3 easy features that would make it more FUN

Hey,

I lurk these forums a lot (actually since GameReplays original COH1 forums) and I'd like to share 3 simple feature requests for COH2 that would add a ton of FUN in the game, at least for me. These are all "out of the game" features, meaning that they wouldn't directly affect gameplay or balance at all. They would make the experience more enjoyable and overall make COH2 feel like a more polished product. Being a software developer with 12 years experience, I'm also fairly convinced these are very easy to implement.

In times of finding serious bugs that have potentially been around since release (yikes!), I know that the chance of getting these implemented is almost zero. But I thought I should at least share these. Maybe someone from Relic will read them, maybe it serves as input for their next game.

Anyways, here it goes (order doesn't matter here):

• Add the option to mute in-game chat. Yep, silly, I know. But for us non-pros the constant trash talking by children sometimes make you not want to play the game. I know that I can "just ignore it". But it would be easier to just add a /mute option there. I can say, with no shadow of doubt, that I would play it more because of this. I like mainly team games, but when I'm playing alone I tend to avoid random 2v2s just because sometimes you're not in the mood for dealing with it. (bonus feature: add more ways to communicate through templates/signals)
  
• Official unit stats. A common topic. It's kinda insane that very few people know in depth how the mechanics / stats of COH actually work. How can a game venture into e-sports without a proper knowledge management database of its own stats and mechanics? The little we have right now is fan made, and contains gaps. Since Relic invented the format in which stats are stored, they should be able to write a website that reads the stats from the latest release build and converts them in a human readable thing (after all, fans are doing exactly that).
  
• Automatch as a random faction. This has been requested over an over, and it existed in COH1. This can potentially get complicated, but the MVP is pretty simple. For the UI: add "random", "random axis" and "random allied" faction options. "Random axis/allied" are modeled exactly as axis/allied factions. You can only choose them if the game host has chosen a faction of the corresponding side. "Random" is all-or-nothing, that is, if the host goes "random" then every other player will go "random" as well. For the matchmaking: just have the client roll the dices of random factions the moment the host clicks the "start" button. This way the factions are determined before the matchmaking actually starts, and you don't have to write a single line of code for the server side matchmaking system (clients will still need to synchronize the results of those dice rolls, but that should be really simple).
  

I know that these might seem like simple unimportant things for top players. But for casual players like myself these things would go a really long way. I might not see them in COH2, but I'll hope to see them in DOW3 or COH3.

I think the first and the last of these have been requested a lot during the years but we have never got any response from the devs. All of these would be really nice additions to the game. I strongly agree on the unit stats too, they should be easily accessible for everyone instead of having to dig through the game files or whatnot.

Give back Attack Here and Defend Here pings. Being able to quick ping in random automatch rather than type is much quicker than trying to chat and can be understood by foreigners that might not understand English very well.

It's not only non pros who want to be able to mute the chat.

Give back Attack Here and Defend Here pings. Being able to quick ping in random automatch rather than type is much quicker than trying to chat and can be understood by foreigners that might not understand English very well.

I also cannot understand why they removed it. The UI gives a lot of space where the icons could be put in.
In my opinion it's simply a 'Relic is too fucking lazy again' issue sadly.

Honestly a report ft for verbal abuse would also be a nice change.

Give back Attack Here and Defend Here pings. Being able to quick ping in random automatch rather than type is much quicker than trying to chat and can be understood by foreigners that might not understand English very well.

Back in COH1 if a player on your team dropped the ai would then respond to the attack here/defend here pings. That used to be a nice feature shame its not in COH2.