Hi All-

Just a heads up we will be doing some tweaks to the matchmaking for Instant Battles today but only for the US and Asia. This is part of an ongoing data collection exercise that we are doing during the beta in order to determine how we can best place players into fair and competitive matches appropriate for their skill level.

Part of today's experiment will introduce longer wait times for "Searching For Battle" when joining the Instant Battles so you may need to be a little more patient than usual.

If you have any feedback or experience any problems, let me know.

Skill as in SP or skill as in K/D and W/L etc? Or will it be a blend of both?

With an new Char i find battles instantly, but with the trained Char i can-¦t find anything.

With an new Char i find battles instantly, but with the trained Char i can-¦t find anything.

While matching based on SP probably works for general experience, unfortunately it doesn't necessarily mean the player knows how to skill themselves properly. Could explain why some people are still complaining about people who act like newbies?

So, CCP, how will you decide that matchmaking works?
And PLAYERS, what does good match making mean -- in terms CCP can measure -- to you?

Well i'm in US East Coast if that matters, and well I can't find a battle tried resetting system. Doesn't work if anyone has any ideas please send them this way. it'd help loads.s

this matchmaking blows
fix it
taking too long to find a game
20mins is bs

this matchmaking blows
fix it
taking too long to find a game
20mins is bs

Matchmaking is BS anyways just bring back the old server list and let people pick where they play.

You were warned. Here is one time the itsabeta really is the answer to your difficulties. You signed up to be a test subject. Enjoy the wait!

SIde effects include anger, frustration, difficulty sitting still, and some reported symptoms of forum postitis...

Matchmaking is BS anyways just bring back the old server list and let people pick where they play.

this matchmaking blows
fix it
taking too long to find a game
20mins is bs

Matchmaking's primary goal should be to prevent high-tier small ego idiots from spending their days pubstomping.

The previous matchmaking system CCP had in place was pretty smart, i'm speculating that it just needed more players/data to start making intelligent decisions. Patience is called for here, it takes time to train these systems(please tell me you're using a Bayesian acyclic graph, CCP), and this is prolly the #1 thing that will get DUST more players at this point in time.

This is where the size of our playerbase really comes into play, all the more reason to make sure noob matches are balanced as much as possible. The more feedback we can give the devs the better.

radar pickin up severe signs of fanboyism in this post

"its a beta" excuse dont cut it for this issue when the game been out almost a year now.
this is basic bs u should have completed along with core fps mechanics
seems CCP really workin backwards on this beta

Clearly not a great system yet. ASide from the wait, I have less than a million SP, my squad mate had about 1.5, and the two of us end up fighting a lot of guys running proto gear. Yeah . . . great balance . . . and 30 minutes waiting to get into a match.

I like where this is going but right now it needs tweaking.

Forcing instant battle has resulted in more pubstomping than predetermined servers ever had.

radar pickin up severe signs of fanboyism in this post

"its a beta" excuse dont cut it for this issue when the game been out almost a year now.
this is basic bs u should have completed along with core fps mechanics
seems CCP really workin backwards on this beta

i lol'd

Forcing instant battle has resulted in more pubstomping than predetermined servers ever had.

I love the way CCP seem to want to make both work and grief for themselves.

They'll pour more and more effort into making an increasingly complex matchmaking system, and they'll still get constant grief for it. In fact, they may well get more grief as they make it more complex because it will become less obvious what the rules are.

CCP should stop taking responsibility for matchmaking and let the players do it.

All that would be required is to offer players a choice matches with different levels of rewards (and possibly specific restrictions such as "no pre-built squads").

Newbies will choose low reward matches where they face a lower chance of getting pubstomped, experienced players will choose high reward matches for faster SP progression and to pay for their proto gear.

Glad I could help brighten your day. If it was my post you were loling at. If not, well, you know what they say. Laughter is the best medicine. Are we feeling less cranky now?

I love the way CCP seem to want to make both work and grief for themselves.

They'll pour more and more effort into making an increasingly complex matchmaking system, and they'll still get constant grief for it. In fact, they may well get more grief as they make it more complex because it will become less obvious what the rules are.

CCP should stop taking responsibility for matchmaking and let the players do it.

All that would be required is to offer players a choice matches with different levels of rewards (and possibly specific restrictions such as "no pre-built squads").

Newbies will choose low reward matches where they face a lower chance of getting pubstomped, experienced players will choose high reward matches for faster SP progression and to pay for their proto gear.

In a rational universe, this would be true.

i lol'd

I thought that solving lag issues and many server location problem should have been more important than matchmaking... It's just that I'd prefer to play on the EU server but I'm keeping playing on the laggy (at least for me) US server or even worse on the Asian one...It's such a pain to get shot behind walls and/or covers, and is the same pain when your shot get registered after a while (usually 0,5 sec)

I thought that solving lag issues and many server location problem should have been more important than matchmaking... It's just that I'd prefer to play on the EU server but I'm keeping playing on the laggy (at least for me) US server or even worse on the Asian one...It's such a pain to get shot behind walls and/or covers, and is the same pain when your shot get registered after a while (usually 0,5 sec)

I support the testing of a new matchmaking system and development work by CCP. I am here to test a game, not play a finished product, if you want a finished product go buy one.

Go play colonial marines or something, gearbox says its a finished product.... count you blessings Beta criers.

I believe relying on matchmaking algorithms to create fun matchups is a fools errand. EVE was successful for making a sandbox and saying "have fun". The constant attempt to force the players into a single experience is very anti-CCP and more importantly, isn't working.

Matches since the changes have resulted in 3/4 members of a squad being able to put up 20+ kills a piece. They need to bring back the old battlefinder and allow competitive players to have at each other.

What are you saying here? That it should be MORE imbalances with 20% of players getting 80% of kills?

If this were any other kind of matchmaking -- like a dating service -- the people running it would ASK the people using it who they wanted to match up with. Why all the heartache over automatic matchmaking? Aren't the players smart enough to state their preferences?

Lets say there are three measures: K/D, War Points/Death, and Allocated skill points.

Let the players choose the minimum and maximum player level in each category they want to play with. Make it a configuration options. Be sure they set it when they create their character so they know the option is there. Have it default to a middle value, set it once and forget it, or change it around with your mood.

For each measure check off...

The minimum level player I want to play with is...

• Much worse than me
• Some worse than me
• About the same as me
• Some better than me
• Much better than me
• Don't care

The maximum level player I want to play with is...

• Much worse than me
• Some worse than me
• About the same as me
• Some better than me
• Much better than me
• Don't care

If the game can't find a match it tells you why and you can loosen the requirements.
If you are playing in a group it tries to match you all and if it can't tells you who didn't make the match an why.

Only problem with that is, if you where going to do it like that you would have to have diminishing returns for choosing players much worse than you. Because decimating the new berries would probably give you more actual rewards than being decimated by the top players. Not to mention your own costs in dying more in harder battles

Keep a score of what type of matches players participate in, that way we can know if someone is pubstomping randoms just so they can pad their KDR. That, or have separate KDR for scores for both of them.

I believe relying on matchmaking algorithms to create fun matchups is a fools errand. EVE was successful for making a sandbox and saying "have fun". The constant attempt to force the players into a single experience is very anti-CCP and more importantly, isn't working.

... There's a lot of reviews out there crying about how much the initial DUST experience sucks. Personally, I agree with you, I'm totally fine with taking a godawful beating for months, it's fun. But a lot of potential players don't feel that way. BTW, this whole matchmaking discussion should be confined to hisec pub matches - once a player gets their feet under them, the gloves should come off ...

I love the way CCP seem to want to make both work and grief for themselves.

They'll pour more and more effort into making an increasingly complex matchmaking system, and they'll still get constant grief for it. In fact, they may well get more grief as they make it more complex because it will become less obvious what the rules are.

CCP should stop taking responsibility for matchmaking and let the players do it.

All that would be required is to offer players a choice matches with different levels of rewards (and possibly specific restrictions such as "no pre-built squads").

Newbies will choose low reward matches where they face a lower chance of getting pubstomped, experienced players will choose high reward matches for faster SP progression and to pay for their proto gear.