Yeah, waiting for a game is the worst part of CQC. I usually jump on, and if I can't find a game in a couple of minutes, I'll log off and try again later. Generally speaking, there is no matchmaker because (I think) the population is so low. You'll just be playing against whoever else is online.
Yeah, waiting for a game is the worst part of CQC. I usually jump on, and if I can't find a game in a couple of minutes, I'll log off and try again later. Generally speaking, there is no matchmaker because (I think) the population is so low. You'll just be playing against whoever else is online.
Yep, that seems to be the major issue. If more people hopped on it might not be so bad. I'm not sure if the matchmaking routines will group players by rough level, but maybe....
Normally when I get a game, everyone else is lvl 50, and I'm whatever scrub level I've made it to at that point.
There are people who actually play/have played CQC a lot, then there's people like me who will wait half an hour every now and then, get a game and stick with lobby a couple hrs to level up. But enjoy the build variety of in game PvP a lot more than the cod-in-ships style of PvP that is CQC, so don't play often.
Then there is everybody else, who just doesn't play at all.
As you say, this doesn't leave many players around a similar level left to pick from, unless that level is 50.
The matchmaker can do by-level grouping, but it needs a large simultaneous player base to make it work. I've seen it do it literally once or twice.
If there are lots of players on we try to give it a hand because generally the high-level players want to all be in the same match.
The general consensus with CQC Arena seems to be that it is absolutely brilliant fun but totally flawed. I don't have as much patience as you, and I still have my other Elite ranks that I'm chasing, so I've been staying out of the Arena so far.
I would love for Frontier to go back to it and sort it out. But even if they do look at their neglected progeny, is that going to be problematic? There are a portion of Elite players who have bitten the bullet and stuck with task of ranking up despite all the misery of its current state. How are they going to feel if Frontier makes that rank much easier to gain? After all the work you've put into it, how would you feel?
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A couple of my friends got into ED for the express purpose of dogfighting in space, and CQC would be the right place for that. And it IS - or WOULD be - if more people participated. I think if they addressed some of the matchmaking shortfalls (for example, would love to be able to play as a group of 3 or 4 friends exclusively against bots, or as a team against 4 other people) that would be great. CoD WWII has a GREAT MP setup in my opinion with tons of options for setting up the player list, game mode, etc.
None of those changes would require touching the rank system or making it easier to rank up. Those sorts of fixes would just make it a much better experience overall and more people would play. I think that's an 'acceptable' change, as I don't ascribe extra glory to people who lived through the lean times of poor matchmaking. That's a much different change from instituting the current variable Reputation mission rewards to enable super-fast Navy ranking (IMHO).
Good point. When I first heard about CQCC I did envision it with this facility. I was slightly disappointed when it never allowed it. It would've been great to go out into the Big Black Yonder and still meet up every week for a punch-up with yer mates. Not every activity in the game has to be about progress of some sort.
Totally with you. Our substitute is Res/CZ work (obviously).
Good to know that the level grouping can happen, at least IF enough people are on.
I am very happy to read this! I see this as one of the main benefits of the Discord. Chenges frustration to fun. Magic. And the opportunity to learn from the best is immense. I have never seen such a great online community. And something like that in PvP is unheard of. Huge thanks to Discord regulars!