A major problem we have to deal with, in addition to the unfinished battle system as it stands, is the frustration of people disconnecting while having no repercussions. A lot of people want DC's to count as losses, but then there are others who don't want people with real connection issues being punished. It doesn't matter what side of this constant debate you're on, because it's a revolving door that never stops.
My suggestion is to have a pop-up message pop up notifying you that the person you're trying to send a battle request to, or the person who is sending one to you has exceeded a certain amount of DC's recently. This would give people the knowledge to make an informed decision regarding if they really want to battle this person. Having to put up with people who constantly DC, and keep track of all the usernames who you've experienced that have DC'd against you is tedious and vexing. This idea is simply an accessory to save yourself time and frustration instead of potentially experiencing it. It would also add a bit of self-awareness to the situation, making it known that it's discouraged and would make finding opponents difficult for chronic DC'ers.
Player B goes to request a battle with Player A, but when he does he gets a notification that Player A has exceeded the allotted amount of permissible DCs within the last X amount of hours, and must determine if He/She wants to continue. If Player B clicks "Continue" the request will be sent.
-Makes it clear that excessive DC'ing is unacceptable.
-Provide a general ill-feeling towards disconnecting.
-Finally fix an issue which has been a plague of PWO for YEARS while being fair to everyone.
-Hard to predict how players would react to being marked as a DC'er, or how players would react to visual evidence of other players excessively DC'ing.
Of course there would be other results of implementing this, but I think the benefits would outweigh any negatives you all might see. But I'd still like to hear them, please feel encouraged to discuss.
I'd also like to suggest that after a certain point of excessive DC's, there be a battle ban for that player put into place. Not sure how many DC's or what amount of time should be considered appropriate though, need opinions on that.
My suggestion is to have a pop-up message pop up notifying you that the person you're trying to send a battle request to, or the person who is sending one to you has exceeded a certain amount of DC's recently. This would give people the knowledge to make an informed decision regarding if they really want to battle this person. Having to put up with people who constantly DC, and keep track of all the usernames who you've experienced that have DC'd against you is tedious and vexing. This idea is simply an accessory to save yourself time and frustration instead of potentially experiencing it. It would also add a bit of self-awareness to the situation, making it known that it's discouraged and would make finding opponents difficult for chronic DC'ers.
Here's an example:
Player A has DC'd X amount of times in the last hour (Must be over 1 time). For the next X amount of hours, he/she will have a notification appear to the target when sending a battle request. Instead, he simply states "B99" in battle chat.Player B goes to request a battle with Player A, but when he does he gets a notification that Player A has exceeded the allotted amount of permissible DCs within the last X amount of hours, and must determine if He/She wants to continue. If Player B clicks "Continue" the request will be sent.
Pros:
-Reduce frustration of disconnecting without consequence. -Makes it clear that excessive DC'ing is unacceptable.
-Provide a general ill-feeling towards disconnecting.
-Finally fix an issue which has been a plague of PWO for YEARS while being fair to everyone.
Cons:
-People will still intentionally disconnect if they know the limit of how many times they can do it in a given amount of time, but it will be better.-Hard to predict how players would react to being marked as a DC'er, or how players would react to visual evidence of other players excessively DC'ing.
Of course there would be other results of implementing this, but I think the benefits would outweigh any negatives you all might see. But I'd still like to hear them, please feel encouraged to discuss.
I'd also like to suggest that after a certain point of excessive DC's, there be a battle ban for that player put into place. Not sure how many DC's or what amount of time should be considered appropriate though, need opinions on that.