk) #14

Carrying pubs is hard. Perhaps I should change something to medic, but I always run Arty/Kira-Engineer on rotation-Fragger as that is how I carry best.

I feel like I’m a bad medic as I always pushing objectives and usually don’t feel like I’m reviving very many people.

(Overd0se) #15

[quote=“Gi.Am;67583”]Because fuck the Meta :smile: thats why.

Seriously tho, while I usually do have an rough eye on my team composition and switching over to engineer or support of the day if needed.

You gotta understand that some people specialize in one role only (and yeah quite often it is Sniper). IMO thats fine as long as someone is there to do the objective in a decent time. Even if I end up being the one.
I rather have people play a Merc they know how to use than being a dead weight with one they can’t handle. Some people are generalists some are specialists. And a good sniper in your team is a heaven send especialy on attack, gets alot easier if half the defender team isn’t showing up to the fight :wink: .

And if we are talking Pubs then team composition is out the window anyways. Pub is fun first, winning second. If everyone feels like running around as Aura so be it.[/quote]

There are definitely times when a skilled vassili can help out the team a great deal, but there are also many times when even a half-decent healer does more good than an elite sniper (and vice versa).

Even if you´re specialized in a certain type of merch doesn´t mean you completely suck at everything else and will just be dead weight. What I consider to be dead weight is the wrong merch at the wrong place and time. But if you are specialized, then have that merch as you primary choice and use it whenever your team can benefit from it in at least some way, but also consider compromising every once in a while and do something that you´re not as good at but that will help the team more when it´s really need be.

And it doesn´t matter if I´m playing pub, I´m always in it to win it, I don´t see what´s fun about losing. Especially if your the cause of it.

(libidoknievel) #16

At the end of the day people are gonna play what they want to play seeing as there are no negative impacts for them doing so. if there were dirty bomb wouldnt be a game that stuck around for long. if youre looking for teamplay try the comp mode, or alternatively there are a number of teams recruiting players on the forums for leagues and competition who are desperate to find talent that has come through in the open beta.

if none of this tickles your fancy i suppose just perma search for 6v6 stopwatch as its the closest thing to ranked play as you can get, id like to think some people put some thought into their teamcomp in that mode.

as for the whole medics dont revive. i find i dont revive often though this is due to the player being in an exposed position, and theres no point in me throwing my life away to maybe save another persons when i can stick around and keep people alive instead. If you want to get revived dont play stupid!

(IcySkyz) #17

Not too sound selfish or anything, but I play the game for myself to have fun. If I don’t want to play medic for one day, I’m just not going to play it cause I don’t feel like it. The only reason why this is a probably is b/c this game bases a huge emphasis on team composition and “class roles” whether than your average team-death match shooter.

([eXo]Deeds) #18

Public? Thats normal… Play what u want to play… Just for fun or missions. Comp… Is different.

(SaulWolfden) #19

I choose whoever contributes more, if we already have like 3 objective speciliasts on attack and 1-2 medics, I’ll choose Redeye (one of the three in my squad) to help spot enemies and give cover. If there is a bunch of Redeyes or Vassilis I’ll go Bushwhacker/Proxy to push or defend the objective. If we lack a medic I’ll go over to Sawbonez and focus on healing and reviving people.

(Yes) #20

I don’t think people playing whatever merc they want is an issue. The issue is when those players tell other people what they should play.