1 step forward and 2 steps back when you play solo?

If you were playing at a league point level where you were equally likely to end up in any of the 12 slots (6 winners, 6 losers), your net gain after playing 500 matches would be about zero. Before we move on, it's important to make sure we can agree on that point.

To move up from that league level, you would need to get better at the bots you have, upgrade your equipment, or change to some other strategies / bots that improve your odds of winning or placing higher in the damage list.

If you lose the match because you have 5 horrible teammates, do you never win matches because there are 5 horrible reds?

-Amid

If you keep losing while you're facing "equal" opponents, sure. The problem with that is, if you keep losing AND placing last on your team, you're not as skilled as the majority of the players at the level. Meaning you still need to drop to find even matches. If you end up in clubber land in this system, it's either intentionally done, or you just aren't playing to your potential. Neither of which is Pixonic's or the MM fault.

I'm merely commenting towards your observation that you keep coming in last place on the losing team. That means you aren't currently in the tier you belong in, and the match maker is doing its job in lowering you until you hit a tier you are more competitive in. I do agree the league system encourages selfish play and ignoring beacons, but it encourages this equally across the board. Thus your opponents should be equally as likely to play selfishly.

As far as your desires for your personal experience, I think that's a good thing. One thing I'd suggest is that if you ever see a player that's part of a clan and you like how they play, try sending them a squad invite after the game. Eventually, you'll get one that accepts, and you can chat and play a couple games and possibly join their clan. Clans are a great resource for those that want to play as part of a team - although I wish it was easier to make connections in the game, like simply sending someone a message after a game rather than them having to join your squad to chat. That's a whole different discussion though. Try to find someone in a clan to talk with and possibly join. Your overall experience and skill level will greatly improve.

I've played thousands of matches now and until I played in the beta with Shaolin Rogue and his beta clan I had not seen more than 4 clan members playing in a match. Never have I seen 5 or 6 clanmates together. So it actually appears to my perception that teamwork is still a low priority even in many clans. Like it's just another moniker to add to ones game identity.

I want to comms so that the team can warn one another of flankers, pick targets and be able to ask for help when needed. Improve situational awareness. Be nice to know your teammate is about to bot out beforehand so you can decide what to do. Or coordinate a push. Let a teammate know that you'll go right as they're going left. That sort of thing. Short statements, no chit-chat. That can happen after action or before. So if there are any clans that do this they haven't been reading the clan wanted thread. Because that's what I've been asking for.

My clan uses voice comms quite a bit...not for everyone but there are about 15 of us who are on regularly.  We actually don't run full squads as much as we used to because MM puts us up against champion league opponents too often and we are expert league at best....but having 3-4 clan members on comms is a competitive advantage.  Coordinating bot drops, threats, which beacon caps, pushes, etc....just adds a heck of a lot to the game.

Plus we talk about who needs what to complete daily tasks....someone needs to turn 18 red beacons blue?  We call those out and save them for that player as opportunities come up.

plus there is a lot of dead time in the game where you can just shoot the breeze...chatting with Aussies, my bros in the Philippines, China, the US....makes for a really interesting time.  So the social side is a great way to keep the game interesting as well.

unfortunately, we're on iOS.

I'm all for getting to know my teammates while there's no battle going on. Everybody has a story to tell.

And coordinating teammates' daily objectives would be pretty cool. I like that idea alot.

It would be nice if Pixonic added a team building feature to the game. One that rewards clans for improving their rankings as well. I've seen that done in other games like Mini Warriors.

Because you have to keep points balanced, and people would have a conniption fit if you automatically lost points for a loss even with top damage.

To everyone thinking there is something unfair about this: u r so wrong, wrong, wrong!!
Mathematically it works out perfectly. Like someone mentioned above, 39 points get given and 39 get taken total.
To say 'it's unfair bc i only lost bc i was unlucky' that's just STUPID bc if it screws u half the time it just means ur getting extra lucky the other half the time DUH.
THINK ABOUT IT- how could the system POSSIBLY keep pushing everyone down farther and farther? Until every single player is in recruit league lol.
If ur getting screwed too often it's because u got sorted into too high a league. Just play some more games and don't worry, it will eventually sort u back into games w ur noob buddies

Funny, half the time I don't even register which side fired the shot - way too intent on following 2-3 nearby enemies, their ranges, their weapons, their small movements that might tell me where they're heading next, the cover nearby me in case I need to use it, and of course the counting in my head until the next time I can expect a griff to jump or a mess of aphids to head my way.
So yeah, the guy worried about pointing and shooting should probably adapt to me instead of the other way around.

Edited : damn delayed posting ?

Hmm. Maybe you don't have to compromise too much. Bots you might enjoy, which still allow you to cap beacons while having good damage potential:

Gareth and Galahad (Taran-Magnum), and I doubt anybody disagrees here.

Aphid Gepard (or if you're at Bronze and below, maybe Pinata Gep because Pinatas are Ag, but otherwise Gareth is just plain better with both rockets and plasma). But only if you already have a Gep, or 3 Aphids, or 5 slots...

Not recommending Cosack here because it just fails at doing damage (even if you slap an Orkan to it, it will be blasted out of the sky before delivering much).

Stalker (Aphid is good but get 5th slot first, Pinatas work with stealth and patience, Magnums work if you get close enough to circle-strafe a slow mover).

Really any medium bot upgraded to level 9 (for max speed), but Carnage for Rush and Boa for HP are perhaps best choices (after Galahad, mentioned above already). You might enjoy Rogatka too, even though it's generally considered just not worth the gold (much like Gep now too).

Rhino upgraded to level 9 (allows you to get to places, but is... klunky, frustrating, situational... but it can run, that's for sure. Ok, I wouldn't actually recommend this, you would probably hate it.

And then of course good old Griffin at level 9... Slow like all the heavies, but with jump to spice things up.

These bots may allow you to play the style of game you want, while giving you decent league placement, as long as you're able to press the red button when it counts.

As you stated to Deadalready I do yo-yo up and down because I like to play my bots as I feel like. A hanger full of lights and mediums won't accrue as much damage potential as a heavy hanger might but it's great fun to piss off the other team's members by harrassing fire and beacon hunting after they've just obtained one. I've had a whole herd of heavies after me for tossing Spirals in their midst over and over. Hit and run, hit and ryn. You almost always get some poor sod's goat enough that they abandon all other thoughts except swatting you away. I call it the annoying fly technique.

But when I'm feeling the mood I drive in my heavy hanger for some satisfying blow for blow pounding and possible ownership of the field. So yeah, I yo-yo quite a bit. But I'm still having fun, especially when I just started ignoring the league standings BS.

Not feeling the pressure to make points and such let's me just enjoy the game, as any game developer wants us to do. I know I'm no bot god and that suits me just fine. If I can find just a few people with like minds to comm with and just have fun that'd be great. Eventually as I progress my hanger and my skills I may rise in the ranking but it's no longer as important to me as simply having fun.

So you're absolutely right. Play with the toys you enjoy. Happy hunting ya'll. Hope to face off with ya even if you do punch my ticket over and over. Have a joyous time ?

All Pixonic needs to do is issue ratings points based on beacon capture, or being on the winning team. Just do that, and all of this is fixed. Imagine soloing and having 2 random teammates caring about beacons the way you do! That would be a dream! And if they don't, and you do, you get the rating points boost, and they don't. Then onto the next game.

If you're actually playing games where you are all 8/8 and your opponents r mostly maxed- congrats, you have better tactics than most people playing. It should mean that by the time u r maxed out, your win % will start to rise well above 50. This doesn't make the game unfair, it makes it more challenging. If u want fair, u have to max your gear- that makes sense bc this is a pay2win game.
In the meantime, I can't help but point out the irony that you're arguing u should get some points for contribution even if u lose, bc u can get so many beacons and still go down in points- that was exactly the argument beacon runner people used to say the old system was messed up, bc u could lose a game but still get + points just for being top in damage. I suppose what you might b trying to say is that rank and points in general should b sorted based on beacons more. But then everyone would only need the cheap light bots to advance in points- and that means fewer heavy purchases (as well as fewer weapon purchases)AND cheaper upgrade costs, all of which spells trouble for pixonic.
You want to know what's fair- this game is free!
Edit: and u know that doesn't really make the game broken, bc theoretically if u pay enough u will have all the max level gear u want, at which point u can balance your hangar and focus on win%. It makes sense that if it's pay2win, u have to either pay or play a TON b4 the rankings r meaningful. Until then, lower rankings r all basically skewed by people spending money, which makes sense, since they should literally b able to pay to win more.