I believe there should be a change in the way ranked matchmaking is configured.
The map should be hidden until the start of the match. We should know which map will be played In the loading screen. Otherwise, it will continue happening like it just did to me: in a 3v3 match, we got Midgard, and guess what? Someone quit… And that is not the first time, the worst part is that I was 10 minutes waiting for the match.
And this also unbalances the rating of the game, because the player might increase their rank just by playing on maps that favor them and quitting on maps they believe disadvantage them in some way. Thats just not fair.
AOE3 do this and I never have seem anyone complaining. On the other hand, in AOE2 and 4 you would be insulted for the next 10 years suggesting something like that.
Personally, hidding the map is great.
Im surprised they released AOM without any kind of timeout to map quitters…
the answer is to introduce map bans like in aoe 2 and 4, not hiding the map until loading screen lol
sometimes you guys forget why most people play video games, they play to have fun, even if it’s ranked. a lot of people (I’d say majority of people in my experience) don’t find playing water maps fun at all in aoe franchize, or RTS for that matter, so they don’t want to play it. simple as that
I don’t dodge water maps in team games, but given how drastic the gameplay difference is between water maps, land maps and hybrid maps, it’s obvious if you don’t give players the choice to ban a few maps they will leave. no matter if you hide the map or not
I know your most likely argument is going to be “well they should learn how to play it, or play unranked”, no, they don’t have to, we are talking about an element that only exists in a few maps which completely changes the dynamic of matchups, playstyles and overall gameplay, while the majority of the maps don’t have it. so you should be able to ban them out if you want to, if not, dodging is understandable altho frustrating
they only did that because there is no map ban system in place like aoe2 and 4, which means the only way to not play the maps you hate is to quit the lobby. I’m pretty sure they will put timeout for map quitters as soon as that system is in place
Some people like to choose which civ they play based on which map they’re on, and I think this should be allowed.
I agree that dodging is a problem though. To address it, I have two suggestions. Ideally, both would be implemented, but either one would be a big help on their own too.
Add a map ban system similar to AoE2 and AoE4. If there are N players and M maps, each player can ban (M-1)/N maps. So in 1v1s, if there are 7 maps in the pool, each player gets 3 bans. This way, even if there is zero overlap between which maps they ban, there will be one map that nobody banned. (The pool must have a minimum of N+1 maps.)
Add a dodging penalty. If you dodge the match by alt-f4ing or by resigning in the first 5 minutes, not only do you lose Elo, but you also get timed out and cannot queue up again for a time. The first time you do it should be very short, maybe just 1 minute, but the time you have to wait should grow each time you do it. That way accidental disconnects are not penalised but deliberate dodging is. (People with unstable connections might be penalised by this, but I view that as the same as the performance test that’s required before you can play ranked…if your connection is too unstable to play a full game, you probably shouldn’t be playing ranked games.)
I think this shouldn’t be allowed. That’s why the Elo system exists, you earn points based on the number of victories/loses you have. If you only play with a specific god on water maps and another god on land maps your Elo isn’t aligned with reality.
The fairest thing in this case would be to have separate Elo for each god or map you play, just like they did in CS:2 competitive mode – which was a terrible idea.
They could always implement a punishment for queue system, ditching would mean more wait time until they are suspended for an hour, then few hours turn into days, etc.
The Elo system exists to give people balanced matches. But what that means exactly is fuzzy. There are several ways to play.
Some people always play the same civ, or at least play one civ repeatedly for a long time.
Some people go random every game, or change it up regularly in a fairly random way.
Some people choose a civ based on the map. Maybe a civ with good water options on a water map, or a cavalry civ on a wide open map.
It would be wrong to say that one of these is “correct” and all others are wrong. Your Elo will simply become, in the long run, an accurate representation of your level of skill given the tactic you employ.
Actually, what I’m saying is that this is incorrect. Part of the game is based on the unpredictable; you don’t know where the hunting points will appear, nor where the town centers will appear, or where the gold mines will be located… Recognizing this quickly by exploring the map and defining the strategy quickly is part of the game. A certain level of unpredictability is essential and has always been essential in mythology.
Imagine how boring it would be if you received the minimap of the game before the match started. So you could already recognize where the gold mines are, the hunting points, etc., and choose your civilization based on that? To me, it loses its fun.
And as you said, realizing that a map is favorable for raids and knowing this beforehand to choose a civilization that favors you in that aspect is part of the fun of the game being lost.
I agree that it’s correct to punish the quitter, but if they leave the match before it starts, they also punish all the other players in the room. As I said, I was waiting for a match for 12 minutes, then after he left the room because it was a water map, I waited another 9 minutes, and had to turn off the PC because I had an appointment, and I was only going to play that one match before leaving. If I had started another match, I might not have had time to finish it.
So, he wasn’t punished, and I was punished, and even if he had been punished, it’s not fair for other players to be. It’s better to avoid all this by keeping the maps hidden until the match starts, as it always was.
Exactly! Right now in ranked we are ‘forced’ to play two water maps, midgard and another one, both of which the maps have so few resources that you basically eithjer build ships or lose.
What about adding a toggle for ‘include water maps’ like the 'allow military autoque" in ranked?