Roles in Alerts

Discussion in 'Gotham City (General Gameplay)' started by Monkeyboy, Dec 12, 2018.

  1. Monkeyboy Committed Player

    There's options in Settings for LFG. The setting for roles optional is there for groups that aren't "normal" comp. Healers, tanks and trollers all que for this and won't play their role. They stay dps. While "normal" comps aren't sexy, some people want these comps to test loadouts, etc. I don't want to hear join a league because there's an option for LFG where the comp doesn't matter. Daybreak should find a way to penalize people that que for an alert and then won't play their role, maybe less loot chance on good gear or drops.
    • Like x 3
  2. ThePhilosophy Loyal Player

    You should try making your own group. It may take longer, though.

    But I'd rather que up and run the alert in 10 minutes with 3 or 2 dps.

    Using all roles is great if you're less experienced, though.
  3. TheLorax 15000 Post Club

    There is a damage debuff penalty when you run with 2 or more DPS.

    Roles are also optional in alerts unless you need a particular feat. I've run the alert with a varied combination of each role. Some were fail groups, some were smoothe runs. You can't force people to play the way you want them to play.
  4. FlawlessTime Dedicated Player

    I find it more amusing when you que for raids and the one guy who qued as a Tank doesn't switch to tank. Everyone asks are you going to switch but they don't . But instead they just leave lol lol smh without a word to.
    • Like x 3
  5. HalfromTynon Well-Known Player

    I pug a lot of alerts. I have seen what Monkeyboy is talking about.

    There is an option for having any random 4 people be in an alert.
    There is an option for one of each role (tank healer controller dps) in an alert.

    If I queue for an alert that is supposed to be one of each role, then it should be one of each role. It is what that option was designed for, and allows players to choose to be in an alert with each role represented. I've personally seen people queue up as a tank, and have no tank gear, no tank artifacts, and run as a dps "because I can get into an alert faster if I queue for both roles". There are times when I specifically want all four roles, there are times when I don't care what roles are there.... but, I will only queue as a role I am willing (and able) to play.

    It gets a little frustrating when someone queues as a role, and then refuses to play as that role. Imagine if your "make your own group" has a healer in healer gear... and when they enter the alert, they switch to dps. Are you going to be a little upset over it? I bet you would. That 'frustration' is 'annoying' at times. 'upsetting' even.

    For the record, yes, you can beat any alert while missing roles; but there are some people that would like all roles present.
    • Like x 4
  6. Schimaera Devoted Player


    Yes, but I've ran the new alert with a 1-1-1-1 setup once and it took way longer than just doing it with three dps and be done with it in 12 minutes or so.
    Also Tank runs > Healer runs, also saves a minute or two.
    • Like x 1
  7. HalfromTynon Well-Known Player

    Yes, the 1-1-1-1 setup does seem a little slower in there, unless you are feat hunting. (which can be slow regardless) personally, i'm all for a 3-1 setup for Silent School.

    But on topic... kind of … if I go to a bar and ask for a beer, a wine cooler, a shot of whiskey, and a mojito - and the bartender gives me three beers and a glass of lemon juice; i'm going to be a little curious/ maybe complain a little. :)
    • Like x 1
  8. spack2k Steadfast Player

    i would penalize the dps role of the players who dont play in their queued up support role by debuffing 50% of their damage and then adding those 12% debuff for each additional dps in the group on top in a worst case scenario it would be a 86% damage debuff, lets see how many dps will keep queuing with support role :p

    Now on the other side buff damage of every support role in the group by 50% for each additional support role in the group and everyone will start playing battle support :eek: (dps gear +support role)


    *numbers open to discuss
    • Like x 3
  9. Darth Piper Loyal Player

    That's because they're all about getting into the instance faster, so they check all applicable boxes and then are shocked when they actually have to go with the other option. I really wish they would reorder the role list and put "Damage" at the top or at least make "Damage" the starting position of the cursor. I don't know how many times I've seen a player get berated for queuing in with a role they either cannot or will not play. Doing that screws the instance for 3 or 7 other people.
    • Like x 2
  10. Darth Piper Loyal Player

    "Role Optional Alerts" only guarantees that at least one person in the group is of the power set for Controllers (Gadgets, Hard Light, Mental, Munitions, Quantum), one person is the power set for Healers (Celestial, Electricity, Nature, Sorcery, Water), and one person is the power set for Tanks (Atomic, Earth, Fire, Ice, Rage). The fourth can be any power. It may also account for what roles a person has checked off on the queue entry. In no way, shape, or form does it guarantee that the person can actually switch to that role.
  11. 139 Masks Dedicated Player

    I'm guilty of this.
    So I'm trying to get as much bang-for-my-buck as I can when queuing for Alerts.
    I don't always see the message about if I'm supposed to be playing a role or not as I don't just stand around once I queue for On-Duty content. (They really have to fix that so that you just aren't flying off uncontrolled until you can hit the enter key. It's pretty stupid and really implies that they expect you to stand around doing NOTHING while you wait for an On-Duty queue find a group).

    That excuse aside ::
    I played City of Heroes and understand the power of (super)group synergy. I like playing a role that augments other group members and while they are doing the same for me. (its a force-multiplier that should be being used as a stealth-learning tool to teach players the importance of working as a team. Unfortunately, this mechanic works better for subscription games than it does F2P games. Probably one of the reasons that DCUO has decided to go with empowering all DPS teams with the benefits of balanced [3 role +1 DPS for Alerts for example] groups)
    DCUO penalizes you to play a role when solo. I solo when not in On-Duty content (being a big fan of PUGs from back in my CoH days), so I tend to play DPS (though I do have some characters that stay locked in their role).
    So what do I do when I go into an alert? I look to see if other players are in roles. If they are, then I will try to switch roles quickly to my role; inevitably the group will plow ahead and I have to rush after them, thus, having no time to change roles. If it tells me I'm going in based on playing a role and I see that no one else is playing a role, I just stay DPS - as I'm pretty sure based on the mechanics at this point, it is more beneficial to the team to be all DPS rather than having all DPS except for one role.

    That being said, I have been stuck more than once in Atlantis content where I was forced to function as a/the healer while my character was in DPS because it was obvious that the group would wipe if I didn't.


    People in DCUO are really bad about watching the chat. I blame it on how the chat system in DCUO is set-up and because it is F2P.
    It should have been structured to automatically change to some basic chat tabs based on if you were in a group or not and where you are.
    This being said, if you end up in a group, and you queued in because you want to play a role, you can always ask the other players to wait for a moment and see if they are willing to switch into roles. It may or may not work. If I saw you asking it and saw you in a role (not a DPS), I would switch to my role.

    Don't expect me to switch to a role to support you as a DPS, because you want to play DPS and want the other players playing roles to back you up. That is like some petty stuff from back when the DEVs didn't give the DPS the no-roles/missing-roles buffs.

    You want to play a role, then play a role - DPS isn't a role - it is the lack of a role.
    Remember the only real choice you have are your choices. The other players are making their choices as well.
    Hopefully, you can chat it up in text chat and people will be wiling to work with you. I say that knowing full well that doesn't happen often in DCUO.
    • Like x 1
  12. 139 Masks Dedicated Player

    I'm assuming you are meaning to say that the player hasn't built their character to be specialized in playing their role.
    Any character can switch between DPS and their role once they hit level 10.

    In fact, the augment system balances that out to some extent.
    Your character gets enough dedicated DPS and Support free XP units to have a DPS and Support built that are both pretty powerful.
    Your character might not have on or have the ability to switch to role specific gear, but the Augment system does a great job of balancing that out. You just have to switch which augments you are using when you switch from DPS to role in order to do a decent job at either regardless of what armor you have equipped.
  13. Quantum Rising Committed Player

    There should be a locked role option that people can check. e.g. the game checks your CR for the role you pick so if your CR as a healer isn't high enough for SS then you don't get queued in. Also if you do qualify as a healer you are put in healer role and locked.

    This would be an OPTION that people who want full role instances can choose.
    • Like x 4
  14. HalfromTynon Well-Known Player


    this ^
    this is a great idea.
    • Like x 2
  15. Darth Piper Loyal Player

    Love the idea... but if you have that turned on, get ready to wait in queue for a long time.
    • Like x 1
  16. myandria Item Storage

    Heh...

    I hear ya and I agree: DCUO does not support support roles. This is why many players who choose support roles stay in DPS until needed or queue in for a support role and pew ping, pew ping DPS it. Run and gun is the name of the game here, not tactics and mechanics.

    I always default to my main role (tank, heal, control, melee) in 8-man alerts. In a 4-man alert I stick to DPS until I get in and see what the group makeup is. The only exception to this are the Seasonal Event alerts; I stay DPS no matter what. I do not understand why people still want to chase the leader board for these; they clamp everyone to level 34 (not much damage output there) and I just laugh when someone gets mad at me for not *running and gunning* hard or fast enough. And to my knowledge, the loot drops are random, no matter how many times you get the #1 spot on the list.

    I also had a better time on COH with support roles; I LOVED my controllers, kinetics and healers there. Those roles were actually useful and helped to get the team through the missions. And yeah, it is difficult to do an On Alert solo mission in a support role. Ahh, Kinetics; the TRUE power battery role! What other role could maintain power while boosting movement and haste?

    Sigh, "I can smile at the old days, support roles were more useful then."
    • Like x 1
  17. Illumin411 Loyal Player

    I'm guilty of queuing as troll and DPS and then not trolling. But in most cases I know the alert well enough to know whether chances of beating it will be greater with better burn or with debuffs and stuns and I choose accordingly. There have been rare occasions when I've been wrong and we get our ***** kicked and it's obvious the boss needs to be debuffed and I switch. So worst case scenario, there's a single wipe and the problem is corrected at a cost of only a couple of minutes to the group.

    I never really considered others testing loadouts but now that you have made me aware that that could be the case, I'll take it into consideration.
  18. myandria Item Storage

    Hmm...

    I would expect that from MMO's 10+years ago; I think that option is a bit harsh these days.


    As far as hard locking people into a role, I only partially agree with it . I think there should be a fail safe; if the person in the locked role wipes, they should have the choice of either staying in that role or choosing DPS. This would also hold true if the team wipes; everyone should be able to choose a different role when that happens.

    Instead of locking people out because of a CR check just have a pop up warning that informs the player no rewards or credit will be received for entering the alert/raid because of their CR. If the player decides to go for it, they have to be locked into their role whether or not they wipe and kicking restrictions do not apply to that player. I have seen this in practice in other games and it usually makes players think twice about queuing up for the mission or entering that area.
  19. MrMigraine Devoted Player

    I actually prefer to play as Controller.

    But most pug folks seem to want as much DPS as possible, so that's my default when I queue.

    If anyone wants me to switch, just ask - I'd be more than happy to do so. :D
    • Like x 1
  20. Proxystar #Perception

    I queued for the alert as a healer once and a troll was in there i said you can change dps if you like, just offering, ya know.

    The guy then lost his rag at me i told him to relax and that it was an offer and not a command he rage left after swearing at me
    • Like x 2