OP
Zone Developer
🛡️ x1
With any set of changes, there is going to be a segment of the players that like the change and a segment that don't like it. Typically, the players that don't like a change will be more vocal because that's how our motivations work, hence negative review bias. Among the changes for Season 21, Mortar seems to have been particlarly emphasized as divisive. While personally, as a player, I don't like having mortars in USL, the job of USL Staff is to consider changes and all elements of USL gameplay as dispassionately as possible, and to demonstrate to players that we are listening and are trying to make the best decisions possible within the context of a community that's often very divided on gamelay settings and elements.
Here are the facts regarding Mortar.
1. It was tested extensively in the offseason
2. It was tweaked for balance in the following ways: (a) making it visible on radar, and (b) one shot kills only when direct.
3. Grenadiers cannot pick up additional mortar rounds. Grenadiers only have two mortar rounds per spawn, so it can't be spammed. Mortar is difficult to aim against a pushing squad.
4. The main PRO arguments are that the mortar makes Grenadier a more viable class (underused in S20), it provides dynamic variety to USL, and helps with anti-camping.
5. The main CON arguments are that they're sometimes or often not seen in the heat of battle, the mortar's relative strength may appear to be too decisive in battles, and introduces challenges for medics.
6. It was voted in by the squad captains of S21. Yes, it is true that FUP did not get a vote due to the squad restructuring that took place, but even considering a "No" vote from FUP, it still would've passed that captains vote.
All that being said, because Mortar seems to be a heated issue at the moment, we are willing to put up a non-binding public poll locked to registered players only to navigate through the noise and get an actionable data point on this issue. We did a similar reconsideration with the KR base relocations issue which received unanimous support from the squad captains but was later deemed something that required a pivot due to general feedback. USL Staff will consider the non-binding public Mortar poll and based on the trend indicated, may either proceed as planned, call for a second captains vote on the matter, or initiate an Admin bypass based on the published admin guidelines. The threshold for this poll remains undefined; it is just a data point for the League Admin to use at his discretion for whatever next step he deems appropriate, as the core mandate for Mortar was already granted for S21 by the squad captains.
Whether you like mortar or don't like mortar, at least try to appreciate the difficulty with managing a community that has strong feelings and diverse preferences on gameplay. All we can do is try our best to make fair, data-driven, and reasonably decentralized decisions that are feasibly inclusive. It's easy to judge things from the outside, but if we didn't care about the league, we wouldn't volunteer our time to work on it. Almost every decision has tradeoffs and we would ask that the community keep that in mind as well.
The poll is at the USL Discord and can only be voted by members with the Players role. If you are a registered S21 player and don't have the Players role, contact dp, Rogue, or MP ASAP.
Poll: https://discord.gg/qap2Z5Dy9U
Here are the facts regarding Mortar.
1. It was tested extensively in the offseason
2. It was tweaked for balance in the following ways: (a) making it visible on radar, and (b) one shot kills only when direct.
3. Grenadiers cannot pick up additional mortar rounds. Grenadiers only have two mortar rounds per spawn, so it can't be spammed. Mortar is difficult to aim against a pushing squad.
4. The main PRO arguments are that the mortar makes Grenadier a more viable class (underused in S20), it provides dynamic variety to USL, and helps with anti-camping.
5. The main CON arguments are that they're sometimes or often not seen in the heat of battle, the mortar's relative strength may appear to be too decisive in battles, and introduces challenges for medics.
6. It was voted in by the squad captains of S21. Yes, it is true that FUP did not get a vote due to the squad restructuring that took place, but even considering a "No" vote from FUP, it still would've passed that captains vote.
All that being said, because Mortar seems to be a heated issue at the moment, we are willing to put up a non-binding public poll locked to registered players only to navigate through the noise and get an actionable data point on this issue. We did a similar reconsideration with the KR base relocations issue which received unanimous support from the squad captains but was later deemed something that required a pivot due to general feedback. USL Staff will consider the non-binding public Mortar poll and based on the trend indicated, may either proceed as planned, call for a second captains vote on the matter, or initiate an Admin bypass based on the published admin guidelines. The threshold for this poll remains undefined; it is just a data point for the League Admin to use at his discretion for whatever next step he deems appropriate, as the core mandate for Mortar was already granted for S21 by the squad captains.
Whether you like mortar or don't like mortar, at least try to appreciate the difficulty with managing a community that has strong feelings and diverse preferences on gameplay. All we can do is try our best to make fair, data-driven, and reasonably decentralized decisions that are feasibly inclusive. It's easy to judge things from the outside, but if we didn't care about the league, we wouldn't volunteer our time to work on it. Almost every decision has tradeoffs and we would ask that the community keep that in mind as well.
The poll is at the USL Discord and can only be voted by members with the Players role. If you are a registered S21 player and don't have the Players role, contact dp, Rogue, or MP ASAP.
Poll: https://discord.gg/qap2Z5Dy9U
Gentlemen