Pause functionality?

[daedalus-11149]

@SlamJones-1659

Wow. Asking to pause an online game every time someone leaves.

Just wow.

Yup.

I remember starcraft used to do this all the time. But instead of pausing to wait, people paused to disconnect. Or the game would pause all on its own if one player was lagging just to disconnect them. Mind you i think the opposing players had the option of voting to drop that player.
It was so stupid…

[Kaedi-11739]

@Coji-1458

But how about those that only get unlucky at times (i.e. 1 out of 10 games they get DC’ed but only for a very short while, for example just 10 seconds, but reverses the outcome of the game because of that)

The game allows a player to return within 2 minutes in most cases. If a player disconnects within the first 30 seconds of the game, it will shut down as a precaution for the other players to not risk playing with a player who may have an issue.

@Coji-1458

Can’t you like detect if a quit is intentional (i.e. forcing application shutdown)?

Not from the server side, it can’t tell when a player does this…

@Coji-1458

And, there is a report button for people who will do that. You can punish them severely, just like for anyone who abuses the chat or anyone that intentionally throws the game.

When a player leaves a game, intentional or not, it is still a violation of the game’s rules.

@Coji-1458

Why can’t you treat competitive matchmaking like championship matches where you think pauses are necessary despite its disruptiveness?

Because the ranked ladder is not a professional environment, technically it’s merely a place for players to test their skills and see where they stack up against other players (and that could be debated by everyone’s opinions here on the forums). Matchmaking competitive play is not a championship by any means as it has no real stakes involved.

@Coji-1458

I am a Dota 2 player, and this is where I’m coming from. We have a limited amount of pauses there whenever there is a DC.

Dota 2 is a MOBA game and is more methodical and slow paced than a first person shooter.

@Coji-1458

but they flagged it as a NECESSARY feature.

For that game, I could see it working, but I don’t play MOBAs typically.

@Coji-1458

It’s ranked matchmaking, just like competitive in overwatch. People want to rank up.

True, again look at the side from the opposite team, they want to rank up too, and pauses hinders that technically.

@Coji-1458

Asides from pauses, if a player is unable to return after 5 minutes, that person’s team gets extra gold. Why? Because they thought of ways to level the playing field. At least, even if they lost a player, they still get a fighting chance without having to fight that ‘extremely difficult’ battle that you are saying.

As far as catchup mechanics are concerned, this is not done in Overwatch as they prove difficult to balance, because there is no buy phase or currency or team resource. Jeff Kaplan explains here:

@Jeff Kaplan

We have discussed ideas like this but generally we’re not fans of “catch up” mechanics. They are very challenging to balance. Usually, there ends up being a perception of the “catch up” mechanic either being too strong and therefore unbalanced or not strong enough, in which case, why have it? We want there to be a “feel” to OW, meaning that you know what it takes to kill Tracer or Widowmaker and having that feel different seems off to us. We have similar feelings about increased spawn times or ult generation.

Source: Old Overwatch Archives

@Coji-1458

Every role is given big importance. Don’t you think it’s the same for Overwatch? Losing a DPS at the 4th round, ain’t that disappointing? After all those times you’ve spent pushing and defending the payload, you’ll just lose because of a leaver?

It’s definitely a “feels bad moment” for sure, however again, looking at the whole Competitive experience beyond one match, I believe the game is as balanced for leavers as we can hope.

@Coji-1458

These are 2 different game genres, but have a lot in common.

I disagree, while mechanical skill is required in MOBAs, the pace is not to that of a an FPS. Also, I am not familiar, but I believe neither Heroes of the Storm, nor League of Legends has such a policy in their ranked game modes.

@Coji-1458

If you think that the pause functionality really is unacceptable, then I hope you can find other ways to level the playing field for the team who will lose a teammate. Both teams deserve a fair game, not just the team without a leaver. I hope you can remove the mindset that “you’re at the best state of the game in terms of what I just brought up” and recognize this as a major problem that should be addressed.

As a player who has had their fair share of technical issues and nearly gotten banned in Season 2 (I would never have gained the knowledge about the inner working of Overwatch’s rules and philosophies and become a forum MVP otherwise), I definitely understand the desire for a fair playfield as much as possible for everyone, however, I know in the end, Overwatch is just a video game to well over 99% of us. Yeah, there are those who want to play professionally, but the path to pro is available for that, and Competitive Play is supposed to be the place to for players to have competitive experience and compare skills. In the end, no one has taken part in leaver debates more than I have, I know the frustrations of players who disconnect and get penalized, the anger from teammates who had a leaver, and even the concerns of players on the opposing team for when there is a leaver. I also know where the development team stands in their philosophy and if anything they have take measures to increase leaver penalties over the years. Yes, any given player including you and me could have a technical issue that crops up at any time, but for those who have a one-time issue, it more often than not is long enough to make your proposal of a one-minute pause ineffective to help that player, and instead aggravate the remaining players in that game.