Join-in progress is an issue.

Games Other Halo
1

343, this is a superb game. I love it. I only have one issue with it:

Join-in progress. Here’s what is wrong with it:

  • Games often start uneven because it is assumed more people will join in. I’ve played several games now that have started off uneven. I was in a match which started off 5v2.

  • This results in a snowball effect in games with Ordinance drops. The dominating team racks up medals fasters, which means they get ordinance drops faster, which means they get more power weapons, which means they rack up medals faster. The cycle goes on.

  • Every time I play objective gametypes, I am put in a losing game, near the mid-end (ie, unsalvageable). This is common because who is going to quit, people who are losing or people who are winning? This is particularly frustrating for someone who strives to have a good win/loss ratio.

  • The lack of punishment for quitting combined with the reassurance people will join-in encourages regular quitting far more than Reach’s system.

The solution? Remove join in progress and add in a real punishment, such as losing EXP.

Halo 3 got this system right, however was too severe for some people, as you only recieved 1EXP for winning. Thus, losing 1 was disatrous and was made worse by people who quit, not because they did, but because of lag issues/outside influences.

However, now gaining EXP is far easier, you gain much more of it and you gain it through selfless play; I don’t see a reason for this system not to work.

If not this system, then something else, because right now Join-in progress is causing more issues then it is solving.

EDIT: You guys have raised some good points and I have changed my mind on the issue a bit. If it can be tweaked to fix the issues I raised, then I have no real problem with it staying.

Cause I do like the feature and it would be a shame to see it go, but my point is that it causes more issues then it solves at the moment.

EDIT 2: If 343 wants to keep JiP in, they need to implement these features to make it work.

> <mark>- Make sure games never start without full teams, so no empty spaces when the match starts.</mark>
> <mark>- Make sure you never join games that are nearly over.</mark>
> <mark>- Give us the option to turn it on or off.</mark>
> <mark>- Introduce a proper quit penalty to discourage people from quitting in the first place.</mark>

2

This is a great idea…

Maybe they would lose an entire game worth of xp? So about 2.5k…

3

I disagree, I think its a great addition. It might need to be tweaked, but I don’t think it should be thrown away and replaced with the old H3 system.

The one issue I have is every game I join that is in process is almost over and I never join a winning team.

I have had a few lopsided games but like you said they are over so quickly its really that big of a deal.

Some kind of auto balance would be nice.

4

I totally agree, the join in game doesn’t work… I have been put in a Regicide game two times now with only me and my friend in it. 1v1 Regicide in matchmaking, how fun is that? And it’s so annoying to join a game that almost at the end, since there is no reason to join that game.

5

yeah it needs to be taken away

6

I like this feature. Too many times have I been in a match where my teammates left and it was either me and someone else or just me alone and I had to fend for myself for the rest of the match.

I dont think it is fair to take this feature away from us. I do believe there needs to be a better system because people might get into a losing match with no chance of gaining the lead, but it is better than being stuck with a major handicap with no join in feature.

7

I’ve got to agree with you OP. When I heard that they were going to make it so that you joined games in progress, I knew this kind of thing would happen.

I like the idea of them losing experience, but some people don’t much care for experience. Maybe a combination of losing experience AND being forced to wait a set amount of time before being able to rejoin matchma- I mean War Games would be a better idea?

Also, maybe 343i could give you the option of joining games in progress for people that just wanted to finish games as fast as possible for experience? I know that I personally would keep that option turned off because I hate having the outcome of a game already partially determined for me, but I can see some people liking it.

8

> I disagree, I think its a great addition. It might need to be tweaked, but I don’t think it should be thrown away and replaced with the old H3 system.
>
> The one issue I have is every game I join that is in process is almost over and I never join a winning team.
>
> I have had a few lopsided games but like you said they are over so quickly its really that big of a deal.
>
> Some kind of auto balance would be nice.

I agree. I honestly believe this is the single best improvement to MP and the way it has to be. I want to play, not endlessly sit in matchmaking waiting for it to find enough players. Reach was dreadfully slow at this.

Furthermore, people are going to quit. Their is no way around this. I’d rather jip or have others join instead of being guaranteed an unbalanced game for the remainder of it, and then face some absurdly stupid punishment for quitting becaues I dont want to play 1 vs 5.

9

I personally don’t like it, but my solution is this. Give me the “don’t join games in progress” option for my search perameters. This way people who want JIP can have it, those who don’t, won’t have to deal with it.

10

You guys have raised some good points and I have changed my mind on the issue a bit. If it can be tweaked to fix the issues I raised, then I have no real problem with it staying.

Cause I do like the feature, but my point in the OP is that it causes more issues then it solves.

11

Bottom line is the system in its current state is very very broken. I am not against it for those who want it but there really should be multiple playlists where there is not join in progress.

Last night I only had 2 other friends online so we played IS with a to3. We played 1 game out of 10 that had fair teams and that game was 3v3… we never had a game of 4v4 it was always 3v4. That is an issue

12

Join in progress is a great idea in theory,but in practice…it needs a lot of work.

I’d very much like the option to turn it off.Lately I’ve been playing a lot of Regicide and joining in progress in free-for-all is just a big no-no.If people quit out of FFA,there is no team at a disadvantage,so the spaces do not need to be filled.When you join in progress,sometimes everyone else already has 100 points over you,and it’s just not fair.

Sometimes the game starts with not enough players.Twice Regicide has started with me being the only player.Free win for me though so I suppose I shouldn’t complain.

And the whole thing with it starting the game with the teams grossly uneven,how does that even happen?What on Earth makes the game think starting the game out 2v5 is balanced?Maybe it decides the teams before voting or something,and in that time some people leave,in which case it needs to be changed so it decides on teams after voting so it can create the best balance.

For some people,join in progress is just fine.Some people want to get in a game as quickly as possible and start playing.For me though,I’d rather not get thrown into a half finished game,it’s just not fun for me.

13

Several times now it happened that the game in progress was 550 vs. 0. Well guess what, when I spawned for the first time we lost the game. So add another loss there for what? NOTHING.

14

Happened to me yesterday with a full team. Not sure how that works, but it was annoying…

15

I like the idea of JIP, should help with the obvious, quitters etc.

However, they absolutely must change it so games at least start with a full lobby. I played a game of dominion earlier, and it started 5 or 6 vs 1. The game was over in about 3 mins, and no-one came to join the other team, not acceptable.

16

JIP is fine…just, they always need to start with a full lobby. It’s a good thing to even out the games, especially when people rage quit…if you join a losing game, lose with dignity then destroy the next game.

17

> I personally don’t like it, but my solution is this. Give me the “don’t join games in progress” option for my search perameters. This way people who want JIP can have it, those who don’t, won’t have to deal with it.

I could swear I saw in a preview video a month or so ago that you would be able to set in your profile whether or not to jip. Not sure whether I was seeing things or it just didn’t make it into final release. I would support it though…

18

> I like the idea of JIP, should help with the obvious, quitters etc.
>
> However, they absolutely must change it so games at least start with a full lobby. I played a game of dominion earlier, <mark>and it started 5 or 6 vs 1</mark>. The game was over in about 3 mins, and no-one came to join the other team, not acceptable.

I played a game where I was one of the 5 against 2. I felt so bad for the others.

No one came to join them either. You’d think with the 10,000+ in that playlist, someone would…

I have a feeling they need to prioritise people into empty games before putting them in a new lobby if they want to continue down this road.

19

People had issues with people quitting in Reach which is why there was some demand for JiP, but the quitting issues in Reach were only as bad as they were because quitting wasn’t adequately punished. The quit ban was worthless.

I’d primarily support JiP’s removal with the introduction of proper quitting penalties like xp loss, but if 343 refused to remove it then I think they should;

  • Make sure games never start without full teams, so no empty spaces when the match starts.
  • Make sure you never join games that are nearly over.
  • Give us the option to turn it on or off.
  • Introduce a proper quit penalty to discourage people from quitting in the first place.
20

> People had issues with people quitting in Reach which is why there was some demand for JiP, <mark>but the quitting issues in Reach were only as bad as they were because quitting wasn’t adequately punished.</mark> The quit ban was worthless.
>
> I’d primarily support JiP’s removal with the introduction of proper quitting penalties like xp loss, but if 343 refused to remove it then I think they should;
>
> <mark>- Make sure games never start without full teams, so no empty spaces when the match starts.</mark>
> <mark>- Make sure you never join games that are nearly over.</mark>
> <mark>- Give us the option to turn it on or off.</mark>
> <mark>- Introduce a proper quit penalty to discourage people from quitting in the first place.</mark>

Exactly this and this.

If JiP is going to stay, it needs these four points implemented.