What does that have to do with battle lengths? ?

I don't believe so. You will see Brigadiers or Marshals because there are not enough players to create an all-Legend battle in that format. OR There are not enough lower-ranked players trying for that format so they end up in your battle - they gotta play somewhere. If players were willing to wait a modest amount of time to play a decent battle we would not have this issue. Alas there are a lot of impatient players who just want to play NOW.

I don't think that is what was said/implied. MM has always considered GS for balancing. So one team does not have a lot higher GS than the other team. It's the rank-spreads that is the problem. Because there are not enough players online, TO has programmed the rank-spread to keep widening so players will be put into battles faster. Blame the impatient players who can't wait 45 seconds for a decent battle.

where exactly did I say that?

I've played vs 2nd Lieutenants

That ship sailed a long time ago. Have you SEEN the rank-spreads in MM?

It's a game. PPL can quit for various reasons. It's not like leaving your post at a job, or waliking out on an exam. How is it a regular thing? There are only a few of the super-large maps. You will be placed in them a LOT less often than the rest of the maps. I am "forced" to quit Archipalego when I'm placed in there. It's the dumbest map ever invented.

Then why don't you quit the battles on very large maps if prefer the smaller maps? 7-min battles on very large maps suck. period. If no one likes them, what's the point. At least ppl that DO like longer battles will enjoy those maps more, since it gives them time to complete the objectives. You spend a disproportional amount of time driving around on the larger maps - more time is needed to compensate for that.

But they are already here - might as well have a longer game to make the map palatable. If you don't like the map - exit. I do that with Stadium and Archipalego automatically.

Funds don't really need to be tweaked. The longer the battle, the more funds generated in that battle, but you play less battles per hour. Shorter battles generate less funds, but you get in more battles per hour. Evens out in the end wrt to funds. I, like many feel 7 min (really 6.5) battles are too short and something closer to 10 min is better.

MatchMaker rank-spreads are a huge disincentive for new players to remain in the game. Once they start playing Legends at WO they just quit out of frustration.

Has nothing to do with ODs. Players have been complaining about Hopper being able to "ghost" through tanks - like solid objects are no impediment. This is nothing new - has been mentioned numerous times since the hull was released. But I'm not surprised you don't "know" anything about it. Just keep on trucking buddy - nothing wrong with this game. At. All.

I'm not really surprised. But it was before my time in the game so I had nothing to base it on.

It might be a bit of both. Tesla seems to do a lot of damage. Chain lighting does 980 damage with a reload of 0.90 seconds? Does it ever run out of energy? Kind of like Hooper with Crisis is silly. But without OD, it's still able to grab a flag even if a defender is sitting on the flag. Regular hulls can't do that, and if it's not a bug, the game is more broken than I thought.

Yup. It is just dumb. And no penalty to any paramters. It's just a bonus function.

First of all, maybe I don't have the OD ready on my Hunter. But I do have stun protection. So... why is Hopper able to go right through my tank and steal the flag. That is a BUG and needs to be fixed. Defender can be purchased in the garage - shaft healing not so much. My comment though on that augment wasn't so much about it's availability - but on the ridiculous nature of it. Long distance healing. In a tank game. I'm still waiting for the "fart" turret.

I was referring to going back to before criticals when Rail had the damage range. Would you prefer... 1) damage range with possibility of very high damage and no criticals? 2) lower damage range but criticals that allow you to ignore modules. No sitting on the fence. One or the other.

LOL - stalking me in a different thread. Well, I'm sure you'd be happy to give up criticals and revert to the old system. I know I would.

You mean like Commander vs Sgt. Major? Or... Sgt-Major on same team as Legend? Only 21 ranks difference...

Sorry... I'm not following. You have two sentences. Are you saying smoky has been around since 2009, and in 2014 it received the critical hit parameter? According to the "Let's discuss smoky" thread it's had critical hit as early as 2013 (if not earlier).

At lower ranks the health of hulls and damage of turrets is not leveled by mk like it is at upper ranks. compare hornet and wasp. they unlock at different ranks and have different health. And with the rank-spreads MM offer, you could easily be targeting someone 4-6 ranks below you with an mk below you. And before critical was introduced, it had a variable damage range that could (with a very small chance) get the high upper end of the damage range. But that was before criticals, which ignore modules. You are comparing apples to oranges.

?

Um... not really. They are the only way to make your supplies work with full effect. We can thank the Devs for making drones a "required" component of the game.

You are confusing smoky critical with "Critical Hits" that were recently added to the game. Smoky has had (a version of) critical hits since at least 2015, if not before. Whether you think critical hits are beneficial to the game or not is irrelevant when evaluating turrets today. Ignoring them is just plain wrong. For the record I'm not a fan of them either - well - except for smoky - since it's as integral to smoky as a scope is to shaft.

not months.. maybe a couple weeks ago... We had a "disagreement" about the effectiveness of Hopper after the recent changes, and you said I needed to play to actually see how it's working. I think it was the thread where it was suggested many hoppers are not even equipped with drones. So I have actually played, and... quit on many a CTF battle where I was a spectator watching Hoppers gain the bulk of the scoring while doing pretty much all the capping. It was comical in Skylark as a hopper grabbed the flag and "flew" off the ramp of the big bridge up and over that huge building near the base with higher flag position. I see they still allow Hoppers to go right through a tank sitting on the flag. Hopper could not stun me because of hull augment, but it went right through me and stole the flag anyway. Brutal.