Profile of Romeo

Well, the argument isn't that RNG trumps skill, just that plane crashes and critical hits are very frustrating.

Jaedrik has challenged the COH2 community to take up this banner and present it differently. To that end, here's my attempt to translate the OP into modern day English:

During yesterday's livestream, the topic of critical hits and plane crashes was raised. Quinn Duffy defended both mechanics, yet anyone with even cursory game knowledge probably felt tension beneath his words. Relic seems to understand that their position is contrary to the wishes of the playerbase, if only vaguely.

In fact, their position runs contrary to all reasonable game design. These mechanics introduce frustration in place of enjoyment! So why hasn't Relic changed them?

The center of Quinn's argument is that uncertainty adds an element of drama to the game. If the game were completely predictable, it would be boring. There's no doubt that this is the case. All competitive games have a certain degree of uncertainty, from Brood War to Melee. Even Minesweeper has some moments of uncertainty.

Uncertainty must be presented as a "consistent inconsistency". The armor system falls into this category, and it's a beautiful game mechanic. Both sides know the risks and rewards, and know the various ways to improve their chances. In a typical engagement, both players have a measure of control over the outcome.

Players have no control over plane crashes or critical hits at all. That's what makes them frustrating. If your opponent gets a lucky crit, you feel as if you've been robbed of a kill that you earned. If you get a lucky crit of your own, you may not feel as though you truly deserve a win. This is because neither you nor your opponent had any control over the critical hit. It was purely random, and neither of you did anything special to make it happen.

Unit preservation is an extremely important game mechanic. If you preserve your units and wipe your opponent's, you'll win. The armor system is what enables players to preserve their heavy tanks. Since tanks get shot quite frequently, the hit/miss bounce/penetrate dynamic feels reasonably fair. If a tank gets away with a lucky miss or bounce, frustration is relatively mild. A critical hit is infuriating because again, the player has no control.

The uncertainty provided by the armor system is more than enough to satisfy Quinn's desire for drama. Taking it any further only hurts COH2's chances of becoming an E-sport. If Relic is serious about making COH2 a competitive game, these game mechanics must be changed or removed.

There has been another change to the rules. Angoville has been added to the map rotation.

Why would you enter in the first place then?

To win the chance to see your favorite player challenge the king.

Were you not going to write in something about time-wasting?

That's better handled individually. Of course I want all my players to practice excellent sportsmanship, but only very egregious offenses merit mention in the rules.

To be honest I found this post to be a lot less insulting than most things relic does, like for example the entire war spoils system. Clearly things are improving!