This Change to Battlegrounds is Temporary, Right?

bellanca6561n · March 2020

Yes, there are other topics regarding this change. But rather than complain about the obvious I simply want to know if this is a temporary concession to technical limitations of the matchmaking system or a permanent change?

Raisin · March 2020

They've made no statements about any intention to change it again. So while it's possible, right now I'd say permanent is the correct answer.
In my opinion, they did make it sound like there was a possibility to future adjustements, but it really wasn't very explicit.

trackdemon5512 · March 2020

It is currently a “trial” but will likely be made permanent if the problems inherent in BGs can’t be remedied. By problems I refer to unbalanced teams, failure to fill groups (either upon initially grouping or after players drop), and the resignation of many players to abandon the mode completely because of imbalance issues.

Agenericname · March 2020

They stated that it was an "experiment" and that they would be monitoring it. That leaves it pretty open ended, but, given that player feedback was one of the reasons cited, I think it's fair to say that it isn't all about technical limitations.

Given how some of the changes have seemed in other areas, DOTs, sustain, faction lock, etc, I really think it's best to take this at face value as an experiment.

bellanca6561n · March 2020

Thanks folks. Although many games - mostly MOBAs - handle group queues separately from solo queues quite well, I can see where players facing groups with voice comms would feel horribly disadvantaged given that voice comms have never been integrated in the PC version at least. I assume they'd have to be on XBox at least as that's a TCR for an XBox Live game...or was when I worked for MS on developing the online - later renamed to Live - platform.

The pity of it is that an avenue for small groups of friends to play together is now gone, as you all know - an avenue free from the forever locked into a faction nonsense.

It's a shame.

Donny_Vito · March 2020

bellanca6561n wrote: »

Thanks folks. Although many games - mostly MOBAs - handle group queues separately from solo queues quite well, I can see where players facing groups with voice comms would feel horribly disadvantaged given that voice comms have never been integrated in the PC version at least. I assume they'd have to be on XBox at least as that's a TCR for an XBox Live game...or was when I worked for MS on developing the online - later renamed to Live - platform.

The pity of it is that an avenue for small groups of friends to play together is now gone, as you all know - an avenue free from the forever locked into a faction nonsense.

It's a shame.

I thought this wasn't a complaining thread?!?

But as others have said, this is a test period. It's been less than two weeks, and I imagine they'd want at least a month or two of data (outside of event time periods) before they start to analyze that data and decide on a course of action.

bellanca6561n · March 2020

Donny_Vito wrote: »

bellanca6561n wrote: »

Thanks folks. Although many games - mostly MOBAs - handle group queues separately from solo queues quite well, I can see where players facing groups with voice comms would feel horribly disadvantaged given that voice comms have never been integrated in the PC version at least. I assume they'd have to be on XBox at least as that's a TCR for an XBox Live game...or was when I worked for MS on developing the online - later renamed to Live - platform.

The pity of it is that an avenue for small groups of friends to play together is now gone, as you all know - an avenue free from the forever locked into a faction nonsense.

It's a shame.

I thought this wasn't a complaining thread?!?

But as others have said, this is a test period. It's been less than two weeks, and I imagine they'd want at least a month or two of data (outside of event time periods) before they start to analyze that data and decide on a course of action.

Agree that there are entirely too many whiny threads, Donny. Not my intent. What I took from the comments was that this change was indefinite one is all. I simply haven't the time to pour through all the myriad patch notes and dev spoilers, alas.

idk · March 2020

If you read the patch notes Zos does specifically say this is partially an experiment. They also say they will be monitoring our feedback (probably constructive feedback vs, just rants) and the impacts on the game itself.

In other words, Zos will not change it back during this quarter. However, there is no reason to believe Zos will prevent us from grouping with friends in a group activity within an MMORPG long term.

The real question will be if there is enough interest in BGs to have both a solo queue and one without restrictions. We already see people complaining about groups they have to face just like they complained about supposed premade groups. Many of us pretty much expected this as premades are likely not as prevalent as some made them out to be.

dazee · March 2020

Hopefully it will remain until they come up with a new BG queue system which matches pre mades with other pre mades, and randoms with other randoms.

bellanca6561n · March 2020

dazee wrote: »

Hopefully it will remain until they come up with a new BG queue system which matches pre mades with other pre mades, and randoms with other randoms.

I agree fully @dazee - it's NO FUN going up against voice coordinated teams who spend their days in BGs with your group of randoms. The fact they allowed that to happen is what gave teamwork a bad name, as absurd as that sounds

xXMeowMeowXx · March 2020

ZOS said it is an experiment being watch closely or something, something.

To me this was a lazily implemented and it could of been done a lot better, yielding better results, making more people happy.

*Though I am not a dev on ESO. So what is easy to do and not with the resources and funds available to them I can not say....

Kawiki · March 2020

I've learned 2 things and only 2 things playing MMOs for 10+ years.

1. Solo and Group queues should be separate
2. Stealth is considered OP by anyone that does not have it

FierceSam · March 2020

Well, given they are on different servers, it’s possible that PC, Xbox and PlayStation users might come to different conclusions.

I think it’s a genuine experiment, from which ZOS will gather both in game player data and considered player feedback over time.

If you enjoy Battlegrounds, try it out and send ZOS your considered feedback after, say, a week of playing. There will be pros and cons of both the previous system and this one.

Everyone’s feedback on this is important.

Kawiki · March 2020

idk wrote: »

If you read the patch notes Zos does specifically say this is partially an experiment. They also say they will be monitoring our feedback (probably constructive feedback vs, just rants) and the impacts on the game itself.

In other words, Zos will not change it back during this quarter. However, there is no reason to believe Zos will prevent us from grouping with friends in a group activity within an MMORPG long term.

The real question will be if there is enough interest in BGs to have both a solo queue and one without restrictions. We already see people complaining about groups they have to face just like they complained about supposed premade groups. Many of us pretty much expected this as premades are likely not as prevalent as some made them out to be.

In other games that have separated the queues, that I have played in, the solo queue's population stays healthy no matter what. PvPers are going to PvP. The group queue becomes a wasteland unless there is a very large population where teams of equal skill can play each other. Otherwise you just have the better teams dominating the average and lesser teams and they just stop queuing.