No, it's not supposed to be like that. One of the issues right now is that a lot of people seem to be quitting after a game is put together (often at the load screen) because they only want to play with their friends on their team, and for whatever reason don't want to just play customs. We are planning to add team pantheon, but right now that seems to be the main issue throwing things off.

While I completely believe that this is one of the major reasons for the problem, that doesn't mean you get to just say "Well that's why it's happening, so oh well".  The truth is, you made an exploitable system.  Now Stardock needs to work towards patching the holes that allow this to work.  Let's examine the issue more closely:

Question: Why is it that people are using this method to play with friends as opposed to Custom games?

Answer: Rankings.  People are using it as a method to exploit the ranking system.  In Custom games, almost everyone with extremely high rankings plays with friends, so the competition is difficult.  In pantheon, you're almost guaranteed to win playing with friends since it's a supposedly "random" system.  Also, a lot of people would say that a high ranking Custom Ranking doesn't "mean as much".  Obviously this is silly, since these stats essentially mean nothing and they're going to be reset soon anyways, but this is the train of thought people take.

Question: Why won't simply implementing "Team Pantheon" fix this?

Answer: Once again, Rankings.  Once you have a Team Pantheon system, you will only see arranged teams playing in this.  Personally, I'm ecstatic to see the increased competition.  I think it's going to be a ton more fun and present a great challenge.  However, I have the feeling that the rankings junkies won't see it the same way.  These types of players are always looking for a way to make the game easier for them, and I've seen it ever since I began gaming.  Maphackers in Starcraft, Standby glitchers in Halo 2, and exploiters in World of Warcraft arenas are just a few examples.  They don't care about improving their gameplay, and they don't care about playing fair.  All they want is to have a good ranking so they can feel better about themselves.  These players will likely keep playing the regular Pantheon games and include their friends so they can continue facing PUGs and boost their stats.

Question: So then, how do we solve this problem?

Answer: The answer is simple.  The method of being used in order to make this work is to have both players enter a Pantheon game at the same time, wait until the connection information screen shows all the players attempting to connect, and immediately leave if they don't see their friends name on the screen.  We solve this by not allowing players to see each other's names in the dialog screen.  Put in some sort of placeholder until the game begins. (ie: "Player 1, Player 2, etc")  This way, the player will be forced to enter the actual game, and at that point if they decide to leave it will cost them a loss on their beloved "stats".

Question: What if this isn't the only thing causing the uneven games?

Answer: One of the other major logical problems with the game is how Pantheon games are formed.  Unlike a custom game, it is all automated.  In a custom game, you wait for your desired number of players to join the game, allow everyone to connect, and then once everything is peachy you begin.  However, in a Pantheon game the logic is very different.  The Pantheon system finds the desired number of players, then quits looking for players completely and lets them all try to connect.  If someone cannot connect, or leaves, then they aren't replaced.  The game is simply started without that player.  All that needs to happen is a change in the Pantheon logic.  Find the necessary number of players, let them all try to connnect, then determine if anyone was lost in the process.  If they are, find another player(s) to replace them and start the process over.

Question: Can I have a job Stardock?  Please?

its even more easy

once the game is starting whoever and for whatsoever reason leave the game get the game counted as lost

thats it

i dont like so much your idea tbh

imo the pantheon is just flawed as concept

they should just merge the 3 option : pantheon skirmish custom into 2

I like your Ideas Meta.  Pantheon is supposed to be a test of your skill with random teamates and random opponetns at the moment (or should be).  They definately should add 2v2 ladder 3v3 ladder, but they didn't.  So it should be random teamates and opponents period.  The connection screen was a nice option when we weren't sure we were connecting and what was going on, now that connections are better they should do away with it, or even better mask the names.  People are still likely to get ontheir friends sides at the moment but at least it wouldn't be guarunteed.  At least put this fix in when you add the group join option, once they have the option to play as a group then you wouldn't need the connection window expoit anyway (but people may still be trying to use it).

Well, it depends on what you mean by "Best Solution".  While my solution doesn't necessary remove all the potential for this type of exploit (as you pointed out), it does offer a solution that would interfere very little with the average user's experience.  The problem with removing the connection dialog box is you remove the user's ability to troubleshoot.  Considering the complex networking nature of this game, I think the ability to see the connection dialog box is pretty essential. (To be honest, I wish more games provided you with this much feedback)

It's not that simple though.  First of all, they'd have to make sure that the game system could tell the difference between a disconnect, lack of connectivity, and a blatant quit.  Also, I think this might be pretty frustrating for the average user.  What happens when you have a relatively novice user out there who decided to play a Pantheon game.  For whatever reason, they end up waiting an exceptionally long time.  They might not necessarily know to open up the connection dialog box and understand exactly what is happening.  After 10 minutes of waiting, they decide to quit and play a custom game, not realizing that they've started connecting to other players.  They get counted as a loss, pretty unfairly to them.

...yeah, i can see the whiney forum posts now, lol

Both of you guys make excellent points, but Stardock needs to be EXTREMELY careful to address this issue without stepping on anyone's toes.  Much like their stance on DRM, you always have to consider the average user before you try to punish the cheater/exploiter/pirate.

what's a que?

har

Mya -  I think you make several valid points, but you aren't seeing the other side of the coin.  You decide to drop because you encounter another player that you refuse to play with... well, now you've screwed the game for 3-5 other players. Just think about this big picture - 1 guy decides he hates playing with you, so now he drops with a game when he sees your name and now the teams are offset.  Also, "there's an AI in the queue?"  What are you talking about?  After a game launches, you can tell if AI is there by a ping of 0 (if not you) or the words AI.  Prior to that, I don't think the AI is in the games list... I really do agree with what you say about the 3 minute rule, though.  I sometimes wait longer, but frankly, 3 minutes should be WAY more than long enough to wait before killing a game. 

As a community, and a small one at that, we really do need to consider what happens NOT ONLY if we drop from a game for whatever reason, but what happens if other people adopt the same stance.  EG, pantheon becomes what it currently is. 

I had a 5 v 0 today!

Coolio.

I also had a 3v2 where I was on the 3 side (with 2 other players) against a premade team.

When we stomped them, they cried about how they would have won if it were fair....

Not from stardock, but no, everyone does not necessarily have time to leave a game if someone drops from the connect screen.  As a clear example, in a 2v2 pantheon match, if three people are connected and they are waiting to connect to a 4th, if the 4th drops, the game immediately kicks off.  Also, its possible that the connect screen could only be up for about 2-4 seconds.  If you drop, there's easily potential for the game to kick to the load screen before anyone else could drop.  There is not an additional locked delay when a player drops at the connect screen (eg you quit, there is not 5 seconds guaranteed to anyone remaining to drop). 

A lot of people are quiting at loading screen not because of teammate matching, it's because the friggin' load screen takes a minute or more and no indication of what it is doing. The connection info shows everyone connected yet sometimes the loading screen froze for ages, until someone give up and quits.

hehe

I don't like the idea of "team pantheon"

The matchmaking in DoWII has you fighting pre-formed teams against pugs and it ruins it for me as I like to play pick up games.