Matchmaking is a genuine pain point for us right now and is something we'd love to get sorted. I don't have any specific updates other than to let you guys know that we're aware of the issues and want to rectify them.

Lallallaa. I don't for the life of me understand how could you not make it so that if there's 2 squads queuing for the battle, YOU PUT THEM ON OPPOSITE SIDES.

But nooooooo, let's put them on the same side against npc corps

I would suggest having matches for only Basic suits and matches for adv and proto suits. One can decide which match to join.
This way newbies can play against each other and veterans are forced to use lower tier suits if they want to fight along and make some isk.

Thomas: We have, much like EVE GÇô in fact exactly like EVE! GÇô we have different security levels. We have high security, low security, and nulsec, where anything goes. And thatGÇÖs where weGÇÖre pretty much hands off. When youGÇÖre in highsec we have NPC generated battles, so youGÇÖll always be able to find a battle, youGÇÖre able to grind and get money, but without being exposed to the depth building an infrastructure on the surface of planets, things like that. But then as you play through into the lower levels of security it starts to be about: okay, IGÇÖve got the hang of the game, IGÇÖve got a group of friends, weGÇÖve formed a corporation, and weGÇÖve got backing from some EVE members for the corporation, so weGÇÖre going to hire a war barge, weGÇÖre going to load it up with supplies, and weGÇÖre going to try to attack this location. WeGÇÖre going to get our first foothold on a planet. And that is all scheduled and controlled. Those matches are planned, and the defenders are warned in advance so they have the opportunity to defend. Once you get into that kind of game youGÇÖre making a larger commitment in terms of time to be able to defend your things. And so the more you invest, the more commitment you have to have to protect whatGÇÖs yours. But thereGÇÖs always matches rolling in highsec.

The main problem isn't the gear itself, but how the system decides to pit players with no skills whatsoever against players with a lot of Skill points. There is no need to make militia only matches. What needs to be done is this academy (which should also bring a hefty tutorial, explaining the systems in the game), and limit players win WPs. Higher SK should be fighting their likes, not curb stomping low SK players.

We don't need to reimagine the wheel, just add these two things, and everything will go along more smoothly, with population increase. Warn the newbies that EVE is much more complex then just shooting, let them get shot a few times if they don't pay attention to fittings and stuff, and you'll see a better game.