Premades are OVER!! (At least, for now)

Kel

Patch notes...

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/508802/pts-patch-notes-v5-3-0#latest

Battlegrounds
•You can now only queue as a solo player into Battlegrounds.
•Reset the Battleground matchmaking ratings for all players.

No more premade pug stomping.
This is exactly how it should've been from the beginning.

No more easy AP, no more massive advantage...everyone is now on a more even playing field and can't rely on personal pocket healers or group crutches.

Best change I've seen to the game in a LONG time.

Alienoutlaw

i suspect its a temp thing to evaluate the the grouping system, plus it wont hurt to find out just how good you are without anyone to help

Kel

Alienoutlaw wrote: »

plus it wont hurt to find out just how good you are without anyone to help

I think that's what alot of players are afraid of.

After all, you can always PvP with friends in Cyrodiil, CP or No-CP. The "play with friends" thing doesn't really wash, there's places you can still PvP with your group of friends.

This takes away the crutch. No more certainty of a healer, no more group AoE synergy builds, no more stomping on disorganized pug groups.

Yes, I can easily see why some players would fear this change. A more even playing field isn't nearly as easy, and that doesn't fit into thier best interest.

Group in Cyrodiil. Let players have a fighting chance in battlegrounds.

brandonv516

Yep one of the best things from the notes!

Alienoutlaw

@Kel totally agree

MrGhosty

Kel wrote: »

Alienoutlaw wrote: »

plus it wont hurt to find out just how good you are without anyone to help

I think that's what alot of players are afraid of.

After all, you can always PvP with friends in Cyrodiil, CP or No-CP. The "play with friends" thing doesn't really wash, there's places you can still PvP with your group of friends.

This takes away the crutch. No more certainty of a healer, no more group AoE synergy builds, no more stomping on disorganized pug groups.

Yes, I can easily see why some players would fear this change. A more even playing field isn't nearly as easy, and that doesn't fit into thier best interest.

Group in Cyrodiil. Let players have a fighting chance in battlegrounds.

Which is well and good, and pug stomping is always bad behavior.

Don't forget though this change also affects many people who just enjoyed grouping up in duos, 3 man, etc for the fun of fast access to fights rather than the horse riding simulator that is cyrodiil. I never thought it was right that solos have to deal with premades, we should have at the very least had a ranked mode that didn't allow grouping and an unranked that allowed anyone in with the option to setup private matches for organized group fighting.

It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out, whether this change drives away more population than it brings in. Sadly, as I enjoying playing as a duo with my wife this change pretty much squashes that so I'll just have to rely on the word of others.

Qbiken

I wonder what these players that use the "premade excuse" (the amount of premades aren't as big as some people want to make it seem like) will use next when they keep getting wrecked in BG's after the next patch? Will certainly be interesting to see.

I'm happt that mmr is being reseted however, at least I won't have to waste 20 min in a queue......but still quite the price to pay since I can no longer duo queue, which is what I mainly do.

And now that people can't use the "if you want smallscale go and play BG's" argument, I only think it's fair that Cyrodil becomes more balanced after smaller groups since they no longer can do their "thing" in BG's anymore right? (A bit of sarcasm if that wasn't clear enough)

Karmanorway

I like it too, still should have been a 2nd queue for groups though so they can fight with each other, away from me xD 👍

kadar

Qbiken wrote: »

I wonder what these players that use the "premade excuse" (the amount of premades aren't as big as some people want to make it seem like) will use next when they keep getting wrecked in BG's after the next patch? Will certainly be interesting to see.

I'm happt that mmr is being reseted however, at least I won't have to waste 20 min in a queue......but still quite the price to pay since I can no longer duo queue, which is what I mainly do.

And now that people can't use the "if you want smallscale go and play BG's" argument, I only think it's fair that Cyrodil becomes more balanced after smaller groups since they no longer can do their "thing" in BG's anymore right? (A bit of sarcasm if that wasn't clear enough)

Do players use the existence of premades as an excuse (also anything), yes.

The interesting thing is-- those of use who played yesterday during the broken grouping period already know what pure solo queue BGs feel like since no one was able to group.

It was the best night of BGs I've played since BG day 1. I probably did over 20 BGs over the course of the day. Balance between teams was notably better. Queue times were low (presumable because like me, people realized there wouldn't be premades that night) and almost all matches finished 4v4v4.

I'd prefer that we still have the option to duo queue, but honestly solo queue only is not a bad thing.

Gravord

Idotic decision.
Its a *** mmo, teaming up with your guild and friends is a basic principle of it.

ApostateHobo

Honestly so pleased about this and hope it stays a permanent thing.

MurderMostFoul

Not ideal, but certainly an improvement over the current situation.

Gaggin

If groups of friends playing together bother you, maybe mmos aren't your thing.

ChunkyCat

I don’t want anyone to group. Ever.

Stop making friends and just be anti social like the rest of us.

ecru

doesn't bother me tbh, but they really should just give up on this system and go to 8v8 and make 4 person premades possible or even 2, and match premades on opposite teams along with pugs. the 3 team experiment hasn't gone well to say the least.

Mariusghost84

Kel wrote: »

Patch notes...

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/508802/pts-patch-notes-v5-3-0#latest

Battlegrounds
•You can now only queue as a solo player into Battlegrounds.
•Reset the Battleground matchmaking ratings for all players.

No more premade pug stomping.
This is exactly how it should've been from the beginning.

No more easy AP, no more massive advantage...everyone is now on a more even playing field and can't rely on personal pocket healers or group crutches.

Best change I've seen to the game in a LONG time.

@Kel This is absolutely amazing and really a GAMECHANGER. I love BGs and cant wait for this to hit live!

edit: Also, futher MMR rating will be based on you OWN performance. this is a fenomenal change aswell!

ZarkingFrued

Kel wrote: »

Patch notes...

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/508802/pts-patch-notes-v5-3-0#latest

Battlegrounds
•You can now only queue as a solo player into Battlegrounds.
•Reset the Battleground matchmaking ratings for all players.

No more premade pug stomping.
This is exactly how it should've been from the beginning.

No more easy AP, no more massive advantage...everyone is now on a more even playing field and can't rely on personal pocket healers or group crutches.

Best change I've seen to the game in a LONG time.

Cause no one wants to play with friends in an MMO

idk

Alienoutlaw wrote: »

i suspect its a temp thing to evaluate the the grouping system, plus it wont hurt to find out just how good you are without anyone to help

Pretty much this and the patch notes even say it is an experiment (Zos' choice of word, not mine). It would not make sense to keep it long term. Want MMORPG has a group/team activity and refuses to let you play it with friends? None worth playing until this change so it stands to reason it is just temporary.

Besides, who will players blame for getting stomped now?

Weesacs

Best change I've read in a long time. This has made my day. Now I don't need to face the same premades game after game after game. Kudos ZoS 💪👍 PS hopefully in the future they will add a queuing system to accommodate premades as well as add more incentives to get more of them to join up. As much as I love these changes, a remedy should be found to accommodate premades as well.

Amksed1991

This is bad honestly.

I recently just got a friend into the game and persuaded him to come PvP with me after showing him videos and my stream and now he won't be able to actually play with me, this is an MMO after all.

I get that some players were getting slaughtered by 4man premades but there already was a fix for that....queue up with your own 4man premade.

If they go through with this then they need to make a ranked arenas category with 2 teams only that allows premades.

Beardimus

I see both sides.

Yes many folks have complained about PUG stomping, it's run for neither side winner or loser.

However with decent MMR players that premade alot face other premades on the whole. And BG being a easy to access battle ground to build group synergy and tactics especially for newer players is a Shame to lose. Yes there's Cyrodill but that's hardly consistent fights with small scale objectives.

They need to offer both.

Solo queue AND a group queue seperatly that could even include leaderboards and incentives etc. Theres no harm in a choice..

Skill and knowledge gap will still be an issue, as those that play BG regularly can appear premade in a PUG knowing the maps, going after objectives etc..

Minyassa

MrGhosty wrote: »

Kel wrote: »

Alienoutlaw wrote: »

plus it wont hurt to find out just how good you are without anyone to help

I think that's what alot of players are afraid of.

After all, you can always PvP with friends in Cyrodiil, CP or No-CP. The "play with friends" thing doesn't really wash, there's places you can still PvP with your group of friends.

This takes away the crutch. No more certainty of a healer, no more group AoE synergy builds, no more stomping on disorganized pug groups.

Yes, I can easily see why some players would fear this change. A more even playing field isn't nearly as easy, and that doesn't fit into thier best interest.

Group in Cyrodiil. Let players have a fighting chance in battlegrounds.

Which is well and good, and pug stomping is always bad behavior.

Don't forget though this change also affects many people who just enjoyed grouping up in duos, 3 man, etc for the fun of fast access to fights rather than the horse riding simulator that is cyrodiil. I never thought it was right that solos have to deal with premades, we should have at the very least had a ranked mode that didn't allow grouping and an unranked that allowed anyone in with the option to setup private matches for organized group fighting.

It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out, whether this change drives away more population than it brings in. Sadly, as I enjoying playing as a duo with my wife this change pretty much squashes that so I'll just have to rely on the word of others.

It's driving me right out. I was actually just about to respec my main to a BGs character and let my guildmates draw me into it, after watching them stream how much fun they were having doing BGs as a social activity. I'd resisted PvP for a long time and only delved into it a few times because it was hard to find a group of friends who could all agree on alliance, so BGs were the perfect solution and they had finally talked me into a positive attitude about PvP. I suppose I should thank ZOS for saving me all that time grinding for new gear and learning how to play a new build. I'm not in it to randomly kill people and ignore mechanics, I wanted to play actual games with my friends. Looks like I now have to look outside ESO for that.

Kel

ZarkingFrued wrote: »

Kel wrote: »

Patch notes...

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/508802/pts-patch-notes-v5-3-0#latest

Battlegrounds
•You can now only queue as a solo player into Battlegrounds.
•Reset the Battleground matchmaking ratings for all players.

No more premade pug stomping.
This is exactly how it should've been from the beginning.

No more easy AP, no more massive advantage...everyone is now on a more even playing field and can't rely on personal pocket healers or group crutches.

Best change I've seen to the game in a LONG time.

Cause no one wants to play with friends in an MMO

So weird when I see solo Cyrodiil players who put down groups calling them zerglings and hype solo play here advocating for group play.

There is a massive imbalance between coordinated groups and random players in battlegrounds. This removes that and puts the competition on a level playing field. As much as possible. Ideally, yes, they would have a premade queue for people who want to group. But this "experiment" is at least worth a try.

It's funny how everyone claims they want good fights in PvP...unless it's battlegrounds. I also hear a lot that it's no fun for premades to stomp pugs. It's no fun to be on the other side either. Are we now defending something that both sides don't consider fun?
This fixes both things.

Again, I just find it weird that someone says grouping in Cyrodiil is a crutch and yet will somehow defend that in battlegrounds.
Playing with your friends is still an option in Cyrodiil and better yet, Imperial City.

Alomar

Solo que'ers may rejoice, I solo que half the time too and still win 9/10, but this wasn't done to benefit your playstyle. This is a band-aid fix because they can't improve the activity finder's performance after many failed attempts. Both resetting mmr and only allowing solo ques will make the load on the activity finder significantly less, especially right away. Just another pathetic excuse for development by ZOS, it just so happens this one spits in the face of mmo players in an mmo.

sdh91885

In my experience, solo queuing was always a challenge. It seemed when I went in to a BG solo, a solid curb-stomping was in my future at the hands of, usually 2, premade groups. Very frustrating. But, when I was in the premade, it always seemed to be the opposite. We'd be dishing out some decent punishment to what seemed to be 8 random players (there was one recent match with only one other team).

Here's my problem. When I play with my premade group, it is always much more fun. The losses I experience in my premade group are more enjoyable than my solo, random wins. This game has always seemed to be about creating a better group experience, and I'm not sure this change facilitates that.

I understand why most seem to like this change, but as most have already stated, I think a second queue for groups (that allows even solo queuing and would just drop a rando in with a three man group) is worth looking in to.

It will be interesting to see how the community reacts. On the one hand, I see a lot of people just not grouping for BG's after this. On the other, I see a lot of folks who did not previously queue for BG's jumping in.

Gravord

sdh91885 wrote: »

On the other, I see a lot of folks who did not previously queue for BG's jumping in.

Who will get stomped anyway, blame something else and continue not to q.

Lintashi

I really like how people think, that if player have problems in BG playing solo, he has to find himself a premade, and steamroll newbies and other solo players. When asked to try solo, they whine- how will great me play with randoms, where everyone runs in every direction and noone has impen in their gear? Well, just like I did, for years, you know! And just like any other solo player did, all by themselves, without being carried by team. I have many friends ingame, but only one or two occasionally do BG. Now, everyone will have to rely on their own strength, and have their own ranking. Also, sewers and Cyrodiil are good places for groups of friends, let ppl have one place, where they can pvp solo.

ZOS_Volpe

Greetings,

As we've removed a few baiting and non-constructive comments, please remember that while it’s all right to disagree or even debate with each other, provoking conflict, baiting, inciting, mocking, etc. is never acceptable in the official The Elder Scrolls Online community.

Thank you for your understanding.

Gravord

Lintashi wrote: »

Now, everyone will have to rely on their own strength

In other words everyone will have to spec same all around builds because team synergy is out the window. Everyone have to self heal, self sustain and do dmg in same time. Effort of building towards best team result out the window, care only for yourself little puggies. Such improvement...
And even with that you wont rely on your strenght anyway, bad players will drag it down for everyone else as they always do, they will just find something else to blame than premades. Which werent so many to begin with, its just convinient excuse for crap players to pin their own failures. Game at peak times maybe had actual 2-3 full 4 man teams, rest is duo or trio q at most.

SeveN085

Best change ever, hope it goes live and stays forever

TigressCreed

I’m guessing the reason they don’t want to offer TWO queues one solo one group is to avoid people AP farming with really strong groups... could be wrong. But I think that’s the main complaint against it