PTS Update 25 - Feedback Thread for Battlegrounds Solo Queuing

xzeron · June 2020

pls bring back party queue for battleground.. I want play with friends

EzzraOG · June 2020

Under normal circumstances this wouldn't bother me based on the fact I normally play BG solo however I intermittently try to get my friend into the game and as he loves PVP in other games its alot easier to get him into BG first before the SAVAGE world of Cyrodiil so when questing got abit boring for him and dungeon queue .....(say no more) are failing BG is normally easier option these days bit nope... back to CoD for him 😏

ThatZimGuy · July 2020

Thought I'd add one more voice asking for the ability to queue with friends to be returned to the game.

I played this game for years and would gladly return if I could play battlegrounds with my friends again. It was by far my favourite part of the game. I understand the complexity of trying to address this issue with staunch supporters of both sides, but I feel that entirely removing the ability to play with friends isn't the ideal solution in an MMORPG, a genre that is all about playing with friends.

The way I see it, the two issues are queue health, and power gap between 4 friends in discord vs 4 strangers who queued solo. Adding a second queue for groups will help the latter but make the former even worse. Instead, I beg you to look at ways to boost the potential of solo players to come together as a team, so that groups can be reintegrated.

Ways I would propose addressing this (from a position of pure ignorance ITO how achievable they are):
- A report/commendation system for players to rate team-mates post-game with penalties/rewards to encourage teamwork and discourage toxicity;
- Smart pings to enable players not in discord to communicate effectively, enabling that teamwork we want to see;
- Higher rewards for solo queue players than group players so that there are clear advantages to playing solo despite the chance of running into 4 lifelong friends who really know how to play together;

I truly believe that implementing these and/or similar fixes will permanently address the queue health issues, leaving the ongoing balancing of solo v group (eg through the reward structure) to be far easier. The fact is that ESO has the best PvP of any of the MMORPGs out there and it feels like a wasted opportunity to have one the PvP modes reduced in scope to address these issues, when instead it could be expanded and recognised as the best experience this game has to offer.

Jodynn · July 2020

I quit battlegrounds because I can't play with my mate. It's not fun alone.

igniz93 · July 2020

Imagine being unable to play BGs with your friends in a MMO, unlucky I guess

Machete · July 2020

It really is a simple solution. Really, it's this simple:

Add a solo que for those who wanna get random groups. Make that the daily if needed.

Add group ques for groups who wanna fight other premades.

It shouldn't have to be this or that, it shouldn't have to be 1 or 2 groups of unkillable tanks ruining an entire game mode for all of the player base. Just *Separate* them from each other. There are people who enjoy trying to crack those shells. It could even lead to groups of players forming BG guilds! Make events out of it like the community does with dueling.

Foto1 · July 2020

BG solo was the best solution. thanks ZOS

TequilaFire · July 2020

disagree

MurderMostFoul · July 2020

Machete wrote: »

It really is a simple solution. Really, it's this simple:

Add a solo que for those who wanna get random groups. Make that the daily if needed.

Add group ques for groups who wanna fight other premades.

It shouldn't have to be this or that, it shouldn't have to be 1 or 2 groups of unkillable tanks ruining an entire game mode for all of the player base. Just *Separate* them from each other. There are people who enjoy trying to crack those shells. It could even lead to groups of players forming BG guilds! Make events out of it like the community does with dueling.

In all likelihood, the group-only queue would have very long queue times.

Lots of folks like solo-only, lots of folk want to be able to queue with their friends. Why not a compromise? Let solos and duos queue for battlegrounds. This allows for social play without game-breaking 4-man premades. It would also avoid issues with long queue times for folks trying to play with friends. It would probably reduce overall queue times by increasing the BG population with players being drawn back to play with a friend.

Kidgangster101 · July 2020

Hey guys I quit the game and I'm having so much fun on ff14! I can play with my friends! Who would have thought it was a possibility!

And it also barely lags! Jeez makes it seems like something isn't working as intended and people don't want to fix lag!

mairwen85 · July 2020

MurderMostFoul wrote: »

Machete wrote: »

It really is a simple solution. Really, it's this simple:

Add a solo que for those who wanna get random groups. Make that the daily if needed.

Add group ques for groups who wanna fight other premades.

It shouldn't have to be this or that, it shouldn't have to be 1 or 2 groups of unkillable tanks ruining an entire game mode for all of the player base. Just *Separate* them from each other. There are people who enjoy trying to crack those shells. It could even lead to groups of players forming BG guilds! Make events out of it like the community does with dueling.

In all likelihood, the group-only queue would have very long queue times.

And yet you can be queuing for hours at a time in solo queues or end up with incomplete teams...

Add a leader-board and ranking for groups with rewards and bragging rights; that way the population will organically organise themselves. Solo queue can continue as now, but ranked matches will require organised grouping for a more competitive play style and strategy.

drakthir · July 2020

MurderMostFoul wrote: »

Machete wrote: »

It really is a simple solution. Really, it's this simple:

Add a solo que for those who wanna get random groups. Make that the daily if needed.

Add group ques for groups who wanna fight other premades.

It shouldn't have to be this or that, it shouldn't have to be 1 or 2 groups of unkillable tanks ruining an entire game mode for all of the player base. Just *Separate* them from each other. There are people who enjoy trying to crack those shells. It could even lead to groups of players forming BG guilds! Make events out of it like the community does with dueling.

In all likelihood, the group-only queue would have very long queue times.

Lots of folks like solo-only, lots of folk want to be able to queue with their friends. Why not a compromise? Let solos and duos queue for battlegrounds. This allows for social play without game-breaking 4-man premades. It would also avoid issues with long queue times for folks trying to play with friends. It would probably reduce overall queue times by increasing the BG population with players being drawn back to play with a friend.

2 premade players will still have an advantage, there should be no premades in solo queue.
I remember reading when this change was first proposed a lot of people against it were for a group queue and they were fine with longer wait times.

Solo queue is much better

TequilaFire · July 2020

Yep much better to 1vX new players with nothing to stop the Xer.

MurderMostFoul · July 2020

mairwen85 wrote: »

MurderMostFoul wrote: »

Machete wrote: »

It really is a simple solution. Really, it's this simple:

Add a solo que for those who wanna get random groups. Make that the daily if needed.

Add group ques for groups who wanna fight other premades.

It shouldn't have to be this or that, it shouldn't have to be 1 or 2 groups of unkillable tanks ruining an entire game mode for all of the player base. Just *Separate* them from each other. There are people who enjoy trying to crack those shells. It could even lead to groups of players forming BG guilds! Make events out of it like the community does with dueling.

In all likelihood, the group-only queue would have very long queue times.

And yet you can be queuing for hours at a time in solo queues or end up with incomplete teams...

Add a leader-board and ranking for groups with rewards and bragging rights; that way the population will organically organise themselves. Solo queue can continue as now, but ranked matches will require organised grouping for a more competitive play style and strategy.

That sucks. On Xbox NA, even in high MMR, I almost never wait more than 15 mins for a match. Usually I'm in one in less than 5 mins.

drakthir wrote: »

MurderMostFoul wrote: »

Machete wrote: »

It really is a simple solution. Really, it's this simple:

Add a solo que for those who wanna get random groups. Make that the daily if needed.

Add group ques for groups who wanna fight other premades.

It shouldn't have to be this or that, it shouldn't have to be 1 or 2 groups of unkillable tanks ruining an entire game mode for all of the player base. Just *Separate* them from each other. There are people who enjoy trying to crack those shells. It could even lead to groups of players forming BG guilds! Make events out of it like the community does with dueling.

In all likelihood, the group-only queue would have very long queue times.

Lots of folks like solo-only, lots of folk want to be able to queue with their friends. Why not a compromise? Let solos and duos queue for battlegrounds. This allows for social play without game-breaking 4-man premades. It would also avoid issues with long queue times for folks trying to play with friends. It would probably reduce overall queue times by increasing the BG population with players being drawn back to play with a friend.

2 premade players will still have an advantage, there should be no premades in solo queue.
I remember reading when this change was first proposed a lot of people against it were for a group queue and they were fine with longer wait times.

Solo queue is much better

2 premade players will have an advantage, but it won't be insurmountable. That's what makes it a compromise. In reality, trying to please everyone is rarely a feasible solution. Compromise, give and take, normally works out best.

mikeb16_ESO77 · July 2020

The lack of ability to pvp with a friend/partner is really killing the joy in this game for alot of us. As written in the beginning of this thread doing battlegrounds and doing it with someone was the main thing alot of us did in this game. Doing it solo is for me, and Im sure alot of players, at best for testing builds and it has nothing to do with success rate. Its not something ill spend an evening doing. And this is not about pugstomping or owning solo players Its about enjoying the game, this mmo, with someone win or lose. And cyrodiil is not an alternative. No 1 Its not nearly the same game mode and no 2, cyrodiil is so unplayable due to lag that they are even considering changing core mechanics to make it playable. Thus there are no funtioning pvp alternative if you wants to play with someone in this game anymore. Please bring back group que or at least let duos in.

Jodynn · July 2020

I'd be happy with duo queues.

sabresandiego_ESO · July 2020

brandoncoffmannub18_ESO wrote: »

I'd be happy with duo queues.

Only if they are in a different pool than solo que. A good duo can easily dominate a BG filled with random solos and make the game unplayable

Olupajmibanan · July 2020

sabresandiego_ESO wrote: »

brandoncoffmannub18_ESO wrote: »

I'd be happy with duo queues.

Only if they are in a different pool than solo que. A good duo can easily dominate a BG filled with random solos and make the game unplayable

That's why most popular PvP-focused games allow duos and solos to be in the same match even in ranked modes, right?

Dihaki · July 2020

The solution is simple, create BG as a group and maintain BG solo as well.

Unified_Gaming · July 2020

But they're still "testing" it...

MurderMostFoul · July 2020

sabresandiego_ESO wrote: »

brandoncoffmannub18_ESO wrote: »

I'd be happy with duo queues.

Only if they are in a different pool than solo que. A good duo can easily dominate a BG filled with random solos and make the game unplayable

That's some hyperbole.

mav1234 · July 2020

brandoncoffmannub18_ESO wrote: »

I'd be happy with duo queues.

Duo queues are the sensible option to revitalize BGs. yes, a good duo can stomp a bunch of disorganized randoms (as can a single player, for that matter), but at high MMR, plenty of good players could overcome a duo while solo queuing. It happened plenty before U25.

RatchetKaar · July 2020

They are still experimenting guys,give them time. Just like they will test the upcoming aoe cooldown changes. Its just an experiment/test guys, give them time, we will get the results of their experiments/tests for sure, since when zos made a change without listening player feedback ^^

Calminayon · August 2020

A solo/duo queue seems to be the way to go. It's the best possible compromise ZOS can make and would leave most people happy with this awesome game mode. I really wish they'd just give that a go. Duo BG with my friends was our main and almost exclusive ESO activity. We tried moving our activities to Cyro/IC but it's just not nearly as enjoyable.

I find it hard to convince pvp friends from other games to give ESO a go now. IC's basically PvE outside of the event and Cyro-horsesimulator-rektbyballgroup-can'tgetmyskillsoff-laaaaaag-dill isn't exactly helping me selling the game to them.

I read all these doom visions of duos owning BGs if they implement this. I genuinely doubt that will happen. I've played plenty of solo BGs after they made this horrible change and it really wasn't much more or less balanced than it was before.

My team owned some and got hammered in others. I imagine I would have labeled some of the better teams to be pre-mades in the past - admit it, we all did it when we got hammered. It's easier to accept than them simply being better - but I couldn't use that excuse this time. I just had to up my game, and hope for the 100cp guy to not be in my team next match (sorry mate, but you know..).

So many players seem to want to take the easy route and simply claim any decent team to be a pre-made but that wasn't the case before and can't be the case now. I had players 'accusing' me of ruining their experience with my premade when I was playing solo and I thought I was getting hammered by a premade only to see those players being spread out over different teams in the next match.

Yes, agreed, although it didn't happen very often, being stuck against a 4-man premade wasn't fun. Duo's the compromise, it has been since this discussion started, really. Please make it happen. There's no mention of it in these PTS forums so that means that we'll be without the option to play BG with our friends (in an MMO!) for at least 9 months. Don't make it a full year..

Dusk_Coven · August 2020

If they had leagues AND different leagues couldn't play each other AND you can't cheat the rating system by rerolling a new toon for under-50 ... they wouldn't need to force solo queuing.

If they moved open world PvP into BG instead, and had scenarios like keep capture, with 12v12v12 (or less, if they have to tweak for performance) we wouldn't have an AoE test that threatens to wreck combat in and out of Cyrodiil.

Foto1 · August 2020

Calminayon wrote: »

A solo/duo queue seems to be the way to go. It's the best possible compromise ZOS can make and would leave most people happy with this awesome game mode. I really wish they'd just give that a go. Duo BG with my friends was our main and almost exclusive ESO activity. We tried moving our activities to Cyro/IC but it's just not nearly as enjoyable.

I find it hard to convince pvp friends from other games to give ESO a go now. IC's basically PvE outside of the event and Cyro-horsesimulator-rektbyballgroup-can'tgetmyskillsoff-laaaaaag-dill isn't exactly helping me selling the game to them.

I read all these doom visions of duos owning BGs if they implement this. I genuinely doubt that will happen. I've played plenty of solo BGs after they made this horrible change and it really wasn't much more or less balanced than it was before.

My team owned some and got hammered in others. I imagine I would have labeled some of the better teams to be pre-mades in the past - admit it, we all did it when we got hammered. It's easier to accept than them simply being better - but I couldn't use that excuse this time. I just had to up my game, and hope for the 100cp guy to not be in my team next match (sorry mate, but you know..).

So many players seem to want to take the easy route and simply claim any decent team to be a pre-made but that wasn't the case before and can't be the case now. I had players 'accusing' me of ruining their experience with my premade when I was playing solo and I thought I was getting hammered by a premade only to see those players being spread out over different teams in the next match.

Yes, agreed, although it didn't happen very often, being stuck against a 4-man premade wasn't fun. Duo's the compromise, it has been since this discussion started, really. Please make it happen. There's no mention of it in these PTS forums so that means that we'll be without the option to play BG with our friends (in an MMO!) for at least 9 months. Don't make it a full year..

solo players have been beaten by pre-mades for 3 years, so 9 months is not much

mikeb16_ESO77 · August 2020

Foto1 wrote: »

Calminayon wrote: »

A solo/duo queue seems to be the way to go. It's the best possible compromise ZOS can make and would leave most people happy with this awesome game mode. I really wish they'd just give that a go. Duo BG with my friends was our main and almost exclusive ESO activity. We tried moving our activities to Cyro/IC but it's just not nearly as enjoyable.

I find it hard to convince pvp friends from other games to give ESO a go now. IC's basically PvE outside of the event and Cyro-horsesimulator-rektbyballgroup-can'tgetmyskillsoff-laaaaaag-dill isn't exactly helping me selling the game to them.

I read all these doom visions of duos owning BGs if they implement this. I genuinely doubt that will happen. I've played plenty of solo BGs after they made this horrible change and it really wasn't much more or less balanced than it was before.

My team owned some and got hammered in others. I imagine I would have labeled some of the better teams to be pre-mades in the past - admit it, we all did it when we got hammered. It's easier to accept than them simply being better - but I couldn't use that excuse this time. I just had to up my game, and hope for the 100cp guy to not be in my team next match (sorry mate, but you know..).

So many players seem to want to take the easy route and simply claim any decent team to be a pre-made but that wasn't the case before and can't be the case now. I had players 'accusing' me of ruining their experience with my premade when I was playing solo and I thought I was getting hammered by a premade only to see those players being spread out over different teams in the next match.

Yes, agreed, although it didn't happen very often, being stuck against a 4-man premade wasn't fun. Duo's the compromise, it has been since this discussion started, really. Please make it happen. There's no mention of it in these PTS forums so that means that we'll be without the option to play BG with our friends (in an MMO!) for at least 9 months. Don't make it a full year..

solo players have been beaten by pre-mades for 3 years, so 9 months is not much

Most people who duo/group also play solo. But you are missing the point. We have always been able to que solo to BGs, then as well as now. There have never been a time where you couldn't. The ability to que with a friend was removed. A feature that was even used in the marketing of Morrowind without adding any alternatives.

RatchetKaar · August 2020

This thread is one of the most viewed "PTS Feedback Thread", clearly people have a lot to say about this change and you rarely get positive feedback on forums, its mostly constructive criticism(or toxic criticism). This thread being this active clearly show that players are not happy about this change.
Can you guys at ZoS do what you are supposed to do and listen to player feedback on this thread? Give us proof that you care about your player base so people can find a reason to be hopeful and keep playing your game.

Cinbri · August 2020

RatchetKaar wrote: »

This thread is one of the most viewed "PTS Feedback Thread", clearly people have a lot to say about this change and you rarely get positive feedback on forums, its mostly constructive criticism(or toxic criticism). This thread being this active clearly show that players are not happy about this change.
Can you guys at ZoS do what you are supposed to do and listen to player feedback on this thread? Give us proof that you care about your player base so people can find a reason to be hopeful and keep playing your game.

Zos back intime said they doing game for casuals, i.e. people who will play game week or so, then abandon it, then come for a week or so with new update. It theirs main cash auditory. And those people obviously coming to play bg match as if it Call of Duty match, they wont need teammplay and strategy, build perfection or even get a friends to play with. Ofc they were unhappy that they were wiped by people who invested time in this game, developed teamplay, i.e. ruined their casual way to play game. So casuals whined and zos listened.
And you know, zos said themselves, they know how to kill smth in this game.

Foto1 · August 2020

RatchetKaar wrote: »

This thread is one of the most viewed "PTS Feedback Thread", clearly people have a lot to say about this change and you rarely get positive feedback on forums, its mostly constructive criticism(or toxic criticism). This thread being this active clearly show that players are not happy about this change.
Can you guys at ZoS do what you are supposed to do and listen to player feedback on this thread? Give us proof that you care about your player base so people can find a reason to be hopeful and keep playing your game.

I'm happy with this change. and you only see what you want to see