Instakill game mode would be a good one too. And Last Man Standing. So many possibilities...
Getting more players into CQC from the Main Game
- Thread starter Fendalton
- Start date
The only 3 points I agree with are the addition of NPC bots, queuing from within the main game ala Multicrew, and cross-platform play. These are the only changes which could revive CQC. XP doesn't matter. Payouts don't matter. The presence or absence of the sidewinder doesn't matter. None of it will bring people into CQC if they can't reliably get a match Right. This. Minute.
Fix it that problem, and then you can fine tune it with the other tweaks you mentioned.
Unfortunately, of the 3 good points, only one of them is plausible or practical.
• NPC bots aren't going to happen. Frontier is bad at AI and bots for Arena games are way way more complicated and specialized than you think. You can't just dump the main game AI in there and expect it to work; so forget it it's not happening. (Here's a nice video about arena shooter bots which I hope you'll enjoy: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uoYjayrKRDs)
• Cross Platform play is not Frontier's decision. Sony and Microsoft would have to agree to cooperate. It's been known to happen (I think rocket league might have done this), but I think it's extremely unlikely. More likely than bots, though.
• Which leaves queueing from inside the main game ala multicrew. There's no reason Frontier can't patch this in and we should all be constantly on their case about it until they do it. I urge you to move this to the top of your priorities list in all bold capital letters, because it's the only item which would make a positive difference and also has any chance of happening.
Fix it that problem, and then you can fine tune it with the other tweaks you mentioned.
Unfortunately, of the 3 good points, only one of them is plausible or practical.
• NPC bots aren't going to happen. Frontier is bad at AI and bots for Arena games are way way more complicated and specialized than you think. You can't just dump the main game AI in there and expect it to work; so forget it it's not happening. (Here's a nice video about arena shooter bots which I hope you'll enjoy: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uoYjayrKRDs)
• Cross Platform play is not Frontier's decision. Sony and Microsoft would have to agree to cooperate. It's been known to happen (I think rocket league might have done this), but I think it's extremely unlikely. More likely than bots, though.
• Which leaves queueing from inside the main game ala multicrew. There's no reason Frontier can't patch this in and we should all be constantly on their case about it until they do it. I urge you to move this to the top of your priorities list in all bold capital letters, because it's the only item which would make a positive difference and also has any chance of happening.
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Being able to play from inside the main game would be very nice. I'd be on CQC far more if I could just jump in whilst my explorer ship is doing a 400k+ LS supercruise...
Or if I am waiting for something (a ship, a target.. an something...), just log in, blow some stuff up and burn some time.
CQC has been a lot of fun whenever I've played it, its hard to press the CQC button instead of playing the main game.
Z...
Or if I am waiting for something (a ship, a target.. an something...), just log in, blow some stuff up and burn some time.
CQC has been a lot of fun whenever I've played it, its hard to press the CQC button instead of playing the main game.
Z...
I've tried it several times but never found anyone home. Can't play (stating the obvious) if no ones home.
Hief
Hief
this is what kills the mode - well, apart from the fair fight business and not knowing what name it will have next season
They need to turn it into a proper arena where single players, flights, or multicrew combos can face off against each other in their own ships without rebuy or in limited prebuilt ships in a varietey of match types. Bots would also be nice. It would actually be fun and give pvp players or regular players a place to test their skills and builds. Sadly, it was created mainly as a cheap way to draw in new players, and when it failed, was basically abandoned instead of developed.
As we now know telepresence is used for controlling fighters, the idea of dying in CQC isn't as bad for me anymore, but that's not the point.
CQC is an arcade-focused game mode in ED. It provides an opportunity to have a (somewhat) level playing field to develop flight skills without having to deal with massive rebuys, dropping out of SC to get back into the fight, countdowns in game, grinding engineers, P2P connection issues etc.
As far as I'm aware, the playercount for CQC is pretty much zero, so no future players can get to level 50 to unlock the CQC Holdings Station in the main game. I do feel for those customer who bought the Arena version of the game, as their product is essentially useless. This brings me to the point of this thread:
Why is Arena dead, why is there nobody in CQC, and what can we do to promote this underutilized game mode within the main game?
For those who have never played CQC, it is a game mode that is either Free for all, or 4v4 where you fight in a points based system on custom built maps purely for CQC, a lot of development time was spent in this mode both map wise and ui wise. The loadout system you use is selected before a match, and you can have a number of pre-configured loadouts before you're placed in a game. (Ship, weapons, utilities)
There are a number of 'quality of life' improvements to CQC which can boost player counts, some are simple SQL database changes, some are drastic changes that require development. Currently ED is a massive time sink and one of the recurring topics that comes up is the subject of making money. Specifically, a ludicrous method of making money is found for players to break through the mid game ships to the late game ships, players flock to it, it gets nerfed, players find a new way, rinse and repeat.
- The reward system.
If you have not yet reached level 50, you get a measly 1000 cr for coming first place. This is essentially a waste of time and is a horrible return on time investment for the main game. If you win 10 CQC games, you can afford to restock 1 torpedo in the main game. one. The reward needs to be significantly increased to entice players to this game mode. If you can make millions of credits in an hour in the main game, why would you play a mode that gives you a chance to win 1000 cr after 10 minutes?
The rewards need to be significantly increased, to the point where you would get 100,000 cr for coming first place. This puts the reward on the same level as selling rares in a Cobra that you did back in 2015 when you started the game. As games are an average of 10 minutes long, that's still 600,000 cr an hour return, but it's better than essentially nothing. Increased credit rewards at the next prestige level should be removed, and instead replaced with the fighter skins available in the main game (I think there are fighter skins?)
Rewards for prestigeing should include skins for the main game, only obtainable from CQC.
- The Elite Rank System
See the 0% CQC rank on your HUD? Because CQC games are so rare, the reward for winning a match should be a significant boost to your rank.
For competitive ladders, a rank system where you LOSE ranks for placing in the lower 4 could be introduced, if the CQC mode gets revitalized to the point that there is renewed interest in that $150k pound tournament
- Cross Platform
Elite Dangerous is across 3 platforms, 2 consoles and PC. The matchmaking servers should be across all platforms, as PC players also play with hotas, controllers etc this doesn't matter. Not sure on how the matchmaking infrastructure is set up at Frontier or whoever hosts this, but if someone can convince someone else to look into this, that would be great.
- XP System
There should be limited-time events, like double XP or even x5 XP weekends to bring players from the main game. These should be advertised on the launcher and in-game like Community Goals.
- Leaderboards
Introduce a leaderboards like the main game has for bounties, selectable from the main screen so we can see who is the best, get some new in-game personalities introduced into Elite Dangerous.
- Community Goals
Have community goals that relate to CQC, draw players attention to it. Have a CG where you have a Farragut class and a Majestic class fighting, players join one side of the CG and they fight in an instance where you can only use fighters between the ships. Players register for the CG, and can join Arena in-game using the same 15 second count down timer while leaving in combat.
- Custom Games / Lobbies
- Allow the queuing of games while in the main game
Can be implemented using the same 15 second count down timer used for logging out when a match is found, which removes you from the instance and places you into the CQC instance.
- Bots
Take the AI from in game and throw them in there. They can navigate a station, they can navigate a CQC map.
- Powerups
Remove them from the main game, have them as an option in custom games. A weapon powerup can 2 shot a F63 with 4 pips to shields, it's broken.
- Hull Strength
I know Frontiers policy is to nerf weapons from .5 to .001, but increasing the hull strengths of the ships prevents 2 shotting people (or 1 shotting if you're using dual cannons).
- Remove the Sidewinder as a selectable ship
I'm sure that there are other ideas that people have.
TL
Why don't you play CQC? What would make you join? Survival mode against Thargoid drones?
Make it an option from the station services menu, in the main game.... I'd play it.
And vice versa. Open and CQC should not affect Solo and Private Groups.
FYI - I play CQC a couple of hours a day. Already have my Elite in CQC - I just enjoy it.
It is easy to get games in DM in peak game time - which is evening in Europe. Other times are rather iffy.
Join and use the CQC Discord to invite other to join the game. The voice chat and text chat on the Discord are a lot of fun, also.
Join the Discord here: https://discord.gg/r25kYF8
It is easy to get games in DM in peak game time - which is evening in Europe. Other times are rather iffy.
Join and use the CQC Discord to invite other to join the game. The voice chat and text chat on the Discord are a lot of fun, also.
Join the Discord here: https://discord.gg/r25kYF8