Teams Stacking

[WeeGeez]

Hello there.

Stacking
This kind of exploit often involves altering game settings or team lineups in order to give 1-4 teams an unfair advantage over the other. One example includes filling a team with only skilled or known players and pitting them against another team of lesser skill. Though this tactic is not illegal, it often upsets lesser-skilled players who feel that they aren't being given a fair chance...

Basically, when people join a server and see all thier buddies on the other side, they switch... and if it isnt thier friends that makes them switch onto the opposing (often winning) team, its the team their playing as that constaly keep losing that makes them...

Please people! STAY ON THE TEAM YOUR ASSIGNED!
I'm sick and tired of joining a full server and looking at the map, only to see we are getting humped by the enemy team, only to look at at the scoreboard and see all the more experienced players are on that side. I often play for 10-20mins, sometimes a whole round putting up with it, only to realise it was complete waste of my time, death after countless more deaths.
I would also like to add that I never switch teams EVER, I just don't do it! I would love it if people just stay on the team they are assigned to at the beggining of a round and that they would make the most of what they have and get, that way both teams are fair and everybody has a better time playing Project Reality.

I really dont want to put the following server down, I love it, all the players that play on it and the admins... but Thors Brigade server is a prime example of this...
I have had a few good rounds on this server in the past, when the overall game went brilliantly, when the teams were evenly populated with the more experienced and less experienced players, though it does seem that stacking has been occuring much more frequently recently, probably because of the larger amount of new players also known as "the noobs" coming on and trying out the mod, the players that have no experience in anything and ask you endless amounts of questions about how everything works...
What do you think thier first impressions are when they are on a team that are getting pwned thier first try? I don't think theyll like the mod, theyll probably think "nah, This is where all those uber point, uber rank pro's that got bored of BF2 all came to"... when it isnt like that at all.

...So people, please consider this next time you think about changing team just because your getting owned or becasue you know someone on the enemy team.

Also any form of comments apreciated (negative or positive, I don't mind)

[maz.uk]

its going to happen if i join a server and see my clan guys on the other team, 9 times out of ten il swop and join them or be mean and listen to them on ventrilo and take them out and i think most clan guys will do the same

[Rudd]

I swap to be with friends unless it upsets team balance.

But ur right, I hate it when you finally get to be USMC/UK and then all teh n00bs from teh chin/ins/militia swap over cuz they wanna be heroes...so you swap over to even it out cuz your a great chap, then you PWN said n00bs.

Especially on Basrah, I end up waiting for half hour for their crummy attack, then we pwn them after they slaughter our civis with APC fire.

I've been USMC on jabal twice, ever.

[WeeGeez]

its going to happen if i join a server and see my clan guys on the other team, 9 times out of ten il swop and join them... ...and i think most clan guys will do the same

Ye Maybe clans can be let away with this but there are people out there that do join the opposing team because they know someone (not in the same clan) if they are even in a clan themself, or switch because of the other reasons stated in OP.

[(HUN)Rud3bwoy]

Im familiar with the situation and it is damn annoying, but I do the same (okay not with a whole clan but with 2-3 of my friends but i dont think that principally it makes a difference)
It is like when someone is having a good round: fun for the person but annoying on the receiving end.

[OkitaMakoto]

Youll never know why people are team switching so you cant simply say "these guys are ok, these guys arent." Thats basically what you mean. "It is ok to switch for your clan, but not friends." I agree one shouldnt switch just to be on the winning team, but I hardly see that as provable or too terribly common. The biggest reason is wanting to be on a certain faction, or to be with friends. And thats fine by me.

Most servers have autobalance which, personally, I find terribly annoying. Teams will most often balance themselves if there are any players worth playing. Most respectable players will do their best to even out the teams as best they can... let the clans be together, let the friends be together and try to all adjust accordingly. Maybe let a clan know that if they all join the opposite team, the teams will be more even, etc.

[Morgan]

There are some times when the teams are unbalanced just because of the order players join. Then you just gotta suck it up and take the beating on the chin. You win some, you lose some.

[PRC_Heavy_Z]

I personally believe being with friends/clan members on another team is fine as long as it doesn't horribly unbalance the teams. IE, 32 vs. 30 is alright, but 34 vs. 28 is not so much.

few things that's rather bothersome is that US/UK teams always has more players than the "evil bad people". Don't know whether it's because of a weird sense of nationalism/patriotism or if player think they're committing treason by joining PLA/MEC/etc. but it's a bit annoying at times.

Also, there's always 3-4 players that'll switch to the other team as soon as the opposing team is ahead. Not only does this exacerbate the situation farther but it also means who ever joins the game is always destined to sit through a slaughter or rape before finally losing by a long shot.

[Epim3theus]

Yeah teamstacking can be anoying, especially when there are 2 different clans in game who cohort on the same side, instead of against eachother. And that is a known issue on TB-server where LP and TB clan live. That server has a great regular player base wich comes with it's downsides. But yeah, even if your on the winning team a walk-over isn't much fun, those rounds are over quickly and before you know it you're stuck on Kashan for 1.5 hours.
I'm not complaining though.

[Chimpanzeeee]

Some people just prefer the weapons/vehicles of one particular team.

Like militia vs. british maps, susat gives brits a huge advantage. (and of course, who can forget, the minimi)

and i bet, given the choice you would be in a btr rather than a lav.

[Epim3theus]

I would never teamswitch over those reasons as mentioned above, that's a prime example of bad sportsman ship. There is no choice, don't teamswitch for the better weapons.
Like you said, everyone would like the easiest to kill with weapons, and that is exactly the reason not to teamswitch for them.

[-=TB=-ante9383]

I totally understand you guys, and I know it's annoying. Clan players tend to stick together, e.g. us TB boys love playing alongside the LP dudes.

I am sure you've seen our efforts in the past to avoid "clan-players vs. the World" situations, but I don't really see a solution. -=TB=- switches sides, only to be followed by other clan players. People who've known each other for a long time (e.g. I've known most of the LP boys for 1.5 years) try to play together as they're familiar with each other and basically work together without explicit communication being necessary.

[W4chund]

I totally understand you guys, and I know it's annoying. Clan players tend to stick together, e.g. us TB boys love playing alongside the LP dudes.

I am sure you've seen our efforts in the past to avoid "clan-players vs. the World" situations, but I don't really see a solution. -=TB=- switches sides, only to be followed by other clan players. People who've known each other for a long time (e.g. I've known most of the LP boys for 1.5 years) try to play together as they're familiar with each other and basically work together without explicit communication being necessary.

But isn´t it boring to win 90% of the Games against a Bunch of "Noobs". I´ve played on TB Server with Version 0.5 till 0.6. TB Server was my Favorite, then i´ve made a Rest for a while, cause i din´t like the 0.7 Version. Now the 0.75 is much better and i´ve tryed a few Rounds on your Server. And its horrible to see whats going on there. Friends and Clanmates where switched to your Team, no Problem for me, it´s your Server and you will Pay for it. But there was a Time that i saw more sportmanship on TB Server. Even Teams ( Skill and Numbers), hard Rounds, fair Fights and alot of Fun. But this is History, now its only Noobowning. And if the Round going "Bad" for the Hosts, i saw LP/TB Members or "Friends" switching the Teams 2 Times and a few Minutes after that the "Noobs" lost their Rallypoints, Firebases and Bunkers.
I saw this "Tactic" 3 Times, espacially in Late Nights. 2 Times on TB Server and one Time on another Public Server where TB/LP and Friends pwnd the Noobs.

[fludblud]

hehe, reminds me of a game at zatar, 24 people in the MEC team had tags compared with only two in the US...

hueys couldnt even lift off before being hit with a MANPAD, when the US complained of baseraping the MEC simply placed an army of vodniks lining the mountains opposite the carrier. any apc was hit by ATs when in view not to mention a whole bunch of the US team mustve been a group of friends who just dled PR as they were asking the most basic of questions. it was possibly the most horrible game imaginable and landing site 1 never got captured.

team switching is a human thing that you can only be patient and deal with, but sometimes it really drives you mad.

[Rudd]

Like militia vs. british maps, susat gives brits a huge advantage. (and of course, who can forget, the minimi)

eH?!

[-=TB=-ante9383]

W4chund, I see what you mean, and I gotta admit it used to be a lot more fun last year in 0.5 and 0.6. I think it's more than just clanplayers vs. "the noobs", but I don't know what it is. I just don't find PR as enjoyable as it used to be, and as you may have noticed the times where I used to pay 4+ hours every day are long over because of this.

[Harrod200]

W4chund, I see what you mean, and I gotta admit it used to be a lot more fun last year in 0.5 and 0.6. I think it's more than just clanplayers vs. "the noobs", but I don't know what it is. I just don't find PR as enjoyable as it used to be, and as you may have noticed the times where I used to pay 4+ hours every day are long over because of this.

I gotta admit the same. The game seemed far more enjoyable back in September. Now I spend most of the time commanding. The whole game just seems less fun to play, especially as infantry.

[-=TB=-Tobakfromcuba]

1. youve the right to complain about it.
2. i know there a quite big number of guys who are skilled teramplayers on our server who are not in a clan. im wondering why theyre not mergin together to a clan, as anything is relative, a LP / TB combination can be beaten.
3. we also often recognize the stacking and split up then, pls notice that is also happening.
4. if one team obviously just consists of newbies only, we will try to switch over and sort some of them out. if there guys not teamworking, going for silly positions, wasting vehicles, not setting rps, pls call them out to the admins, they get warned, maybe kicked with an advice to read the manual.
5. playing against an "better" enemy can make you better, until a certain point. soon it will be 2 years that im playing PR, i remember once having a K/D of 2/20 round after round in the first months, i can say i got better only by experience and the enemy i fought against, not only the team i played with.

but still, i can understand its low fun when the adhesion becomes to extreme.

[CodeRedFox]

To keep all things fair and easy I say use the auto switch, yea it sucks sometime to be switched but its a easy way to keep balance. And only allow non auto switch on private games.

Just my 2 cents from playing years of online games.

[TOME Malambri]

I haven't played a single round in the past 3 days in any of the big servers like Tactical Gamer, Tcombat, Thorsbrigade that wasn't suffering from some sever team stacking issues. I am talking about 15 versus 25, with the other team typing "stop whining noob" when politely asked to switch. Sure, it's fun for the other team. But unfortunately for all the switchers that's not how online games are supposed to work.

There really is no fix to this. You can't stop players from stacking on the winning team side. So whatever. My squad just deals with it and does our part until we literally can't stand the stacking anymore and just leave the server in question for a few hours.

PR for ya. It's love and hate.