Matchmaker and Level Adjustment

[Indreams]

Match Maker was an overhaul. So was the new leveling system. We had a grand discussion when they were first introduced.
Now that we've settled into it, let's see what we think about it now. What was your opinion and has it changed?

[GeoRmr]

"Matchmaker will reduce lobby time"

>now we just sit in the matchmaking queue


"No more double pilots or gunners"

>still puts second pilots and gunners on ships


"3 rematches only"

>finally sorted into balanced lobby
>epic game
>lobby was already 2 games old
>back to the cesspit


"no levels on enemy team"

>clicks on everyone name individually before manually balancing lobby



"No more captains delaying lobby start time by jumping out"

>pilot dc's seconds before game starts
>noob gets sorted into the captain spot
>game instantly starts with the noob gunner as pilot and you're now on their flak fish
>none of the captains in the lobby had clicked ready

[Kamoba]

https://gunsoficarus.com/community/forum/index.php/topic,5601.0.html

Is what I think...

MM is okay, a few tweaks may be needed, but once you start custom lobbies rather than queuing I am starting to find less wait times in opening to the queue over joining the queue.

I think match maker is being blamed for some player faults in places though, for example newbie gunners winding up in pilot slots is less often match maker and more often a new player trying to join a friend or someone they played with before.. Often the same for pilots in crew slots.

[Indreams]

I've settled into things.

I don't mind Matchmaker. I almost like it now. I like how we don't see the pitifully few lobbies we have sometimes. And I can play when I want. Before the match maker, that depended on the lobbies.

Leveling? I liked achievement leveling better. Novices are graduating without having played on a Pyramidion or rebuilding the engines. Level 8 engis coming aboard my Squid with 7-10 matches is kinda ridiculous.

[Kamoba]

I've settled into things.

I don't mind Matchmaker. I almost like it now. I like how we don't see the pitifully few lobbies we have sometimes. And I can play when I want. Before the match maker, that depended on the lobbies.

Leveling? I liked achievement leveling better. Novices are graduating without having played on a Pyramidion or rebuilding the engines. Level 8 engis coming aboard my Squid with 7-10 matches is kinda ridiculous.

Novice and level up speed is definitely something that needs addressing.

New player spends 5 matches with new team that faces guns at the enemy.. Reaches level 5/almost 6.
Two rounds with different crew but manages achievements by chance, levels upto 8 on 2 ships in 8 matches...
Gets taken out of novice only knowing how to run around a goldfish and repair what they notice is broken..

[Hilary Briss]

Yes There are now 2 mini games.

The Matchmaker where you have your crew. During that time you watch your children grow up and marry. Whilst chilling out with your friends.

We all wait for the elusive 1 Player and watch it till we all have motion sickness.

Then we enter a lobby and the Second game begins. \0/

Global say the same.
Just one player needed....
Then the reply "Tried to join you but it said Unable to join you as you're in a queue"

reply "We are we daren't stop now"

Response "Ahh man"

Reply  "Bet we end up in same lobby lol"

They all did and there was much laughter.

Silver linings and all that.

[HamsterIV]

I expect the match maker to match me up with people I don't want to fly with. I either join on friends or jump to spectator when Match Making puts me in a lobby. From spectator I pick the ship I want to fly on based build, player levels, and the personalities of the crew. I realize my actions are ruining the "ballance" match making is trying to create, but I don't care any more.

On the up side, mid game joins from powder monkeys are down since they can't see games in progress. Also lobbies start faster, and I am using crew form and my friends list much more than prematch making version.

Before Match Making I was a big proponent of the Ship shuffle, now it seems a bit vestigial. I would like to see a feature where you can break your ship off from a post match crew form to enter the matchmaking system as a crew of 4 instead of the entire team of 8 to 16 you were on. This is especially true if you get ship shuffled in a match and get paired with a novice or a troll.

[Indreams]

Before Match Making I was a big proponent of the Ship shuffle, now it seems a bit vestigial. I would like to see a feature where you can break your ship off from a post match crew form to enter the matchmaking system as a crew of 4 instead of the entire team of 8 to 16 you were on. This is especially true if you get ship shuffled in a match and get paired with a novice or a troll.

+1. I feel closer to the crew I've been playing for three games than that other captain and that other crew I've played with/against. This I agree with.

[Hoja Lateralus]

Pretty much what Geo said. Matchmaking made me leave this game. 

In this heavily cooperation focused game I can't discuss tactics with my crew (not even mentioning my team) because timer

Additional useless clicks are additional and useless

Unable to browse servers so I find game that I like most, I'm on MatchMakers mercy. Also R.I.P 4v4's

New leveling system is fine, I don't see anything particularly bad or good in it. Perhaps it's a good transition that you don't have to make achievements to level up.

[GeoRmr]

Pretty much what Geo said. Matchmaking made me leave this game. 

In this heavily cooperation focused game I can't discuss tactics with my crew (not even mentioning my team) because timer

Additional useless clicks are additional and useless

Unable to browse servers so I find game that I like most, I'm on MatchMakers mercy. Also R.I.P 4v4's

New leveling system is fine, I don't see anything particularly bad or good in it. Perhaps it's a good transition that you don't have to make achievements to level up.

Actually 4v4's happen all the god-damned time. what happens is you start crew-formed as a 2v2, then get sorted into a 3v3 and then the 3v3 ends and you get returned to crew form (because only allowed to rematch three times trolololololololol thanks muse), and then it sorts you into a 4v4, then you're stuck in a 4v4 over and over perpetually. Its really annoying.

[Hoja Lateralus]

That's new. When I was still playing it was only 2v2 matches. All. The. Time.

[BlackenedPies]

Here I am to defend matchmaking. This is from a captain's perspective.

When the MM update first came my initial feeling was of strong dislike, but the truth is that it is more efficient. And I believe that it's good for expanding the community.

The matchmaking system is optional. You can play without being in matchmaking.
You can still browse lobbies. It's even better now since you can only browse lobbies your friends are in. Want to browse more lobbies? Friend everyone!

It puts you in lobbies quicker. If you have a full crew (or team) waiting to get into a lobby it will take longer, or you can just create a new lobby and accept from matchmaking. In many cases the second option seems to work quicker. This might be a problem, but either way the fact is that you get into matches quicker. And matches fill up quicker.
The system could me made more efficient, and MMR is not perfect. But it's ok.

The auto timer starts matches faster. Not resetting the clock when a new player joins is a major problem, but the auto timer is overall a good feature. Sometimes I do need more time, but it speeds up the whole system. More games played, much more efficient.
Discuss tactics in match. Otherwise you're wasting the other team's time. Besides the timer reset problem, you have plenty of time.

You can choose what type of match you want to play. It will occasionally put you in a different type (which isn't good), but you still have some control over the type of match.
Yes the post game isn't great (rematch, crew form, 3 times), but it's ok. I don't like the 3 rematches, but I suspect that it makes the system overall more efficient.
Don't like something, make a new crew form and invite your crew.
Uncooperative player, new crew form invite the rest.
Wanna balance a lobby, swap ships. This appears to be very rare, and it's almost always me who swaps.

No more powder monkeys joining mid match. I can't praise this enough.
The captain is now almost always a pilot. Remember the old?
Hiding levels is good. Don't worry about their levels. Just play. It's no different than having to click to see what tools they have.

I've noticed that crew stick around for longer.
From a crew's perspective I'm sure it's frustrating getting put on ships you don't want to be on. This has always been a problem, but now that matches fill up faster you generally have less options to choose what ship you want to crew on.

[GeoRmr]

No more powder monkeys joining mid match. I can't praise this enough.
The captain is now almost always a pilot. Remember the old?

Still happens every time there is a CA in the lobby.

[Caprontos]

I think its fine. Idk its not really any different then the match list for random lobbies.. or if your playing with specific people.. At lest for me.

You can usually tell if a lobby is stacked or possibly balanced just by captain levels..

As for teamwork.. Who needs team work when 90% of the lobbies your put in to is all new people who do not really do much team work or only the very basics.. I do suppose its more annoying for a pilot then a crew though..

The game is fine to play completely reactionary and non-communication way.. in low skill lobbies... and that's fun in its own way compared to higher skill lobbies where you do things more systematically.. Which is also fun in its own way.

The only thing I'd want to add is a way to make highskill only lobbies (like novice only reverse.. how we decide that idk.. I'd just go by level x+.. maybe 35+ or something in at lest one class). Then we could at lest have some matches with people with more skill that's not entirely competitive.. but that can't happen because we don't want to divide up the community .. which is sadly getting small again.

I do get a little bored with being put on to many bad ships.. The match timer can be annoying but most of the time it is fine..

[Arturo Sanchez]

Pretty much what geo said. exchanged mid game 2nd gunners for just b4 match start 2nd gunners.


I want my crazy king.

In the old days I knew the finesse to set up a lobby of just constant crazy king.
This 10 player requirement is bollocks for the purpose of setting this crazy king.

MM seems to think every lobby needs to be full. No. In the old days you just need the caps, people see the active game and join mid match.

If MM simply let ppl join mid game IN THE RECCOMENDED BUILDS (and classes) set up by the captains ( I thought that was what the 3 reccomended build slots meant). MM would be so much more streamline.