Outfit autojoin and other streamlining tools

[Talek Krell]

Given that a lot of outfits in PS1 basically recruited this way anyway I don't really see the additional harm. The need might be circumvented by having an equally accessible button that brought you to a list of outfits looking for new members though.

[Gonefshn]

Originally Posted by Talek Krell

The need might be circumvented by having an equally accessible button that brought you to a list of outfits looking for new members though.

I'm sure this will be included and pretty much sums up the entire point of my previous post.

[Soothsayer]

I like what you are trying to facilitate Stardouser, and I think that every MMO is going to be more enjoyable if you don't try to play it like a single player game.

EVE Online puts new players into a starting corporation and you go back to that corporation when you quit any real ones you join in the time between. That's not a good idea for planetside. Every outfit should have a live person as it's leader, no question.

I think that what would be the most beneficial would be an interface ingame that facilitates searching for the right outfit and makes it easy to get in touch with recruiters or to put an application in regardless of whether someone is available to talk to you.

An outfit application interface would help the person seeking to join an outfit, but it would also help outfits recruit more efficiently. Both sides could specify what they were looking for, search results for outfits to join could be filtered out, as could recruits that didn't meet the defined standards (should that outfit decide to set any.)

This in no way would mean that if you didn't meet the standard you couldn't get in touch with someone in the outfit you want to join to try to get an invite that way, but it would cut down on the vetting required by recruiters, and it would cut down on people who want to play with a focus on air getting search results for an outfit that focuses on infantry combat (as an example.)

Through the outfit interface an outfit leader could specify that they automatically accept applications (but this is up to their discretion) which would have the same effect of an automatic join but would be for the outfit to decide if they wanted to have that.

I can see why some people would automatically be against this (the title of this thread definitely set off alarm bells in my head) but it could be useful in a recruiting drive where you clearly set out that you've opened recruitment, people can join as probationary members and then see who should stay and who isn't going to work out.

[Stardouser]

Amending this to an application function could work, but I think outfits should have the responsibility to describe themselves well in their profile. Outfits that are automatic entry should identify themselves and outfits that have strict requirements should identify that too. See, it's not enough just to say "we play 6PM EST until 10PM EST, we are an air squadron, etc etc" but they should also say "Yes, we will boot you for not squadding up with members even if it's early in the morning and you think don't have to squad up just because our normal play times are at night". A guided profile creation process could help ensure that that happens, even if it's as corny a question as "Are we a take all comers outfit".

[SgtMAD]

so now we have ppl that have ZERO experience running an outfit now telling us what we need to have to run an outfit?

quit trying to drag the game down, making it so watered down that even the BF3 players will "love" it,this same lowest common denominator crap is what killed PS1,every time the devs 'dumbed down PS,it resulted in even more ppl quitting the game,it never led to a pop increase, it never brought new players to the game

the idea that letting ppl just decide to auto join an outfit is stupid and will result in worthless zerg 'fits that will have everyone on the forums complaining about it

[Stardouser]

Originally Posted by HtSgtMAD

so now we have ppl that have ZERO experience running an outfit now telling us what we need to have to run an outfit?

quit trying to drag the game down, making it so watered down that even the BF3 players will "love" it,this same lowest common denominator crap is what killed PS1,every time the devs 'dumbed down PS,it resulted in even more ppl quitting the game,it never led to a pop increase, it never brought new players to the game

the idea that letting ppl just decide to auto join an outfit is stupid and will result in worthless zerg 'fits that will have everyone on the forums complaining about it

Wow, nice twisting. Who said anything about telling people how to run an outfit? I made it abundantly clear that outfits could completely disengage themselves from this process. How to get people into an outfit =/= how to run an outfit.

As for zerg outfits, I think you're just going to have to deal with it. In fact, you might find that by getting people into outfits they might stop zerging.

If you're going to talk about "watered down" and "lowest common denominator" then you should be on the front lines against 3D spotting, killcam, autoradar spotting and that sort of thing, things that would make BF3 players feel right at home. This isn't even in the same ballpark as those things.

[SgtMAD]

Originally Posted by Stardouser

Wow, nice twisting. Who said anything about telling people how to run an outfit? I made it abundantly clear that outfits could completely disengage themselves from this process.

As for zerg outfits, I think you're just going to have to deal with it.

honestly, you don't have a damn clue about what I am going to have to deal with,unlike you, I know something about leading an outfit, I have been doing it for almost a decade now and had pretty damn good success at it.

we don't need this function, it is already easy enough to join an outfit

[Goku]

Originally Posted by HtSgtMAD

honestly, you don't have a damn clue about what I am going to have to deal with,unlike you, I know something about leading an outfit, I have been doing it for almost a decade now and had pretty damn good success at it.

we don't need this function, it is already easy enough to join an outfit

I can agree with this. Its easy enough for outfit to find players and players to find outfits.

[Blackwolf]

Originally Posted by HtSgtMAD

honestly, you don't have a damn clue about what I am going to have to deal with,unlike you, I know something about leading an outfit, I have been doing it for almost a decade now and had pretty damn good success at it.

we don't need this function, it is already easy enough to join an outfit

Mind telling me your outfit so I know not to join it? I honestly think people like you should have forum access revoked.

Not because you disagree with the idea, the way you disagree with it is insulting to common sense and social structure.

[XPquant]

I must say I look forward to fighting the auto-join zerg, easy pickings.

[ringring]

Originally Posted by XPquant

I must say I look forward to fighting the auto-join zerg, easy pickings.

Lol, but yea. Farmville

[Figment]

Auto-join has a lot of cons. You could have trolls gain access to outfit channels, teamspeak information, etc.

What would be nice is a tool with which the recruiters can be contacted with applications while they're offline and a recruitment page within the game. Within the game, because forums aren't frequented by all.

It would also be nice if this tool has some sorting functions on keywords and outfit specialisms (bonuses). That way someone would be able to browse the outfits and distill which would suit them.

Would also like there to be indicators like "(not) recruiting", "new players welcome", "inter-outfit alliances" and hell, if you could place vacancy adds, that'd be great.


I do wonder about one other thing that might need an indicator. We found it very hard to compete with larger outfits for players after the majority of our outfit left for WoW during the BFR mayhem days. We competed for the same player pool as some other resec outfits and the bigger ones would have it much easier to attract new players. The problem is you can't grow sensibly then. We didn't want to spam invite, due to some bad experiences with that, but handpicking every player was too slow a process for most new recruits.

On one hand, you don't want new players to apply to completely dead outfits. On the other hand, such outfits may have a few players who want to keep the outfit alive and it may not be possible if the outfit indicate an unhealthy condition. It's not like every outfit wants to kick any and all members for lack of activity just to make it look healthy.


On a related note, I wonder if it's going to be possible for outfit leaders to merge outfits, so not all inactive members have to be "lost" upon an outfit merger.

[Xyntech]

Auto joining a squad is great, because it could lead to casual players becoming more organized and sometimes may help slightly focus more disorganized players (although the mission system will probably be better for the latter).

Auto joining an outfit is just stupid. Sure you get certain benefits in PS2 for being in an outfit that you don't get otherwise, but just randomly joining one is a terrible idea.

Oh well, at least maybe it would reduce the number of outfits who just spam invites to players who don't have an outfit.

[Trolltaxi]

I think that an outfit-appeal system would be great! Whenever someone wants to join a specific outfit he must get in touch with a recruiter via tells to individuals. That's not too efficient.

Autojoin is a bad idea though. Even if you can set detailed criteria (like minimum XP, minimum skill in one or more skill trees, minimum k/d, minimum ping, preferred playtime etc) that filters the applicants it is still not needed.

Being a part of an outfit is not about matching statistics. It needs both sides to be willing to contribute. It happens on a personal level and if you cannot manually pick new recruits (because you need an automated system to deal with that many?)... it is not a social aspect of the game. C'mon, what is so deeply social in a chatbot or a call center?

"Uberleet Outfit welcomes you! Thank you for your appeal. For Outfit requirements press 1!... For outfit news Press 2! Auto-application form - Press 3!"

I don't think that's the way to deal with recruitment...

[Ruffdog]

Some outfits will seek to be the biggest. Big, big, big-ass outfits. Outfits as big as armies. Fine for some. Your auto join would facilitate these. That wouldn't be for me though. I like recognising who is actually talking on teamspeak. I like getting to know the characters, their strengths, weaknesses and what their favourite beer is :-)