People rolling in ISK wouldn't have to give two flying fucks then?

This is getting ridiculous. You start a battle with both sides having about equal number of players then within 2 minutes half of them leave. For the team where people leave its awful because it is damn near impossible to win and if you put an effort you will get your rear end handed to you. If you are the team with the most player then the battle gets boring.

I suggest imposing a fine for leaving battle early. 300,000 isk sounds about right to me. The idea here is that you are under contract and violating that contract just like in real life means some sort of penalty. Ofcourse I already know most of the arguments against this idea. for example:

#1 what if one of the squad members doesn't deploy as it often happens?
A: give a 1 minute limit. If you leave withing the first minute of the match then there are no penalties. a second after that will cost you 300,000 isk.

#2 What if I get kicked out of battle?
A: This one is a valid concerned as internet connections are unreliable. but, how many times are you going to get disconnected during the day. I think loosing 300,000 isk once a day or maybe twice a day for long playing binch is not that bad. I definitely loose more than that puting up a good fight because the other scrub berries leave. Its a small sacrifice.

#3 What if I'm playing and something come up that needs me to leave the game early.
A: It's a game, not real life. Just like when your clone gets killed nobody really dies loosing 300,000 isk is not going to deplete your real life bank account.

#4 300,000 isk seems too much.
A: Its about what you would make in about 2 battles depending on your performance. The number has to be high enough to make people think twice before leaving but, low enough that it doesn't punish you for legitimate reason for abandoning battle.

Most people play a game for fun. If they perceive that a match won't be fun (i.e. They will be stomped), then they won't play (they leave battle).

Impose a fine as suggested and, given the model of this particular game, many may stop playing altogether. Is an even smaller playerbase what you seek?

If you stop using proto dropships, tanks and officer/proto suits in pubs vs randoms we will stop leaving matches. I don't think ccp will make proto stompping us any easier than it already is

^ Wait, what happened to the ******* language filter on the forums?

" The field in which I grow my fucks. Lay thine eyes upon it and thou shalt see that it is barren. "

I kind of like the idea of the fine on grounds of violating a contract.

So long as that isk doesn't go *poof* and is paid out to the teammates that are left behind, as well as any isk earned during the battle by the deserter. It would actually add incentive to stay in the match as well as to not leave it.

"Your loyalty will be rewarded." Becomes even truer.

It would also become a gamble regarding DCs, power outages, etc. Sucks when it happens to you, but when you play a full match all the way to the end the payout will be huge.

There is the biggest issue. The payouts are obviously not big enough to make the effort worth it for some. A big fine for leaving and really big reward for staying and participating are necessary. Then tweak the dials until you find the happy medium.

Risk/reward via asset loss is one of the things that sets Dust apart, but they have seemingly ignored tweaking those dials as long as I can remember. I beat the "raise the payouts" drum from a soapbox at least twice a month for a few years.

They should look at PC as a competition mode and not necessarily the most rewarding mode in regards to difficulty level. It is such a small percentage of players that have participated in PC at any stage of Dust. People have always cried that public contracts should be casual, but they've devolved into garbage. All modes became so garbage that everybody just plays Domination, that way they don't have to go very far or put in much effort.

People leave battle for many reasons. A fine for leaving does not fix the reasons for why people leave battle.

My strategy for the "leaving battle" issue would be to *FIX ALL THE UNDERLYING PROBLEMS THAT CAUSE PEOPLE TO FREQUENTLY LEAVE BATTLE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

I'd list them off, but I'm lazy, so...

*CAPS because I imma bust a cap in yo ass, and my aim sucks.

People in RL have to pay a penalty for violating the terms of a contract, why not in Dust? The only issue I see with this is if you are DC'd or have a fatal error and have to quit the game. Noone should be penalised for having to quit the game, unless there's a way to rejoin the game you were in.

But generally, I like the idea of people having to pay penalties or getting the rewards from other paying penalties. This would vastly improve the game.

How about we penalize the people who proto stomp? How about we penalize people that like to stomp on new players?

No?

Because it is an equally stupid idea.

RL penalties carry more weight because they are real. This is a f*cking game. Its not real. Its money isn't real. The only thing real about it is the fun or frustration people have playing it, and the time they spend playing it.

If you impose a ridiculous penalty, people will NOT STICK AROUND AND PLAY!!!

Get it through your thick skulls.

They are leaving because they are not having fun (or having technical problems), both of which have more REAL meaning than the penalties you want to create.

Penalties will be inneffective for anything other than driving people away from the game. Rewards for staying and playing despite being on a losing team, and despite entering the battle partway through are your best and most effective options.

And even that is not a silver bullet.