Oh boy, big opinion time, but rightfully so. Taking a lot of control that players already have away is a divisive plan. So, if the idea obviously pisses a lot of people off and puts limitations on player freedom, why do it? Most classic GMT players will probably understand and be more receptive, but for everyone else who feels 100% different, you REALLY had to have been there (Reunion doesn’t even come close.) Community centralization may sound insignificant, but it is not. Behind early access-related issues like the amount of content, bugs and optimization, this is probably the #1 criticism I see against TU.
lmao I legit did a quick MSpaint doodle of this very idea forever ago when I was planning on making this exact thread, but got lazy. 100% in favor of this at least. Regardless of what they do, I feel like the main menu needs some major consolidation and flavoring:
To reiterate, I’m not explicitly for or against the idea of funneling people into a lobby first atm, but that depends on how other already implemented and planned features pan out. The performance boost from the PAK is one thing that’s pushed me further in that direction. If done right, I’d totally be for it, but there are A LOT of factors that need to be considered:
I believe there should still be AT LEAST one menu buffer before forcing lobby connection and initialization.
I accidentally launch TU all the fucking time because I’m not paying attention to order of recently launched games on this window when you click Steam’s tray icon. God forbid someone who doesn’t use the PAK accidentally launch the game and have to wait several minutes to close the game proper.
And corresponding to my doodle, here’s a list of things that I REALLY don’t want to have to wait to load into the plaza to deal with:
- Game settings: Players shouldn’t be forced into a multiplayer environment (even as inconsequential as the lobby) without having the chance to first adjust their graphics, controls, and content restrictions. Consider a scenario where someone accidentally turned their graphics setting too high and their game/windows/computer crashed, so going straight to the lobby just grinds their system to a halt every time.
- Appearance: Players should get a chance to tune-up their appearance before pushed into an environment where they’re virtually presenting themselves.
- Workshop: See below.
Workshop contributors don’t need to jump through even more hoop to test models.
I’ve already outlined some annoyances with how many things stand in the way of effectively testing workshop playermodels. I would absolutely detest “having to go through the lobby just to connect to certain modes in order to test how a model behaves” being piled onto this list.
Gameworlds are no longer limited to just one officially hosted server per mode.
Back in GMT, there was a very obvious practical reason for going through the lobby and having to queue up for games and wait; there were limited servers for each mode. Now, everything is P2P, so there can be infinite instances of any game mode. The question stands that will forcing people through the lobby really make it that much more active if people are free to play modes as they want still?
It could dent the convenience that Tower Unite has as a casual game.
I feel like this is one of the most overlooked aspects of TU. My circle of online friends is around a dozen-and-a-half, and they’re always coming and going online. As it stands right now, TU is probably one of the easiest PC games for us to play at any given moment. What do I mean? Well, just about every game we play makes it a pain in the ass to get anyone else involved after we already started. TF2’s match making sucks, Mordhau makes it hard to be on the same team, Deep Rock Galactic only allows 4 at a time, any battle royal game will have friends waiting forever to join the next round, but Towers? TU is just boot up and go with almost any amount of people. Coordinating 6-8 people to jump into several games in a row could definitely become cumbersome if this style of play isn’t accounted for.
Lobby 3 needs to be A LOT better before it’s mandatory.
It’s hard to make something more convenient than simply accessing everything from a main menu, so if the plaza is meant to functionally replace it, then it damn-well better be as polished as humanly possible before that rug gets yanked out from under players. That said, improvements to Lobby 3 is a topic that warrants it’s own discussion entirely.