Poll: Broken Matchmaking

My suggestion would be to change infamy dynamics and keep the matchmaking.

So the winning team of 5 currently get 24 infamy each, totalling 120 infamy.
If infamy was awarded according to performance, then we would not be so hampered by a terrible team.
For example the top player would receive 48 infamy, second 36 infamy, third 24 infamy, fourth 12 infamy, fifth 0 infamy, totalling the same 120 infamy. The losing team would have the opposite, so fifth place loser gets -48 infamy while the first place on the losing team loses 0.

Also I would make healing amount for fixers part of their damage total for grading.

 

@BasedCarpen

 

Between infamy 400-1300 there are a mix of mk2-mk4 that very often mk2 are matched against mk4 and it makes ppl feel the matchmaking is broken. While I agree that the current system based on infamy is the best we can have (let’s accept the fact that you have to face higher mk ships) considering the short waiting time for matches, balancing the mk numbers will make the matchmaking more... balanced.

E.g. Team A with mk3,3,2,2,2 is matched with Team B with mk4,4,3,3,2. Does Team A has a chance to win? Yes they do, but it makes players feel unfair in the first place. By swapping a mk4 from Team B with a mk2 from Team A will make the matchmaking more balanced. The infamy is more or less equal anyway. It is simple math that I think can improve the current system.

Maybe at higher infamy (2000+?) there are lesser of these issues, however, between infamy 400-1300 where mostly new players are in, the frustrations may lead to them quitting the game.

 

For the most part a mk4 at that infamy is a terrible player, while a mk2 at the higher end is a good player. All games have strong and weak players in them, sometimes Im 700+ infamy higher than all my teammates, other times I'm the small fish in a sea of nightmare whales. The amount of weight I need to pull depend on what kind of match it is.

I'm sure you are right when you say it causes frustration, but its an emotionally based fallecy. People naturally look for other factors than themselves when distributing blaim, alter one aspect of matchmaking and the people complaining will find other "unfair" reasons as to why they lose.

I'm a mk5 playing against plenty of mk6 & 7's, but rather than blaming matchmaking I try to adapt my playstyle to whichever match I end up in (and whine about how "unfair" gear acquisition is )

 

Agree on this. But sometimes there’s only so much you can do with the limit of your ship. The idea of balancing mk numbers (I don’t mean matching all ships with same mk), which I think is relatively simple and can be done with some simple mechanism, makes both teams have a more equal chance of winning, as a team. We will still face higher level ships and have to adapt to different situations. It does no harm to improve a system, I mean, it’s a minor tweak, not changing the whole matchmaking system.

 

We have discussed about the communication system on the battle bay subreddit long time ago but looking at spam nature of different messages by players it was deemed not implementable. Yes I agree that the current system of matchmaking is the best. Maybe they could show the weapons your team mates are carrying on their ship so in say 10-15 seconds you can have a brief idea about the strategy which could be adopted during the match

 

At the entry level of the game matchmaking is a huge problem.

I started a new account just to have a feel, and 30 minutes after the tutorial I was up against mk3's with evolved epics.

Whether or not these mk3's are terrible players is irrelevant.
Trying to play them in a mk1 with T1 common weapons is neither fair nor fun.

I'm actually amazed that there are any new players at all. I'd definitely have quit.

 

I agree about the weapon screen before the match. A lot of people seem to support it. I believe we will see it one day. That said, people will start to ask for more, like a minute to chat about strategy, etc.
One reason why top players played so well together is that there are not many of them. They played for so long and saw each other so often that they know who carries what into battle. Plus having insane skills and experiences help a lot too.

 

@TVNPryde honestly that one min of chat is required. It's there in all MOBA on the PC. But I understand it will be difficult to implement on mobile and there could be issues due to disagreement between players before the match starts. And you know how shit goes down in bb with suicides and floaters
The only issue I have with is that in other MOBA say DoTA 2 you know you have 108 heroes and their skills are the same whoever picks the hero and if you have played enough you know the skills. However, with battle bay there are only 5 ships which can have infinite number of weapon combinations which can change at lower levels. I assume at the top tier it doesn't change that much and as you rightly pointed out top players know each other since there are few of them. But at lower levels it's nightmare to work with a team not knowing what weapons they have.

 

Just started the game 2 weeks ago and came to the forums to see what was up with matchmaking. @Stelmo is fairly right on about the rough new player experience.

I am player level 14 with an MK2 and still using uncommons and currently around 500-550 infamy. In my last 10 games I am the only MK2 in 8 of them. Some games I am top damage and it feels great. The next game 2 MK4 will charge directly at me past 2 teammates blasting their 4 level 2+ rare and epic weapons and 50%+ more health and I feel helpless. I have to survive a 4min+ match to break 3k damage with my loadout. An MK4 tops that in half the time just sitting in one spot.

Sure, I now have a 50% winrate, but half of those games were complete stomps one way or the other.

I know I still have a lot to learn in this game and there are things I can do better. But from a new player experience learning the game, the MK level difference feels oppressive. I recently come from Hearthstone and MOBAs where a player (not new, just that a good player on a smurf) can get to the high ranks in a week of unlocking so my expectations are skewed. I played Clash of Clans for a short while, which is probably a better comparison, but they did have the equivalent of an MK matchmaking cap.

I still really enjoy this game as a quick pick up and play, but it can feel bad sometimes.

 

@Miika I hear you man, it's a tricky one.
I agree completely that the infamy based matchmaker that we use would be vastly superior to one driven purely by ships/gear, but does it really have to be one way or the other?
Is it not possible to use both somehow?

 

Well, say a switch is turned, and now it's 50% infamy and 50% boat strength. Let's do a little thought experiment.

Say we have 2 players at 1500 infamy. Player A has a crazy boat, legendaries and everything, he's just not very good. Player B is completely average. When the new system hits, player B won't move, but player A will get matched against enemies that are 500 infamy higher to compensate for his boat strength. Thus, he will drop until he finds a new equilibrium, where his win chance is once more 50%. Since his win chance was 50% when he got matched against player B in the old system, that means his new equilibrium postion will be the one where he gets once again matched against player B. In this example, that would be 1000 infamy.

So after this all reaches an equilibrium, I don't think anything changes in the actual matchups. All it would do is substract infamy from those with great boats but little skill, and add some to those with bad boats but great skill. I think it would all be a lot of confusion for little to no benefit.

 

How about this little thought experiment?

Two full teams of matching infamy, 6 mk3's and 4 mk4's.
As we all know too well, those mk4's are often all on one side, giving the match the appearance of unfairness, but a slightly more complex matchmaker could split them evenly between the teams.

My experiment just ends with a lot less crying on the forum.

 

But....But...<Player A complains> Why am I always matching up with players 500 infamy points than mine. I put a lot of money into this game.

Infamy represents your level in BB. If the match making split those ships evenly, then there will likely be disparity in infamy. Can you hear people complain about that yet? If there is a system that's not creating more problems than solutions, you are welcome to tell us all about it. You're are just recommending what you like to see without even thinking the headaches it will cost.

 

In theory you make a brilliant point - In practice I'm sure the crowd who thinks matchmaking is why they lose now will find something else to blame. "Opponents have better gear", "1 Fixer vs 2 Fixers", "uneven starting positions", "mom always lets me win when we play boardgames, why cant you be more like my mommy?"

 

Ship level doesn't mean a thing though, I'd rather keep the whining and good matchmaking. Besides, people will always whine, if you'd split the mk levels evenly they'd whine about weapon tiers, or team compositions, or clueless teammates. Anything that will make it seem like losing is not their fault.

 

Yeah. My only real problem with the matchmaking is these bloody threads.

 

The total infamy of each team is actually more or less equal in most matches even you split ships evenly.

Yes people will always whine, and they have been whining about these all the time. But balancing the ship levels will only reduce people whining about unfair matchmaking.

I’m surprised some of you are against improving the current system (not a complete change of system) just because you worry people will start whining about other things? People are whining about everything NOW. Improving the system by giving players a fair platform to compete in will only reduce people whining about unfair matchmaking.

 

Devs nerfed sniper, Tesla shield, OB, speeder’s hp, did they worry that players whine about it and not nerf them? It’s for the balance of the game.