I wanted to suggest something after a particularly frustrating match this evening. I had a player who was behind and asked for a pause. Never have a problem with giving people pauses, so I said sure. They said it was the phone, which is totally fine.
About five minutes go by and the person has not responded. I begin to ask if they are there.
No response.
I wait a little longer and then warn them that I don’t have all evening to wait for them.
No response.
I begin to tell them that if they don’t respond, then I am going to unpause.
No response.
I wait another two minutes and give them another warning.
No response.
Finally, I count down and then un-pause.
Not two seconds later they pause again. I tell them, sorry, I can’t wait here all night for you and I unpause.
They pause again. This goes back and forth until they hit the pause limit.
This doesn’t happen very often, but it’s unreasonable to expect someone to leave the game paused for more than 5 minutes. It’s a multiplayer game, you are accepting that you are going to play the game when you both start to play. I can’t imagine any other game not having a timer mechanic and there should be the capability to create one as we had one on both HD and Voobly for disconnects. Please implement a time limit for pauses. Yes, we can just unpause, but frankly you feel kind of awful for unpausing on someone, or at least I do.
2 Likes
I think the system Dota 2 implements is fine. Each player gets a pause worth 60 seconds (5 players for each team, so technically 5 mins). The opponent team can unpause once the 60 seconds are over.
Same thing could be just implemented here. Pauses are guaranteed for at least 60 mins. And, depending on how nice the two players are to one another, it can go for a total of 5 mins. You can give players 3-5 pauses per game for a total of 3-5 mins.
After the max 5 mins, your pause limit runs out and you have to continue the game.
5 Likes
No, no. You’re supposed to wait the full hour… be nice.
11 nice catch, yes I meant seconds. 
4 Likes
Too short, 30 minute max would allow for emergency restroom breaks
Yes please, we need a better pause feature… I suffered the opposite situation, I needed a short pause to answer a message and the other player unpaused all my pauses, I asked nicely but he was so gross… Dude, it is a game, sometimes we need short pauses to atend some little issues…
You want pause breaks to be as long as most games are in real time? I’m sincerely hoping that’s sarcasm. Go to the bathroom before you queue. Also maybe go to the doctor… 30 minutes isn’t healthy for a bowel movement.
1 Like
Exactly, ending a pause should not be in the player’s hands unless all parties agree to it. The only reason it currently is now is due to players like the one I encountered who abuse it.
1 Like
If you need to go for more than 5 minutes just resign, like, elo isn’t THAT important, don’t waste other people’s time like that
The elo isn’t what’s important; why would I want to waste a perfectly good war/recording/game?
Our games can turn into hours of battle in real time. Accounting for times needing to use the restroom or something happening irl such us unloading and putting away groceries is normal. Just because you use the restroom beforehand doesn’t mean the urge won’t appear mid-game.
But you don’t need more rhen 5 minutes to go bathroom.
Remember you’re wasting other people’s time too not just yours.
1 Like
Surely a solution that covers all angles is an unlimited pause timer but if it goes above x minutes the opponent can click a button to force you to resign. I.e. over x minutes its in the hands of the person waiting if they want to wait for longer or force you to resign and move on.
1 Like
How about a mix of these things:
Player pauses,
Opponent cannot unpause for 60secs,
After 60sec the opponent can unpause if they choose to
IF the opponent unpauses original player cannot pause again for 30secs
Limit number of pauses to 5 per player (down from 9 or 10 I think it is now)
Thoughts?
2 Likes
I think 60 seconds is a bit short but in general I like the idea
1 Like
Most games don’t last 1 real-time hour, let alone several
Never the less, anything below 5 minutes is way too short. 10 or better yet 15 minutes with a max 3 pauses per game and those 10 or 15 minutes being unable to be broken by another player would be decent enough - and to unpause all players would select a ready option to ensure players are present with a 1-2 minute countdown or just leave it as is.
