A simple solution to have a more people playing allies

Some people prefer a faction due to the political statement they associate with playing that faction.
Some people prefer a faction due to the gameplay of that faction.
Some people prefer a faction because it's overpowered and easy for them to win.

Forcing them to play a certain faction from time to time or decreasing the rewards otherwise sounds like a bad idea to me. People should be allowed to play games in whatever way they want as long as it's in a fair way, meaning no bug abuse.

I agree 100%.

There may be some faction design issues with Soviets and US Forces. If so, they should be addressed. There may be some under/overperforming units for Allies. They should be addressed. But RTS games always have factions that are played more, irrespective of balance. Look at StarCraft - Zerg are played least, and while I am not up on current balance trends in that game, the last I heard they were doing pretty well.

Look at StarCraft - Zerg are played least, and while I am not up on current balance trends in that game, the last I heard they were doing pretty well.

Since we're drawing parallels to SCII as an example, Zerg would fit the Allies playstyle more or less. They can be rather cheese heavy or just straight up spam and overwhelm. OH would be more Terran, a nice balanced faction with several options available. OKW would be the Protoss, put up with vulnerable Zealots early in order to get to late game beast machines like the Colossus (RIP carrier). Interestingly, Terran and Protoss are the two most played factions. In this comparison, both would fall under the Axis playstyle. Obviously this is an abstract example, but SCII is the most successful and widely known competitive RTS, (excluding MOBAs) so I believe the comparison is a legitimate one.

This.

And Sov has an amazing winrate in just about all tournaments ever held.

Yet again you've proven you are completely clueless on patch history, balance history and coh2 tournaments history.

Last 2 tournaments with old factions were DOMINATED by ostheer, finals were like this: Whoever got to play ostheer 3 times won.

Yet again you've proven you are completely clueless on patch history, balance history and coh2 tournaments history.

Last 2 tournaments with old factions were DOMINATED by ostheer, finals were like this: Whoever got to play ostheer 3 times won.

Thats just false though.

Throughout the history of this game, Sov has maintained the highest winrate in tournaments.

Some people prefer a faction due to the political statement they associate with playing that faction.
Some people prefer a faction due to the gameplay of that faction.
Some people prefer a faction because it's overpowered and easy for them to win.

Forcing them to play a certain faction from time to time or decreasing the rewards otherwise sounds like a bad idea to me. People should be allowed to play games in whatever way they want as long as it's in a fair way, meaning no bug abuse.

agreed... couldnt agree anymore. Rewards should somehow be based on skill or an accomplishment... Not based on 'oh i switch factions, YAY i get a reward!' sounds pretty stupid to me.

I still don't buy this nonsense of far more people playing axis just because they "prefer" it. True, they obviously do prefer it, but why?

Sure Axis are more linear, they have some sexy units, they look cooler, they have better dialogue (I honestly read this as an excuse why a player uses axis only!) etc etc. but the top and bottom of it is no one plays to lose. No one.

If a faction is heavily under used it's more than likely it's because players are finding it harder to win with them (or easier to win with the opposite faction). Again, the reasons WHY it's easier to win with one faction over another are numerous, but the point is people don't play to lose and Relic need to look at WHY people are struggling to win with allies above all else and try to fix that rather than adding further complications into the mix or sweetners to get player to reluctantly and temporarily switch sides.

For my money, all that will happen with the OP's proposal would be players would play 1x match as Axis automatch, one quick comp stomp as Allies then back to automatch as Axis again and getting their war spoils for the effort, not actually doing anything to improve faction balance at all.

Besides, if all they want is a "quick" fix for the current imbalance in player faction numbers in automatch, all they need to do is allow mixed faction teams.

Not very helpful when I read it back lol

A lot of the faction, commander, and unit design seems like it makes a great deal of sense on the spreadsheet, on paper; but their implementation and interaction with the game engine seems to throw all of this completely out the window.

My win ratio shot up when I switched to Sov from Ost.

Really I was laughing my way through it.
But never did it once occur to me that it was a result of imbalance.

I just knew better what to do against that faction, having played it myself, even though I had no experience with playing Sov before then.

The importance of playing all factions cannot be overstated enough.

Do it. Anyone who is playing one faction alone cannot appreciate what adifference it makes to learning and skill. I learned that the hard way, and can totally support the message.

Play all factions. It will make a huge difference to your performance, as well as your enjoyment of the game. I cannot overstate this enough.

I still don't buy this nonsense of far more people playing axis just because they "prefer" it. True, they obviously do prefer it, but why?

Sure Axis are more linear, they have some sexy units, they look cooler, they have better dialogue (I honestly read this as an excuse why a player uses axis only!) etc etc. but the top and bottom of it is no one plays to lose. No one.

If a faction is heavily under used it's more than likely it's because players are finding it harder to win with them (or easier to win with the opposite faction). Again, the reasons WHY it's easier to win with one faction over another are numerous, but the point is people don't play to lose and Relic need to look at WHY people are struggling to win with allies above all else and try to fix that rather than adding further complications into the mix or sweetners to get player to reluctantly and temporarily switch sides.

For my money, all that will happen with the OP's proposal would be players would play 1x match as Axis automatch, one quick comp stomp as Allies then back to automatch as Axis again and getting their war spoils for the effort, not actually doing anything to improve faction balance at all.

Besides, if all they want is a "quick" fix for the current imbalance in player faction numbers in automatch, all they need to do is allow mixed faction teams.

Not very helpful when I read it back lol

Yes i agree that people play to win. Saying that these ridiculous numbers exist simply because people "prefer" axis is nonsense and ridiculous. The annoying part of it, is that players have caught on that Axis have an advantage in team games. This skews the numbers even harder.

I agree with you that it has to do with Allied faction's playstyle or design that is turning off players.

I still don't buy this nonsense of far more people playing axis just because they "prefer" it. True, they obviously do prefer it, but why?

...............

Nice to see you back,Boxman

I can see you have hardly played recently - if this was bcs you had certain observations upon the current/past state of the game,it might assist if you said so,where appropriate, (without ofc becoming a zealot )

Nice to see you back,Boxman

I can see you have hardly played recently - if this was bcs you had certain observations upon the current/past state of the game,it might assist if you said so,where appropriate, (without ofc becoming a zealot )

Hi, not sure if I'm the same Boxman you may think I am - I remember there being a quite prolific yankee guy who had a bit of a mouth who played in some clan (maybe Ragequit?) back on CoHO. People were always confusing me with him.... But yea only got CoH2 a few month back after many years of vCoH and a a spell onthe short lived CoHo. I have mostly been playing custom PvP games against the other lads in BSB, but yea we're all a bit apprehensive about playing auto-matches at the moment due to some imbalance issues, especially in 3v3 & 4v4 games.

Since we're drawing parallels to SCII as an example, Zerg would fit the Allies playstyle more or less. They can be rather cheese heavy or just straight up spam and overwhelm. OH would be more Terran, a nice balanced faction with several options available. OKW would be the Protoss, put up with vulnerable Zealots early in order to get to late game beast machines like the Colossus (RIP carrier). Interestingly, Terran and Protoss are the two most played factions. In this comparison, both would fall under the Axis playstyle. Obviously this is an abstract example, but SCII is the most successful and widely known competitive RTS, (excluding MOBAs) so I believe the comparison is a legitimate one.

I'm going to have to stop you right there, because the only true cheese Zerg is capable of is the 6 pool, and Stephano's 12 minute max roach push isn't cheese. Terrans and Protoss are much more capable of cheese - proxy rax/gate, cannon rush, etc.

I'm going to have to stop you right there, because the only true cheese Zerg is capable of is the 6 pool, and Stephano's 12 minute max roach push isn't cheese. Terrans and Protoss are much more capable of cheese - proxy rax/gate, cannon rush, etc.

Thank you! I was wondering if someone else was going to point this out or if i'd have to