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For regular players in the PUGs, we are looking to expand the balancing team. We’re looking for individuals who regularly attend the PUGs and well versed with the game. If you’re interested and fit the bill, throw a Discord DM to either Xeon Wraith#1717 or Quinc3y#3635. For those interested, here's a trip down memory lane: The things we’ve tried before: What have we changed?: How it all works: [This is the bit you’re probably reading this post for.] We normally split players in pairs based on these roles: Anti-infantry (Infantry) Anti-tank (Infantry) Tankers Field repairs Defenders & Sneakers The stronger you are in a role and the more often you play in it, the better you are considered to be in that role. We usually try to split players one-for-one in dedicated roles first. If there is an imbalance among the dedicated role players, we would try to correct it with multi-role players. Not each role is equally easy to counter, so we usually balance these roles in a specific order. 1. Anti-infantry (Infantry) Players who can aim well. This is almost entirely a mechanical skill. There are little counter-play options for weaker players to use which puts this at the top of pick priority. Whenever possible, we usually try to split players based on their preferred character choice. Players who can snipe will be split with other players who can snipe. Similar process for players who mostly play Mendoza/Mobius. This isn’t always possible, so we may have to split players who prefer completely different characters. We also sometimes get exceptionally strong infantry players around who can’t be adequately split with anyone, so we have to do larger splits of 4 or 6 people. Any remaining infantry imbalances are compensated in the ”Anti-Tank” role. 2. Anti-tank (Infantry) Anti-tank players who support the main tank mass. Raveshaws, Sydneys, Gunners, LCGs. These players usually can’t aim as well as the dedicated anti-infantry players, but they’re still better than most. We normally split these players with the anti-infantry player balance in mind. Due to their field presence, we usually hold off splitting all AT players at once. It’s important that we balance them with the “Tanker” role in mind. 3. Tankers The players in vehicles that hold the frontline. Every team needs solid tankers. As mentioned previously, we do use "Anti-tank" players sometimes to balance out for Tanker skill levels. On the whole we do try to split this role as evenly as possible though. There is also a bit of flexibility with balancing this role with the “Field Repair” role but we try not to use this. 4. Field Repairs Hotwires and Technicians. The unsung heroes of the battlefield. Every teams needs solid repairs. We usually try to balance these guys out numerically even as possible. This doesn’t always work out. It’s not uncommon for Tankers to switch over to Field Repairs once their vehicle dies, so the numbers in-game vary quite a bit. 5. Defenders & Sneakers Not every PUG we have people willing to defend for both teams so this is a two role split. Both roles can sometimes be hugely impactful and other times they don’t do anything useful. Pretty much all players who do play in these two roles also play in different roles as well, so we normally do larger splits for this role. BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE: In addition to main roles, there’s a lot of other things we keep in mind when making teams. Audio balance: The amount communication clutter every player provides. This is things like consistently trying to be funny with crappy jokes, calling out unimportant things and moaning about how “X killed you”. We try really hard to avoid putting too many loud individuals on one team as it can seriously dampen the PUG. We actively balance for this every PUG and this is usually done with larger multi-role splits to make sure game balance isn’t affected too much. Player attitudes: Not every player can keep their cool when they’re losing. Not every team can keep winning (otherwise we’ve probably fucked up). It’s important to make sure we balance out the players who take losing poorly so team morale doesn’t instantly crumble on a loss. Leadership presence: For when we don’t have commanders or for newer commanders, we try balance out the players who have led in the past. We’ll actively put more experienced, vocal players on teams lacking in commander experience to help push them towards effective strategies. Playstyles: There’s a lot of ways to play a role. Occasionally we get players with similar playstyles, like players who like to spam tunnels with low tier infantry or players who ram vehicles at their enemies. We try to split same playstyles when possible. Friendship groups and synergies: People tend to have more fun when they’re with friends. People tend to play better too. We try to keep track of this and keep friendship groups together when possible. This isn’t always possible due to balancing concerns. Player names: We try not to place players with similar names on the same team. It’s extra communication confusion for no reason. This is why you’ll never see Havoc89 and NF-Havoc on the same team for example.