I agree Vickery, this isn't about team balance. I think practically anyone here realizes the importance of team balance. I also agree it's mostly on HH2, not HH1, which is probably why many of you don't realize how much of an issue this can be. So I repeat : on HH2, there regularly IS team stacking going on. You often see it at the beginning how people join the server in spectator mode, and only switch later after they have an idea which team is strongest.

For me the only discussion is whether you should force random team selection (with an option for team switch), or whether it would be sufficient to just "encourage" random team selection. I'm personally in favor of Vickery's proposal for random team selection.

In fact, this is easily doable with the cvar mp_forceautoteam apparently. It also just affects the initial team-join

If you got forced on teams it could be annoying to find yourself constantly on the attacking team when you wanted to defend though or vice versa, also it stops people who like to join the losing team from making any choices when they connect (although I guess most people do prefer to jump in with the winners).

what is the likely hood of being able to switch teams after a couple of minutes if the server is full though?

I dont usually change teams after chosing at the begininng but would have thought it would be quite hard if the servers full?

The server is rarely maxed out for long on HH2 I don't think, so swapping shouldn't be as difficult as on HH1. That's just subjective though, and I am not sure how or if this could be coded in in practice.

HH1 is where a lot of the higher standard players go though so might be where the issue would be more.

Would be cool if a vote could be called for "captains" (2 highest scoring players) to pick teams (school playground style), in the middle of a map if it is very stacked. But time and people just wanting to get on and play makes this all a bit hard to think of a good way to do anything about it.

I never auto join

Its team blu or nothing for me.... if possible of course, but I never bother looking to see who else is blue,

What hacks me off is the auto scramble

Cp warmfront its 0-0 blu have been solidly defending for the past 15 mins when red finally sneak a spy cap in, next round blu get their stuff together and roll over red team in 2 mins 1-1 and then... auto scramble.

vote for a scramble yes, swap teams yes.... but not auto scramble

Boris

PS Heisenberg is not undefeatable, you just have to use the uncertainty principle in your play and turn up when he leasts expects it

There are only 2 conditions in which an auto scramble will occur.
If a team wins a round with a frag ratio that is three, or more, times greater than the other team.
If a team has 10 or more dominations than the other team at the end of a round.




Here are a couple of options for consideration in regard to the team stacking issue.

- Teams are scrambled at the end of the 'waiting for players' period.

- mp_forceautoteam to be turned on for 90 seconds after map start.

The first option seems a bit 'mean', it's like giving the illusion of choice and then suddenly removing it and slapping the player in the face I'd favour the second option, which shows from the beginning how things are handled (I hope you get my drift)

What about players who base their class choice on their team's classes?
E.g. players who go medic because their team doesn't have a medic yet - just to find out that at round start they are in a completely different kind of team with different class needs.