New annoyance today-hosts that start game, go through the whole loading cinematic, only to pause and immediately restart to lobby, totally wasting your time. Ugh. I’ve even had one host who did it multiple times in row. Felt like I was losing my mind.
Been kicked too many times myself, so I don’t really join others’ lobbies much anymore.
One time, someone was asking for Jack, so I joined with the intention to be Jack (I was marksman). Got kicked within 5 seconds before I could switch.
When I host, it takes a long while for my lobbies to fill up and I don’t know why. I don’t really ask for much, just lvl16, one engineer (makes everyone’s life easier) and no dupes (don’t like multiples of one class trying to compete for resources). Other than that, people can play whatever class they want in my lobbies.
I don’t like kicking people either, but sometimes I have to. If a player is doing something that could negatively affect the game, then I am going to ask them to change their behavior.
For example, last week, we had an engi on Checkout who was AFK’ing a lot, only getting up every 2 or 3 waves to pick someone up, or build a sentry. He only fortified the little area he was napping at, so we asked him if he could make more fences for the outer areas, so we could defend the taps. So this person asked if they should perk up, or build sentries, to which I once again asked them to build more fences. Then he says he is going to build a forge and we should help him smelt… I really wondered if they trolling, or they just couldn’t understand what we were askking. They left like 10 waves later after typing obcsenities on chat.
Sometimes, one of my friends disconnects unexpectedly, and I have to kick people to keep the slot open. I hate having to do this, and I apologize if anyone reading this had this happen to them. As the lobby host, I should be able to open, or close the lobby after the game has started.
When it comes to Escape, I rarely venture outside playing with my team, or solo runs (had some REALLY bad expiriences with public games in Op1). I hosted some The Line carries as Marcus last operation. Those went well, except for the occasional player thinking this hive can be played like Surge.
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For someone who has hosted 300+ master Escape victory lobbies, I can tell you that being a host is a chore. And this is all playing with randoms. I just like controlling the outcome of the game so I have no problem waiting for a lobby to fill.
From my experience:
- Waiting 5-10 secs to start a match will suffice
- If someone changes characters, I’ll stop timer and wait until theirs no more activity for another 5-10 secs (I’ve saw people run thru their entire roster, lol)
- If you need to change a card(s) all of a sudden, I just go back to the lobby and wait then they’ll tell me their ready
- I have easy and to the point titles, with no demands
These all seem to keep the player-base flowing better
I only kick for two main reasons:
- You run to LZ and pull the lever without your teammates being close
- If your constantly going down/dying from ALWAYS running away from team
Other than those two things, I really don’t kick. I don’t care about what character you choose, and as long as you’re level 16+ we can play.
Hosts like metas, and that’s it; no diversity whatsoever. So, I’ve always stayed away from joining lobbies. I’ve rarely seen “normal” titles, especially for Master lobbies.
Some players show apprehension when they’re in matches, and I speculate its due to previous strict hosts. They just don’t want to do the wrong thing and get kicked, because that’s what their accustomed to.
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I tend to get the opposite. People join my lobbies, even wait 10 minutes for them to be full before I start. Then I start the game, then they leave. Usually, people quitting causes a chain reaction at the start of the game, so quickly, I’m by myself again.
Although, one time I joined one of those Overload speedruns as Marcus, and the host ended the game on wave 4 because I wan’t keeping my ult up. That early, there was barely enough to do so, and the rest of the team was also killing stuff. After we went back to lobby, I left, and shortly after got a lovely “Reported for noob” message.
Got something similar last night on the daily hive Descent. I joined as Paduk/Nomad, and the host was also Nomad. He and the other guy, who was Brawler, were pushing ahead, taking all the kills, so I couldn’t get any. They were being a little reckless and going down a few times. I never felt like we were in danger of losing though. I even guessed he might have liked it as he’d be getting his fear charged up instead of me. Host had a different idea. Must have figured since I’m not getting kills I’m not pulling my own weight. Pauses and kicks me after the first couple encounters in the first act. Started to question myself after that: am I really just not very good as Nomad?
Then joined a different room as Nomad, but this time the only Nomad. Not to toot my own horn too much, but I chain executed most of the first act, and actually most of the hive. Took MVP easily, and the other two were pretty much letting me take lead and also letting me get longshot and all ammo in the saferooms. So, no, there wasn’t anything wrong with how I play Nomad after all. It was just the other two were beating me to the punch then jumping to conclusions about my ability, which seems to happen often in random lobbies.
Hey, I say as long as it the other person isn’t dragging your team down, and you still feel like you can win, then don’t kick them. Don’t only look at kill totals and think the reason you’re going down is the other guy isn’t killing enough. Anyway, racking up kills isn’t necessarily the most beneficial thing you can do. Other team members might depend on kills to get their ults charged up. They also might be putting in the brunt of the damage, but others are finishing them off, which happens to me on occasion too. I don’t get bent out of shape about it, so long as we’re winning.
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It is very unfortunate that a host would kick you just because they are doing better than you. I personally wouldn’t mind if someone is doing a not-so-great work at killing, but are staying alive fairly well. Never know when the team might need a revive.
When I was doing Line carries last operation, I had many low levels join, and I let them stay. Some kept dying, and I let them stay. Seeing how that hive isn’t that well known, I figured I should give people a chance at learning it, and made sure to give instructions when needed.
That’s the problem with a lot of hosts: they kick without warning. I imagine some of them might be frustrated with trying to explain things too often. Many are just on a kicking spree, though.
P.S. I think you joined for one of my Line runs last operation.
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I don’t ever do Escape matches with randoms, personally. Thankfully I have my regular team and/or can solo some of the hives no problem. This mode requires a bit more direct team cooperation than horde IMO and that combined with the fact that the Surge and Clock have taught A LOT of bad habits to the public.
I’ll join lobbies for Horde on occasion though, haven’t had the worst luck there. I usually just avoid the obviously toxic lobby names. Such as ‘need Jack, Del, and JD’, or ‘must be re-up X’. I’ve done many off-meta Master runs at this point and if people can’t play without the meta then they aren’t worth my time.
Of course there are still those rather ignorant players that buy/move fortifications when there is an Engineer or who go most of the match without neither depositing or even perking up. But what can I say. Randoms will be randoms.
I would also rather have a less-skilled player that is willing to cooperate, than a skilled, toxic, elitist ■■■■■ that thinks they know it all.
That same Checkout match Siul was talking about, there was a Brawler playing some sort of ranged build that wasn’t looking like they were doing much, but they sure had your back if you went down. I was playing Execution Nomad and could easily go down with one wrong move, but every time that I did, I could count on the Brawler to use their Ult and come get me, every time that I needed it. That alone more than helped me completely lock down the side lane that I was holding (the Fabricator was in a player spawn). We beat the match on Master just fine in spite of that Engineer that refused to expand the base.
Then yesterday, another interesting match on Training Grounds. Host was ranged Nomad, I was Marksman, and then there was a Combat Medic, Mechanic, and Jack.
Seemed to go well at first, with the usual save-up-for-forge strat. Was almost wave 10, Mechanic built the forge, and the next wave or so, Jack frickin quits, and never joined back. Some random Brawler joins, and a handful of waves later the Mechanic quits too, even though it seemed like we were pulling through anyway. WTF. I believe that a second Combat Medic joined, can’t remember what the last class was in the end (there was a temporary Inflitrator at some point but later they apologized that they had to go). In the end, the team with no Engineers or Jack, and no meta boss-killer classes managed to finish the Master run, all while expanding the base and were able to keep the taps up most of the time. Were still swimming in power by the end.
Why can’t more people be willing to work together and adapt to pull through the situations?
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I agree with this. Actually, I’ve been having alot of success lately on hives, including Onslaught, and Hunters, with a COG Gear/Combat Medic on the squad. That class isn’t known for its killing ability. However, just having a supply of stim and revives from third player who is hard to put down should be all that’s needed so long as you already have two killers on the team. Also, if you don’t have a Demo/Tactician on the team, they’re perfect for stocking up and planting the grenades.
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You would think since escape overall has been nerfed (no Ironman) that it would lead to overall better experiences. I honestly don’t think escape is for the overly casual player. It requires to much intellect even on the easier maps.
Players like yourself should get a special achievement for succumbing to playing in a public lobby.
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Thanks for feedback guys.
To clarify- I do have a team but sometimes they are not online and I just want to play. I’ve done a few solo runs but there are times when I want to have a nice and quick run with other people, hence joining public lobbies.
I have to say that I had quite a few successful runs with randoms.
Eg most of Escape maps have been mastered by me with randoms. The most surprised successful run I had was on the Split.
That map is tough and I was really lucky to get great players.
But having said that, I was the host most times.
Anyway, after my rant I changed the name of my lobby from “ Be good and have fun” to “ Idiots need not apply”…
My lobby has never filled that fast 
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Lol that would be nice.
“ Public Lobby Survivor”
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lol some time ago there was a lobby that I kept seeing called, “Braindead idiots wanted. Apply in here” or something. like that. Maybe you’ve seen it. I wouldn’t join it of course. Don’t know what that host was up to, but it seemed to fill up rather quickly!
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I haven’t seen that but can imagine 
Sometimes I see lobbies called “ don’t join this lobby”… then why would you keep it open??
Random people can suck. If I were on more then I’d try to join you more.
If we can communicate then I’d adapt to the circumstances and hopefully be of some benefit
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Be quiet
I’ve seen that one too. I’d love to be a fly on the wall for this games just to see how it all pans out! 
One lobby I see alot, is simply “noobs **** off!” and is hosted by a Chinese person (well, they have a Chinese name and the connection is bad enough from me that it could be in China. Or they could just be a weibo-type). I’ve never joined it because of the connection .
Was this on horde or escape lobby? I’m regular on horde and I’ve never seen it yet. Love to have a peek and see who is the host.
Yea. It is so bad that I make extra sure to have the class and cards I want for the hive in question ready to go before I even bother joining .
Trouble is, by the time you sort all of that out the lobby will have filled up!
Plus choosing from so many classes can be a reactive thing too - I sometimes change my class based on what the other people are.
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Maybe it’s a bad day today but trying to level Combat Medic and Robotics Expert(the only classes below level 16 I had left) on Surge runs and it was nothing short of a pain. First, I’m looking for lobbies and wait a while before one pops up(at that point I wasn’t bothered hosting one myself), then when I did find one every other match started by a host just told me I “lost connection to the game” when I still clearly had internet connection… duh.
So after a few times of that I decided to host myself and after a few games I am greeted by the ever so lovely infinite Escape loading screen so I restart and go back to it to always get people leaving after one or two runs or have an AFK that starts moving after half a minute, then the person I was going ahead with gets shot by the idiot bots while being hidden behind the saferoom walls, then both of them immediately quit instead of waiting out the five seconds it takes to restart.
And they wonder why I don’t bother playing with randoms. I can’t even get reliable Insane Surge runs going with them half the time and they’re pretty much the easiest thing to exist FFS.
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