Pick-system project : "BOX single-pick"

[Pick-system project : "BOX single-pick"]

07/10 UPDATE, check previous messages (edited) !

[Pick-system project : "BOX single-pick"]

/VERSION FRANÇAISE, N'hésitez-pas à traduire proprement ce post dans votre propre langue maternelle pour aider les autres joueurs à mieux comprendre l'idée !/

 

 

Bonjour à tous ?

Cela fait plusieurs mois que j'essaye d'accroître ma compréhension du jeu et m'améliorer par la même occasion. Pour cela, j'ai participé à de nombreuses parties personnalisées, au ranked, pris part à des tournois de régions ou aux Metal Leagues de tous les serveurs actifs (EUropéen, Sud Américain et Nord Américain). Après toute cette expérience, il m'est venue une idée à propos d'un nouveau mode de sélection des machines :

 

"BOX single-pick" (Nom de code "SYNERGY")

 

Qu'est-ce que c'est ? L'idée de base est très simple : Chaque équipe ne peut sélectionner chaque machine qu'une seule fois pendant l'intégralité du BOX (Best Of X matches/Le plus de matchs gagnés parmi X). Vu que l'on a 17 pilotes pour le moment, cela signifierait jouer des BO3 avec 8 (ou 12 s'il y a besoin d'un match de départage) machines différentes pour chaque équipes.

J'en ai discuté avec Birikita et on s'est dits que le meilleur moyen d'utiliser l'idée serait d'autoriser les sélections "miroir" tout en utilisant l'ordre de sélection actuelle du mode draft classique utilisé en tournoi (de cette façon, il est possible de s'adapter/de contrer les choix de l'ennemi au fur et à mesure sans choisir une composition à l'aveugle).

(On pourrait même étendre le system de "machine unique" en comptant le score plutôt que les matchs gagnés, ce qui nous permettrait de voir plus de machines et jouer plus de matches par affrontements d'équipes)

 

Pourquoi est-ce que je pense que ce nouveau système de sélection pourrait être SENSACIONAL ?!?

 

Ça synergise les styles de jeu habituels des serveurs Sud Américains et Européens (Je suis attaché à cette idée de rapprochement entre les joueurs malgré le ping) dans un format de BO où il y aurait un aspect stratégique encore plus étendu et qui permettrait d'utiliser les mécaniques de compositions/sélection de machine miroir (qui n'aimerait pas contrer un Rampage avec un autre Rampage en compétitif ? ?) et limiterait l'effet boule de neige de l'optimisation de compositions d'équipes autour du pilote OP (fumé) de la méta du moment.

 

Ça permettrait autant aux "experts" de chaque machine de vraiment montrer ce dont ils sont capables à leur maximum tout en permettant aux joueurs qui sont bons avec beaucoup/toutes les machines de vraiment peser sur la compétition. D'un point de vue compétitif, cela permettrait aux vétérans de mettre sur un pied d'égalité la selection/l'aspect stratégique et la maîtrise/expertise des machines (Pour l'instant, le format ouvert "all-pick" du casual/phases de qualification de la Metal League néglige l'aspect de sélection/stratégie et le format draft+ban utilisé en tournois et en finale de la Metal League donne trop d'avantage aux équipes qui connaissent les points forts et faibles de leurs adversaires par l'aspect social). D'un point de vue visionnage/stream, ça permettrait aussi d'avoir des matchs plus spectaculaires et avec plus d'actions techniques, ce qui est toujours une bonne chose.

 

Le "seul point négatif" serait que le système serait utilisable principalement par les équipes possédant toutes les machines et ayant le plus d'expérience. Du coup, l'usage théoriquement idéal pour ce système serait de l'utiliser dans des rencontres "ALL-STARS" avec toutes les meilleures équipes anciennes et actuelles provenant de tous les serveurs.

 

N'hésitez pas à commenter, nous dire ce que vous pensez de cette idée ou même comment nous pourrions l'améliorer !

 

Si vous pensez que ça vaut le coup d'essayer ce système, réagissez et faîtes le nous savoir en commentant si vous et votre équipe êtes intéressés : si nous avons assez d'équipes, nous voudrions créer et gérer un tournoi amical sur le serveur NA (le plus central et sur la carte MGA) pour essayer l'idée (le reste du format n'est pas encore défini, mais si nous avons assez d'admin pour s'en occuper, on pourrait même différer les matchs et laisser les équipes organiser leurs calendriers comme ça les arrange et contacter un admin pour vérifier/commenter/streamer les parties personnalisées au lieu d'avoir tout le tournoi sur un seul jour d'un week-end ?).

 

MISE À JOUR 07/10:

J'ai eu l'occasion de tester le système avec l'aide de l'équipe VCK (Спасибо, дорогие бета-тестеры!): Nous avons fait 3 matches sans bans et le résultat était très équilibré et intéressant.

Si l'équilibre général entre les machines est totalement imba, j'ai pensé que nous pouvions demander des votes pour interdire certaines machines extrêmement complexes pour tout le tournoi (ou les tournois) avec l'accord de la majorité des joueurs. Mais le système que je propose a aussi une alternative avec les contre-choix (mirroirs) des machines IMBA et des "soft-bans" (par opposition aux interdictions classiques qui donnent trop d'avantages sociaux / d'espionnage des équipes). Cela m'a donc donné plus d'idées sur l'équilibre:

 

La 1ère version serait la plus équilibrée et la plus stratégique "sans interdictions" (fonctionne mieux avec une méta équilibrée):

1. Format de matchs Best Of 3 (BO3).
   1. L'équipe qui marque le plus de buts gagne.
   2. Si les deux équipes ont le même score, celle avec le plus de matchs remportés gagne le BO3.
   3. Un 3ème match peut avoir lieu si une équipe gagne 3-2 et 3-2 lors des premiers matches (l'équipe adverse devra alors gagner 3-0 pour remporter le BO3).
2. Chaque équipe peut ne peut choisir chaque machine qu' une seule fois pour toute la durée du BO3.
   1. Les "réserves de machines" du jeu (actuellement 17 machines pour les DEUX équipes) sont distinctes, ce qui signifie que vous pouvez choisir des machines identiques/miroirs à celles de l'équipe adverse.
3. Le système de draft suivant sera utilisé avant les matchs :
   1. Les deux équipes choisiront les machines une par une (Équipe X - Équipe Y) 4 fois.
   2. Pour le 1er draft, l’équipe la mieux classée (meilleur seed) choisit en dernier (cette équipe sera appelée "Équipe 1") : l'ordre sera (Équipe 2 - Équipe 1) 4 fois.
   3. Pour les 2èmes et 3èmes drafts, l’équipe qui a perdu le match précédent du BO3 (1er ou 2eme match, respectivement) choisit en dernier : par exemple, si l’équipe 2 perd le 1er match, l’équipe 2 choisit en dernier : l'ordre sera alors (Équipe 1 - Équipe 2) 4 fois.

 

La 2ème version "avec des soft-bans asymétriques" prendrait cette forme (intéressante même si la méta est déséquilibrée): / les points 1-2 sont les mêmes que ci-dessus /:

1. Format de matchs Best Of 3 (BO3).
   1. L'équipe qui marque le plus de buts gagne.
   2. Si les deux équipes ont le même score, celle avec le plus de matchs remportés gagne le BO3.
   3. Un 3ème match peut avoir lieu si une équipe gagne 3-2 et 3-2 lors des premiers matches (l'équipe adverse devra alors gagner 3-0 pour remporter le BO3).
2. Chaque équipe peut ne peut choisir chaque machine qu' une seule fois pour toute la durée du BO3.
   1. Les "réserves de machines" du jeu (actuellement 17 machines pour les DEUX équipes) sont distinctes, ce qui signifie que vous pouvez choisir des machines identiques/miroirs à celles de l'équipe adverse.
3. Le système de draft suivant avec "soft-bans asymétriques" sera utilisé avant les matchs:
   1. Lors de chaque draft, chaque équipe empêchera une seule machine d'être choisie par l'équipe adverse, MAIS uniquement pour le match à venir (vous ne pouvez pas répéter la même interdiction deux fois, par exemple lors du 1er et du 2ème draft), l'ordre étant : Équipe X - Équipe Y.
   2. Les deux équipes choisiront les machines dans l'ordre du "draft traditionnel inversé" : Équipe X - Équipe Y - Équipe X - 2 * (Équipe Y) - 2 * (Équipe X) - Équipe Y.
   3. Pour le 1er draft, l’équipe la mieux classée (meilleur seed) choisit en dernier (cette équipe sera appelée "Équipe 1") : la séquence complète "ban + draft" est la suivante : Interdiction de l'Équipe 2  - Interdiction de l'Équipe 1, Équipe 2 - Équipe 1 - Équipe 2 - 2 * (Équipe 1) - 2 * (Équipe 2) - Équipe 1).
   4. Pour le 2ème et 3ème drafts, l’équipe qui a perdu le match précédent du BO3 (1er ou 2eme matchs, respectivement) choisit en dernier : Par exemple, si l’Équipe 2 perd le 1er match, l’Équipe 2 bannira et choisira en dernier (voir 3.3 pour l'ordre, et intervertir l'Équipe 2 et l'Équipe 1 si la situation inverse se produit).

 

Je pense que beaucoup de joueurs se demandent "Quoi, pourquoi avez-vous choisi cette règle bizarre à propos du score et du 3ème match?" C’est parce que dans l’ensemble, le système est très équilibré et donne lieu à des matchs très disputés et serrés (d’autant plus si la différence des maîtrises des machines des deux équipes est faible). Ceci encourage également différentes approches stratégiques du BO3 et incite à garder un œil sur la "gestion des ressources / machines", tout en ayant plus de matchs, même si le défaut de cela est la complexification de l'organisation ? Je voudrais vraiment discuter de ce point et j'espère obtenir des retours et réponses à ce sujet! ?

 

[Pick-system project : "BOX single-pick"]

/ENGLISH VERSION, do not hesitate to translate it properly in your own language to help us and the idea being understood by more players !/

 

 

Hello everyone ?

As I tried to broaden and expand my HMM experience more and more during these last months, and after playing customs, ranked and even taking part to region specific-tournaments and Metal Leagues on all servers, I had an idea about a new pick-system :

 

"BOX single-pick" (code-name "SYNERGY")

 

What is this all about ? It's core is very simple : Your team can pick each machines only 1 time for the duration of the BOX (Best Of X matches). As we have 17 pilots for the moment, it would mean playing BO3 with 8 (or 12 if we need a decider match) different machines for the duration of the BO.

I discussed about it with Birikita and we thought the best way to make it happen would be to allow mirror picks and still use the current picking-order used in regular drafts (so you can adapt/counter to enemy picks without being totally blind).

(We could even extend the single-pick aspect by counting scores instead of won matches in the BO, leading to even more machines to pick and matches to play)

 

Why do I think this new pick-system would be SENSACIONAL ?!?

 

It would synergizes both SA and EU usual playstyles (this aspect is very important to me to get together) into a BO format which would have even broader strategic-aspect, while allowing for the ever-absent "mirror compositions/picks" (who does not want to counter a Rampage with another one ? ?) and restrain the "snowballing effect" from optimizing a composition around a single OP machine of the meta.

 

It would allow both "experts" to really shine while playing their best machines and players able to handle well a huge pool of machines/every machines evenly. From a competitive point of view, it would finally allow veterans to put draft/strategy and machines masteries on a equal foot (for instance, "all-pick" standard format is neglecting draft/strategy totally, and draft+ban system gives too strong advantages to teams knowing their enemies weaknesses from social aspect). From a streaming point of view, it would also allow for more spectacular matches and skillful moves, which is always a good thing.

 

The "only negative" aspect of this system would be that it is better-suited to teams owning every machine and the most experienced teams. So it's best theoretical use would be to hold an "ALL-STARS" competition with all the current and former best teams of the game from each servers.

 

Do not hesitate to comment, say what you think about this idea, or even how we could improve it !

 

If you feel like this system is worth trying, react and let everyone know you are interested : if we hit enough interested teams, I would like to host/admin a relaxed tournament on NA server (most central one, on MGA Map) to test the idea (the rest of the format is not yet defined, but if we are enough admins to cover it, we could even let teams schedule matches when they see fit and come to stream/comment/administrate the custom matches instead of having it on a single week-end day ?).

 

 

07/10 UPDATE :

 

I had the opportunity to test the system with the help of the VCK team ( Спасибо, дорогие бета-тестеры ! ) : we did 3 matches without bans and the result was very balanced and interesting.

If the general balance betwen machines is totally imba, I thought we can call for votes to ban some extremely OP machines for the whole tournament with the agreement of the majority of players. But the system have also an alternative with IMBA machines counter-picks and "soft-bans" (by opposition to classic bans which gives too many social/spying advantages). So it gave me more ideas about balance :

 

1st version would be the most balanced one and the more strategic "without bans" (works better with a balanced meta) :

1. Best Of 3 (BO3) matchs format
   1. The team scoring most goals wins
   2. If both teams have the same score, the one with the most won matchs wins
   3. A 3rd match can happen if one team won 3-2 and 3-2 during the first matches (then the opposite team would have to win 3-0 to win the BO3)
2. Each team can pick each machine only ONE TIME for the whole duration of the BO3
   1. The in-game "machines-pools" (currently 17 machines for BOTH teams) are distinct, which means you are allowed to pick mirror machines in the same match.
3. The following draft system will be used before matches :
   1. Both teams will pick machines one by one (Team X - Team Y) 4 times
   2. For the 1st draft, the best-seeded team picks last (this team will be referred to as "Team 1") : (Team 2 - Team 1) * 4 times
   3. In 2nd and 3rd drafts, the team who lost previous match of the BO3 (1st or 2nd match respectively) will pick last : for instance if Team 2 lost the 1st match, the Team 2 will pick last : (Team 1 - Team 2)*4

2nd version "with asymetrical soft-bans" would take this shape (interesting even if the meta is unbalanced) : /1-2 are the same as above/ :

1. Best Of 3 (BO3) matchs format
   1. The team scoring most goals wins
   2. If both teams have the same score, the one with the most won matchs wins
   3. A 3rd match can happen if one team won 3-2 two times during the first matches (then the opposite team would have to win 3-0 to win the BO3)
2. Each team can pick each machine only ONE TIME for the whole duration of the BO3
   1. The in-game "machines-pools" (currently 17 machines for BOTH teams) are distinct, which means you are allowed to pick mirror machines in the same match.
3. The following draft system with "asymetrical soft bans" will be used before matches :
   1. During each draft, each team will ban 1 machine from being chosen by the opposite team only, BUT only for the current match (You can't repeat the same ban twice, for instance during 1st and 2nd draft), the order is : Team X - Team Y
   2. Both teams will pick machines in the flipped "traditionnal draft order" : Team X - Team Y - Team X - 2*(Team Y) - 2*(Team X) - Team Y
   3. For the 1st draft, the best-seeded team picks last (this team will be referred to as "Team 1") : (the whole pick + ban sequence for the 1st match is : Team 2 Ban - Team 1 Ban, Team 2 - Team 1 - Team 2 - 2*(Team 1) - 2*(Team 2) - Team 1)
   4. In 2nd and 3rd drafts, the team who lost previous match of the BO3 (1st or 2nd match respectively) will pick last : for instance if Team 2 lost the 1st match, the Team 2 will ban and pick last (see 3.3 order and substitute Team 2 and Team 1 if the opposite situation happens)

 

So, a lot of players will wonder "What, why did you chose this tricky rule about goals and 3rd match ?" : That's because overall, the system feels very balanced and lead to very disputed and tight matchs (even more if the skill-difference between machines masteries of both teams is small). This also encourages different strategical approaches of the BO3 and keeping an eye on "ressources/machines management", while assisting to more matches even if it complexify the organization ? I would really want to discuss about this part and I hope I will get feedbacks and answers to this topic ! ?

[Metal League Feedbacks and Improvement suggestions]

Okay, I just thought about something that might be better to balance the "earned points" previous idea I had :

 

The won points for each teams during each matches should be chosen with some kind of ELO system (except, we have to adapt it so you only win points even if you lose) and still being asymetric. But the bonus points for scoring should be shared as such : Doing the average of how many points each teams would win against each others and share with the previous formula I proposed.

 

For instance, let's consider Team 1 being matched higher than Team 2 :

Scenario 1 : Close win

- If T1 wins 3-2, the "ELO system" for winning gives 25 points to the T1 (or 75 to the T2) -> 50 points in average (a % can be applied here to balance further) -> +3/5*50 for T1 and +2/5*50 for T2

->T1 earns 55 points and T2 earns 20

- If T2 wins 3-2, the "ELO system" for winning gives 75 points to the T2 (or 25 to the T1) -> 50 points in average (a % can be applied here to balance further) -> +2/5*50 for T1 and +3/5*50 for T2

T1 earns 20 points and T2 earns 105

 

Scenario 2 : Absolute victory

- If T1 wins 3-0, the "ELO system" for winning gives 25 points to the T1 (or 75 to the T2) -> 50 points in average (a % can be applied here to balance further) -> +50 for T1 and +0 for T2

->T1 earns 75 points and T2 earns 0

- If T2 wins 3-0, the "ELO system" for winning gives 75 points to the T2 (or 25 to the T1) -> 50 points in average (a % can be applied here to balance further) -> +0 for T1 and +50 for T2

->T1 earns 0 points and T2 earns 130

(Match time % and flat participation bonus are to be added like I proposed in my previous message)

 

This way, you conserves asymetric earnings if you manage to win against a "stronger team" (or win a lot if you beat a "stronger team") in terms of rank. Maybe the average value should be set as a reference for the won/lost points and adjusted depending on the current difference of ranks between encountering teams rather than an "ELO system" (and as a bonus it should favor "catching-up" with higher-ranked teams). For instance, if we take "50" as the reference, two teams having the same rank would get the same "win bonus" of 50, and if we match 1st and last team in the rankings, the difference should be something like +/-85 (if 1st team wins, it earns 15 as a bonus, if it's the last team, it earns 185) -> This could even allow late teams to catch-up their delay.

[Metal League Feedbacks and Improvement suggestions]

Hello everyone, veterans, newcomers, metal gladiators alike !

Yesterday, the last phase of the 3rd Metal League Qualifier ended, and I felt like it's the perfect time to start a huge and complete topic about pros/cons and how to improve this system !

You will find below my own feedback and vision about how the next metal league should improve : do not hesitate to comment and give your own here !

 

As an introduction, there are some points about HMM on which the ML system is highly depending on :

 

1. Number of teams participating to each stages, and by extension the amount of competitive players/teams in the game :
   
   We were a bit disappointed when we learned that the system is designed with 100+ teams being simulated at the same time to balance the system as we barely reach 20/30 teams when considering the whole ML competition. This criteria leads to 2 distinct scenarios depending on if the game reach a player-base big enough : one would be to stick to the Swiss-round (or Round-robin if there are even less teams) format that was used during first ESL EU & SA tournaments and worked pretty well ; the other one would be to improve the current system (which is the optimistic scenario about reaching a great number of competitive teams I am keeping in this example).
   
    
2. Technical aspects about MatchMaking algorithm and Steam Friends system :
   
   Steam friends integration is clunky since Valve modified it (even bugging on it's own in other games in my personal experience) and the implementation in the game is a technical aspect on which we have to wait for the dev-team fixes or stepping out of Steam Friends system at least for MatchMaking and profiles purposes.
   But this led to issues allowing sniping mechanics (checking which team is currently in the queue to optimize encounters and thus ranking points, or even enter the "wrong queue" in casual to bait teams doing this ?) and the way to counter this was to use Steam's invisible mode so there would be less bias and snipings (when you go invisible, you can't either check who is entering the queue). Plus, if you have a friend or the 5th player of your team checking the observer mode, you can know which team you are encountering while you are still in the pick phase (if you have good information about their playstyles/picks, it gives you a nice advantage).
   Proposed solutions :
   -> Hide which teams are encountering each other in the spectator mode until the pick phase has ended.
   -> Find a way to hide/not display every player status when you enter the Metal League queue.
   
   The Matchmaking algorithm is matching teams too fast even if the teams queueing are the 1st and the last of the current phase, which is not a good scenario to earn points/have competitively interesting matches, which can be a problem in such ranking system.
   Proposed solution :
   -> It would be a solution for the RANKED MODE as well : impose a threshold of your current ranking points +/- X inside which you would be able to match other teams. The longer you wait in the queue, the bigger the X (inclusion) gets (you have 1400 points, threshold X is initially at 100 so you get matched with teams around 1300 to 1500 points first and it increases with time to 1200-1600, 1000-1800 and so on ...). Something like waiting for 10 minutes to get to situations where you would be able to get matched 1st against last team of the league could be nice.
   
    
3. Overall balance between all characters of the game :
   
   During the Combat Test, the overall balance between machines was really difficult to adjust and was still not very good during the EU ML (leading to normalized picks in draft and the same compositions during qualifiers phase). It's better now, but still not enough in my opinion for the competitive E-sport scene we want to build. I won't discuss balance issues here, specially when uncertainties about garage remain.
   Spoiler

   (in my opinion, Vulture is OP, LM PM and WF a bit too strong, Arti really needs a buff, Photon and FMJ needs a small boost)

   It's not a huge problem during qualifiers, but it is for final phases where there are drafts. We also have different playstyles between SA and EU, and the balance is not felt the same way. If you ask me, I would say SA players have more knowledge about overall teams compositions and EU players know more about precise machine capabilities/picks/counterpicks.
   Proposed solutions :
   -> Create a "balance team" in both SA and EU servers which would work with testers and devs.
   -> Balance characters accordingly to their "maximum capabilities" first (maybe with an insanely good AI ?) and then tune some machines controls to make them more "newplayers-friendly"/easier to use.
   
    

About the system itself : Here is the main part of the discussion, and I will try to provide usefull propositions to bias I found in the ML ranking system :

 

• We figured out that the value of each matches are strangely calculated as it seems the first matches you participate to gets you more (positive or negative) points even if the differential between you and the other team is small (so it values participating to 1/2 matches fully and leaving after reaching 1450 points, it happened a lot during ML SA).
  Proposed solution :
  -> All matches regardless of the occurence # number should earn as much point (But the difference between winning a "high-ranked" team or a lower ranked one should subsist, so it would be better to re-calculate entirely the tie-breaks point bonuses for the phase after each match until the end of the phase).
  
   
• By extension, the actual number of points of each teams should not be displayed, but only the current ranking of the phase, so the proposition I made above is doable and relevant + it does not discourage teams from participating and compete to reach higher ranks because "we will never earn enough".
  Proposed solution :
  -> Hiding phase points
  
   
• Having a system where you start at 1000 points and can fall below is bad because it does not encourage players to compete (we had a lot of cases where teams entered the queue only to get the 1000 points and according stage points) and if your team is not one of the favourites/loses 2/3times in a row at start, it discourages a lot to continue the phase.
  Proposed solution :
  -> Starting at 0 points and only winning points according to the team performance would be better (and applying proportional factor if you win or lose, like 75% of a match worth/difficulty if you win and 25% if you lose).
  
   
• The average time and scores for each phases were barely taken into account as tie-breaks in case of complete equality in stage points (which almost never happened). It was a nice idea but it should go further (and refine the previous proposition) : about scores, it's not the same to win 3-0 in 2 minutes as to win 3-2 in 1h matches, so there should be a differential of earned points depending on match result and match length. Coefficients are adjustable, but it would be fairer to take into account the score difference of each matches.
  Proposed solution :
  -> If I take into account previous propositions : let's admit a match worth "100 points" won 3-2 by one team : the winning team gets flat 25% of the match worth and the losing team 0% (25-0). Then you apply ratios about the result with a formula like "score number"/"sum of scores of the match" : winning team gets 3/5 of the remaining 75 points and losing team still gets 2/5 of the remaining -> (25+45=70 for the winning team and 30 for the losing team in total). I think having the winners of matches progress 2 to 3 times faster than losers is a good ratio.
  
   
• About the time dedicated to the league and match lengths :  there is a huge difference between having Black Lotus ending the match in 2 minutes and an IceBringer duel of 1h.
  About this precise point, I think we should take the elapsed match time into account as a global coefficient to calcul earned points, but not without adding a flat participation bonus for each match you participated to (overwise, it would encourage abuses like winning 3-0 with a defensive team and keeping the bomb for 6 hours long, or even more). Let's take our previous example : your 3-2 match of 30 minutes should get you as much points as 3 matches 3-2 of 10 minutes against the same team, but the difference would be the flat participation points you earn regardless of the result.
  
  Proposed solution :
  -> Flat bonus for each participated match :
  Case 1 : 1 match 3-2 30 mins : Win Team : 70*100% (match time) + 20 (flat participation) = 90  - Lost Team : 30*100%(match time) + 20 (flat participation) = 50
  Case 2 : 3 matches 3-2 10 mins : Win Team : (70*33% (match time) + 20 (flat participation))*3 = 130  - Lost Team : (30*33%(match time) + 20 (flat participation))*3 = 90
  
  Basically, the more matches you participate to (and the less resistance you encounter), the faster you earn points, but it's difficult to balance it well with the dispersion of each match length and without having any data myself ?
  
   
• Also, as we do not have a lot of teams participating yet, I think we should add points for elapsed time in the ML queue or try to adjust it because it often happens that you have an odd number of teams and you have to wait 10 minutes without matches (while others end their own matches) which impacts your earning points capabilities. However as we still experience group issues and crashes, this bonus should not be too strong until these technical issues are resolved.

 

Let's step out of the technical aspects : I always felt that HMM compstitive scene is about "Winners takes all" rather than an equally scattered prizes for each ranks (apart from ML money prizes).

• I think there should be an incentive to participate to the ML for everyone without considering the results of the teams : like a huge fame bonus for each ML match (winning 150 instead of 25), a flat prize once you participated to a set number of matches (like earning 2000 Fame if your team participates to 6 matches : 1 match for every hour in the ML seems a good value).
• And another incentive to do it's best during each phase (to reach top1-top3) rather than the huge bonus ratio in ranking points for being 1st/top3 of the phase : give a heavy metal skin to each players or such rewards meaningful to veterans.
• (and keep the lotery, it's a nice community event !)
   

As a veteran, I can keep going for 6 hours without major tiredness -even with 250 ping while I was participating to SA ML- but it's not the case of newly made teams : having 4h ML phases instead of 6h would be better, but the system format in which you can still reach top8 when participating only to the last phase should be kept all the same. I am unsure about the required number of phases though, but I think it would be nice to reduce it to 4 qualifier stages to give more room to other unofficial tournaments.

 

There is also another aspect to take into account : the only balanced and competitive map is Metal Gods Arena : I would not mind having different maps during qualifiers or even final phases if all maps were as balanced (Legacy ToS has too narrow parts although the global design was great, Cursed Necropolis has too large main road/lack obstacles and zig-zags, new ToS is too straightforward -coming back to the enemy transporter is too slow/difficult-, the last acid-vat part is too close to the score zone and some walls make the bomb bounce strangely)

 

I will try to make this more reader-friendly AND update this post regularly, but be kind as it's my first post on the HMM forums