Vainglory Forums

Some may not be aware, but if you're in the solo queue and get matched up with two other players to form a team, the opposing team could be a 'Created' team (aka a 'friend' team).

To me, it's unfair to go into a match unaware the advantages the opposing 'friends' team could bring to bear. Usually the team with the most information wins.

There are a number of advantage combinations 'friend' teams could have -- I'd like others to share there thoughts -- but off the top I can think of a few:

1) The most glaring advantage the friends could have is a 3 way voice call. This is a huge advantage -- being generous, the other team has about a 75% chance of loosing in this scenario.

2) Friends could be sending each other text messages, over the iPhone (drop down notifications) or on the Mac or wherever.

3) Just playing together often enough to become a well-oiled machine.

Of course I know I can go in with friends, but guess what, that's not always a great fit for mobile play as I'm on then off again. Very rarely do I respond in time to friend requests to play as a team. By the time I get the message they've moved on to a game.

What I'd like to see is the option to back out when we get matched up, but short of that, we should get a heads up on if we're up against a 'friends' team, otherwise we are sitting ducks.

And as always, please make sure to let the Devs know if you have concerns about any aspect of the game, such as this.

It could be made that there is a separate que for teams vs solo que... But that would probably increase waiting times for all. There could be as much as 3 separate queues at the same time (one for solo que, one for two friends, one for three friends).

@aadams
Below The Hotness tier, it is pretty rare to be matched against a premade team that you described. Obviously, premade teams have their advantages but they can still be beaten by good players if the premade team is not highly skilled.
I'm not sure why you think that getting a heads up on a premade team will in fact help your team do any better since your playstyle would probably not change that much in either situation.

Thanks @jttm. But I'd just like to point out a few things I think are off in your post:


1) I'm not on the Hotness tier. I get match up like this all the time -- hence my post. I don't want to make your point for you, but what you seem to be saying here (to me) is that since it's unfair only to a small portion of users (below the Hotness tier), it's not a 'real' problem.


2) You bet pre-made teams have an advantage -- and it doesn't matter how small you think it is -- it's unfair on the face of it. Again, your point IMO seems to be, since you could possibly beat a team that has factored in advantage (as you point out condescendingly, if you are highly skilled), it's not a 'real' problem.


3) Of course I'd like to be able to back out of these matches, short of that -- getting a heads up at least tells me the other team had an advantage. Of course there is not on the ground advantage -- no one suggested otherwise, so I don't know how you came to that conclusion.


As a side note:
I emailed the vainglory team. They acknowledge this is an unfair situation, and added they're working on a resolution. But it may take some time due to the complexity of the problem domain.

Only reason you will lose against a pre team is if your teammates suck... either way it's fair game because you have the option to negate whatever advantages you mentioned by forming your own team beforehand.

I've had plenty of matches where enemies were named Peaches & Apples, IamLeftNut & IamRightNut, etc. pretty obvious teammates. don't make the slightest difference and just makes them look bad if they lose.

Thanks @long****kim. I'd like to address a few things in your post.



1) That's like saying, the only reason you'd loose to any team type (prebuilt or not) is if you or your team are not great -- and if you or your team are not great then you deserve to loose anyhow (prebuilt or not) -- so getting match up against prebuilt team with all kinds of advantages is not a 'real' problem.



2) As I stated, in my first post:



So what it sounds like you're saying is, because I should I know I can make a prebuilt team and instead decide to go into the solo queue against prebuilt teams, the prebuilt team advantage is somehow not a 'real' problem?

I'm sorry, I had a hard time trying to understand your point here.



3) So the prebuilt teams obvious advantages doesn't make a difference in your opinion (only if they loose). There's no 'real' problem here, right?

But what if they win on account of them having a voice call the whole time? What if they win because they can talk about what you and your team are doing or what they should be doing -- while you can do nothing but ping your guys every once in a while?

I, and the vainglory team based on there feedback to me, disagree with you on this point.

@aadams
The reason said "below the Hotness Tier" is because of personal experience. I very rarely run into premade teams below that level that are actually a threat.

I easily agree with your other points, however I think it's even worse to have the game notify you like you mentioned. Pretty soon that could become a default surrender game mechanic and reduce the fun and possibilities of ***ymetric (not unfair) matches.

I'd be willing to bet some, perhaps more, of the teams you think are pre-made aren't. Sometimes I'm on a team that just gels, everyone in the right place at the right time and working together like peas in a pod.

Dude....
Do you major in analytics or something similar? Cuz ur way over-interpreting my quick reply. Seriously tho, i could care less if the entire vg team disagree with me as u so eloquently put it, lol.

Now I understand ur frustration but what ur asking for is unrealistic because the game wont be catered & adjusted to something unless it's a major problem and complaint amongst player base. It makes much more sense for devs to try even out player skills in matchmaking rather than teams who have voice chat or friend notification. Can you imagine the wait time for a game due to players constantly backin out if what u proposed actually happened? I'd be annoyed if 2-3 ppl backed out of my match and havin to wait longer for games. Also the whole point of chatting with someone u play with is to have an advantage, why try & kill the fun for other players?

I for one do not mind at all playing with a group of ppl who are in the same room.

I can relate to TC with the frustration of being matched up against teams. Yes, it's true I can make my own team as well. Call me old school, but the friends I've made in game are still very much strangers. No one I'd consider sharing contact information with, just for strategy for this game. And no, I unfortunately do not have any friends that play this game :(

That said, knowing if you're paired against a 'team' could worsen AFKs. Once the soloers start getting dominated early game, I'd say they're more likely to bail. Perhaps if the matchmaking secretly took teams vs soloers into consideration, that might work.

What would be nice is to know AFTER the game if it was a team I played against. Would help with some of the post game frustration if it was a team that mopped up the halcyon fold with my face... lol.