[Suggestion] Gunner Matchmaking System

I really think this game needs a matchmaking system for gunning in a vehicle. The Valkyrie is partly unplayable for me. Not because it is underpowered or whatever, but simply because I hardly can find a (decent) gunner for it. I already spend so many hours in this game just dying in search for a gunner, it's just ridiculous. Or dying because the gunner had no idea what he was doing and no knowledge about the weapons of the vehicle.

Outfits or friendlists also don't help much since not many people fly this vehicle anyway. So far I've only met 3 people who were willing to gun with me more often in the Valk but they are hardly on or have their main characters in a different faction. I even tried getting people to fly with me by making an own outfit, but of course noone joined too.

I am really not sure if I still should keep playing this game, because to me the Valkyrie and the Harrasser are the main reason why I actually play it, but spending most of your time just searching for a gunner and dying through it is just too annoying honestly.

let noob gun for you, that way they can become better true practice.

That's already (sadly) what I mostly do, but even finding noobs is often really not easy. Especially with the Valkyrie, since not many fly it anyway and it can get really dangerous landing with it near the battlefield and Sundies.

try announcing your availability in (/re)gion chat.

I haven't tried this one yet, but I will do. I doubt it will help much though.

Since you're looking for people who want to join you in some Valk action. Maybe also post your server and faction. Maybe someone on this server would want to fly a valk with you.
(as a side note, I also hope for you that it will be slightly buffed. An enemy Valk doesn't instill fear in me, but glee that soon I'll have another kill. And I mainly play medic. I don't fly them myself.)

Posting your igname name, faction and server on the forum may help getting some regular gunners.

Also /re works really well. Or even proxy voice chat. Just let people know what you are looking for and usually people will respond.
If nobody responds, matchmaking probably wont help either as there most likely isnt any gunners with your criteria around anyway.

I really like this suggestion but unfortunately it is just too expensive to develop it and therefore not realistic. This game does not have the funds to do much besides minor changes, all the development resources are tied up in our last hope of the Xbox One port and finishing the PS4 port (read: outfits).

I already made such a thread in the outfit recruiting section, since I thought it was more fitting than the gameplay discussion section here, but I got no replies. The main problem is noone wants to fly the Valk since they all think it is a joke, although they just have no idea how to handle it. So it can get really hard finding gunners for it.

And my criteria is actually not that ambitious. I just would like to find people who know how to gun in the Valk, know the weapons and how to handle them. But it is really hard to find people, let alone people who know what they are doing.

They often make mistakes like not paying attention to the front, because you constantly have to keep an eye on the little vehicle icon in the valk, which seems to be too difficult for many, so they often focus on totally different things than the pilot, which mostly completely destroys attack attempts with the Valk. When the pilot is focusing on a tank in front, and tries to fly above it so that its launchers cant hit the Valk, but the gunner is shooting at a tank to the right, the pilot has to retreat. This is actually not that hard to understand, but many people fail it.

Another mistake they also make is shooting way too early, althought the weapons of the Valk mostly have not good reach. Even the Wyvern doesn't have good reach and you mostly have to get as close as possible to do good damage with it. The Valk is a stealthy vehicle, where you very often have to sneak up on the enemy to be able to kill stuff with it, but most people just don't understand this, and just shoot at everything in sight, which very often just kills us, because they draw the attention of ESfs at us with it or whatever.

i completely agree that we need matchmaking, it's not only hard to find a good gunner for the valk but for all vehicles

They should just make it possible to create a squad without having to invite a particular player.

So you can pull a valk and then create a "need gunners for my valk" squad with open recruitment.

I've gunned a Harasser enough to know that this kind of gunning position is a lot of jarring transitions & jumping through hoops. It's WAY more chaotic than just gunning for a Magrider that's nice and smooth and forgiving. Even a Lib is less Jarring and a more intuitive natural learning process for the most part (Especially when the TankBuster obsessed jagoff piloting it gets smart about it and picks Compo over AutoRepair so you'll actually have more than 1/2 a second to line up on a target before screaching away in a firestorm of Flak).

The solution in my opinion isn't a matching system, it's just giving the damn Valkyrie a cloaking system finally to match its underwhelming performance with more forgiving "safety against Zergs"

The Valkyrie is NOT underpowered! It is good the way it is. But when people just totally don't understand the weapons (shooting with the hellion from 200 metre distance etc) then you just can't do much with it.

Are Outfits completely broken now?

I've had problems like the OP is discussing, but it usually because I'm running solo. Make friends or join an outfit that you can make friends through.

I will note however..... sometimes the pilot is at fault for the gunner not being able to get kills.

hope you have a working map. If you sense lack of competence with your gunner tell them what to do.

Sometimes a few people at SOE (some have left, not pointing fingers) have been set against solo players from all appearances. Some games have been designed to basically put them off or punish them, to force them to join groups. Get in a group, join a raid, join a guild, or basically you're limited to doing little more than spinning your wheels and goofing off while you look at the pretty graphics, admiring what others have and you dont. So it's at times been net working, net working spread the word bring your friends make more friends propganda ra ra more net working more net- wait a minute. Why do I feel like I'm trapped in a pyramid scheme instead of playing a MMO or FPS?

I don't think a match making 'system' like a LFG system will work. Maybe a call out system that just makes your turret flash to allies or puts you a different color on the mini map (which some poeple never use, I swear), but even those things will have limited results. Plus, gunners themselves are really an unreliable concept unless you have a buddy that will stick with you. Countless times, my gunner ditches the walker on my MBT while Im guarding a sunder, sensing certs to be made inside the main room of the base in the big firefight! So I get melted by a swarm or mossies or a freaking lib since i cant run my walker and drive, my tank goes boom, the sunder goes boom, the next sunder goes boom, becasue I have no gunner, and the sunders had no gunners. And yes to what the other guys said above as well. I have had some terrific kill streaks with my harrasser, but most of the time I get guys that cant handle the speed and rough ground. They just dont do it enough, so they dont have the jewels for it and I get toasted with little damage done to the enemy because i have to stop moving and play mobile turret. A good harrasser team is almost OP. The average harrasser is certs on four wheels.

So IMO, just make a way where we can snag gunners easier, if they are willing to help. Back when more people spawned at the warp gates, you could land something and pick them up because we all had a common meeting ground. Now out of the few at the gate,most people seem to ignore the vehicles at the end of the walkway and run to spawn a ESF or just run straight to a squad/platton/outfit gal. I can't think of any way to duplicate that old effect, unless you allow respawns inside squad/platoon/outfit vehciles, just no parachutes for libs mind you.. And that doesnt really help the true solo player at all who just doesnt want to form a squad when they are just trying to get a gunner, and maybe cant bercause everyone else is in a squad or whatever the problem may be. Maybe just put a lil timer on it, so people cant use a single tank or something to replicate having a sunder nearby.

Unless...unless...maybe... you'd just let us run over allied players and force respawn them into the gunner seat and lock them in??? That's an idea! Come on, it will work, you know it will!

I don't get into conversation with every gunner. Sometimes it just goes so fast that you don't have much time to talk. Often they also don't like when you tell them what they do wrong and then they just leave. The problem is, I basically would have to tell every gunner again and again, what the weapon is about, what the vehicle is about, what devices it has, how much it is upgraded, etc, so they can get an idea of what they have to do and can do, but this is honestly too annoying for me.

I already made a bunch of friends, but it really takes some time til you meet enough people who really like the vehicle enough that they want to fly more with you. And yes, of course, I also often make mistakes. The Valkyrie is really not easy to fly, but it's too often the case, the gunner really has no idea what he is doing or I just can't find any gunner at all.

Yeah you don't get it.... long range firing is the only way it can currently even act as a distraction. It can't get closer on its own power because it instantly gets focus-fired at by every unit in the area because it's just a sad Cert-Pinata. There is no using its weapons in close range, because in order to do that, it has to be able to sneak into close range first. If you're consistently sneaking into close range, then it's because you're flying it in unpopped Hexes. Don't lie and claim otherwise

Flying the Valk in unpopped hexes is actually one of the main things you want to avoid, because ESF easily could take you down there. It is totally possible to sneak up on enemies with the Valk, and kill them, no matter how big the battle is. You just have no idea what you are talking about and probably just always fly straight into the enemy like most people. You have to cleverly use the terrain to your advantage and have a good overview about the battlescene. But that's something not everyone is able to because it's not easy.

It just depends on how strong the enemy forces are concentrated or if they are rather spread out a bit. The terrain is also not always good for sneaking up, but that also what you have different weapons for. However, the Hellion is one of my favorite weapons for the Valk and totally viable.