Stacking :: Should NOT be allowed

[Carpe Vexillum]

Stacking
Stacking involves altering game settings or team lineups to give one or more teams an unfair advantage over others. One example includes arranging a team composed of skilled or known players against a team with members of lesser skill. Although this may be a valid and accepted practice in real-life sports, in online games stacking upsets less-skilled players who feel that they aren't being given a fair chance.

Now I know a lot of people here agree that stacking is unfair and completely unnecessary on a site that is meant to be fun. This is not BTB for MLG, this is a war sim site that promotes fun competition. When one player grabs all of his MLG buddies and forms a squad or someone just pools all of the best players, NOT based on team playing or on what squads in The Army need help but just to rape every team they face, it totally diminishes the fun from the game for those trying to have fun. The stacked team is not getting any better at the game and neither is the normal team.

When one army is spread evenly to have fun and the other stacks, you can guess what will happen. It ruins the entire point of the battles. A lot of the new members complain and want to switch armies. They even want to leave FC as a whole or quit out because of the cheaters.

I understand that FC is not a democracy but I know many members here would be much happier if stacking would not be allowed.

[RetRdidMunkie]

Lol.... Been goin on for years. We made alot of noise, and it was stopped... for a time. But its back, and it'll never go away, sadly.

[RaZ Vader]

Hmmmm Interesting.. Stacking.. This is a touchy subject. People will claim "stacking" even if they do not mean they are stacking..

[Carpe Vexillum]

Fortunately it is quite obvious who stackers are, everyone needs to have a enough respect though to understand a fair match.

[RaZ Vader]

Fortunately it is quite obvious who stackers are, everyone needs to have a enough respect though to understand a fair match.

I agree, and the FM's should realize that. If both FM's allow the match to happen, both are to blame. I know they try to match up teams based on skill level as much as possible. But, its not always guaranteed.

[cCrisis]

i know what your trying to say.

everyone on VbD are friends. Me, aftershook and guzzie have been friends since we meet in Celerian Wars back in halo 2(we were the 3 highest ranks of the army who weren't IRL friends of the leader). we had to work together a lot and we have been good friends ever since. only 2 of our members are people we meet in halo reach and 1 is a friend of hectic.

we are not going out and finding good people and just asking them to join, their all our friends and we enjoy playing with our friends, just the same as everyone else in FC. we for the most part play MLG together which is extremely competitive and FC is a way for us to enjoy the game like we did in the old days.

[GhostHammer]

I agree, and the FM's should realize that. If both FM's allow the match to happen, both are to blame. I know they try to match up teams based on skill level as much as possible. But, its not always guaranteed.

A lot of this is untrue Raz. Check that stat book, Max and I have been feverishly rotating and moving squads around. Myth keeps it all in the stat book, you'll see people rarely play eachother more than once unless we get low on numbers.

[Carpe Vexillum]

There are no matches to some stacked teams, and that is the problem. But I agree, if the FM's can prevent it that is what should happen. THe point is no one enjoys playing them.

[Maxdoggy]

Tonight GhostHammer and I created a bracket system where everyone would play everyone so people wouldn't complain that they were always playing the same teams.

Tonight, everyone so far has played everyone so far, as per this system we are testing.
We both are open to comments and criticism, as long as it is concise and is not inflammatory.

[GhostHammer]

Tonight GhostHammer and I created a bracket system where everyone would play everyone so people wouldn't complain that they were always playing the same teams.

Tonight, everyone so far has played everyone so far, as per this system we are testing.
We both are open to comments and criticism, as long as it is concise and is not inflammatory.

Agreed. VbD is a group of friends, who happen to be skilled. They are rotated through the system like anyone else. Myth + Statbook = Love

[silversleek]

i know that my squad played violent by design (i think they're called) twice out of our four-five games, and most of our squad is brand new to fc. They destroyed us by over double our score each game. To me, the game nights this week weren't enjoyable in the least, and felt more like some kind of chore/job then anything else.

[RaZ Vader]

Agreed. VbD is a group of friends, who happen to be skilled. They are rotated through the system like anyone else. Myth + Statbook = Love

Enough said. I know both FM's do fine work. And If both FMs agree and understand the terms, then there should ever be an issue. Wasn't trying to confirm if stacking was going on, just stating that you all know better. So its hard for me to believe stacking is occurring intentionally.

[AftershocK]

Same situation with my old squad zulu/outcast. We are a group of friends

[Twitch]

^^ and BR

[RaZ Vader]

Same situation with my old squad zulu/outcast. We are a group of friends

^This

[Carpe Vexillum]

The point is no one except the winning team enjoys the game or thinks it is fair.

[RaZ Vader]

I know FM's try to make it fair. I know both FM's use a rotating system tonight, so every squad had a chance to play someone different.

[GhostHammer]

Check the statbook please everyone.

[Andimion]

I remember when Fear was proclaimed a stacked team. We were all incredibly close friends and played together daily. We had immense chemistry as well as we are skilled players. The team work was astounding. You still see Fear together today as our little click. But our squad has broken up into different places. It isn't stacking to have a team of people you know personally, have amazing chemistry, all individually skilled and be in the same squad. Its just the way it goes sometimes. I mean what do you tell them? They aren't allowed to play with their friends cause they are to good a team together? Not likely. Let it go...

[cCrisis]

The point is no one except the winning team enjoys the game or thinks it is fair.

i and many enjoy playing halo for a cause. not just random matchmaking with no ranking system.

i could careless if i win or lose, it's fun.

[Carpe Vexillum]

I remember when Fear was proclaimed a stacked team. We were all incredibly close friends and played together daily. We had immense chemistry as well as we are skilled players. The team work was astounding. You still see Fear together today as our little click. But our squad has broken up into different places. It isn't stacking to have a team of people you know personally, have amazing chemistry, all individually skilled and be in the same squad. Its just the way it goes sometimes. I mean what do you tell them? They aren't allowed to play with their friends cause they are to good a team together? Not likely. Let it go...

Excuse me? Tell that to the entirety of all the players who are cheated out of their fun. Then you can tell me to let it go. I understand that there can be a bunch of friends, but it just doesn't seem fair either way you look at it. =[

But you get off topic, I am talking about stacking, not you and your friends. So I am guessing that everyone who voted for stacking, thinks that it is okay.

[Fiery Grave]

okay there is a difference between stacking and having a skilled team.... stacking is puropsly taking a team that is strong against a squad they are sure to win against.... red has one skilled team that are friends.... if they break up it wouldn't be fair to them because they are skilled they can't play together... unless we take all squads of people who are friend and don't allow them to play together. If you had to play with people you don't like or are not friends with would you be having as much fun? no.

They are a skilled squad, but the problem is blue doesn't have a squad that can really compare to them, and they wouldn't want to only ever play one squad, and we cannot just not let them play because that wouldn't be fair to them either.... so they should be allowed to play

[bazongaman502]

basically what carpe is saying:

When a squad needs to be made of randoms, the one squad is created with only the best players. While the other team places the people who havent played much into the game...

When i was leading the Marines i remeber noticing a stacked team on REDD. I was originally gonna place Ninjaboltz, Hazy, Daah Woosh and someone else untill i say REDDs team (Andimion, Aftershock, and a few others)... we were playing Power House at the time and i knew i had to pull another part of the team in to prevent the stacking advantage.... so i sent Shine, Delta, Blazing, and some other dude in and they beat REDD by like 40+ kills...

The point is is that, when a FM or Squad leader just suddenly creates a random team but only uses the best players... even if it ment preventing them from playing with their normal squad...

Id love to think this never happens, but it happens ALOT... iv seen it the most on REDD, but i will agree it has happened on BLUE

[KillerGUNNY132]

There is no stacking going on here.

[cCrisis]

basically what carpe is saying:

When a squad needs to be made of randoms, the one squad is created with only the best players. While the other team places the people who havent played much into the game...

When i was leading the Marines i remeber noticing a stacked team on REDD. I was originally gonna place Ninjaboltz, Hazy, Daah Woosh and someone else untill i say REDDs team (Andimion, Aftershock, and a few others)... we were playing Power House at the time and i knew i had to pull another part of the team in to prevent the stacking advantage.... so i sent Shine, Delta, Blazing, and some other dude in and they beat REDD by like 40+ kills...

The point is is that, when a FM or Squad leader just suddenly creates a random team but only uses the best players... even if it ment preventing them from playing with their normal squad...

Id love to think this never happens, but it happens ALOT... iv seen it the most on REDD, but i will agree it has happened on BLUE

we were in ice with coldest until he got banned and ice had too many members so we were forced to break up. guzzie, me and aftershook made our own squad and invited our friends to fill our roster. highlight is a friend of guzzie IRL and i have known him since the beginning of halo3, gingie is someone we played with since the beginning of halo3, hectic and vivid we have only known for about 3 months. and unfolded is a friend of hectic IRL.

back in halo 2 me, guzzie and aftershock were far from good and lost almost every game we played in while in a similar war-sim. we have been playing halo on a regular basis for 5+ solid years and we have gotten better in that time.

[GhostHammer]

okay there is a difference between stacking and having a skilled team.

Very true. VdB is a skilled team of friends who play well. They are not put there by HighCom, they've played together for years.

[Carpe Vexillum]

This thread is over, everything that needs to be said has been. Can someone close it please.

[bazongaman502]

we were in ice with coldest until he got banned and ice had too many members so we were forced to break up. guzzie, me and aftershook made our own squad and invited our friends to fill our roster. highlight is a friend of guzzie IRL and i have known him since the beginning of halo3, gingie is someone we played with since the beginning of halo3, hectic and vivid we have only known for about 3 months. and unfolded is a friend of hectic IRL.

back in halo 2 me, guzzie and aftershock were far from good and lost almost every game we played in while in a similar war-sim. we have been playing halo on a regular basis for 5+ solid years and we have gotten better in that time.

thats a squad built for long term... stacking is building a squad for short term... 2 different things

[silversleek]

we were in ice with coldest until he got banned and ice had too many members so we were forced to break up. guzzie, me and aftershook made our own squad and invited our friends to fill our roster. highlight is a friend of guzzie IRL and i have known him since the beginning of halo3, gingie is someone we played with since the beginning of halo3, hectic and vivid we have only known for about 3 months. and unfolded is a friend of hectic IRL.

back in halo 2 me, guzzie and aftershock were far from good and lost almost every game we played in while in a similar war-sim. we have been playing halo on a regular basis for 5+ solid years and we have gotten better in that time.

each of you are as good if not better (right now) then some mlg pros i've faced. good friends or not,it's a bit unfair. (and by a bit, i mean really)

[cCrisis]

each of you are as good if not better (right now) then some mlg pros i've faced. good friends or not,it's a bit unfair. (and by a bit, i mean really)

guzzie could maybe be considered a semi-pro if he got on a good team as for the rest of us i doubt we could place top 32 at a event...........

we are far from pro and trust me when i say that.

we know how to play mlg but we stand no chance against pro's.

[d3ad1te]

You should have 3 different types of squads.

Casual- For casual reach players.
War Sim- For those who want to be apart of the war simulation to a more higher or strict degree but aren't judged by skill.
MLG- Good players.

[Ex Zen Mute]

@d3adite

People say I'm good and I don't care for MLG.
Where would I go?

I play casually yet I am good.
See my problem?

[Carpe Vexillum]

@d3adite

People say I'm good and I don't care for MLG.
Where would I go?

I play casually yet I am good.
See my problem?

We aren't talking individuals here. Go where ever you want as long as its not on a stacked team. =p

[VerbotenDonkey]

This happened back in the beginning of Halo 3, where Against Grayn dominated everything, and everyone on Blue complained and wanted them to separate because no one could keep up. But I believe it was Eri that stepped up and said that they are all friends and all a team, they should be treated fairly and not discriminated against based on their skill. They just want to play like everyone else. While I agree that /Army/ based skill should be kept up to par as much as possible, like rotate it so that overall, the skill levels in both Army's are similar, I don't agree that friends who are good together, like Guzzie and Crisis and Aftershock, shouldn't be able to play together.

If we had enough people, I would support changing it so that certain squads are labeled "Casual" so they dont get jumped by legit players who they have no chance against, but FC currently doesn't have the member basis to do this, unless you want to play the same squads over and over again.

[silversleek]

guzzie could maybe be considered a semi-pro if he got on a good team as for the rest of us i doubt we could place top 32 at a event...........

we are far from pro and trust me when i say that.

we know how to play mlg but we stand no chance against pro's.

lol, if you guys had the skill of a top 32 player, now THAT would be unfair.

[Ex Zen Mute]

We aren't talking individuals here. Go where ever you want as long as its not on a stacked team. =pBut my friends are good too.
Oh no! Now we are stacked? Guess I can't play with people I like. Guess I will leave FC then.

[bazongaman502]

you guys... were not talking about long term squads... just random teams created for a battle night built of only the best players (all from different squads)...

[AftershocK]

you guys... were not talking about long term squads... just random teams created for a battle night built of only the best players (all from different squads)...

There are no random teams in red.

[Ex Zen Mute]

you guys... were not talking about long term squads... just random teams created for a battle night built of only the best players (all from different squads)...Which has been said before, no stacking has taken place in this war so far. On REDD anyway. I don't know so much about BLUE because I do not fully know their squads.
Do you know which members are a part of which squads in REDD? I doubt anyone does except those who put games together.

Some squads were mixed in REDD today becuase a few squads were low on active members. Like ICE.
Capone, Black, and I were tossed in randomly. We were not that much of a game changer.

Looking at Guzzie squad, that is a squad of friends, not a team thrown together at the last second.

[KillerGUNNY132]

Once again, there is no stacking going on right now. None.

I know stacking is when I see it, and its not happening right now. Some of the older members on here should remember the term "L.M.G's" or "Last Minute Generals." That's stacking. This right here? No, this is just friends playing together who happen to be skilled at playing Halo.

[bazongaman502]

Which has been said before, no stacking has taken place in this war so far. On REDD anyway. I don't know so much about BLUE because I do not fully know their squads.
Do you know which members are a part of which squads in REDD? I doubt anyone does except those who put games together.

Some squads were mixed in REDD today becuase a few squads were low on active members. Like ICE.
Capone, Black, and I were tossed in randomly. We were not that much of a game changer.

Looking at Guzzie squad, that is a squad of friends, not a team thrown together at the last second.

1) i never said Guzzie's squad was... seriously people, read my posts a few times... i never say those words.
2) Mixed squads (teams thrown together last minute due to lack of players)...
3) Stacking: Mixed squads intentionally built with powerful/skilled players only
4) didnt say it happened this war... was power house played this war? no... that example was from last war
5) Andimion, aftershock, and several others are great players individually... putting them together (as a mixed squad (definition above)) creats a "stacked team"... if they can hold their own weight, then they can easily work well together... aka: creating a powerful team from scratch with the intention to get an automatic win <--- Stacking

thats what i ment you guys

Again (3rd time)... were not talking about perminant squads... were talking about Mixed Squads built for the only intention of winning under any circumstances... please dont make me explain this again

[GhostHammer]

1) i never said Guzzie's squad was... seriously people, read my posts a few times... i never say those words.
2) Mixed squads (teams thrown together last minute due to lack of players)...
3) Stacking: Mixed squads intentionally built with powerful/skilled players only
4) didnt say it happened this war... was power house played this war? no... that example was from last war
5) Andimion, aftershock, and several others are great players individually... putting them together (as a mixed squad (definition above)) creats a "stacked team"... if they can hold their own weight, then they can easily work well together... aka: creating a powerful team from scratch with the intention to get an automatic win <--- Stacking

thats what i ment you guys

Again (3rd time)... were not talking about perminant squads... were talking about Mixed Squads built for the only intention of winning under any circumstances... please dont make me explain this again

All teams tonight were permanent squads with the exception of a REDD Mix of Kilo Company members, and a REDD Mix regarding a few Ice players.

Guzzie and his group are a permanent squad. Kratos is on the Scarecrow roster. All of our units are sound in structure and position. There are no last minute "stacked teams" put together. In terms of a tie breaker, Max and I have agreed to put our best unit forward for the final game. I do this based of the reccords in the StatBook, as such tonight, VbD had the best record, and such they were put into the tie breaker.

There is no stacking going on in either army, Max and I are both HEAVILY against doing this. Each army has a very skilled team, we do no have stacked squads. That being said, there is a lack of true information in this thread, and it's going down a bad path.

Topic Closed.

[Nocte]

Here is the problem though, please think VBD is a very good team. I have played them with Scarecrow in a REDD scrim and VBD's team-work is awesome. So when I play with Scarecrow I'm calling out positions and sticking with my team-mates. We can hold a close game, and we have even won before.

Guzzie is skilled, but the rest of them just work well together. Thats one thing this community needs to learn, is that if you slapped a team of skilled players together with no team-work. They will get railed by a team that is moderately skilled and uses team-work very well.