Players Backing Out

I absolutely understand this is frustrating. However, if we add a penalty where they can't match again for 30 minutes, that just means it's going to be harder to find a match. Teams back out for various reasons. I really don't have a problem with it since in most cases, it was a very lopsided game with more humans on one side than the other. Hopefully, we'll see matchmaking improve in the future so that teams are less likely to back out.

Honestly I think this game could use a smite style matchmaking. Each player could preset their preferred role and secondary role(ex C then RD). You won’t always get those roles but it’ll try to match on it. Match a team of 5 and you can ask another player to switch roles. Pick your build, then blind drop against another team. No lobby screen where you see the other team at all. Quitting is a 30min penalty. At the end of the first period a surrender vote can be started. 

I wouldn't mind this. It's one thing to quit when there's a lot more humans on one side or when one team has a human goalie. Quitting because you don't like the other teams level or builds shouldn't be the reason though.

EA_Aljo​ Maybe we could give the person how didn’t bac out of the match points because I got mad in Madden 25 because some one got  kicked for trolling but I didn’t get any rewards 

There are just SO many reasons why people do it and while sometimes it bugs me too, I've done it for good reasons..

Teammate gets kicked from game before it starts. You back out to join their group again.

Other team is full of humans, while your team has half that number. 

If it's drop-in then the other team is CLEARLY a club and you're playing with all randoms and your goalie is a low level guy, likely playing for the first time.

You recognize a name on your team because you have a mental and physical list of the trolls in the game.

Other team decided it would be cool to use white sweaters at home and now you can't tell who is who because you didn't catch that fast enough. 

Your ping is outrageous and lagging too bad to want to continue trying to play to hurt your team worse. This is especially the case if you're center, losing EVERY faceoff.. playing a team in Montreal on their servers haha!

If I got a 30 min ban for any of those I'd be pretty salty.. but then I do hate when people back out just because they're down a goal or 2 or they see the other team MIGHT beat them so they continue searching for a team they're more confident they can beat.

If you look at eliminator stats sometimes it's funny. A team will go 60-0 but they will have 30 rd1 wins 20 rd2 and 10 finals wins. Why? Well because they were about to play a team that MIGHT beat them so they'd sooner quit before puck drop and start up a new tournament to play a team they are more sure they can beat. If it's off by 1 or 2 then likely someone failed to advance so they forfeited tourney or they had to do something, or someone got on.. but if it's wildly skewed, then you know they are picking who they play just to boost their w/l record.

This whole post kinda proves the point there’s a culture of quitting in this game. If players have these extensive lists of reasons to quit and will only play if every single condition is met, the constant quitting will continue. The biggest one for me is quitting in the pregame lobby. It slows down matchmaking time so much. That’s why I recommend removing it. If you want to bail during a game and give me your RP, it’s not as bad. I still think a 30min quit penalty with an end of the first surrender vote would be a good way to go. If you can’t play one period of a game that doesn’t meet all your personal criteria maybe offline is a better fit for you. 

We pay money to play this game.  Everyone should have the choice to back out of a lobby for whatever reason they choose.

I back out when my team has a human goalie against an AI one.  I also back out of a dressing room if I have an AI or two Dman because everyone knows how much they suck.  I back out of a lobby against a team of “sweats” etc.  I’ll also back out if one of my teammates backs out because I don’t play with AI unless it’s two AI goalies.

There are several good reasons to back out of dressing rooms and lobbies if I know the game isn’t going to be enjoyable to my standard.

The reason why people quitting in the pre-game lobby is such a big deal right now is because of the change made to the lobby system either this year or last year. Once players are found, the lobby starts counting down and doesn't search for new players if someone bails in the lobby. 

So if 2 or 3 players quit in a previously full room, I leave too because I know the game is going to start with A.I. rather than try to fill those positions. 

There are a lot of problems that cause people to quit. I don't think there is enough effort put into the product to mitigate these issues, and so it just keeps happening. Here would be my suggestions for improving the current situation:

1.) You are allowed (x) number of quits per (y) time period. After which you have two options:
  a.) You can rejoin the match that you quit out of
  b.) You must wait until that game finishes to join another game
2.) Stop allowing only one side to have a human goalie
3.) Allow a team to change their uniform once. After such a change, allow the other team (x) number of seconds to adjust their jersey.
4.) Remove RP from drop-ins, or better, base RP on grades during the game and not solely on win/loss. Your performance in game should be how you earn/lose RP and not whether or not you won or lost. This would also fix the issue of your whole team quitting on you.
5.) Stop letting the goalie be continuously pulled during play or offer a vote system when there is a request to pull the goalie.
6.) There needs to be some sort of reputation system for players who join games and don't play their position, constantly go offsides, constantly pull the goalie, try to score in their own net, etc. I'm not sure a vote to kick system is the right choice because it could be abused if a team votes to kick someone just because they aren't as skilled in the game. Maybe force them to go through a tutorial before they can play online again or something after they do this. Maybe also implement some sort of cooldown for joining an online game again for the most egregious players who do this.
7.) Allow reconnects to the game if for some reason you disconnect during play. This should have been added a long time ago.
8.) Smurf accounts are a real thing, and this is where you can lose a ton of RP. I'd like to see the card system return, or maybe some variation of it. If you had to earn those points again in some way, it would make smurfing less effective and might discourage people from doing it. Right now, there is no penalty for doing this. Changing the RP system could make this less meaningful.
9.) When people start leaving the lobby, start searching again for new players, don't just start the game. The old lobby system was better at dealing with this. I don't know why the game isn't smart enough to try to fill as many slots as possible. I get that people can quit after the game launches but maybe offer a reprieve to the quitting mechanism mentioned above if the game launched with (x) number of players and lost (y%) of players before puck drop. You could also offer the option of taking everyone back to the lobby until more people join.
10.) Begin the game right away once (x%) of players have set their status to ready.
11.) Allow players to go to the bench and change their builds during play. Maybe allow a one-time change or once per period. This would mitigate those who wait until the last second to change their builds.
12.) Human goalies should need a certain level before they are able to join a drop-in game. Make them learn to play the position first. This would also stop some people from trolling goalie.
13.) See above number 6 for human goalies who skate out of their net, try to start fights, etc.
14.) Stop letting people use offensive builds on defense and vice-versa.
15.) Allow position switching between periods. If for some reason you lose a d-man or something during play, you should be able to switch back to that during intermission. Or maybe you want to drop back and play defense and let a teammate move up.

There are probably others, but these would be top on my list. A lot of the quitting could be addressed but there needs to be some sort of impediment for trolling. Throwing your hands up in the air and screaming "but what about abuse" is not going to fix this issue and it's been going on for far too long. The people who troll are already abusing the systems in place. I do think the vote to kick could be abused, but there are other options. 

I know this is anecdotal, but so many people I know who used to play this game religiously won't even touch it now. With the lack of commitment to address issues that plague this game, to the pre-built loadouts, to the crazy characters on the ice (werewolf, etc.) it's not surprising that people can't readily find games.

The real problem is when i enter a drop in game and im paired with Randoms, during the game when they quit im forced to leave the game and i lose rp. If someone quits during a game the player that did not quit should not lose rp, the individual that quit should lose double the amount of rp.

rp > Rank points.