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Update 0.35 (very late notes)

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https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/second-major-update-apocalypse-season-now-available

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Special Operation “War”

 

The second mission of the Apocalypse Special Operation awaits you in this update.

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A month after the Gori operation, Ivo Rinaldi and Igor Kopylov embark upon a new mission. With their settlement slowly but surely running out of fuel, they search far and wide to find one of the few sources left in the world. Their quest takes them to the other side of the globe, Panama, where a precious item has been discovered intact – one of the last tankers in existence, full of precious cargo. Little do they know that a meeting with an old acquaintance of theirs awaits them...

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This mission is available the same way previous Special Operation missions were – in order to access it, you need to play the first Special Operation mission of the series, “Plague”. It comes with its own set of achievements and rewards, including a new camouflage and a player avatar. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

 

New Contract with T-90A Burlak

 

A new Contract Mission campaign awaits you in Update 0.35 with similar mechanics to those used during the last one – first, you earn the reward vehicle directly and then a seasonal Loot Crate with goodies.

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This time, you'll be able to unlock the Russian T-90A Burlak Tier 8 Premium MBT, a combination of a T-90A hull and an experimental turret called Burlak. Aside from generally being durable and well-rounded performance-wise, the vehicle features a twin-feed Ready Rack where firing your gun does not interrupt its loading process. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

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Please note that this contract will stay available at least until September, so there’s plenty of time to get this vehicle in case you are interested.

 

New T-72A Model

 

Once again, we have overhauled a vehicle model and all the vehicles that use it as a basis. This time, it was the T-72A Tier 5 Main Battle Tank and its premium variants, most notably the T-72AV.

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Much like the T-72B before it, the new model was made in high quality and from scratch. To learn more about it, please read our dedicated article.

 

Tier 7-10 HE and HEAT-MP Shell Changes

 

We have introduced a number of changes to high-Tier HE and HEAT-MP shells, including a different way of calculating non-penetration and partial penetration damage results, changes to splash mechanics and HEAT-MP non-penetration damage reductions in order to make high-Tier gameplay more inviting and fun. You can read more about the details in our dedicated article.

 

Further Season Plans

 

Update 0.35 will be available at least until May and a steady stream of content will be available throughout its course. Here’s a sample of what you can look forward to in the near future:

  • Brand new Operation Desert Storm-themed Raid event
  • An epic event to celebrate the end of the Second World War
  • An interesting surprise for April 1
  • Several new vehicles
  • UI improvements and overhauls
  • Various smaller features, rebalances and fixes

And much more. You can read more about the contents of Update 0.35 below:

 

List of Update 0.35 Changes

 

 

Gameplay Mechanisms

 

New Contract Campaign

A new Contract Mission campaign awaits you in Update 0.35 with similar mechanics to those used during the last one. This time, you'll be able to unlock the T-90A Burlak Tier 8 Premium MBT. You can read more about the Burlak in our dedicated article.

Updated Match Launch

We have optimized the way battles are loaded in order to shorten the loading time. We have also updated the battle start timer mechanism – the 30 second countdown to start now begins as soon as 80 percent of all players are present. As soon as 100 percent of all players are present, the timer switches to a 3 second countdown, after which the match begins.

Sniper Updates

We've adjusted the way the Sniper type Mechanized Infantry operates. Previously, the Sniper wouldn't often fire at its targets correctly. As of now:

  • The Sniper now targets enemy Mechanized Infantry at reasonable distances
  • The Sniper will fire at an enemy vehicle if it gets spotted and if it has no other target

General Changes

  • Improved the Mechanized Infantry animations and fixed some issues with infantry models
  • The War Games mode (weekend Special Operations and Labyrinth) Loot Crate now drops Battle Coins for the next Battle Path
  • Updated the Garage to fit the feel of the new Special Operation – there's a storm brewing on the horizon
  • Mastery Flag symbols in the Battle Hero window are now visible to all players, not just you
  • The ATGMs intercepted by your APS now appear in the Incoming Damage table as repelled
  • The Armor Inspector now displays HESH penetration zones correctly
  • Fixed some small visual issues of the Garage
  • The Light Gray base paint became darker in order to make it a bit more different from other light base paints
  • HE and PELE round UI damage per minute values are now based on full penetrations instead of non-penetrations
  • Fixed an issue where the fire damage caused by Mechanized Infantry wouldn't count towards the match results
  • Tweaked the music volume levels
  • Optimized several client processes
  • Fixed an issue that could lead to a game crash when deploying smoke
  • Fixed an issue that could lead to you being kicked from a battle for no reason

 

Vehicles

 

General Changes

  • The autocannon shell count for the whole BMPT series increased from 900 to 1200
  • Fixed an issue where a number of vehicles with the intended gun elevation above 60 degrees had it limited to 60 degrees (ZSU-23-4 Shilka, BMD-2, BMD-2M, BMD-4, BMP-2, Šakal and the Hunter AFV)
  • Illumination and smoke SPG rounds now use a different, sharper trajectory
  • The vehicles that previously had empty smoke grenade launchers on their visual models now have them full
  • Fixed the muzzle appearance on multiple vehicles
  • Drowned tank model no longer appears as if it burned out
  • Fixed a large number of small visual and collision issues on multiple models (small texture adjustments etc.)

Akatsiya

  • This vehicle's roof-mounted machinegun now also moves vertically when aiming

Al Hussein

  • Improved this vehicle's textures

B1 Draco

  • This vehicle now has an active ability called Radar, allowing it to trade 4 percent camouflage rating for extra 50 meters of viewrange and the ability to better spot enemy vehicles hiding behind foliage
  • The radar is now animated
  • Reduced the base viewrange of this vehicle from 430m to 420m

BMP-3

  • All 30mm shells now have the same reload time of 0.24 seconds

BMPT-72

  • Fixed an issue where, when firing at this vehicle's destroyed ERA elements, it appeared as if the shells were flying right through it

BWP-2000

  • Fixed the appearance of this vehicle's second decal slot

Challenger 1

  • Improved this vehicle's textures
  • Fixed this vehicle's gun textures
  • Fixed the second slot decal appearance

Challenger 1 Falcon

  • Improved this vehicle's textures

ERC-90 F4 Sagaie

  • Improved the quality of this vehicle's visual model
  • Fixed the first slot decal appearance for the République and Shark skins

Griffin 50mm

  • Fixed this vehicle's gun recoil animation

Kornet-EM

  • Changed the frontal mudguard armor from 10mm to 5mm to correspond to the rest of the vehicle

Kurganets-25

  • This vehicle's ERA name now appears correctly in the Armor Inspector window

Leopard 2

  • Improved the turret side armor by 100mm

Leopard 2A5

  • Improved the turret side armor by 100mm

Leopard 2A6

  • Improved the turret side armor by 100mm

Leopard 2AX

  • Improved the turret side armor by 100mm
  • Improved the upper frontal plate armor by 50mm
  • Fixed this vehicle's ammo switch speed (instead of being instant, it now takes 1 second as on other vehicles of its class)

Leopard Evolution

  • Improved the turret side armor by 100mm
  • Fixed the "double mudguard" visual error

Leopard Revolution

  • Improved the turret side armor by 100mm
  • Fixed the "double mudguard" visual error

M60A1

  • Improved the visual quality of this vehicle's model
  • Machinegun barrel now has a collision model

M60A3

  • Improved the visual quality of this vehicle's model

M60-2000

  • Improved the visual quality of this vehicle's model
  • Fixed this vehicle UI armor values (no actual armor change took place)

M8

  • Gunner optics cover on this vehicles is now open

M8 MGM-166

  • Fixed an issue where its missiles could land to the left or right from the aim reticle

Merkava Mk.3D BAZ

  • Fixed the black textures on this vehicle

Object 195

  • This vehicle's ERA name now appears correctly in the Armor Inspector window

Palmaria

  • Fixed this vehicle's previously inconsistent armor

Panzer 87-140

  • Added the Auxiliary Ballistic Processor to this vehicle's trait

RDF/LT

  • Improved the quality of this vehicle's visual model

Rooikat 76

  • Fixed an issue where the wheels would sometimes appear as if flying in the air

RST-V Shadow

  • Fixed this vehicle's suspension model to match its previous size adjustment

T-72A and T-72AV

  • Improved the visual model of all these vehicles
  • Upgraded the turret, frontal hull and side armor

T-72B

  • Fixed the camouflage and base paint appearance on this vehicle's model

T-90

  • Fixed the turret ERA appearance

T249 Vigilante

  • Fixed an issue where killing the gunner would lead to an increased reload time of the vehicle

Type 90

  • Fixed this vehicle's gun armor in the Armor Inspector window

Type 99A2-140

  • Fuel tanks no longer clip into the hull on the Golden Dragon skin

Wilk XC-8

  • This vehicle's PELE round now also deals damage upon non-penetration or partial penetration and better penetrates
  • Added a 360 degree smoke launcher to this vehicle

WPB Anders

  • Hard-kill APS now only appears on the model when you have it actually installed

WWO Wilk

  • Added a 360 degree smoke launcher to this vehicle

XM8

  • Gunner optics cover on this vehicles is now open

ZTQ-15

  • Fixed this vehicle's destroyed ERA models

 

Player versus Environment

 

New Special Operation

In this Update, we are rolling out a new Special Operation called War, along with several achievements, including:

  • War
  • Vehicles in the Storm
  • No Time for Ceremony
  • Don't Touch Anything!
  • Class-specific achievements as usual

You can read more about this Special Operation in our dedicated article.

General Changes

  • VCAC Mephisto removed from the AI vehicle pool
  • Doubled the PvE rotation pool size
  • Increased the PvE map rotation time from 3 to 6 minutes
  • AS21 and K21 AI vehicles are now firing correctly (although they are currently disabled)
  • Plague: Changed the castle base explosion cutscene so that it now takes less time and is less obtrusive
  • Plague: The base explosion cutscene now kills any Mechanized Infantry deployed in the base area
  • Harbinger: Changed the way the cutscene plays out in the beginning
  • Some older PvE missions in French, German and Polish now have an English voiceover with French, German and Polish subtitles (previously, these missions had no voiceover whatsoever in localized clients)

 

Player versus Player

 

  • Removed the following Global Operations maps from the rotation: Ghost Field, Grindelwald
  • Fixed a Global Operations issue where your own bunkers would sometimes fire at you
  • Al Dabbah: This map is now marked as being located in Eastern Africa
  • Barren Divide: Fixed several environmental objects that appeared too bright
  • Coastal Threat: Fixed several environmental objects that appeared too bright
  • Moscow: Fixed several environmental objects that appeared too bright
  • Narrows: Fixed the cloud appearance on this map
  • Narrows: The grass now renders correctly on this map
  • Reactor: Fixed an issue when, upon loading, player positions would not appear correctly
  • Roughneck: Fixed the collision model of some environmental objects (heavy machinery near a ditch) so that it's no longer possible to fire or drive through them

 

User Interface

 

  • When searching for specific visual customization elements such as decals, empty categories are no longer displayed
  • The Battalion list refresh button now has a tooltip
  • Optimized the module unlocking process
  • Fixed several smaller UI issues

 

Issues and Corrections

 

  • Fixed an issue where, when firing at longer distances, ATMGs would fly away from the point you're aiming at for no reasons
  • Fixed an issue where a just spotted vehicle would not appear on a correct place (you see it as standing somewhere but in reality, the server knows it's somewhere else, leading to some strange cases of ghost shells)
  • Fixed an issue where a smoke cloud from unspotted vehicles could be invisible to the enemy team
  • Fixed an issue where it was impossible to use the full gun elevation under certain circumstances
  • Fixed the strange camera clipping and movement that happens when you drive near another vehicle
  • Fixed an issue where, on some ATGM-based vehicles, the ATGMs wouldn't fly correctly upon respawn
  • Fixed an issue where the "Low on Ammo" warning would appear in the Garage even if a sufficient amount of ammo was loaded
  • Fixed an issue where HE shells would sometimes disappear when fired directly into the muzzle of an enemy vehicle
  • Fixed an issue where the ammo rack fire visual effect would appear even if the enemy vehicle wasn't spotted (also known as the "flying flames" issue)
  • Fixed an issue where the actual improved smoke grenade area of effect wouldn't match the visual model for the following vehicles: AMX-30B2, AMX-30B2 Brenus, AMX-40 and VCAC Mephisto
  • Fixed an issue where the Kurganets-25 TD was referred to as an AFV in its blueprint description
  • Fixed a UI issue where disabling the ERA in your Armor Inspector would affect the colors of the penetration indicator in the game
  • Fixed an issue where players could sometimes see the damage done to unspotted objects (bunkers and such) by the flying number indicator and, vice versa, sometimes this damage would not appear to objects that were spotted
  • Fixed an issue where the gun handling bar in the Garage UI wouldn't appear correctly after the installation of an Improved FCS module
  • Fixed an issue where, upon death, switching to another player's POV as a spectator would not work correctly
  • Fixed an issue where the ATGM launchers on some visual models would appear full even though the vehicle wasn't carrying enough missiles to fill them
  • Fixed an issue where the turret rotating sound would play when attempting to rotate a turret immobilized by the destruction of its turret ring
  • Fixed an issue where the ATGM launch sound could be heard upon your vehicle's destruction
  • Fixed several localization issues

I already hate the new PvE rotations. 20 maps with 6 minutes each = 2 hours per full rotation.

:riotk:


Spoiler

 

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3 minutes ago, Haswell said:
  • Doubled the PvE rotation pool size
  • Increased the PvE map rotation time from 3 to 6 minutes
  •  

 

Oh for fucks sake are you kidding me mycom. Doubling the pool size - okay, fine. Increasing rotation time is dumb beyond belief.

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8 hours ago, Haswell said:

When searching for specific visual customization elements such as decals, empty categories are no longer displayed

Yay

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Doubled the PvE rotation pool size

Ok I guess

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Increased the PvE map rotation time from 3 to 6 minutes

No. Just no. There are some PvE maps that some players absolutely despise (exactly which maps varies from player to player and which tier the map is played at) and will instead wait for the next mission in the rotation. This change is arbitrary and will result in less PvE matches being played because of players not joining the queue when a map they don't like is being offered (or god forbid 2 or 3 such maps in a row).

Edit: I can understand the increased rotation time if the reasoning is "we don't want people to play the same map twice in a 2-hour session", but the benefits of keeping the rotation time the same far outweigh any perceived advantage of doubling the amount of time that a map takes before it appears in the rotation again.

Edited by MK_Regular (see edit history)

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3 hours ago, Haswell said:

It comes with its own set of achievements and rewards, including a new camouflage and a player avatar.

vehicle achievements and other achievements for every chapter, yay :snrk:

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3 hours ago, Haswell said:
  • Doubled the PvE rotation pool size
  • Increased the PvE map rotation time from 3 to 6 minutes

Given the amount of flak that they get for there only being a handful of maps in the rotation (which is always user error, but it doesn't stop the criticism), I can certainly understand the former update.  20 maps in rotation will guarantee that people see more maps.  It'll also have the side effect of preventing people from (as easily) intentionally queuing up for a "best" rotation and only playing the "good" maps.

But I do not understand increasing the rotation time at all.  What's the point?  As has already been said, that just punishes people who dislike a particular map and wish to avoid being forced to play it.

 

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Crossposting from the 72M1 thread.

1 minute ago, Haswell said:
On 3/9/2021 at 5:28 AM, Silentstalker said:

The T-72M1 will come out in "pre-rebalance" standard (so will really just match the current T-72A).

This statement did not age well at all. Behold, the "current" 72A:

dwRo696.jpg

CIo5GtW.jpg

The "current" 72A received the 0.33 armor treatment as part of the remodel in 0.35. Give up all ye hope for the 72M1 to have 0.32 balancing.


Spoiler

 

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52 minutes ago, Haswell said:

Crossposting from the 72M1 thread.

Great, it looks like tier 5 PvP is going to be broken again.

 :tomato:

Time to load up my T-72A and sealclub the shit out of tier 5 PvP. Maybe all of the whining from the people I stomp all over will encourage the devs to prioritize the low-tier rebalance...
(it won't but I can dream)

Edited by MK_Regular (see edit history)

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Regarding the 6 minute rotation, here's an official developer quote in case you missed it:

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We changed the timing of map rotation because 3 minutes is too fast. Players were complaining that they play the same PVE maps over and over again in a day that was due to fast rotation and pool size of 10 maps that leads to a full rotation of maps in 30 minutes, plus players miss two other maps while playing one, due to average map completion being 7 minutes.
With doubling the pool size and rotation time full map rotation will be 2 hours. Plus this fixes the issue when I see a good map and want to play it, but a 3-minute rotation that is on average is actually 1,5 minutes would be not enough for the matchmaking to find a match. On top of that players usually change tanks between matches, sometimes they want to take explicit tanks for the map. With 6 minutes of rotation that is actually 3 minutes on average will give more time for adjusting your choice

 

 

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1 hour ago, Silentstalker said:

Regarding the 6 minute rotation, here's an official developer quote in case you missed it:

Quote

We changed the timing of map rotation because 3 minutes is too fast. Players were complaining that they play the same PVE maps over and over again in a day that was due to fast rotation and pool size of 10 maps that leads to a full rotation of maps in 30 minutes, plus players miss two other maps while playing one, due to average map completion being 7 minutes.
With doubling the pool size and rotation time full map rotation will be 2 hours. Plus this fixes the issue when I see a good map and want to play it, but a 3-minute rotation that is on average is actually 1,5 minutes would be not enough for the matchmaking to find a match. On top of that players usually change tanks between matches, sometimes they want to take explicit tanks for the map. With 6 minutes of rotation that is actually 3 minutes on average will give more time for adjusting your choice

 

Honestly, I can see most sides of the coin for this change. On the one hand you have to people who are the "I only play the same map reeeeeeeeeeeee" folk, however, there is also quite a big part (mainly on the forums) which likes to cherrypick maps. The problem is that the second is almost impossible now, since 2 hours is too long to sit down every day to do the rotations. I feel like it would be a good change if there would be some kind of official "rotation tracker" or at least something available where people don't have to sit 2 hours to do the rotations...

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3 hours ago, itzjustrick said:

I feel like it would be a good change if there would be some kind of official "rotation tracker" or at least something available where people don't have to sit 2 hours to do the rotations...

Yes, yes give us an API :partyseal: Otherwise rotations are probably dead for now.


Spoiler

fdassdaas.jpg.c709df3e98adc5265f232fe9458a3043.jpg

 

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3 hours ago, itzjustrick said:

Honestly, I can see most sides of the coin for this change. On the one hand you have to people who are the "I only play the same map reeeeeeeeeeeee" folk, however, there is also quite a big part (mainly on the forums) which likes to cherrypick maps.

Agree, 2 sides to the coin - I suppose this reduces the "bait and switch" problem where I join the queue thinking I will get the current map, but then the maps change while the MM is working, and you wind up on a different map. 

I wonder if the less popular maps would become more palatable if the payout ratios were more uniform... Thanks to Haswell I do prefer the higher paying maps.... Of course to truly optimize payout one could just play SpecOps (Plague/War) and the rotation matters less.

3 hours ago, itzjustrick said:

it would be a good change if there would be some kind of official "rotation tracker" or at least something available where people don't have to sit 2 hours to do the rotations...

Definitely that would be nice. Otherwise we might be able to collaboratively build the rotation - if player A notices that Leviathan follows Ricochet after Cavalry, and player B notices that Perseus follows Leviathan after Ricochet, then you can deduce the likely partial rotation as ... Calvalry > Ricochet > Leviathan > Perseus...  with enough players, you could construct the cycle without anyone having to sit through the whole rotation.

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8 hours ago, Silentstalker said:

We changed the timing of map rotation because 3 minutes is too fast. Players were complaining that they play the same PVE maps over and over again in a day that was due to fast rotation and pool size of 10 maps that leads to a full rotation of maps in 30 minutes, plus players miss two other maps while playing one, due to average map completion being 7 minutes.
With doubling the pool size and rotation time full map rotation will be 2 hours. Plus this fixes the issue when I see a good map and want to play it, but a 3-minute rotation that is on average is actually 1,5 minutes would be not enough for the matchmaking to find a match. On top of that players usually change tanks between matches, sometimes they want to take explicit tanks for the map. With 6 minutes of rotation that is actually 3 minutes on average will give more time for adjusting your choice

3 minutes was fine.  Maybe a little too fast, but not much.  4 minutes probably would have done the trick.  Worst case, 5 minutes.  Best case?  Try 4 minutes first, and if that's still not enough then bump it to 5 minutes.  6 minutes is too much, and it should have been obvious that it would be too much.  Changes like this is why players are convinced that the devs don't play their own game, because if they did play it they'd know better than to make this change.

Players seeing the same maps over and over is user error.  They're too stupid to just delay until the map changes, which "on average" only takes 1.5 minutes.  Yes, the 10 x 3 rotation did have a tendency to settle into a particular set of 3 maps since each map takes 10 minutes (see explanation below), but that would have been easily fixed by changing the rotation time to 4 minutes, or by doubling the pool of maps.

Average in-game map completion may be 7 minutes, but average full cycle time - which includes queuing (0-60 seconds), joining (10-15 seconds), loading (20-30 seconds), waiting for the other players to join (0-30 seconds), waiting for the 30-second countdown timer (30 seconds), playing the mission (7 min according to you), then waiting for the post-game screen (20-30 seconds), and disconnecting back to the garage (10 seconds) was 10+ minutes.  This is why people would get stuck in a 3-map rotation.

Quadrupling the full map rotation to 2 hours is too much.  That means that if I see a map I like, I'm guaranteed to not see it again for at least 2 hours.

Changing tanks between matches takes seconds.  That's not a valid reason for any of these changes.

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2 hours ago, Schlock said:

Remember, some time ago map rotation timer was 5 minutes.

yes, and that seemed too long which is why they dropped it to 3 minutes.

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3 hours ago, knutliott said:

That means that if I see a map I like, I'm guaranteed to not see it again for at least 2 hours.

Like wise, if you see a map that you don't like.

What I see that sucks about this is if the map rotation gets to run a course and there are back to back maps that everyone hates, that is going to be a waste of time, just wait it out to que up when the next map comes up.  It'll suck if you have a booster running because then you waste such of your time on it waiting out a map.

  • Upvote 1

 

"If you were not birthed with claws or fangs, store bought will do just fine."

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1 hour ago, Katsumoto said:

Like wise, if you see a map that you don't like.

What I see that sucks about this is if the map rotation gets to run a course and there are back to back maps that everyone hates, that is going to be a waste of time, just wait it out to que up when the next map comes up.  It'll suck if you have a booster running because then you waste such of your time on it waiting out a map.

As the devs in the quote said, on average you only have 90 seconds to wait anyway.  So with a 3-minute timer, you just wait it out.  No big deal.  And once you've waited it out once, it's pretty easy to avoid that map the next time around since the entire process is only 30 minutes and you averaged 10 minutes per map.

But with a 6-minute timer, it's kind of a big deal.  With 20 maps in the rotation there are liable to be multiple maps that you prefer to skip, so you're going to have to wait more often.  And with the entire process taking 2 hours you're less likely to be aware that the map you don't like is approaching again, so you may have to sit and wait it out again the next time around.

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I am just seem to be playing the game less with this new 6 min. map rotation.  Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't seem to be as much fun.  Why else do we play but for fun?

Wouldn't the problem also be solved by adding more PVE maps?  However, I see knutliott already made this comment far more eloquently.

Edited by Lt_Don_Shaljian (see edit history)

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The problem would really be solved by removing the rotation period and allowing players to que a tank for which ever map they want (which in turn could be made faster by even allowing 2 or more maps to be qued for at the same time) and when 5 players within a 1-2 tier range que for the same map, they go in (or even better, allow them to see what everyone's bringing and decide if they want to go or not).

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9 hours ago, TekNicTerror said:

The problem would really be solved by removing the rotation period and allowing players to que a tank for which ever map they want (which in turn could be made faster by even allowing 2 or more maps to be qued for at the same time) and when 5 players within a 1-2 tier range que for the same map, they go in (or even better, allow them to see what everyone's bringing and decide if they want to go or not).

Great idea TekNicTerror.  I love it!

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13 hours ago, TekNicTerror said:

The problem would really be solved by removing the rotation period and allowing players to que a tank for which ever map they want (which in turn could be made faster by even allowing 2 or more maps to be qued for at the same time) and when 5 players within a 1-2 tier range que for the same map, they go in (or even better, allow them to see what everyone's bringing and decide if they want to go or not).

As much as this would be the "ideal" solution, the game does not have a large enough playerbase to allow for it.

The devs haven't said how long the average waiting time for a +/-1 tier spread PvE match is, but we'll assume for the sake of argument that it takes an average of 30 seconds (in my experience this is about right for tier 7-10 hardcore PvE). This means that it takes about a full minute for 5 players to queue for a match in the +/-1 tier spread, or about 1 player queuing every 15 seconds (the 5th player gets the match instantly). Of course, this is with a +/-1 tier spread, so the amount of time between players queueing for any given tier is effectively doubled, for a queue rate of 2 players per minute per tier (we can probably also add in "per PvE difficulty/mode" here as well, but I'm not going to bother with it).

This value of 2 players per minute per tier means that your idea would not work in the current status of the game. There are currently 36 standard PvE maps in AW, and giving players the option to choose which one of them they want to queue for would dilute those 2 players per minute per tier across 36 separate queues, which would increase the average wait time from 30 seconds to over 20 minutes. This is unacceptable. While this time could be reduced by limiting the map choices to 10 maps which change on a daily basis and increasing the tier spread to +/-2, this would still result in an unacceptably long queue time of over 6 minutes while the increased tier spread would reduce the queue times by about a third at the cost of serious adverse effects on gameplay. This means that the best possible scenario (10 maps, +/-2 tier spread) results in average queue times that are 8 times longer than what they are now and breaks what little PvE game balance we have, both of which are currently unacceptable.

The ability to queue for 2 maps at the same time would be nice, but would present so many issues (what happens if a player gets into two matches at the same time, how does the game determine which one the player is sent to, etc...) that it's just not worth adding. 

 

TL;DR: While the idea seems like it would work on the surface, the game's player count is too low to make it work without breaking game balance and massively increasing queue times.

Edited by MK_Regular (see edit history)

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I do not believe that would be the case. Players would not sit endlessly in a que for whichever map they currently wanted, they would leave and pick another map (or set of maps).

Also, adding a feature that shows players in que what maps are currently have players qued for would also be nice and would fix that problem.  Example of what I mean: you que for map X at t8 with whatever tank, the screen pops up showing map A has 2 players waiting for it, map C has 3, map F has 4, and 1 for map X [aka you]; the 2, 3, and 4 players would be players qued at t7-9 tanks (if the tier spread is set for +/- 1).

As for allowing 2 or more maps to be qued for at once and 2 maps a player ques for gets 5 players, then I would have to say whichever map got the 5 players should pop first.

It's also not like I am saying we should be doing queing where we instantly que for 2 or more maps at the same time. Could always do it where players have to be in que for a minute or so before queing for the second map. Say I just log on, I select a tank I wish to play, que for map D, then 60 seconds later (if 60 seconds is the time used, and I am not in a game yet) I can que for a 2nd map (perhaps picking a map I like that I see 2-3 others qued already in the above players qued for which maps feature).

Also adding in the idea of players seeing whose going into the map with you and what tanks they have would help with 2 maps hitting 5 players at same time, since you wont be loading into the map till all 5 players hit a yes or such button. I know I would like that feature, I am tired of games where there is only 1 or no MBT or games with 2 AFV's.

 

There's also an idea of doing a lobby system, think like Payday 1/2 and/or Left 4 Dead 1/2 lobbies. A player starts a lobby, hopefully names it good (if allowed), say something like " T8's - No Arty  - 2+ MBT " meaning they wanna play t8 or wants everyone to play t8's, arty/spg isn't wanted, and at least two MBT's wanted in the games. Maybe there's features/settings the lobby maker/leader can set to show anyone looking through the lobby list any class limits they want, such as showing they don't wish to play with arty/spg. Whoever starts the lobby gets to pick the maps played, perhaps even allow map voting for the people in the lobby.

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9 hours ago, TekNicTerror said:

Also, adding a feature that shows players in que what maps are currently have players qued for would also be nice and would fix that problem.  Example of what I mean: you que for map X at t8 with whatever tank, the screen pops up showing map A has 2 players waiting for it, map C has 3, map F has 4, and 1 for map X [aka you]; the 2, 3, and 4 players would be players qued at t7-9 tanks (if the tier spread is set for +/- 1).

If the entire concept is based on the premise of players being able to see how many people are queueing for a particular map, the entire idea is almost certainly doomed from the start.

There used to be a counter for the number of players queuing for matches divided by the tier of vehicles that were being queued, but the devs removed it for reasons that to my knowledge have not been disclosed. Given that the devs generally don't reverse changes that have been made (and the in the few cases where they do they are fairly recent changes), the chances of getting the player counter for queuing is effectively nil. While it is possible that a player counter for the queue might be reintroduced, I would not be holding my breath for it and I certainly wouldn't be holding my breath for a more detailed player counter than what used to be in the game.

Allowing players to queue for 2 or more maps at the same time would increase the complexity of the queue system, which would in turn increase the number of potential failure points. While it would be exceptionally rare for 2 maps that a player is queueing for to go into the match at the same time, random chance dictates that the conditions necessary for it to occur would happen eventually, which means that the matchmaking system would need to be able to automatically deal with it without any user input (requiring user input would open up the possibility of greifing by locking other players out of being able to play the game) or causing any game-braking effects (e.g. a player having to play 2 maps at the same time or being forced to abandon their team on one of the maps).

 

A lobby system could work, and the easiest way to do this in my opinion would be to expand on or revise the platoon function. A platoon can take the required 5 players for a PvE match, but joining one is currently limited to receiving an invitation from the platoon leader. Giving the platoon leader the option of making the platoon public and adding a section on the matchmaking tab of the UI for joining platoon would provide the basic lobby function. The exact particulars of how the improved platoon system would work depend on the answers to several questions:

  • Can the platoon leader restrict the platoon to a specific game mode or difficulty?
  • Can the platoon leader restrict players to having a particular classes and/or tiers of vehicle?
  • Can the platoon leader allow more than 4 other players to join the platoon to insure that vehicles of the desired classes and/or tiers are present?
  • Can the platoon leader force a match and leave behind any players that are not ready?
  • Can the platoon leader override matchmaker restrictions with respect to vehicle tiers if they have a full platoon (like they already can with vehicle classes)?
  • Can the platoon leader choose the map if they have a full platoon?
  • etc...

While all of these options would work to improve the amount of choice afforded to players, they would all increase the waiting time between matches. A more complex system that gives more options will always be slower than a simple system that restricts player choice. While I wouldn't be opposed to being able to join "public platoons" I personally do not think that the majority of the options I listed should be implemented due to the potential of griefing and abuse

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The main problem is match making in general. For some reason, games have gone to match making on dev operated servers. Back in the day, games would run on privately run servers you could pick from a list.

The real change is removal of control and choice from the player. If you have the option to choose, you will choose not to spend money. The dev's have to increase your frustration levels to a point that you will spend money to not play their game. Looks like they are tying to further increase the grind time so people will spend money on grind reducing measures. Like research, XP boosters, and convertible XP. Purchases on some of their most worthless products must have gone down the last couple of months.

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