Team balancing?

[Sn00ks]

I think it might be worth discussing this and maybe coming up with some sort of guideline to follow?
 
On occasions when there are an odd number of players should the Survivours have the extra person or the Infected or doesn't it matter?
 
This is especially relevant when there are only three players.
 
Should we leave it to the auto-balance?
 
I can see the frustration in being the only survivor against two infected.
 
(one reason I'm bringing this up is that I think we may have annoyed Duvel, on two occasions he has ended up being on his own for more than one map in a row, he asked someone to swap and no-one did, so he left)
 
Thoughts?

[OldBloke]

Autobalance is a real PITA and currently there appears to be no way to turn it off :sideways:

The odd number of players issue is just something that we all have to accept. People can leave/join at any time so trying to balance numbers is pointless IMHO. People new to L4D tend not to realise that bot survivors are often of more value than their human counterparts. However, when someone asks for a change they should at least get a reply.

We await a patch which will hopefully address some of L4D's shortcomings.

[Benny]

There is an autobalance cvar, but I couldn't get it working. I'll keep looking.

That said, I don't care if I'm on my own against others as long as all talk is on. The game is one of very few (if any others) where you can play competitively and still talk to the opposition.

The problems seem to come about from the new players, and there will be a bedding in time. Listening to Duvel order Kreg around last night was odd, Kreg has no comms so had to jump here, go there and basically do as he was told, but he'd also joined as a member of an experienced team.

I think that the people who enjoy the game do so for fun first, then to win. I like winning, but I would rather lose and scramble into the safe room, or hang a satisfying tongue then win by regulation assault through a level.

It's always difficult for newer players to fit in with the existing immediately as I've personally found in other games, as habits and approaches seem to develop as a group. So, all that said, I think it's down to the more expereienced guys to make sure that the new guys enjoy it first, then understand the more tactical bits.

So, fixed teams ideally, swap around at changes if you need to keep the constant, but let's not isolate the new guys. I can think of two examples where we've had people new on an expereienced team and basically been dragged along without enjoying the game, and that is our fault for expecting them to understand the character abilities.

For example, you can shoot across a map at hunters and smokers without damaging the survivor.
Bat boomers away, don't shoot them, unless it's just you in range, in which case do.
Crouch when you're getting swarmed so your friends can aim head height and clear out for you.

All little obvious things but very difficult to try / pick up when your in amongst a team of more experienced players.