Team stacking

[Savant]

Hi folks,

This isn't a complaint moreso than general musing, but do people find that teams tend to get stacked on a pretty regular basis?

I'm not referring to clan stacking, or imbalanced teams, but a team that is so strong that the other side really has no chance of winning, or even putting up a decent fight.

Dustbowl: If the stacked team is red then blue never leaves phase 1; if the stacked team is blue then they win with 20 or so mins on the clock
Well/Granary: The stacked team basically steamrolls the weaker team, and the game ends within a couple minutes.
Gravel Pit: If red is stacked, blue team never caps more than one point. If blue is stacked the game ends fast.
Hydro: The stacked team basically steamrolls the opposition, opponents never win a round.
2fort: The stacked team caps continously, often with someone waiting at the intel for it to cap

etc for custom maps...

What seems to be odd is that I tend to notice that if a team is stacked, it tends to be the red team for some odd reason. I'm not sure if there is some 'unofficial understanding' amongst the 'uber leet', but I only notice blue team stacks on maps where the sides switch at the end of a round.

So has anyone else noticed this? Now I'm not suggesting that it happens every game, but given the randomness of games, it seems unlikely that it is sheer luck that one team just happens to be graced with all the powerful players.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this...

[l3eeron]

Welcome to the forums Savant!

I know what yer sayin....

I find myself wanting to hit the "scamble teams" button all the time. I usually try to switch the under dog and help out as best I can... people dont like to be scrambled.

[Stevo]

It's just part of the game and it happens. Without stacking, no one would get some of those achievements. Now if people are doing it intentionally, that's not right. Some people will switch if they find they are on a stacked team to make for a more challenging game, and I think there should be an achievement for that.

What team is 4 on the team menu? Sometimes I hit 4 thinking it is auto-select, but I think auto is 1.

[YevGenie]

hehehe uhm....i have a very firm Go Red policy for myself. Normally you can find me on the red team...I dont think its an understanding, but I just think blue is easier to see/kill on some of the maps so I go red...*cough*

[Squirrel]

Not sure it’s done intentionally but more of just bad team play. Some people do play red more on dustbowl because they defend. They can pad their stats that way.

[TheCarpe]

Honestly, I like to pick the team with more people I know on it. It makes for a more enjoyable game when I can enjoy it with friends. Whether that would be considered "stacking", I don't know. But if Deathstryker, fallout.itchy, Buzzy Beetle, and diarmad are all on a team, that's the team I want to be on.

[v.o.c]

thats life, no matter what game you play, its just more noticable in some game than others.

friends will always want to play together, and some players will have their favorite colour, i find if im on the weaker team i get more enjoyment because it is harder to do well. more fun blowing up mr leet than mr noob.

[LJ]

I usually autojoin a team. Stats show Blue 54, Red 37.

Sometimes a team will cap really fast. That's fine. But, doing that multiple times in a row is bad and usually ends up causing one team to lose players which just compounds the issue.

Yes, you want to play with your friends but don't do it when it really causes stacked teams.

[Dog]

Just as an FYI, we'll be turning autojoin on for everyone except Supporters and Admins. It's turned on, on TV1 and TV2 right now.

I also might look into getting the teams to autoscramble after winning....

[acrazyhobo]

In all honesty, yeah team stacking is a really annoying problem, whether I'm on the winning or losing team it typically makes me want to not play. The reason why it happens as much as it does at imo is that so many of the really good people are buddies and hence want to play on the same team as their friends. Also, StrontiumDog this is just a question in response to the idea of setting it to autoscramble after winning. Wouldn't that be a problem if say on warpath which tends to last for a few hours at least one game can, with even teams, well wouldn't it be bad to scramble really even teams like that?

[Buzzy Beetle]

[quote="TheCarpe";p="62188"]Honestly, I like to pick the team with more people I know on it. It makes for a more enjoyable game when I can enjoy it with friends. Whether that would be considered "stacking", I don't know. But if Deathstryker, fallout.itchy, Buzzy Beetle, and diarmad are all on a team, that's the team I want to be on.[/quote]

+1 I couldn't have said it better myself.

[Thom Yorke Obliterator]

But if you always play with the same group of friends, is it really any different than a clan playing together? Instead of "clan stacking", it would be "clique stacking".

We don't want to have servers where the "cool kids" gang together to pick on the new kids, do we? Not saying that it's intentional or malicious, but it happens often enough that people notice and comment on it.

[Barrel Bomber]

i think the team jumbel would be nice ........i just like playing on a server with people i know i dont care about the team

[TheCarpe]

[quote="StrontiumDog";p="62197"]Just as an FYI, we'll be turning autojoin on for everyone except Supporters and Admins. It's turned on, on TV1 and TV2 right now.

I also might look into getting the teams to autoscramble after winning....[/quote]

Maybe after a team wins three straight times?

[Tickles]

[quote="Thom Yorke Obliterator";p="62213"]But if you always play with the same group of friends, is it really any different than a clan playing together? Instead of "clan stacking", it would be "clique stacking".

We don't want to have servers where the "cool kids" gang together to pick on the new kids, do we? Not saying that it's intentional or malicious, but it happens often enough that people notice and comment on it.

[/quote]

TYO is right. People are noticing and commenting.

I think the jumbling of teams after a win would be great, will keep the teams fresh. Is there a certain number of people it switches? I seen the teams scrambled once and like 2 or 3 people were jumbled around, didn't really even the teams much.