Let Me Rejoin a Match

[Tinty]

I think this is a pretty common complaint, but has never been fixed. Now I know what the staunch defenders of this game are going to say.

"Why don't you just host? Then it's never an issue"

Because that's not a solution to the actual problem, it's a possible workaround that only works if your game doesn't crash, or your internet doesn't cut out. And if it does? Your whole lobby is SOL.

"The game doesn't host it's own servers so, suck it up, not much they can do"

This may have a hint of truth to it, but I'm not sure I completely believe it. For example, if I am not the host, and lose connection, I should have a way to easily rejoin the server when I relaunch the game. The server is still running, and as long as no one takes my place (Which there should be a time delay between when someone DC's, and when someone new can join, giving the player who DCed enough time to rejoin) there should be a menu that says, "We see you disconnected suddenly, would you like to rejoin?", or something along those lines.

Now, I think that if a host loses connection somehow, that there should be a way to resume the game. Maybe the progress of the match can be saved on the hosts system, so that when the host relaunches the game, they can relaunch the server without much progress lost.

Now if absolutely NONE of that can be done, physically impossible (unlikely), then at the VERY LEAST, you need to get SOMETHING for disconnecting. The preference would be to get whatever is currently deposited in the match, but I understand this could encourage joining and leaving matches. You could fix this by adding a time delay, so you would have to have been playing for a certain amount of time before this kicks in. Or if this is also not possible, then a default amount of materials, XP, and Credits should be given when you DC from a match. This could be calculated from all of the conditions of the map, hazard level, complexity, what materials are present, etc...

All I ask is please, PLEASE do something, ANYTHING. I just want this to be heard, and hopefully have something finally change in some meaningful way. It's so disheartening to play a long match, only to disconnect at the very end and receive NOTHING.

[Chibbity]

The game does offer you the option to rejoin, it just doesn't always work; I assume it's something the devs would like to fix or improve when and if they can.

[Johnno]

Originally posted by Tinty:

I think this is a pretty common complaint, but has never been fixed.

Fixed how? There is a rejoin function in the game, if it detects you've disconnected in a way that makes reconnecting possible there is a prompt for it.

Another "workaround" is to rejoin through the steam overlay's recent games (under views players). That works even in Deep Dives (and perhaps especially there since the player list is only updated once you've completed a mission with said players).

Now, I think that if a host loses connection somehow, that there should be a way to resume the game.

If the host loses connection they will stay in their own game while everyone else disconnects, you can rejoin as above once they have connection again.

[Tinty]

Originally posted by Aimee:

If you have to read through insults and flaming to get to the actual suggestion, its going to be a pain to get through your essay.
Prehaps you can remove the insults and flaming parts, so people are more likely to read it and respond?

Uhhh, could you tell me where my insults are? All I said is that there are staunch defenders who have arguments I've already considered.

[Tinty]

Originally posted by Johnno:

Originally posted by Tinty:

I think this is a pretty common complaint, but has never been fixed.

Fixed how? There is a rejoin function in the game, if it detects you've disconnected in a way that makes reconnecting possible there is a prompt for it.

Another "workaround" is to rejoin through the steam overlay's recent games (under views players). That works even in Deep Dives (and perhaps especially there since the player list is only updated once you've completed a mission with said players).

Now, I think that if a host loses connection somehow, that there should be a way to resume the game.

If the host loses connection they will stay in their own game while everyone else disconnects, you can rejoin as above once they have connection again.

I've been the host and have had friends who have been host, and this has never been an option when we time out. So that's great if that feature is there, but it seems like it doesn't work. Also, your "workaround" doesn't work frequently, and uses Steam, instead of a feature in the game itself. As Chibbity says, sure there's an option, but it hardly works. And in my personal experience, never works.

Originally posted by Chibbity:

The game does offer you the option to rejoin, it just doesn't always work; I assume it's something the devs would like to fix or improve when and if they can.

Also, if anyone would like to respond to any of the rest of my suggestions, instead of just nitpicking the fact that you can kinda sorta rejoin when it decides to work, that'd be great.

[Paintbrush]

Originally posted by Aimee:

If you have to read through insults and flaming to get to the actual suggestion, its going to be a pain to get through your essay.
Prehaps you can remove the insults and flaming parts, so people are more likely to read it and respond?

Gotta say, i don't think OP listed any insults or flaming. Unless the post has been edited that's a pretty significant stretch. All they did was identify the typical bad faith arguments you see here.

There are other P2P games that do host migration so it's not impossible, but if you never built the game with that in mind it might be a massive undertaking to do later. Which, may be why GSG seems uninterested in it.

But yeah, something when we have nothing would be cool.

[Johnno]

Originally posted by Tinty:

you need to get SOMETHING for disconnecting. The preference would be to get whatever is currently deposited in the match, but I understand this could encourage joining and leaving matches.

Not only that but it would encourage hosts/players to just drop their internet connection when failure is imminent, and magically get 100% of collected resources instead of the 25% or whatever it is you get if you fail.

Seem to recall also that you get 25% if you get kicked, so if the rewards when getting DCed were higher than that it could encourage griefing since there's less of a loss.

[Aimee]

Originally posted by Tinty:

snip

Originally posted by Paintbrush:

snip

Fair enough, most people dont share my opinion. Ive been having a pretty terrible day today, and when i skimmed through the post i mostly noticed assumtions about what others could comment on this, followed by something negative. So i though that would result in a more negative response.
I guess i was was wrong, so ive removed my post so the responses to the actual suggestion are more towards the top.
Have a good discussion :)

[Tinty]

Originally posted by Johnno:

Originally posted by Tinty:

you need to get SOMETHING for disconnecting. The preference would be to get whatever is currently deposited in the match, but I understand this could encourage joining and leaving matches.

Not only that but it would encourage hosts/players to just drop their internet connection when failure is imminent, and magically get 100% of collected resources instead of the 25% or whatever it is you get if you fail.

Seem to recall also that you get 25% if you get kicked, so if the rewards when getting DCed were higher than that it could encourage griefing since there's less of a loss.

I feel like you're not really engaging with my post, but are just picking one section at a time to disagree with, and then adding no alternative.

What would you suggest then? The system just stays how it is? Is my complaint valid at all? I think if the developers trust the community enough to not have a report button, then maybe they should trust them not to abuse a system that would be made difficult to abuse. Who's going to stay in a match for 10 minutes, then DC, then do it again?

[Chibbity]

Originally posted by Tinty:

Originally posted by Chibbity:

The game does offer you the option to rejoin, it just doesn't always work; I assume it's something the devs would like to fix or improve when and if they can.

Also, if anyone would like to respond to any of the rest of my suggestions, instead of just nitpicking the fact that you can kinda sorta rejoin when it decides to work, that'd be great.

I don't think it's fair to say I was nitpicking, I was trying to explain that it's obviously something the devs want to work; it just doesn't work as well as they'd like for whatever reason.

I think the issue of your idea with getting some portion of the reward when disconnecting is that your client prolly doesn't have that info until the end; and by the time you've d/ced it's too late to get it.

I'm just guessing though.

[Paintbrush]

Originally posted by Aimee:

Originally posted by Tinty:

snip

Originally posted by Paintbrush:

snip

Fair enough, most people dont share my opinion. Ive been having a pretty terrible day today, and when i skimmed through the post i mostly noticed assumtions about what others could comment on this, followed by something negative. So i though that would result in a more negative response.
I guess i was was wrong, so ive removed my post so the responses to the actual suggestion are more towards the top.
Have a good discussion :)

No worries. Sorry your days been ♥♥♥♥♥♥.

[Vault Traveler]

I still don't understand what criteria the rejoin has to met, devs talked about it several times and it does exist and work but what people dont know is how it exactly works.

[Aimee]

Originally posted by Vault Traveler:

I still don't understand what criteria the rejoin has to met, devs talked about it several times and it does exist and work but what people dont know is how it exactly works.

Since DRG is P2P, that means no games are recorded on servers. The only recording that you are playing or were playing with someone is through Steam.
This means that if Steam records your last match, you can rejoin someone. If the Steam friendslist or community part is down, you can not unless you manualy rejoin someone.
Even when Steam is fully up, plenty of people have reported over the years that ''last played with'' does not always record properly.

[Johnno]

Originally posted by Tinty:

What would you suggest then? The system just stays how it is?

I'm not sure what to suggest to be honest since I don't know the limitations of how the game handles things. I'm not really in the business of wishing, wanting, and hoping, and will rather find ways around to get things to work close enough to as I want.

As such the system staying as it is if fine with me. There are enough ways to mitigate the issue, like hosting yourself or playing with friends so you know you can always reconnect through steam's friends list. And as much of an annoyance as being disconnected can be, at least for myself it's been rare enough that I haven't gotten upset about it. If I get disconnected on a normal mission I just jump into a new one, and if I get disconnected during a deep dive I go redo it, or if it's third stage I just shrug and leave it since it's only a cosmetic core.

Is my complaint valid at all?

It's valid enough in a sense but I don't quite agree with how you brush aside the information you've been given. Rejoining through the steam list is somehow not good enough because it's not ingame and takes a couple button presses? Hosting yourself isn't good enough because it doesn't solve the issue?

Hosting yourself actually solves the issue entirely, if you get upset over losing 10, 15, 20 minutes of virtual pixel loot then yes the problem is solved by hosting yourself. You'll be in full control of getting said goodies, without ever getting disconnected.

I think if the developers trust the community enough to not have a report button, then maybe they should trust them not to abuse a system that would be made difficult to abuse. Who's going to stay in a match for 10 minutes, then DC, then do it again?

There have been enough complaints over time to get us a blacklist system, and threads/posts about cheaters and griefers comes up weekly or so (and what goes 'unreported' must obviously be a lot higher). Considering that some people already cheat through external functions, you don't think more people would "cheat" (abuse the system) if it became available ingame?

If you're rewarded for leaving people are going to leave, simple as that.