votescramble and team stacking

[ValenAlvern]

Before I begin, Team Stacking as in 5v8 not "Lol all the admins/members/best players are on the same side".

 

Team Stacking happens a lot around 11pm~1am PDT, I assume less teenagers play this now since Summer is "over". !votescramble has gone through at said time before, but it doesnt stop people from switching since the server isn't full. The !votescramble should be made, IF it passes (And not the starting campaign scramble) that !survivors, !infected AND !afk/!spectator (Unless Admin) should become locked, further when the server detects afker it would boot them instead of pushing them to !spectator so they couldn't cheat and switch. If this is possible then the timer for the !votescramble would need to be increased so people dont use it as a griefing tool.

[crasx]

The !votescramble should be made, IF it passes (And not the starting campaign scramble) that !survivors, !infected AND !afk/!spectator (Unless Admin) should become locked, further when the server detects afker it would boot them instead of pushing them to !spectator so they couldn't cheat and switch. If this is possible then the timer for the !votescramble would need to be increased so people dont use it as a griefing tool.

 

I have mentioned this multiple times, something really needs to be done. Unfortunately we need to wait till jackie gets back from real life to do anything.

In the mean time feel free to message any admin online when this happens and let them know whats up

[Tonto]

I've got to ask, and it's hard without sounding like an donkey but on the other side of Valens question..

 

"Before I begin, Team Stacking as in 5v8 not "Lol all the admins/members/best players are on the same side".

 

What is with the admins/members being always on the same side? I've tried the server a number of times and even with scores of 3500-500 teams stay set. I assume admins/members are immune to scrambles as the one time I saw one I think two people moved, no one with the icons over their head (I assume those are members)did. I've seen it lead to a new map starting with 10vs3 as you would expect 7 people RQ one side, and yes no one moved over to make it even. Is that somehow not an issue when 5VS8 is one just because it's pubbies?

 

I know it's your/their server and friends like playing with each other, if that's the general policy of the server, fine I understand and can move on no problem. A shame as love the plugin and good ping.

But fyi, it does get the rep of being the first regular 10vs10 pub stomp server, as it comes up as a point in Valens post that has to be excluded first before talking about stacking. If it wasn't happening, he wouldn't have had to clarify.

 

On the 10VS10 server btw, not the Vicious inf.

Anyway just wondering what the thoughts were,

 

Thanks.

[RadioKnight]

Teams uneven in numbers is really the only thing that annoys me enough to say anything about it, but since theres no way of preventing people from switching, it usually ends up that the lead team at the beginning of the Campaign gets screwed because more like to play Infected first. I guess the only thing to do is roll with it and wait for new joiners, forcibly switching players generally ends up causing just as much complaining as leaving it alone.

 

Admins and members arent immune to the scramble, but admins do have the power to put anyone on whatever team.

 

This is the greatest problem in L4D in general, the attitude of "if Im losing, Ill just quit", leaving that team down players, and when new ones join, they see the disparate scores and quit too. Most games outcomes are determined by the end of the second map because of this, but a good thing here is that some of the regular players on the server will switch over if there seems to be too many experienced players on one side.

 

 

People get so mad at this game...

[samurai nightling]

Well you should play more often i think. Just last night we had a game going, and I had to switch 3 times to keep the teams even. Other people also switched more than once to keep them even in numbers. It's not that members are always on the same team, its just that we have so many members, that there are usually more than 3 on a team at once, and most members are the only ones willing to switch to even it out. Hence when its 10v3, usually regulars/members switch over and then you get like 4 members on the other team together. It just ends up that way, and sadly people just rage quitting is the real problem.

[Sess1on]

One part to it is that everyone has to wait until the "team unlock" comes up to switch and by then the game is well underway leaving a possible imbalance throughout the campaign.

[crasx]

Well you should play more often i think. Just last night we had a game going, and I had to switch 3 times to keep the teams even. Other people also switched more than once to keep them even in numbers.

[Cake]

Jackie and Crash, Rambo suggested "is there a way we could code the scramble based off levels or points?"

even if the player isn't the best, they would at least know how to use

the commands. (esp. !heal)

 

Usually when I play, I try to scramble manually and like Times says, i'm the BAUSE It's funny to even pull out vote scramble because I eventually just scramble teams anyway. I play often enough to know when someone is new to the server or a regular. If the teams are really uneven, I usually switch teams like Nightling says. Sometimes you just can't help it though.

[RadioKnight]

If that leveling thing actually starts to mean anything other than a fun number, I will be very, very sad.

[Sess1on]

Well, I also suggested the votescramble be based off level/rank and think it would be really beneficial. Don't dismiss it's usefulness. Yes, level/rank does not equal skill, but the chances of someone of a higher level/rank being more adept than one who is completely new to the server is likely. So if the scramble balances out new players with regulars evenly over the two teams it would definitely easy out the frustration of teamstacking/ragging.

[JackieChan]

If that leveling thing actually starts to mean anything other than a fun number, I will be very, very sad.

Leveling is just for fun and that's all it will be.

 

If there were a second GC server, I'd probably try to turn it into something more in depth.

[Madvillain]

Maybe we could just lock down the teams and no one can switch. Then when numbers are imbalanced an admin can scramble/even them out? Unfortunately it will never be 100% even because people get so mad while playing this game that they rage.

[crasx]

Maybe we could just lock down the teams and no one can switch. Then when numbers are imbalanced an admin can scramble/even them out? Unfortunately it will never be 100% even because people get so mad while playing this game that they rage.

 

There is an admin command to lock teams

[JackieChan]

Maybe we could just lock down the teams and no one can switch. Then when numbers are imbalanced an admin can scramble/even them out? Unfortunately it will never be 100% even because people get so mad while playing this game that they rage.

 

There is an admin command to lock teams

I think he was talking about keeping them locked 100% of the time.

[MattKemp]

Jackie and Crash, Rambo suggested "is there a way we could code the scramble based off levels or points?"

even if the player isn't the best, they would at least know how to use

the commands. (esp. !heal)

 

Usually when I play, I try to scramble manually and like Times says, i'm the BAUSE It's funny to even pull out vote scramble because I eventually just scramble teams anyway. I play often enough to know when someone is new to the server or a regular. If the teams are really uneven, I usually switch teams like Nightling says. Sometimes you just can't help it though.

 

Well I suppose one way to solve it is to limit team changes to one per person. That way, when all the good people from the "losing" team join the "winning" team(e.g. Maestro), the good players can just switch back to the "losing" team to make it even(e.g. Cake, Nightling, etc.). Too many people care about winning and 'having fun'(Or stomping new people that don't know how to use points) than just playing the game with the team they have. But teamstacking will happen inevitably with no admins on:Its just a matter of time.

The only thing that really makes me angry about the entire situation is when one team is up by, say, 2000-3000 points, and the players on the winning team claim its even, and that the teams aren't stacked. If you're gonna teamstack, at least have the cajones to own up to it. lol.

[Tonto]

Hey, just wanted to say I've popped back in and had some really good games lately, with people moving around and just some good old close matches that didn't require any.

Thanks

[JackieChan]

On this note if people haven't been aware of it on the server yet, and because this topic was in the newsletter, I wrote a "mp_limitteams" mockup in one of the plugins on the server. Whenever someone tries to change teams and the team has 2 or more players on than the one you're on, it won't let you switch. No more 3v9s anymore unless an entire team rages...so that should be the only instance where that happens now.

[Madvillain]

Awesome, I like what you did there Jackie