Joining games in progress is particularly frustrating. When I sit down to play, I want to play against players where we all have equal footing; I understand that it is not skill based matchmaking, I am talking more about melee/grenade/super energy. It is incredibly annoying to join in immediately after heavy ammo was pulled, or when every other player has just charged their super to full. Arguments can be made on the merits of join in progress being allowed for team based gametypes. My gripe and join in progress is today focused on Free For All playlists.
Other than keeping the player count up, what is the purpose of allowing people to join in late? The players in game are significantly advantaged in terms of positioning and super energy charge. The player who joins in progress has their starting special, and gets an additional 50 points for killing first place; something that every player in the game has.
As of writing this, I have played sixteen games of Rumble over the past two days. Twelve of those sixteen were join in progress. That is a 75% join in progress rate. Most of those games had the first place score be above 1,000; what reasonable chance does a player have to come back from that deficit?
Rumble is unique from team lists because have someone leave the game doesn't negatively affect the other players all that much. It simply makes it so there are less targets, and less people shooting at you. Yes, it is annoying when all but one player quits out, and two people have to finish out the game in a 1v1 on a potentially large map. It is my opinion that that is acceptable though; it is very rare to see nearly all of the starting players quit out.
I would like to see what your thoughts are on this matter.
EDIT: I was unclear with the original post, so this edit is meant to clarify.
I would like for there to be an option added into the menus that a player can click on and off if they want to be capable of joining games in progress. That way games can still be filled (provided any players allow for it), while players are not forced into games that have already started against their will. This seems to me to be a best of both worlds scenario. I assume it is an easy fix; just check off a box, such as the one that allows helmets to be worn in social areas.
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Edited by Sol 5olis Deus: 12/4/2015 9:58:28 AMI'd agree if there is a score base or a time base to not allow people to join in matches like almost at the end, or when the score and time are about to end, an example would be around 75% of the score or time has been passed in mid game. Imagine if you are not allowed to join with your friend at the [b]start[/b] of the game or if you are on a 3v3 and you have a party of two with you, with you trying to find a match it the crucible alone, without a party and they leave you... alone and then no one can join into the match, while you are outnumbered becoming a punching bag for the enemy team... Oh and they send you messages at the end calling you a noob or a bad player because you were alone through the entire game getting beaten by this team constantly tea bagging you when you died (this has happened to me). RECAP: 75% of the game completed then it should stop people joining in (or maybe around the 80% or 90%). If you have been on a full match of a 3v3 alone and tried to fight against a three player team, then you have my respect.