Disable Skirmish / Locked games

[Chancellor]

I know a lot of noobs are going to flame me for this; I really don't care about them.  You go into EF for a 1v1 or 2v2, no one joins.  You look outside the lobby, you see like 5 skirmish games going on, some locked.  Lots of Leningrad, Stalingrad, Sheldt, Vire River, Orel garbage going on.  Even if you offer 2v1, no one joins.

Some people will say that eliminating skirmish games will decrease the amount of people playing EF.  Probably so, but do we really need them anyways?  They're not playing with other people anyways, so its not going to hurt the EF community.  Rather, disabling skirmish games will force them to come out for more PvP, and for those that are insistent on hiding in skirmish games, tough luck.

Read the whole post before commenting.  I'd like to hear some serious comments on this.  No flaming from skirmish noobs.

[Blackbishop]

This isn't a good idea, besides it'll go against CoH spirit, some users doesn't have a good internet connection or even have no connection at all.

Usually when haunting bugs I'll go to skirmish(except the last time, Seeme helped instead of AI ).

IMO Dev team wouldn't approve this either .

[Zerstörer]

1)Like it or not, when you log onto coh, you'll notice 50% of people at least play skirmish/private games, not automatch or even pvp. People who play automatch/pvp and skirmish are equally important.

2)Removing the option for the people who play skirmish games will simply lead to them not playing the mod at all and pick some other mod or vanila coh to play skirmish. You can't force people to play with/against you. So ultimately there is no gain for anyone.

3)It's not the mod's problem or fault really. You have to look at GR for example which has the largest community of coh players who mainly do automatch and pvp...this is what we got about why they don't play the mod...
*They don't play it cause there aren't enough players-note they self defeat their own argument by not playing-there is no way people like that get maths
*They cannot be arsed to invest time on learning to play with and against a new faction-wtf?
*They won't play it cause the mod download is too big!-wtf?
*They won't play it cause that fragments the 'pvp player base'-wtf?

Now looking at this...tell me that you really think the problem is people playing skirmish games....

We've addressed(or for the most part) the concerns about soviet balance as well as throwing in the fix for the vanila balance everyone was craving for. the mod is dead easy to install and update like regular coh.
So, why would we take a step that will hurt the people who play and enjoy the mod in order to try and please a nearly impossible to please minority? Where is the logic in that?

To sum up, the problem lies squarely with the COH playerbase not EF mod.

[Chancellor]

I log into vCoH and yes, there's like 50% who play skirmish.
Log into EF, there's like 90% who play skirmish.

Add to the fact that EF doesn't have enough players, and PvP is nonexistent, so I guess I really am part of the minority.

I guess the problem is not enough decent players want to try EF 

[Zerstörer]

As I said, its nothing to do with the mod. Not our fault in any way.  Just look at the 'reasons' I posted and tell me honestly that they are even remotely reasonable and something we as a mod could address. What, make EF a 2 mb download?
The silliest thing people came up with is, for us to substitute relic and keep creating small balance patches for vanila to keep them happy-and remove the soviets from EF so its a small download!. I mean wtf?

Just to note one last thing so you don't get the wrong idea about us.
I was the primary individual who insisted on getting GR people to help out balance to make sure the Soviet faction appeals to them as pvp gamers. Our goal has always been to produce an expansion to rival relic's own and we have tried very hard to make sure the end product meets that standard.
As it turned out, the current GR player base just doesn't want another expansion(majority of the forum and official tournaments only use vCOH not ToV/OF).

However, there is still a good future because the COH:O will generate a new 'fresh' community of mostly new open minded players who are likely to want to try vanila COH and all the mod options it offers. So, you may yet see an increase of pvp players by teh time we get Ostheer out.

In hindsight, hoorey for relic making their own mod rather than keep patching the same game for those impossible to please in the last 4 years. It wouldn't bring back any new/old players.
Now, if only they helped the modding community at the same time, it would have been great!

[Chancellor]

I never thought or claimed it was the EF team's fault there's not enough PvP.  It can't be your faults, because you guys just made a great product, and it just so happened people don't want to play against each other.

However, I disagree with "hurray for them not patching".  They introduced this ToV kangaroo bullshit that ruined the game, and never fixed it.  If they fix the very obvious imbalances like kangaroo / 1 second arty and people still bitch about the small stuff, then yes, I agree that there are some "impossible to please" folks, but atm the kangaroos are just a huge glaring imba.

[Seeme]

Not in EF it iant

[redtail666]

The only reason to play is to have a little escapist fun, playing a different way once in a while.  Try playing a skirmish or basic match with a mix of talent, work together win or lose, teach/learn something.  But dont throw a tantrum because no one wants to play "your" way.
Nobody else cares what your levels are.  I dont care what mine are either.  It doesn't make me feel better to win a "game" it doesn't matter!! It's for the fun of it.
Thanks be to the Dev's for putting in the effort of these mods.

[GodlikeDennis]

Oooh contraversial .

Selfishly, I agree that compstomp skirmishes (with multiple people vs coms) should be disabled but computer only matches should be allowed, for those with the shit net.

Unselfishly, I think it's actually fun for some people to play against the coms. Although it doesn't help with finding games for PvPers it's still important to please all of the consumers, and we don't want to take away a basic (popular) gamemode that is otherwise available in vCoH or they may simply leave.

2v2 on the weekend Chancellor?

[luz777]

As Dennis says, selfishly I agree too, I'm not particularly good at the game but it is frustrating going online just to see people compstomping and not many PvP games going on.

However just stick around for a while and you can usually get a 2v2 going in about 10 minutes, atleast I seem to find.

But yeah, a lot of people don't want to play PvP, and with the attitudes of many people who play CoH online, I can't really blame them.

Still, when I get some decent internet I'm sure I'll (attempt) to be good at EF online.

Nice snazzy new background too 

Cheers

[Paciat]

As Dennis says, selfishly I agree too, I'm not particularly good at the game but it is frustrating going online just to see people compstomping and not many PvP games going on.

Thats probably becouse not everyone is a 10+ lvl "player stomper".
If Skirmish games were disabled people would simply stop playing this mod.

I play skirmish after every patch to check new units before sending them into real battle.

[Chancellor]

@ Dennis:

Sure man, if Snugz gets back by then, we'll do a 2v2.  I might have some RL thing to do on Saturday though.

@ lulz

10 minutes to find a game is a pretty long time.   

It's even longer for me for some reason.  Yes, my proposal was a bit selfish, but hey, the lack of PvPers is killing EF for the minority like myself.  Surely you don't expect someone to sit around the whole day just to wait for one game.  I really like playing against the Russians, but having to wait like half an hour for one game makes EF unplayable.

[GodlikeDennis]

The problem with this game is that there's no impetus for people to at least try a game against humans. Many people who only play compstomps are worried about losing horribly to better people if they ever try it.

Something CoH:O actually did well was to make automatch more appealing by providing greater rewards over basic matches and skirmishes. Unfortunate that it can't be applied to this game. I would hope that CoH:O actually does increase the CoH playerbase because they play it and see how unfair and bs the RPG aspects are, but see the awesomeness of the base RTS game. Maybe in a few months we'll see more CoH players?

[Zerstörer]

The problem with this game is that there's no impetus for people to at least try a game against humans. Many people who only play compstomps are worried about losing horribly to better people if they ever try it.

There is also the fact that COH for some reason also has higher proportion of abusive players commonly seen. 1v1 vs someone who is a douche is just not all that appealing. GR is a prime example where new players are anything but welcome. Thick skin is needed....

Something CoH:O actually did well was to make automatch more appealing by providing greater rewards over basic matches and skirmishes. Unfortunate that it can't be applied to this game. I would hope that CoH:O actually does increase the CoH playerbase because they play it and see how unfair and bs the RPG aspects are, but see the awesomeness of the base RTS game. Maybe in a few months we'll see more CoH players?

COH:O is a sound concept and anyone new to COH I believe will love it. Saying that, its not my cup of tea. As I previously said, I believe it will bring in a new fresh community that will breath fresh air into COH replacing the current old, ever winning, dwindling community  who just don't want any change.

[luz777]

There is also the fact that COH for some reason also has higher proportion of abusive players commonly seen. 1v1 vs someone who is a douche is just not all that appealing. GR is a prime example where new players are anything but welcome. Thick skin is needed...

Aye, exactly my point, I would say the lack of PvP is atleast partly caused by amount of said abusive players.

But yeah, it does suck abit, I'd much rather play actual people (abusive or not) than more games against the comp. Although the new AI does make it a lot more fun. Thanks EF