And I will start it.

Current public matchmaking is horrible. The system is broken, and as I have said in another thread, in regards to this issue, 99% of the time, the results of the match can be determined prior to joining the match.

Here is an example from last night:

While talking with Sgt Kirk about this very issue, I sat in queue for 10 minutes to get into a public skirm match. Scotty'ed.
Queued for FW and after 5 minutes, I got in.
When I got out, I tried queuing for another public skirm, sat in queue for 10 minutes. Scotty'ed.
Queued again for public skirm... 5 minutes, left queue.
Heimdallr suggested Domination... 1 minute, re-queue, 3 minutes, gave up and went to read a book.

Even when you get into public matches, it seems like the "blueberries" or "redberries", depending on the lucky side, have never even played an FPS before. Sadly, more often than not, the players who have an established character in the game, seem to be expected to carry 10 people, or more, against several squads of "balanced" members.

Match quality has deteriorated, and people wonder why FW has become the preferred deploy for most larger corps. Adjust the 'mu' system, or remove it... either way, something needs to be done in order to democratize the public queue.

And I will start it.

Current public matchmaking is horrible. The system is broken, and as I have said in another thread, in regards to this issue, 99% of the time, the results of the match can be determined prior to joining the match.

Here is an example from last night:

While talking with Sgt Kirk about this very issue, I sat in queue for 10 minutes to get into a public skirm match. Scotty'ed.
Queued for FW and after 5 minutes, I got in.
When I got out, I tried queuing for another public skirm, sat in queue for 10 minutes. Scotty'ed.
Queued again for public skirm... 5 minutes, left queue.
Heimdallr suggested Domination... 1 minute, re-queue, 3 minutes, gave up and went to read a book.

Even when you get into public matches, it seems like the "blueberries" or "redberries", depending on the lucky side, have never even played an FPS before. Sadly, more often than not, the players who have an established character in the game, seem to be expected to carry 10 people, or more, against several squads of "balanced" members.

Match quality has deteriorated, and people wonder why FW has become the preferred deploy for most larger corps. Adjust the 'mu' system, or remove it... either way, something needs to be done in order to democratize the public queue.

Remove the scrubs ability to q sync pubs, and shockingly, no more pubstomping.

I don't like the queue times, but I can actually play pubs solo now and have an effect on the outcome of the match. Its glorious.

Might be nice to eliminate squads from pubs as a test for a short period of time. If it works keep it. If not change it back.

Turning it down to 4 eliminated the worst of the bad actors from pubs already.

Seriously, I didn't realize how many scrubs needed at least 7 buddies with them to get a win. Its hilarious.

not only 7 buddies, but 7 buddies on their side and randoms on the other.

Remove the scrubs ability to q sync pubs, and shockingly, no more pubstomping.

I don't like the queue times, but I can actually play pubs solo now and have an effect on the outcome of the match. Its glorious.

And I will start it.

Current public matchmaking is horrible. The system is broken, and as I have said in another thread, in regards to this issue, 99% of the time, the results of the match can be determined prior to joining the match.

Here is an example from last night:

While talking with Sgt Kirk about this very issue, I sat in queue for 10 minutes to get into a public skirm match. Scotty'ed.
Queued for FW and after 5 minutes, I got in.
When I got out, I tried queuing for another public skirm, sat in queue for 10 minutes. Scotty'ed.
Queued again for public skirm... 5 minutes, left queue.
Heimdallr suggested Domination... 1 minute, re-queue, 3 minutes, gave up and went to read a book.

Even when you get into public matches, it seems like the "blueberries" or "redberries", depending on the lucky side, have never even played an FPS before. Sadly, more often than not, the players who have an established character in the game, seem to be expected to carry 10 people, or more, against several squads of "balanced" members.

Match quality has deteriorated, and people wonder why FW has become the preferred deploy for most larger corps. Adjust the 'mu' system, or remove it... either way, something needs to be done in order to democratize the public queue.

Perhaps you too should graduate to FW. Pubs should be like an extended academy. For new bros or the scrubs that need to fight them

The MU System is noble but it has it's flaws.

A player that frequently runs with his corp-mates and friends is likely going to have an artificially inflated MU score because of it and the game is going to consider them to be something they're not, at least by my understanding. I could by wrong and if I am I apologize.

Thing is, if that is true, than virtually every time you run with your bros you're both positively and negatively impacting your own MU score - positively because it is rising but negatively because those gains aren't truly how you as a player operate. IMO the best solution for that would be to have a separate variable to account for whenever you're running with a team and whenever you're running solo.

For instance: On a scale of 1-to-100, with higher numbers being better, my MU score could be somewhere in the 40's but because I run with teams frequently and we're coordinated my score will rise because of my increased KDR, WP accrual, etc. So, whereas my TRUE score is in the 40's the game thinks I'm in a much higher bracket, so it tries to fill in gaps in matches with that artificially high score and I'm left having to deal with more competition than I can reasonably handle as a result.

And there are some playstyles that this sort of thing MUST FACTOR IN because it is impossible to achieve those higher gains otherwise: Gallente Logis, for instance, can expect much lower WP accrual without a squad because their Intel Assist WP accrual simply cannot exist without squad-mates. Warbarge Strikes are another good example. You don't get the WP gains with those sort of gameplay mechanics running solo, so that must be taken into account when considering the "skill" of a player.

Reduced squad sizes were a good thing as that further narrows the chances for that team-play factor to matter as much in the overall scheme of things. I'm all for it. However, unless pub matches become solo-que only, there is no reasonable way (to my knowledge) to account for solo vs team-play except through different score systems.

But yanno, I could be wrong and just talking out of my ass.

The MU System is noble but it has it's flaws.

A player that frequently runs with his corp-mates and friends is likely going to have an artificially inflated MU score because of it and the game is going to consider them to be something they're not, at least by my understanding. I could by wrong and if I am I apologize.

Thing is, if that is true, than virtually every time you run with your bros you're both positively and negatively impacting your own MU score - positively because it is rising but negatively because those gains aren't truly how you as a player operate. IMO the best solution for that would be to have a separate variable to account for whenever you're running with a team and whenever you're running solo.

For instance: On a scale of 1-to-100, with higher numbers being better, my MU score could be somewhere in the 40's but because I run with teams frequently and we're coordinated my score will rise because of my increased KDR, WP accrual, etc. So, whereas my TRUE score is in the 40's the game thinks I'm in a much higher bracket, so it tries to fill in gaps in matches with that artificially high score and I'm left having to deal with more competition than I can reasonably handle as a result.

And there are some playstyles that this sort of thing MUST FACTOR IN because it is impossible to achieve those higher gains otherwise: Gallente Logis, for instance, can expect much lower WP accrual without a squad because their Intel Assist WP accrual simply cannot exist without squad-mates. Warbarge Strikes are another good example. You don't get the WP gains with those sort of gameplay mechanics running solo, so that must be taken into account when considering the "skill" of a player.

Reduced squad sizes were a good thing as that further narrows the chances for that team-play factor to matter as much in the overall scheme of things. I'm all for it. However, unless pub matches become solo-que only, there is no reasonable way (to my knowledge) to account for solo vs team-play except through different score systems.

But yanno, I could be wrong and just talking out of my ass.

That is all I run now, as the public matchmaking system is broken.

However, there is no good money making system for FW, so it is necessary to supplement income with public matches. They are the only way to make money outside of PC, currently, so a working public matchmaking system is vital to the economy.

Now that Planetary Conquest has been uberhauled (yes, I just made up that word), I'm going to see if PC can be my primary source of income.

You didn't hear? That is what a competitive game mode looks like!

Even better is 16 v randoms, which is what the q syncers said wouldn't happen, but has been the case in more than 50% of the FW matches I have played. I can't even remember getting a 16 v 16 in an FW match since the changes.

Not that I mind, as it is exactly what I said would happen, and what the teamstackers said they were not looking for.

That is all I run now, as the public matchmaking system is broken.

However, there is no good money making system for FW, so it is necessary to supplement income with public matches. They are the only way to make money outside of PC, currently, so a working public matchmaking system is vital to the economy.

Im selling apex suits

Assuming you win 100% of the rounds, it will require 50 rounds (roughly, and w/o boosters)... even, assuming you only run APEX gear the whole time, and you die an average of 5 times per round, the math works out as such:

5 * 50 = 250 deaths
250 * 20,000 = 5,000,000 (20k is a rough average of my average APEX suit)
250 * 10,000 = 2,000,000 (gains from refund; my APEX average about 1/2 of the returns
5,000,000 - 2,000,000 + 10,000,000 = 13,000,000

13 million isk if you only run APEX, die an average of 5 times, and win every round. Overall profit is anywhere from 17 million, to 47 million, but to get the more expensive APEX suits, you will not be winning 100% of the time. Now, same calculation for pubs

In the same period of time, you can run up to 2 to 3 times the number of pubs, and make almost the same profit, but APEX suits will only sell for that amount for a short period of time, and there is an ever diminishing market. I doubt you'll see a huge gain in the long run, and, even then, it is not the sustainable path for the game as we move forward. Public matchmaking is the basic game mode and is the one that every new person will play... if it dries up due to lack of proper matchmaking, the game will die a long, slow death.

Ehhh... PC payouts can be quite bad (I got 400k in one match and was #2 on my team). If you rely on PC to supplement your wages, you will have a rude awakening coming to you.

Is that accounting for salvage and any ISK you get as a bonus from the corp for participating?

Matchmaking is a complicated issue. There's one thing I never see people talk about though.

The most popular mode in Dust by far, Domination is inherently one sided.

At least in most maps, the point is highly entrenched and easy to defend, which gives a huge advantage to whoever hacks first and gets links in the area.

By comparison, I've seen way more big comebacks in Acquisition and ambush much more often than Dom.

Maybe the Dom point needs to become mobile like Aq, or at least be placed in areas much harder to defend.