Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

Hey y’all, long time no see.

So I’ve seen that the usual suspects are trying to get things moving a little more around here and also trying to rope in some new peeps too. As a result, I’ve been thinking and toying around with an idea the last couple of weeks: what do you guys and gals think about me switching factions to the Decepticons?

Here’s my reasoning: my understanding is that the stateside ‘Bots sometimes have difficulty getting decent competition outside the handful of top ‘Cons. And I’ve heard and seen that the ‘Cons are getting frequently outnumbered in the lower half of the levels. I’m about in that range now (3-6ish) and would have more of a reason to play and deploy if i weren’t always going into ‘Bot-heavy 4v1s or 5v1s and getting minimum XP.

So now I open things up to the rest of the player base. Do you think me switching would have a positive impact on the game in terms of balance and competition? Or are you most likely thinking, “Ew, why would the ‘Cons want him? Sod off!”

So, to try to spur some discussion, I'll share some data I gathered from today's deployments so far (yay maths!):

I deployed my Spartans (Levels 3-6) into 42 missions as of this post, not including the six that are in missions right now. Of those 42 missions, 15 of them (35.7%) were unopposed. Another 16 of them (38.1%) had only one Decepticon in them. Surprisingly, only 11 missions (26.2%) had a Bot to Con ratio greater than 2. Only 5 missions had even opposition (11.9%). The average number of Autobots per mission across these 42 was about 2.9. The average number of Decepticons across the same range was 0.9.

I know this is not totally scientific (I'm STAT dumb), but maybe this gives some context to the question. I still think both the game and I would be better off if I were to switch to the Decepticons. At least a few of those unopposed missions would've not been unopposed.

What do y'all think?

I think Burn LOVES it when you throw stats at him to justify these things [/sarcasm]
What he does seem to enjoy is a story-based reason for switching.

Moving people between factions is deckchairs on the Titanic right now (though I'd be tempted to go with you) but if you can write up an event explaining why you're defecting, maybe build a little competition around it with some custom mission texts...
That would tickle Burn the right way AND maybe breathe some life into this place again enough to justify the effort (of clicking one box, so I'm told)

Or

Burn could see this post, think "**** off rabbit, you don't know me" & flip you over right now outta spite
*shrug*
It's Burn. He moves in mysterious ways.

True, all good points But hey, I’m an engineer so I mainly speak numbers by default.

I’ll try to come up with some ideas on my day off. Maybe something like, “Dragonslayer was actually a merc double-agent for the Decepticons and has sold out the other Spartans!” Then the Cons have to hunt the other 11 Spartans while the Bots try to “save” them (i.e. don’t let them die). And if Dragonslayer happens to be in a mission the Bots get credit if he goes down.

Or something like that.

At this point, I'd be tempted to go Con as well. On average I see maybe 1 player per day, if I am lucky.

I would have no problem switching sides and placing my guys at various levels to created some opposition. I know level 5 has some issues, I am sure a few others too. In the level 10-11 missions its damn near a waste of time. Once in a while you get some opposition.

3 of us could create enough opposition at various levels for the what players we do have would stay in the game.

My observation the last couple of days playing has been my 5s and 6s are doing okay getting XP because a lot of their missions include the upper levels so even if only one or two Cons join in they're high enough levels that the XP gains are decent. It's the one Level 3 and the 4s that are having the most difficult time. Very few Cons show up in the low level missions - one, on a good day. Much easier to find two or three Bots down in that range than to find even one Con. And if they're lucky enough to jump in to a higher level mission like Hell Unleashed, their stats just aren't quite good enough to do much of anything so they end up making minimal XP.

There's a small contingent of level 3 and 4 'cons. I see them regularly in in "Arise" missions (1 lvl10/11 bot vs 10[?] lvl 1-4 cons) and have started to see them in the inferno (1-11) missions, usually in the same grouping.

*edit* For example: https://www.seibertron.com/heavymetalwa ... _id=447042

Maladroid has been pretty consistent since he joined. Blue Splotch is a rarity. The other 3 will play for a couple weeks, then dissapear for weeks or months.

KAMJIIN wrote:Maladroid has been pretty consistent since he joined. Blue Splotch is a rarity. The other 3 will play for a couple weeks, then dissapear for weeks or months.

Yeah, I've noticed Maladroid a bit this week. Hopefully we'll see more of them around.

Optimus_Prime007 wrote:At this point, I'd be tempted to go Con as well. On average I see maybe 1 player per day, if I am lucky.

I would have no problem switching sides and placing my guys at various levels to created some opposition. I know level 5 has some issues, I am sure a few others too. In the level 10-11 missions its damn near a waste of time. Once in a while you get some opposition.

3 of us could create enough opposition at various levels for the what players we do have would stay in the game.

cool by me

One day left to get the vote out! Will I continue to be an Autobot, or shall I join the ranks of the Decepticons?

YOU DECIDE!!!

I really do not understand how "No" is winning.

Guy comes back from not playing, wants to switch factions so that he has opposition and a reason to bother sticking around & everyone's like "Nah, **** that guy's enjoyment, he needs to stay where he is even if it means he quits again."
That's dumb.

There's a difference in wanting to do something and wanting peoples opinion on whether or not to do something.

As the thread title is "Should", it would indicate that this is the latter of the two. If it's the former, as you've indicated, the poll and this thread are redundant.

I think the point of the poll was, as you said, to gauge the community's overall opinion on whether I ought to switch factions. Me personally, I think the overall metagame would be better served if I did switch. More opposition for both sides and it starts to balance things out on the lower end of the level spectrum (in my opinion).

However, if others don't want me to switch and/or if it's going to cause more heartache than help for whatever reason, then it won't be done. A simple Yes/No poll doesn't provide context on why it's a good idea or a bad idea, true, but Burn would rather have community feedback before switching people around, whether or not it produces a more "balanced" game.

He may decide to still switch me since a few people replied "Yes" anyway. Or he may do simple majority. Who knows? We may even see the violence inherent in the system. "Help! Help! I'm being repressed," and all that

ThunderThruster wrote:There's a difference in wanting to do something and wanting peoples opinion on whether or not to do something.

As the thread title is "Should", it would indicate that this is the latter of the two. If it's the former, as you've indicated, the poll and this thread are redundant.

Well let's explore the should part here.

Should he stay on the Autobot faction that was already out numbering the cons before he came back?

Should we want the game to be a -little- bit more balanced so those of us who don't go "ooo! I won! I'm amazing! Those cons never stood a chance!" when the mission results say "Seeing no opposition, the Autobots complete their objective and leave."

Should we want people to be more interested in playing?

If you say yes to any of those, then let the man switch.

Bonus should, should badges matter at this point?

Didn't realize that the vermin was unable to fight his own battles that he need you to step in for him.

Hrm.

I've decided to do the mature thing (for once) and not escalate.
Not fair to DS if his thread gets hijacked by yet another pissing match & the subsequent admonitions of Burn

(Especially since I can/am talking all the **** I want on you via fb )

Attack one of us, attack all of us. Though, it's telling you view people expressing an opinion that disagrees with your own as an attack on you.

Bun-Bun wrote:I really do not understand how "No" is winning.

Guy comes back from not playing, wants to switch factions so that he has opposition and a reason to bother sticking around & everyone's like "Nah, **** that guy's enjoyment, he needs to stay where he is even if it means he quits again."
That's dumb.

I've got no say in any of that.

I was simply working under the following assumptions:

With all other things being equal, they'd want to be Autobot.

No one should feel obligated to switch, for fairness sake, content or whatever else. We're not conscripting Decepticons.

So I'd rather hold the newbie's optimistic hope that opposition will stumble in like I did, rather than Dragonslayer or anyone else feeling the 'need' to switch.

If they really want to do this, the two pence of me and anyone else isn't going to change a thing.

Especially regarding any game population, team balance metrics.

Decepticons are always conscripting. Usually sleeper agents from the bots.

Hang onto that newbies optimism. Keep it locked down deep. Because eventually you'll be a pessimist like the rest of us who haven't seen an update in the game since the Bush Presidency and have seen the player base go from healthy to life support in terms of numbers.

Dispatch wrote:

Bun-Bun wrote:I really do not understand how "No" is winning.

Guy comes back from not playing, wants to switch factions so that he has opposition and a reason to bother sticking around & everyone's like "Nah, **** that guy's enjoyment, he needs to stay where he is even if it means he quits again."
That's dumb.

I've got no say in any of that.

I was simply working under the following assumptions:

With all other things being equal, they'd want to be Autobot.

No one should feel obligated to switch, for fairness sake, content or whatever else. We're not conscripting Decepticons.

So I'd rather hold the newbie's optimistic hope that opposition will stumble in like I did, rather than Dragonslayer or anyone else feeling the 'need' to switch.

If they really want to do this, the two pence of me and anyone else isn't going to change a thing.

Especially regarding any game population, team balance metrics.

I don’t feel like I “need” to switch just I don’t feel like I “need” to play or be here. I want to be here and play and I want to switch sides for my own sake and for the sake of others. I feel that this one little switch will have a positive impact on this game. But not everyone may feel the same as I do and that’s perfectly fine. The fact of the matter is this is the system we currently have and given the state of the player base the power that is would rather make sure the merry band of misfits that is our community won’t have their fun ruined by this switch.

Because that’s what all this should be about: FUN. And a little change like this can be fun and healthy.

Dragonslayer wrote:He may decide to still switch me since a few people replied "Yes" anyway. Or he may do simple majority. Who knows?

Not my decision. These things have always been supposed to be left up to the community, what there is of it.

Burn wrote:

Dragonslayer wrote:He may decide to still switch me since a few people replied "Yes" anyway. Or he may do simple majority. Who knows?

Not my decision. These things have always been supposed to be left up to the community, what there is of it.

With the 11 in favour and 4 against I’d say the community has spoken and go get him changed overBurn. Just so I can smack him with the soggy end

Do you remember way back when drop 6 of my guys XP?

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=98936

I did it with 6 of my guys for the good of the game then to give the lower levels some much needed numbers (all my guys were in the top 200 at that time) sure I’ve been away for a while but would just like 1 more active To battle against now I’m also back.

Go Burn old buddy old pal, click the required buttons

The masses have spoken, it is done.

Congrats DS
I look forward to slaughtering you sometime soon just like in the good ol' days