Hey all! I wanted to share this concept for a while but was thinking about how it would work.
Anyways, my idea is what I have dubbed QPA, standing for Quickplay Alternative/Arenas. What QPA is boils down to people working together, making lots and lots of public battle arenas with a specific ruleset and name, as an alternative to the infamous Quickplay matchmaking system.
There are certain pros and cons of the system compared to regular quickplay:
Advantages over quickplay:
-Higher stage diversity from a preset stage list so you won’t end up on new pork city but also won’t end up on battlefield over and over again
-An optional voice chat
-Taunts are here! For a lot of people this is a big one
-You can switch characters for a rematch
-The Host can kick lagging players or those who are deemed to be lag switching
-A consistent ruleset you can check before diving in
-No GSP to be stressing out over
Disadvantages over quickplay:
-No GSP rankings system for those who want ranks
-Needs a player to host, and a good chunk of people helping out by hosting
-There could be trolls doing things such as subtle alterations to the stage list or items in order to be an annoyance
Of course, some people, maybe even you, are not quite sold on the concept. Why not just use something else like Discord or Anthers Ladder? Whats so terrible about quickplay? And to that I respond it’s why people have been using Quickplay or in Smash 4 times For Glory in the first place, for the quick matchmaking and shorter easy sessions, and so this concepts plan is to be solidifed to make the online a more enjoyable experience overall, for everyone. The goal is to make it so people can log on and easily throw themselves into an available public arena and play a guaranteed ruleset, like you would have expected from the Quickplay Preferred Rules option, which sadly has backfired many times for users of the service, such as getting rulesets they did not wish to have.
Of course this will require a large sum of people to work together by hosting. If you’re willing to, during breaks from the game or if you just want to play the game yourself, it would be greatly appreciated if you leave up a room for people to play in during this time!
Of course, I need to give out what the rules actually are, and the specific stage list chosen randomly from mostly neutral stages:
Official Configuration:
Type: Glorious Smashers or Veteran Players
Visibility: Public
Format: 1-on-1
Rotation: Bottom One Leaves
More Settings:
Max Players: 3 or 4 is heavily preferred to prevent lag from spectators and match wait times.
Stage: Random
Spirits: Off
Voice Chat: On or Off
Room Music: Anything you want
And the playing rules:
Stocks
7 Minutes
Damage Handicap turned off
All items on off, set to none
For the random select stage list everything is toggled off excluding the following:
BF FD Yoshis Story Pokemon Stadium 2 Smashville Unova Midgar Wily Castle Pictochat
These specific stages were chosen to be as neutral as possible while also keeping diversity in layouts, music, and aesthetic. I may change this over time to remove or add some stages.
Advanced
Stage hazards off
Team attack on
Launch rate 1.0
Score display off
Show damage on
Of course, there is behavior to be expected in these so that people don't be overtly toxic for instance. There is lots of room for leeway here, however, please try to follow these guidelines:
-Homie stocks are allowed
-Generally, BM and Taunting are acceptable, but going overboard or insulting each other over voice chat will result in being kicked or blocked by the arena host upon continuation if the behavior
-Acceptable amounts of lag can vary from host to host and determine whether or not a lagging player is kicked, but as a general rule of thumb, hosts are encouraged to start kicking those who freeze for more than 5 seconds at a time or have the game's framerate slow down to half-speed or lower
-Hosts are encouraged to kick players found to be playing the game in severely campy or otherwise degenerate ways to the point where they are clearly trying to time people out rather than defeat them.
I know that a lot of people wont fully pay attention to these but I highly suggest you follow it even if in a loose manner.
I truly believe this concept the potential to catch on as it is essentially solidifying something that has already been done, for consistency, quickness, and fairness sake. As a final note, for naming the arenas, please put “Quickplay Arena 1v1” or “Quickplay Arena Teams” in the name of the Battle Arena. This makes it recognizable and not vague. Thank you! And please try to share this around if you’re able, we need a lot of people to get this working as I've stated before.
No system is without its flaws, though, so we'll have to wait and see how this pans out, or if it's deemed too niche or redundant (which I personally disagree with atm). I'd love if you all share this around! Thanks
Anyways, my idea is what I have dubbed QPA, standing for Quickplay Alternative/Arenas. What QPA is boils down to people working together, making lots and lots of public battle arenas with a specific ruleset and name, as an alternative to the infamous Quickplay matchmaking system.
There are certain pros and cons of the system compared to regular quickplay:
Advantages over quickplay:
-Higher stage diversity from a preset stage list so you won’t end up on new pork city but also won’t end up on battlefield over and over again
-An optional voice chat
-Taunts are here! For a lot of people this is a big one
-You can switch characters for a rematch
-The Host can kick lagging players or those who are deemed to be lag switching
-A consistent ruleset you can check before diving in
-No GSP to be stressing out over
Disadvantages over quickplay:
-No GSP rankings system for those who want ranks
-Needs a player to host, and a good chunk of people helping out by hosting
-There could be trolls doing things such as subtle alterations to the stage list or items in order to be an annoyance
Of course, some people, maybe even you, are not quite sold on the concept. Why not just use something else like Discord or Anthers Ladder? Whats so terrible about quickplay? And to that I respond it’s why people have been using Quickplay or in Smash 4 times For Glory in the first place, for the quick matchmaking and shorter easy sessions, and so this concepts plan is to be solidifed to make the online a more enjoyable experience overall, for everyone. The goal is to make it so people can log on and easily throw themselves into an available public arena and play a guaranteed ruleset, like you would have expected from the Quickplay Preferred Rules option, which sadly has backfired many times for users of the service, such as getting rulesets they did not wish to have.
Of course this will require a large sum of people to work together by hosting. If you’re willing to, during breaks from the game or if you just want to play the game yourself, it would be greatly appreciated if you leave up a room for people to play in during this time!
Of course, I need to give out what the rules actually are, and the specific stage list chosen randomly from mostly neutral stages:
Official Configuration:
Type: Glorious Smashers or Veteran Players
Visibility: Public
Format: 1-on-1
Rotation: Bottom One Leaves
More Settings:
Max Players: 3 or 4 is heavily preferred to prevent lag from spectators and match wait times.
Stage: Random
Spirits: Off
Voice Chat: On or Off
Room Music: Anything you want
And the playing rules:
Stocks
7 Minutes
Damage Handicap turned off
All items on off, set to none
For the random select stage list everything is toggled off excluding the following:
BF FD Yoshis Story Pokemon Stadium 2 Smashville Unova Midgar Wily Castle Pictochat
These specific stages were chosen to be as neutral as possible while also keeping diversity in layouts, music, and aesthetic. I may change this over time to remove or add some stages.
Advanced
Stage hazards off
Team attack on
Launch rate 1.0
Score display off
Show damage on
Of course, there is behavior to be expected in these so that people don't be overtly toxic for instance. There is lots of room for leeway here, however, please try to follow these guidelines:
-Homie stocks are allowed
-Generally, BM and Taunting are acceptable, but going overboard or insulting each other over voice chat will result in being kicked or blocked by the arena host upon continuation if the behavior
-Acceptable amounts of lag can vary from host to host and determine whether or not a lagging player is kicked, but as a general rule of thumb, hosts are encouraged to start kicking those who freeze for more than 5 seconds at a time or have the game's framerate slow down to half-speed or lower
-Hosts are encouraged to kick players found to be playing the game in severely campy or otherwise degenerate ways to the point where they are clearly trying to time people out rather than defeat them.
I know that a lot of people wont fully pay attention to these but I highly suggest you follow it even if in a loose manner.
I truly believe this concept the potential to catch on as it is essentially solidifying something that has already been done, for consistency, quickness, and fairness sake. As a final note, for naming the arenas, please put “Quickplay Arena 1v1” or “Quickplay Arena Teams” in the name of the Battle Arena. This makes it recognizable and not vague. Thank you! And please try to share this around if you’re able, we need a lot of people to get this working as I've stated before.
No system is without its flaws, though, so we'll have to wait and see how this pans out, or if it's deemed too niche or redundant (which I personally disagree with atm). I'd love if you all share this around! Thanks
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