Returning Player Still Disappointed with State of BG Queues

thesarahandcompany · January 2023

I took a break. A long break. I re-downloaded the game and the first thing I did was queue a solo BG. Took about 2-3 minutes for the queue to pop.

The next day, today, some old friends of mine in the game and I were excited to reconnect and play BGs together like old times. And unfortunately, we waited in queue for 30+ minutes to never get a game and we had to log off for tonight.

The previous decisions were to have a separate queue for group, based on the premise that too many premades ran amuck and ruined the experience for players. But I don't see any premades...so why the group queue now? I think what was once a solution before does not apply today. And that the already small BG community should just be one queue so that everyone, regardless of who they queue or don't queue with, can play in a reasonable amount of time.

Please, ZOS.

Syiccal · January 2023

Everytime someone asks to play bg with me I say no on the bases I'd rather que solo due to it being quicker 10-20 mins is average wait time. Group que is usually upwards of an hour at times and not worth it

gariondavey · January 2023

Fake news 4 man plays at night
Contact biohazard or silver416 or toughshrimpy to set up games
Sometimes magio and timber duo or add Pope in (if you were queuing with them which is pretty likely, then this doesn't help you)
Sometimes ketsparrowhawk has a 4 man queuing, so you can contact him as well to set up games
Lastly, sometimes other people throw together a 4 man, so you could contact miracle for another team to fight

If none of these are playing you will sit in queue for 1 hour and it won't pop

I do agree, though...we need to be able to choose modes or have a custom bg lobby

thesarahandcompany · January 2023

gariondavey wrote: »

Fake news 4 man plays at night
Contact biohazard or silver416 or toughshrimpy to set up games
Sometimes magio and timber duo or add Pope in (if you were queuing with them which is pretty likely, then this doesn't help you)
Sometimes ketsparrowhawk has a 4 man queuing, so you can contact him as well to set up games
Lastly, sometimes other people throw together a 4 man, so you could contact miracle for another team to fight

If none of these are playing you will sit in queue for 1 hour and it won't pop

I do agree, though...we need to be able to choose modes or have a custom bg lobby

I don't know any of these people and shouldn't have to coordinate with 12 specific people to play a game in a reasonable amount of time.

I also didn't suggest we pick game modes or have a custom lobby. IDK what you're talking about.

gariondavey · January 2023

thesarahandcompany wrote: »

gariondavey wrote: »

Fake news 4 man plays at night
Contact biohazard or silver416 or toughshrimpy to set up games
Sometimes magio and timber duo or add Pope in (if you were queuing with them which is pretty likely, then this doesn't help you)
Sometimes ketsparrowhawk has a 4 man queuing, so you can contact him as well to set up games
Lastly, sometimes other people throw together a 4 man, so you could contact miracle for another team to fight

If none of these are playing you will sit in queue for 1 hour and it won't pop

I do agree, though...we need to be able to choose modes or have a custom bg lobby

I don't know any of these people and shouldn't have to coordinate with 12 specific people to play a game in a reasonable amount of time.

I also didn't suggest we pick game modes or have a custom lobby. IDK what you're talking about.

You know virtually all of them. Half of them are in bg hub discord.

I wasn't suggesting you coordinate with 12 people. I was suggesting you coordinate with 2-3 other people (pick one from fake news, ketsparrowhawk, and miracle).

As for the last point, I had just woken up and misread what you said in your last paragraph.

thesarahandcompany · January 2023

gariondavey wrote: »

thesarahandcompany wrote: »

gariondavey wrote: »

Fake news 4 man plays at night
Contact biohazard or silver416 or toughshrimpy to set up games
Sometimes magio and timber duo or add Pope in (if you were queuing with them which is pretty likely, then this doesn't help you)
Sometimes ketsparrowhawk has a 4 man queuing, so you can contact him as well to set up games
Lastly, sometimes other people throw together a 4 man, so you could contact miracle for another team to fight

If none of these are playing you will sit in queue for 1 hour and it won't pop

I do agree, though...we need to be able to choose modes or have a custom bg lobby

I don't know any of these people and shouldn't have to coordinate with 12 specific people to play a game in a reasonable amount of time.

I also didn't suggest we pick game modes or have a custom lobby. IDK what you're talking about.

You know virtually all of them. Half of them are in bg hub discord.

I wasn't suggesting you coordinate with 12 people. I was suggesting you coordinate with 2-3 other people (pick one from fake news, ketsparrowhawk, and miracle).

As for the last point, I had just woken up and misread what you said in your last paragraph.

I don't know what that is. Sry.

gariondavey · January 2023

thesarahandcompany wrote: »

gariondavey wrote: »

thesarahandcompany wrote: »

gariondavey wrote: »

Fake news 4 man plays at night
Contact biohazard or silver416 or toughshrimpy to set up games
Sometimes magio and timber duo or add Pope in (if you were queuing with them which is pretty likely, then this doesn't help you)
Sometimes ketsparrowhawk has a 4 man queuing, so you can contact him as well to set up games
Lastly, sometimes other people throw together a 4 man, so you could contact miracle for another team to fight

If none of these are playing you will sit in queue for 1 hour and it won't pop

I do agree, though...we need to be able to choose modes or have a custom bg lobby

I don't know any of these people and shouldn't have to coordinate with 12 specific people to play a game in a reasonable amount of time.

I also didn't suggest we pick game modes or have a custom lobby. IDK what you're talking about.

You know virtually all of them. Half of them are in bg hub discord.

I wasn't suggesting you coordinate with 12 people. I was suggesting you coordinate with 2-3 other people (pick one from fake news, ketsparrowhawk, and miracle).

As for the last point, I had just woken up and misread what you said in your last paragraph.

I don't know what that is. Sry.

The bg discord you are an admin in.

Urvoth · January 2023

You shouldn't have to organize anything to get a queue to pop in the group queue system. The queues should be merged like what they used to be and we should have dm back. That plus better incentives and a reward structure could help revitalize things.

Necrotech_Master · February 2023

when i have tried the group queue, it only seems to work as either a solo, or as group of 4

group of 2 takes longer than either of those, and a group of 3 is virtually impossible to get through the queue

propertyOfUndefined · February 2023

I would personally love to see the solo and group queues merged, like they used to be. It was far more enjoyable. I think premades should just be factored into the matchmaking system -- e.g. [Team MMR] = SUM(Individual MMR) * [Number of Grouped Players]. That formula is purely hypothetical, of course, and the system wouldn't be perfect, but I think it'd be better than what we have today.

I think a lot of players learned by now that premades weren't the main reason they were getting destroyed. They were just the most convenient scapegoat.

OBJnoob · February 2023

@propertyOfUndefined first off I like your hypothetical formula. Seems like a good idea. Second off, as a solo BG player, I am willing to make this sacrifice for the overall health of bgs.

BUT. Yes indeed premades are the reason why I used to get destroyed. And I'm curious... What was I supposed to figure out otherwise? Getting beat on by 2 or 3 or even 4 guys happens in solo que as well, but when you're fighting a premade you know it. You know when your name was the one called out for focusing. It's hard to do much against it when your own group is randoms without headsets.

propertyOfUndefined · February 2023

@OBJnoob - Thanks!

I've always queued solo. I just don't have anybody to queue with. With the old system, I would get angry whispers frequently (almost daily), accusing me of being in a premade. Shortly after they separated the queues, I would still get angry whispers, this time accusing me of somehow breaking the system and still managing to get in the solo queue with my "friends". I never respond to whispers like that, but always got the urge to just say "Friends?! What friends?!".

Nowadays the whispers I get accuse me of using exploits, hacks, etc. My point is just that back in the day, it seemed like it was easiest for most players to assume that they were getting stomped by organized groups. I know for a fact that this wasn't always the case. There would be days I knew I was up against a premade because it was the same 4 people in a group over and over again. This was pretty rare though, and managing to get a win against a group like that always felt amazing!

OBJnoob · February 2023

No, a premade group isn't the end-all be-all, but IF matchmaking puts you with people of equal skill then it kinda is.

Example: I met a forum buddy in-game, we're both solo que normally, but we did a group que just to play together once. @Caribou77 didn't have a mic so we weren't THAT organized, but we were kinda watching each others backs. The two of us high mmr solo players dominated the other teams, premade or not, outnumbered or not.

But if the other players had been our skill level I'm sure it would've been a different story. In the end they were so bad I'm not sure if it was a full 4 or not.

Anyway you might be better than me because I don't get people accusing me of cheating, lol. I play(ed) a tanky-ish warden and if I decide to just go all defense I can probably survive 2 or maybe even 3 players roughly my own skill level. But if it's a premade... And they coordinate ults along with some sort of unblockable stun... Then I mean that's basically a wrap.

It is a big advantage, in my opinion, but that isn't to say I disagree with you really. Just that I like your idea for a formula to try and bridge the gap between solo and groups. I see it as being necessary because eventually you'll find premades composed of players individually as good as you. Maybe you, like some others I know by name, stand out even in the high mmr crowd. I do not, unfortunately, I fall right in the middle of that crowd.

propertyOfUndefined · February 2023

Agreed. I'm not claiming to be good, by the way. Maybe I'm just really hatable.

Dem_kitkats1 · February 2023

I agree that you shouldn't have to coordinate with groups of premades to just to get into a match within a reasonable time. Perhaps if the population is that low, queues may need to be combined. However, before that is to happen, I strongly believe a better match making system needs to be implemented beforehand. In no way should players that are new and inexperienced in PvP be going toe to toe with established, vet players in premades. Teams of randoms are already at a disadvantage without throwing skill level into the mix.