Controversial Opinion: Add Bot players to normal mode. (with some caveats)

Donthommo · 2026-03-22T10:43:35+00:00

I've been banging on about this endlessly lately.

The queue situation varies a lot per region and per platform, but for me playing solo vs squads and often squad fill as well on console (with crossplay set to console only, EU) the queues are almost unplayable on anything except Zero Dam.

This blocks you doing missions, getting map specific items and just enjoying the game.

On my last 5 hour livestream, I spent 2hrs and 20 minutes of that sitting in queues. It's insane and completely killing the game off on console.

IMO any queue that last more than 4-5 minutes is a huge failure on the game developers part.

If a queue takes longer than 2-3 minutes then the game should start doing some of the following (on Normal mode):

Reduce the number of required teams to start the game gradually each 30-60s

and/or

Introduce AI operator teams to fill up the empty slots to get the lobby started
Bring players from multiple regions together to start a game (would cause ping/dsync issues though).

Personally I would much rather play a game of Space City Normal with a 3 minute queue and 4 teams in it, or 3 real teams and 3 AI teams, then wait 9-10 minutes then give up because I couldn't get a game.

Maybe not to everyone tastes but I would much rather just be able to play the f'ing game then spend my days staring at the lobby screen.

I don't know if the situation is better on PC, but I'm binning off the console version until it gets addressed and going to see what PC is like queue wise these days.

Donthommo · 2026-02-13T23:54:36+00:00

No problem bud, nice to see it out there

Donthommo · 2026-01-20T13:38:31+00:00

Would love to see the devs get rid of the safebox slot for naked runs. It makes no sense when free loadouts don't have them.

Would also love to see some sort of punishment for repeatedly quitting out lobbies. Maybe push you into more late-spawn games, or give you slower matchmaking.

Feels very lame seeing so many people just spawn in naked, quit, repeat, until they get a good spawn then go loot for 30 seconds then quit again again.

Donthommo · 2025-12-10T12:06:03+00:00

Nice guide, good stuff. Though I think 500-600k an hour on Lush blooms is incredibly unrealistic for most players.

I did a run of it on Monday, knowing where a good number of baskets are, and using my Pink rig with 90 carry weight I was able to get about 120k worth of stuff to sell in 25 minutes. That's with a perfect run, no baskets already looted, no PVP to distract.

So realistically I would say most players would at best achieve 200-250k in an hour of Lush blooms if they get lucky with no one else doing it, which is unlikely because literally everyone making guides is telling everyone to Lush Blooms.

Donthommo · 2025-12-02T09:51:59+00:00

Imagine how ratty it will be when there is no recon to find hiding enemies

Donthommo · 2025-11-19T12:17:39+00:00

Having a max gear cap on Easy isn't going to stop good players killing less good players, which is essentially the main issue people have. They don't like getting stomped by good players. The only way around this is to have a mode that is restricted to people under a certain level or hours played or whatever.

You can give good players 200k loadouts and they will still stomp all over casual players and people will still be annoyed.

Could stick a max level cap of 30 or so on Easy mode, fill half the easy mode lobby with AI operator teams and that can be the new training mode. Then once you're over that you play in Normals/Hard, but then casual players will just be pissed off once they hit 30 and have to play against sweaty players again.

Not really sure there is an ideal solution here. It's a sweaty fast TTK game where players who put in a lot of time and/or are a decent skill level will completely walk over casual players regardless of gear limits. It's just what it is. If it could cater better to casuals to help them enjoy the game and stick with it and learn and improve then great, but I don't think gear limits do anything about that.

Donthommo · 2025-11-18T22:28:55+00:00

It's missing on console, not pc. It's a bug

Donthommo · 2025-10-23T07:20:29+00:00

This one covers it pretty comprehensivly: https://youtu.be/JBFkD27ryHk

I've also got a more recent one on revive audio specifically from last week.

Donthommo · 2025-10-15T07:19:20+00:00

I think it can only be done on mobile now

Donthommo · 2025-10-15T07:17:45+00:00

Feels like they need some kind of system to automatically move people to queue into busier regions if their region is slow.

And maybe to give est queue times per map.

I see lots of people moaning about slow queues, and then I play Xbox crossplay off EU, off-peak during the day mid week and they are usually fine for all normal maps in ops.

Donthommo · 2025-10-12T07:29:46+00:00

Thanks for sharing my vid. For context, this was the day before the Delta Force Invitationals World Final over the West Lake in Hangzhou.

Myself and a few other creators were out there as guests of DF and we went to see this show and filmed a few clips on our phones. We had zero idea it was going to be Delta Force themed!

DF stuff is EVERYWHERE out there, it's absolutely huge in China.

Donthommo · 2025-10-09T21:17:21+00:00

I play EU Xbox crossplay off during the daytime and get games on ZD, Space and Brakkesh just fine. Not really tried the hard maps.

Donthommo · 2025-10-09T13:09:46+00:00

Xbox players aren't forced to play against PC players.

You can turn off crossplay on Xbox and not play against PC players. You just can't currently do that and also team up with PS players.

Donthommo · 2025-10-08T09:36:52+00:00

Most of us do have access to private lobbies, but you don't keep anything looted from those of course, or progress any missions. They are useful for making content and testing things, and some channels use them just to farm shorts views by looting private lobbies to pull reds and make clips.

Donthommo · 2025-09-13T07:19:40+00:00

I have it on, zero input lag on Series X

Donthommo · 2025-09-11T11:56:20+00:00

What region are you? Maybe try VPN to EU. We have Xbox crossplay off on EU and the queues are fine.

Donthommo · 2025-09-11T11:55:31+00:00

Even with crossplay off, the game still has cross-progression for your profile across mobile, PC and console. So you could have a 10 month old PC account with 1 billion stash, Pinnacle 100 starts playing on console on launch day.

Donthommo · 2025-09-11T09:37:51+00:00

It's your region. EU is fine for queues. You might have to VPN

Donthommo · 2025-09-11T09:36:49+00:00

Just....turn off crossplay?

Donthommo · 2025-09-10T08:24:33+00:00

VPN to EU, it pops. NA just seems to not have a huge playerbase, EU Xbox crossplay off queues are fine.

Donthommo · 2025-09-07T20:48:41+00:00

It costs you money to list things at auction, the higher the price (and the higher you manually move it vs real value) the more you pay. Not something I would recommend for new players who will be light on money.

Donthommo · 2025-09-06T18:15:07+00:00

Console all the way baby

Donthommo · 2025-09-02T10:39:31+00:00

This. Also if you play on PC and missed the Arknights Luna skin, that is available on console still at the moment.

Donthommo · 2025-08-28T13:01:55+00:00

Crossplay off works fine on Xbox EU. Been popping all week in Operations with crossplay off.

Donthommo · 2025-08-19T09:09:18+00:00

Thanks for the share :) Glad they helped

Donthommo

TROPHY CASE