Balanced matchmaking ay

For the first time ever. I have to congratulate the devs who helped the game escape from pay to win mind set.
Well done!

 

I've been playing for ~17 days, spent some money, and almost lv19 using a Mk3 Defender. Overall, I find the matchmaking to be a LOT better, b/c I'm not seeing Mk5 with T3+ weapons as often. I am consistently paired against Mk4s though and fine with that. Occasionally I see a Mk5, but it's rare and they generally don't do much considering the inherent advantages Mk5 ships have. I don't consider myself to be a great player, but not awful either. I know what weapons I like and am good with, and prioritized those. Furthermore, I took advantage of the talents I had readily available when I started aka Bhurt & cannons which suit me.

 

Before update:
"Matchmaking sucks I am constantly paired with ships higher than me!!!"

After update:
"Matchmaking sucks, I am constantly paired with players better than me!!!"

 

Before update... low skill players may have high gear, but they lose enough to settle into an infamy where they still win ~50% of the time and can enjoy where they're at. Sometimes they wallop on unfriends due to their stronger gear, but just as often they get sunk by players with far lesser gear... (to me, this seems like the RIGHT WAY to run the game)

After update (if it is actually mostly(?) based on gear and not infamy)... low skill players, regardless of whether they get better gear or not, will now lose far more than 50% of the time. Their infamy will fall, but they will still be paired with higher infamy players because that's where their gear says they should be. They will continue to lose... more and more... with no hope of that ever changing, even if they get stronger gear. The only way for them to not lose is to get better skills. (That's not necessarily a bad thing for any competitive environment, but it is bad for a mobile app game that needs ALL skill levels of players to have reason to play. At least in the old way, they could fall in infamy far enough to get back to 50% win ratio.)

@The Grim Repair - you asked whether it's "unfair" for X to be paired with such high infamy players. But that's the wrong question, because neither system is actually fair for all parties. In the "before" system, life is "unfair" for those who don't spend. Their rise in infamy will take longer because their gear is behind spenders with equal skill... In the "after" system, life is "unfair" for those without skills. Their rise in infamy will take longer because their skills are behind better players who have spent just as much... So neither system is "fair" for everyone. It's impossible to make a mobile app game that is "fair" for all types. What you have to do as a company is CHOOSE which system is better for your company. In my estimation, mobile app games are successful if they have MILLIONS of people (of all skill ranges) playing. The more ppl you draw, you'll have more people who will spend (at all levels of spending). Business win! However, if you design a system that makes life very unpleasant for low-skill players... Guess what... they'll leave... So you might have created this super awesome game with super awesome competition... but it's not a business win unless all of those hyper-competitive players are also your biggest spenders. I don't know your data. Maybe you've done this analysis and this is the result?

However, either way, it is still unclear exactly what you have changed. I would LOVE some clarification on whether there are mk-ranges that you can be paired with? Is it still "mostly" infamy based? Is it now "mostly" gear based? Is it actually as close to 50-50 (or at least what you consider to be a good balance) between infamy and gear?

 

Let me even clarify...
The original problem was not that low skill players had superior gear and were dominating lower infamy ranks.
The original problem was that higher skill players with superior gear were intentionally lowering their infamy.
Why were they doing that? Because your weapon-specific guild quests asked them to use specific (under-developed) weapons.
Tanking wasn't their intention... but tanking was the result.
And then of course, not wanting to tank, they slap on their strong gear and climb again.
And depending on how far they fell trying to get 400k Flare Gun damage with an Uncommon-12 Flare Gun starting at 2500 infamy.........
There's going to be different severities of this kind of turmoil happening at EVERY infamy level.
I'm sure you have the data to support, but everyone seems to agree that since guild quests, there is far greater fluctuation now in what gear you see at different infamy levels.

The problem was never matchmaking.
The problem was incentives to use weak weapons.
The problem was a lack of consequences for falling too far in infamy. (You had a 'No Star' rule if you fell too far... you should have also created a similar 'No Token' rule if you fell too far.)

I'm sad you messed with matchmaking, because that was never the problem...

 

I was so mad I kept pushing negative and shooting him lol resulting in my death oh well

 

I'm fine lol I was at 2400 and keep getting shit like this. I'm back up to 2k now

 

Mk4 sure maybe more 6 ok.
But mk2 ?? Bull shit

 

This is what I have been stating all along. There are low skill players in big ships at low infamy levels. If they were forced to fight among players with similar ships and gear, then they would lose, and likely quit the game. The way that it was structured before, a newbie with skills could grind through and eventually rise. That weak MK2 ship being handled by a highly skilled player would hit a wall, but would eventually rise by virtue of ship upgrades, captain level upgrades, and better equipment. But that guy that's simply not very good at the game, either paid or did the grind to get a MK4 or MK5 ship, is now perpetually stuck. His choice is to never rise in the game and continue playing, or simply quit. Guess what the choice is going to be?

 

Mk2 that's why.
What exactly what's changed or fixed it balanced what ever with matchmaking?

 

What infamy are you on with your baby account? mk3 ships?

 

Just asking .....

Checking if I am doing good or not!
900 infamy

 

Yea i saw that!

 

i saw mk2 speeder at 4000+ infamy.. so the matchmaking does not care what boat you take into battle.. For sure that mk2 fixer did not came to that infamy with that boat.. maybe is mainly for a guild quest as usual

 

Yes.

 

Big big problem since last update..rovio sayed..they make the matchmaking system better...WTF..
I am mk5 3300infamy...and now in every game there is a player with ..4example,: MK5 WITH 1300INFAMY..
Mk2 with 1700infamy...
Its unpossible too win with these players in team..
!!!!!!