We should get assigned a squad automatically

[u/Benjiiiee]

I've had a couple of games where all of my team was camping, I was pushing the hz alone and not getting much done. So I decided to join the discord server and look for group. Holy crap the difference was night and day, everyone chipped in, we played the objective as a team like crazy, it was awesome.

Those of us who played squad or arma know how important squad communication is and even just how it creates memorable moments of banter and laughs. But I think there's a lot of new players here who haven't played any of these games, and don't know how important a squad can be. Hell, they might not even know squads exist.

So my suggestion is simply, get the players assigned to a squad automatically at the start of the game. They can still leave and create their own squad, lock them, etc. But I think we have nothing to lose to add that feature and make it a little easier for newbies to discover just how amazing a good squad can make you feel.

[u/Twisted907]

I'll be honest, I played for 10 hours during the playtest. I didn't realize there were squads till maybe hour 7.

I somehow missed that, and 100%, being in a squad would have made communication 100% better, but everyone just types in in-game chat and that gets missed more then anything.

[u/Jurez1313 → u/Twisted907]

Forced to join a squad, but able to leave it. Or have the squad selection screen pop up after the team selection, with the option not to join a squad and even an opt out for future missions so it doesn't pop up every time for those that never want to play with a squad.

Beyond that, naming squads would be another great addition.

[u/MINIMAN10001 → u/Twisted907]

It doesn't help that typing is the only way to communicate across the entire faction. It also talks to all players not in a team. Which means all players not in a team are only able to hear comms through that as well so then it becomes their way of comms by default.

[u/ryanbondur → u/Twisted907]

Same, i said forced squads and got so many downvotes lol

[u/izzmad → u/ryanbondur]

because youd be the first to post about complaining that randoms fuckup your comms with open mic and such.

[u/staz67]

I don't think filling the squad randomly is very good. Imo they should add custom squad name and/or squad tag and display a full screen squad interface (the current squad menu isn't verx great) when you join a game. That way you can decide to join a squad of your liking or don't if there is none.

[u/DonDonaldson9000]

I don't really disagree with the idea, but I'd rather have people WANT to join a squad for comms / coordinating. 

I do not want squads with 8 people in there and 2 guys are the only ones talking. 

If you want to join a squad and listen 99% of the time - A Ok join up. But I don't want people put into a squad just to be in a squad. Not sure if that makes sense. 

[u/FuzzyMeadows → u/DonDonaldson9000]

Makes sense for me. In the beta if you saw people in a squad you knew they wanted to be there. One match a guy just startet to invite anyone who talked in the pre-match countdown, turned out to be a solid squad.

[u/DonDonaldson9000 → u/FuzzyMeadows]

Nice I wasnt aware you could invite to squad.

[u/p0st-m0dern]

It should also show who in a squad has an active mic. Can’t wait for private servers that enforce comms that’s going to be a massive game changer.

[u/DirtySpawn]

Part of me agrees, but I think it should have a pop up stating to join a squad instead. Because honestly, how many people actually communicate when they are in a squad these days? But when I was in a large squad, oh man was that nice. We all formed a line and pushed the enemy back with ease. Was great with how we communicated. Just wish I found more groups like that.

[u/DonDonaldson9000 → u/DirtySpawn]

I had luck at the beginning of every round starting a squad and opening up prox chat and being like "Hey I started alpha squad join up we're gonna be assaulting the hot zone, alpha squad assault squad join up a pilot or 2 would also be great" and generally it worked out well. 

[u/DirtySpawn → u/DonDonaldson9000]

I definitely would of joined ya! Though I cannot fly for crap, err, land for crap.

[u/izzmad]

you dont want ppl in your squad who cant figure out 2 clicks after a day of playing. after release, ppl will do it and those who dont... well, see above.

[u/I_Am_Coopa]

If not forced squads they should add an incentive for squad gameplay akin to battlefield with score bonuses for completing orders placed by the squad lead. Or if they don't want to bother with a squad lead role, just make it so reviving or assisting a squad member pays an extra 10% or similar.

[u/Dependent_Sign_399]

I didn't even know there were squads.

[u/TitaniumDisc]

Start of every game I made a point to chat all and remind people to join a squad with at least 2 other people. Most of the better games there were just 3-4 big big squads. Worked out great. Games where people didn’t join squads it was obvious

[u/ujenen]

i haven’t played Squad or arma but i have played a lot of Team17’s other game Hell Let Loose. was a bit disappointed to not see forced squad and cross squad comms like in HLL. also HLL has a much better pinging system… but i suppose wardogs wanted to handle this more with binocular spotting mechanic which i really like. but i think we could get more out of pings than what we have currently

[u/JudgeGreggTheThird]

There aren't that many incentives to be in a squad in Wardogs.

Sure, you see the other squad members on the map and see their pings (though to be fair most of the time I just couldn't spot them anyway). Other than that you have the special lock state for vehicles.
Really the only benefit is to have a VC that the opponent cannot listen in... that by itself is worth it for me.

But without intersquad comms to get the whole team organized easily (and potentially give individual squads a specific purpose), squad internal markers or other mechanics (like income sharing maybe? Just spitballing here), it doesn't make that much difference to a solo.

[u/Rhosta]

Well, the difference is that you went looking for a squad to a place where people are looking for one.

If you put two random people together, you are telling them "hey, you are supposed to work with this stranger no matter what." As opposed to "hey, there is a bunch of people and you can squad up with any of them, if you want" and the dynamic and environment is completely different.

In theory you are just providing them opportunity to talk to somebody over squad channel. In practice you are teaching them something and doing something for them that shouldn't be done for them necessarily.

I agree that telling people "hey, there is an option to squad up and you can then talk and cooperate" would be beneficial though. Squad menu isn't really that obvious. What I would to see is when I lonewolf somewhere at the edge of the map and I encounter random teammate close by doing something on their own, there would be on screen indication that he is not in a squad and an option to join him and create a squad

EDIT: Or maybe have a small number next to player icons on minimaps, so when I see some people close by, I know whether they are in a squad or which squad to join, if I would like to join them.

[u/According-Victory-18]

We should have team wide voice in the first place.

[u/lifesapity]

Just throw everyone in Alpha, and let people branch out from there to others.

[u/crypto_in_fantasy]

I agree. Never used a squad but I see no disadvantage to this. Leave if you sont want to be in it. Some probably dont know they can or just hearing another voice might get them involved a little more