What happened to matchmaking?

Battleborn Battleborn General Discussion
#41

Heya!

It sucks that people are upset that the ELO matchmaking has been (I assume, based on my 30 second queue times on PS4) loosened.

I’ve had a pile of games in the last few days that have been absolute disasters, as my stalwart team of CR5s (using this as a proxy for experience, not skill) ran up against pre-mades of 80s+.

Needless to say, even on those occasions when I was able to keep leveled enough to do well, it wasn’t nearly enough to avoid being steamrolled.

I say all this to give context to the following:

1. Gearbox should not roll back these changes. If they do, I would bet every hat I’ll own for the rest of my life that 48 hours later, the Forum will be flooded with people voicing their distaste for long queue times.

2. Gearbox should do something to help newer players. The problem is that Battleborn has a huge skill curve, and just dumping new players into the pool and asking them to swim, leads to really negative situations. I’ve commented before about a variety of potential solutions to this problem, so I won’t flog that particular horse anymore.

3. We should organize as a community to help new players. I think there should be some kind of “Battle School” where new players can come together with vets to learn the ropes, maybe in private matches, maybe in pre-mades. I think that if something like this could be organized, and GBX could support it, that could go a long way.

It could work like this:

  1. New player signs up for Battle School.
  2. There are weekly private events (like tournaments) but geared specifically for newer players.
  3. There is at least one Vet (volunteer) there, and the team of newbies plays bot matches with the vet on their team.
  4. The vet (volunteer), teaches them the ropes, gives them a chance to play with new characters and generally introduces them to the strategies.
  5. At the end of every “Battle School,” the Vet takes the team into public queue to try out their new skills. There is a debrief afterwards to go over what went well and what went poorly.
  6. Heck, these could be awesome to stream, and might show people who are intimidated by Battleborn that the game isn’t as “chaotic” as they think it is.

All we would need is a few Vets (preferably those who like to teach, and play a variety of characters) to volunteer to help organize something like this.

I work a lot and only get to play in the wee small hours of the morning (EST), but I’d be happy to help organize something like this, and even participate when I’m on (PS4).

If GBX could support this, that would be absolutely killer.

Two cents.

2 Likes
#42

They HAVE to change something though. Rolling back these changes would be a happy fix until they come up with something better. I would rather wait 10 minutes to find a good game that lasts 20-30 minutes than wait 5-6 minutes that is a complete steamroll and is over in 6 minutes.

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#43

come back for what…i quitet 2 weeks ago…i have to wait 45min for 1 unbalanced game…what reason to come back ? to watch the waiting screen ?

if u cant play it…theres nothing to do…and i would play it if possible but for a online pvp game there needs to be 2-5min waiting time on all modes

1 Like
#44

I completely understand. The issue is that for some people it’s the difference between 10 minute wait times and 30 second wait times. I for one haven’t waited more than 2 minutes for a game in a week, and other people are in the same boat.

If you roll back the ELO matchmaking, the wait times will get very bad, very quickly for everyone (in places like AUS people were waiting an hour). Despite some people being miffed at the unbalanced games, they have been / will be more miffed when long queues make them think “the game is dead”.

At least in my opinion.

#45

They need to remove the ability to see people’s levels while queueing.

If people are bad then you’ll find out in game. All this rubbish about player level doesn’t do the game any favours.

It’s not a complex enough game that you need more than a good knowledge of your character, the map/mode and some good teamwork skills to do well.

Anything more than that really requires mics, which no one seems to run.

Making level 10 a requirement for the PvP modes isn’t a bad idea though.

#46

Maybe I’m being the devil’s advocate here, but lettling low level newbies play with the ‘big boys’ isn’t always bad. I’m CR 25 and got matched up with 100’s and 90’s last night, I learned a few new tricks. They still outclassed me in every conceivable way (but that might’ve been because I kept stunning with Kelvin), but at least the game was intense and exciting, a true battle between pros. I saw what Battleborn could be, is supposed to be, and it renewed my faith in the game.

#47

Like I said amigo, I totally feel for you. It’s super sad cause I love this game so much, but between unbalanced matches, wait times, and cheaters (something I’m facing a lot lately), I’m running out of patience myself.

#48

Basically, the game has entered the next stage of a dying came: The remaining high-level die-hards get matched with the few newcomers because there aren’t enough players left for a queue bracket. I really hate to say it but there has not been a single day since the launch of the game when the concurrent player numbers weren’t significantly lower than on the same day the week before. The minimum concurrent player numbers on PC are so low that even if Gearbox were to limit the worldwide server nodes to five pretty soon they will not have enough players to fill all queues. Unless Gearbox somehow create a miracle by somehow getting a massive influx of players during the summer sale the game will be functionally dead within a month and the remaining players will know the few others by name.

#49

It is so sad because I really like the game (PC) and I streamed it from day one … even my viewers liked it a lot. But waiting between 10 to 60+ minutes for a match is not very entertaining. Not for me as a player and streamer and not for the viewers.
Yesterday I tried to find a match, watched some TV but after 93 (!!!) minutes of waiting while watching TV, I decided to uninstall the game.
Sorry … good game but this is not acceptable.

#50

For me, only one (sad) way - make the PvP part F2P. That way, they maybe can get enough Players to actually play and support the game, and maybe the new Players would buy the campaign after some PvP, also.

Edit: Elaura, yes, a Person can get CR100 with only playing the tutorial and PvE, but let’s be honest - how many players actually do that in a game build for PvP?

I think that a high level does mean more skill to a certain Level when a player has reached his personal “near to max skill”. Let us say I play to Level 50 - I will get better to this point. After that, i will probably don’t get significant better because I am nearly as good as I can be and only will progress very slowly.

So I am with you when you say there is not a big difference betweent a CR80 and a CR100 Player (examples). But there sure is between CR5 and CR 80 in a game like BB where experience makes a huge difference and it is not only about reaction.

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#51

I find this hard to believe. You expect to learn and grow in this kind of game. I was terrible at League of Legends when I first started (I didn’t even realize how terrible until I later got much better) but I had fun so I kept at it and learned. Same thing has happened with BB. I was pretty bad at first but have gotten much better. Heck, it’s still going on to this day. I decided to master Reyna and it wasn’t until I got her to like Rank 11 that I finally really figured her out and now I’m an assist monster with Reyna.

Also, I have to ask, is there any confirmation from GBX that there has been changes to the matchmaking algorithms? I don’t recall seeing anything about that in the last patch notes or Battleplan.

#52

Let’s fix the bad games by hiding the fact that they’ll be bad games. Great idea!

#53

GBX, the masters of communication, have made changes that aren’t announced anywhere except for a forum post if you’re lucky. This being one of them.

There’s a difference between the LoL system and this one. When you start out you’ll most likely be playing with other “new” players since that’s how the match making works (unless there’s smurfs). So you’re still somewhat eased into the game.

Here that’s not the case. You can end up on day 1 vs a 5 man team that won’t let you get a single kill and will just farm worthy of song from you. How is that a valuable lesson?

2 Likes
#54

better to have fast matches now ! and then , down the road they put in the league play or competitive play, most people at a new game that is new still , just want to play have fun and learn , waiting forever for a match does nothing for anyone,

I just hope when the league or competitive mode comes out they make sure we got at least 5 characters lv15, screw the command ranks.

#55

5 characters at 15? no one will play it then. I have 400 games played. 0 characters at lvl 15. You are punishing the people that know how to play most/all the characters by forcing them to only play a couple. Knowing how to play a large roster should be a benefit, not a hindrance.

#56

The skill gap between CR5 and CR80 is enormous. And it only gets worse the longer the game goes on since you get more and more advantage over them. I have been in games where I was 6 levels up on enemies because they just didnt know how to play.

1 Like
#57

I truly understand how you feel. I too went through a similar experience with this game when it came out. However the playing field (for new players) is drastically different than it was for us back then. I understand at some point that’s the way it is for any game, but it just seems a bit too harsh at times now. No one is learning or having fun when you get wiped the way some matches are going.

I’m not saying it’s an easy problem to fix, and I definitely don’t think just telling new players to tough it up and learn is the answer either. There needs to be a condusive lower ranked matchmaking bracket for at least a certain amount of time so new players can play, fail, learn, have fun, etc. at THEIR pace, like we did to some degree. If you find it hard to believe I’d suggest digging around the forums more and you will find honest, frustrated new players explaining this very point.

Furthermore go out in the random squads and queu with lower levels and chat with them… I for one have been taking a solid consensus that many (I’m not saying all) are having a terrible experience.

#58

Having a noob bracket would help. Maybe all players with less than ~20 matches played in PVP can be placed in it.

1 Like
#59

There is nothing that the new player can do about this. The experienced player, however, can do a lot about it. How about not killing the poor new guy? You can see that you are several levels above him, so take it easy on him? Do you really have to be a douchbag and rack up 25 kills?

1 Like
#60

Yes, isn’t that the point of a competitive multiplayer game?