End of the day it just comes down to math combined with player behaviour.
You need 4 Fireteam players for every Predator. (80/20 split)
Predators are always going to be the more popular class to play, and you’re always going to have more than 20% of the players wanting to play Predator (because well, duh?).
There are already more incentives to play FT beyond the queue time (like the challenges), but that upsets people too, because why shouldn’t the Predator get some challenges? (Let’s just ignore the fact they could put in as many challenges as they wanted with no issue).
Is it really in the best interests of the game to make the Predator LESS FUN to play, so less people want to play it, thus reducing queue times? I mean, you’ve already got the issue of the Predator being destroyed by coordinated Fireteams in many cases.
I’m not sure there’s an easy answer for this.
Here are some rough suggestions
Reduce downtime between games
What I mean by this is things like
- Reduce loading times \ cinematics
- Some may be dependant on player hardware.
- Others are just for ‘fluff’. Like the chopper scene, the arm wrestle bit etc. It was cool the first 4-5 times, but after the 100th time, it’s just annoying.
- Allow Fireteam players to leave without penalty
- As long as they cannot be reinforced/respawned (< This means no detriment to other players)
- A dead player who has left, has the potential to requeue for another game, reducing wait times for a Predator waiting for that last Fireteam member.
- I’m NOT suggesting everyone should just be able to rage-quit whenever they want. Use your brain.
- Allow Predator players to leave without penalty once killed.
- Once the bomb has been defused, there’s no reason to force the Predator to stick around for the waves of AI enemies that follow. The Predator already needs to wait long enough, just let them go and queue up for a new game.
AI Fireteam support
This game desperately needs AI Fireteam support.
Look at games like Evolve as reference. They had AI team members. Sure they weren’t ‘great’, but it was SOMETHING.
Many players (especially new ones, or very casual ones), just want to play as a Pred, sometimes just to practice. They have no option. They jump into a game (after waiting ages), get destroyed by a Fireteam in half the time, and probably don’t play the game again for a week or ever.
When a Fireteam member quits/disconnects in lobby after countdown. BAM, game ruined. You’re instantly 3v1. Sometimes the game will continue, but often it just results in a chain reaction, and the game is over. Predator didn’t even get to play after waiting all that time.
Have AI replace disconnected/quit Fireteam members. 3+AI is better than 3+0.
Allow Players to hot-join games where a Fireteam member has recently disconnected/quit.
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You can add criteria to this to avoid players joining ‘dead’ games. (I can elaborate if needed)
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This can be an option the player can toggle (like Crossplay).
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Provide some XP/Currency incentive for players that are willing to hot-join “Games in Need”
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You could also add support for Hot-joining as a Predator in specific cases, but the likelihood would be much less. (But it does happen).
- I’ve had quite a few games that have been absent a Predator due to a disconnect or quit early in the game. These games would benefit from a Predator joining in the early-stages of the match.
For Illfonic to fix the god-damn crash/disconnect/signed out bugs
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Now some of the above might sound like they improve wait times for Fireteam more than Predator, and that’s probably true. But who are the Predators waiting for? > Fireteam players. It’s a mutual beneficial relationship.
In your opinion, why not display the actual queue for Predator and FTL in the number of players, rather than the approximate waiting time ? ( Sorry in advance for my English )