I am an Xbox player that has been really getting into Battlegrounds even more recently. Since the inception of BG's in Morrowind, I always saw it as having a lot of potential, even in the likelihood of its own competitive scene being derived from it. There are some feedback and suggestions I would like to look at regarding certain systems only pertaining to Battlegrounds (and not Cyrodiil) to hopefully get either some insight or improvements done in future updates.
I have categorized each suggestion so that it may be easier to view. I am open to modifying the list from other individual's feedback or suggestions, but if you do, please give a good reasoning behind your idea. I have browsed this sub-forum recently collecting the thoughts of other posts that I have seen individuals being concerned about and hopefully, I have gotten most of the main issues listed below:
Last updated: November 3, 2018
[General]
[Matchmaker]
[Gameplay]
[Features]
@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RichLambert Hopefully we can have a discussion more in-depth about Battlegrounds and its future, with some community requested implementations added. I would love to see BG's thrive and have its own scene someday soon, but the community needs certain tools/features and quality of life/improvements to get there. Thank you for taking the time to read mine and others' suggestions.
I have categorized each suggestion so that it may be easier to view. I am open to modifying the list from other individual's feedback or suggestions, but if you do, please give a good reasoning behind your idea. I have browsed this sub-forum recently collecting the thoughts of other posts that I have seen individuals being concerned about and hopefully, I have gotten most of the main issues listed below:
Last updated: November 3, 2018
[General]
- Reduce the Deserter penalty timeout from 20 minutes to 15 minutes.
This should be in line with the Dungeon Finder penalty.
- Opportunity to rejoin a current match from a disconnection, instead of automatically having the Deserter penalty applied to you.
Nothing is more frustrating when you either experience a server disconnect or packet loss that causes you to disconnect from a match and no longer have the opportunity to try to win. Looking at Overwatch's Competitive Mode, players should be given a limited amount of time to make it back in the session before being kicked from idling. Perhaps a 3-minute timer before kicking and trying to backfill would be a better option.
- Improve or remove load screens prior to respawning mid-match.
Not only for immersion purposes but also because load screens can lead to 'hanging' causing the game to not respawn the player appropriately and forcing them to quit the application, causing Deserter penalty as well. From an observer/spectator perspective, especially from those watching a stream of someone playing, the load screens seem very unecessary.
[Matchmaker]
- Improve matchmaking by better prioritizing solo and group queue instances for better-balanced teams.
Players want to have a better-balanced game and some experiences may be negative because of a pre-made group of 3 or 4 going against 2-3 solo players. This may have a negative impact on MMR (Matchmaking Rating).
- Games should not start/begin match countdown until all teams are even (either 3v3v3 or 4v4v4).
Uneven teams lead to a major disadvantage especially with the above solo/group queue issue as the highest team count can get well ahead in the score, especially in objective game types. This, in turn, may cause additional quit outs or lack of effort to re-queue after the match.
- Fixing issues with the queue where players are stuck in "Waiting for Players" indefinitely in pre-game, forcing them to quit the game and having Deserter applied to them.
Another negative experience that can lead to players ultimately not wanting to enjoy this aspect of the game, causing frustration (@Odnoc).
[Gameplay]
- Ultimates should be reset to 0 after loading into the battleground.
Players having their ultimates ready as soon as a match starts should not be a thing, mainly because this could lead to an early advantage in any game mode, such as a team having coordinated Dawnbreakers and Destro ults ready to go when pushing a relic. Note: disable potion use in pre-game to prevent Nightblade ult generation.
- The respawn system should be either on a static timer (instead of the current dynamic one) or emphasis on how the respawn system works to better understand it.
A static timer would better suit team coordination and pushes instead of not being for certain when players will be back up on both the team and opposition. I suggest a 10 second spawn for Deathmatch and 10 or 15 seconds for objective games.
- For maps that support mounting (Istirus Outpost), the Riding Speed of all players should be set to 30-40, and Riding Stamina set to 30, for balance purposes and only during the match.
This is to balance movement speed and stamina of all players in the match while mounted, making each opportunity to mount fair on all teams.
[Features]
- Custom Battlegrounds for pre-made groups of 12.
Being able to launch a private battleground match has many perks:
- Players can experiment and learn maps without the added pressure to perform well.
- Players can host matches for fun or for competitions/tournaments.
- Adjustable settings, like match duration, score limit, respawn time.
- Healer and Tank achievements and/or titles.
Support players should feel more warranted in groups and achievements and titles specific to tanking/defending damage or healing high amounts throughout should be rewarding.
@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RichLambert Hopefully we can have a discussion more in-depth about Battlegrounds and its future, with some community requested implementations added. I would love to see BG's thrive and have its own scene someday soon, but the community needs certain tools/features and quality of life/improvements to get there. Thank you for taking the time to read mine and others' suggestions.
