I like the 15 min penalty idea. will help when I awox matches so those I want to lose will be locked out of matches for 15 min if they leave when I am on there team.

So I got 502 components from a stronkbox.
Is that intended?
I thought it's only supposed to drop 1000/2000/3000?

This is all really nice and all...

But I just opened a box and got 'Pyrus' Nova Knives x 42. Standard aur gear.

ALERT!

A friend of mine just told me they got 'Pyrus' Nova Knives x 42 out of a box. The standard AUR gear still lurks in those boxes.
EDIT: Another friend reports finding 'Siren' Flux Grenades from a box

PANIC!

I'd say make it an ISK penalty: we're mercs signing contracts for specific battles with specific objectives.

In the New Eden i know we'd be posting bonds guaranteeing satisfactory performance to the contracting corporation. The bond would be refundable if a player didn't press the 'Leave Battle' button.

The bond mechanic should kick in at the same point a player becomes a vet: when in-match sp payouts switch from being time-in-match based to performance-based.

If a merc doesn't have the ISK corps will loan it, but if the merc quits the match the corps will garnish all subsequent earnings until the balance is reduced to zero(if we want to be soft-hearted they could garnish only a %age of earnings).

250,000 ISK seems reasonable for the bond value.

With a bond mechanic the merc still has the freedom and volition to quit a match when they decide to, yet still be able to keep on playing/paying for DUST.

I understand the need, but with respect, the guys leaving matches are the guys who are tired of being beat down match after lopsided match. I don't know that "the stick" is the best way to motivate a beat down player. Example ...

Current Model
A regular merc is put into an Ambush match vs Kaizuka Sniper +5. Unless there's a super-stomp-squad on our guy's side (and there often isn't), he is guaranteed to get steamrolled. If he tries to fight, he'll have to run basic gear or else he's guaranteed to lose significant Isk. Our guy is playing to complete Missions, make Isk, have fun and gain SP. He will do none of the first three this match, and has decent odds of not meeting Min(WP). He has every reason to leave battle.

Stick Model
So our merc leaves match. Waits 15 minutes. Gets into another match. Turns out Kaizuka Sniper and Company just wrapped their protostomp, and Scotty puts our guy up against them again. Dust might have just lost a customer. Repeat the process and increase the odds.

---

Voidfaction up there is a Brigadier (loyalty rank level 11). He gave away all of his Isk and threatened to Biomass last week. People are tired of being stomped. People are leaving matches because of stomps. Hitting those people with "the stick" does not address the underlying issue and may do more harm than good.

Can anyone think of a "Carrot Model" instead? Assuming changes to matchmaking are off the table, how can we motivate Regular Mercs to stay and fight when Scotty puts them up against impossible odds?

I would say if you voluntarily leave a battle you should get a full loss on your record no matter the outcome and no ISK/SP at the very least.

on it

If there's going to be a 15m penalty for leaving a match, then the matchmaker better be significantly better.

If not, I'll just spin in a circle more.

I leave matches to avoid proto stomps or synced squads against my team of randoms.

Either way, I will find a way to not play to avoid punishment from a sh*t as match..

Well I have gotten tons of like a1 series or m1 series bs even a skill book at one point

I won 3 battles unfortunately got No Key nor Component = I'm pissed

Std aur gear is still in strongboxes, makes me wish I held those keys for a few days to make sure
Edit: so are mkII loadouts

Looks like all the Pyrus stuff plus a number of AUR basic fits are still in there.

X28 Cn-v basic damage modifier from a strong box

So they redo event, but don't reset the SP cap so we still can't complete missions if we capped out before Wednesday.

Reporting that as of evening February 12th there are still standard AUR gear in the pool.
Video evidence: http://youtu.be/7hTybPPdXiU?t=4m17s

At least those pyrus aur nova knives. And they ARE standard, I think I got all levels (STD, ADV, PRO) pyrus knives out of those boxes.

Perfection. 7 wins in a day will yield more active component generation than Level 5 passive generation.

Also got 2000+ Components out of a box just last night.

Very happy to see that feedback was taken seriously and properly implemented.

Could you remove AUR items from boxes and replace it for ISK versions?