Matchmaking Time

[T0rnHaZe 8]

I decided to talk about this since I just had experienced a wait time of 23 minutes while ready in a district that had 38-38 pop. The engine update and everything on the roadmap are cool and all but does it really matter when it takes this long for the matchmaking to do its job? Note that this is only my last mission. This happens every day, although usually around 10-15 minutes, which is still too long. In the situation today, I had every group size to try different scenarios.

 

Below is another topic about matchmaking. I Just thought it was interesting how it does not discuss this problem.

 

 

[HighSociety 148]

Allowing 50 vs. 50 players to join districts again and removeing stupid threat segregation would fix that. 

[wHisHi 206]

And after that much waiting you get opp that dethreats on purpose. 

[Flaws 1033]

2 hours ago, HighSociety said:

Allowing 50 vs. 50 players to join districts again and removeing stupid threat segregation would fix that. 

We had a period without threat segragation due to server issues and the game was even less playable across the board because golds would get noobs/new players even more often and would get bored and quit. Meanwhile new players would get stomped 10x times more by said golds and would also quit. I want 50vs50 back but there needs to be some kind of ranking/threat segragation because the lack of a reliable system has played a huge part in APB's downfall over the years. The fact that new players are in no way protected from veterans is what chases said new players away. Taking the little they have already away will utterly devastate lesser players' will to even launch APB. Its no fun for anyone however you look at it. And at least on Citadel we're not that low on population where you absolutely need all players in order to fill a single district. I suppose they could do that for Jericho, but not for Citadel. Not yet anyway.

[Aeronaut 647]

with no qualifications whatsoever, there's already been an idea that floated around that would help matchmaking immensely.

 

tldr: allow the entire district population to face off against each other. no restriction on factions. mixture of enfs/crims vs a group of enfs/crims to simplify the matchmaking process.

 

lorewise, it would fit right in. enforcers are criminals with badges and a piece of paper allowing them to be vigilantes. bad apples exist throughout the enforcer organizations. 

and criminals are criminals. regardless of faction lines, there should be plenty of backstabbing between the criminals.

 

that means that there needs to be new missions with the appropriate flavor text on why enforcers are grouping with criminals and vice versa. 

 

edit: forgot the issue about LTL weapons and equipment. another lore way to solve this is just to enable it for criminals. obviously criminals could get their hands on these supposedly 'enforcer only' weapons. now you have handcuffs and zipties. arrests and uhh...not sure what you'd wanna call it.

 

edit 2: equipment shouldn't be any different either. it's not like a criminal is gonna see enforcer equipment and go "better not touch that!" or an enforcer seeing criminal equipment and saying "that's illegal!"

Edited February 7, 2021 by Aeronaut

[HighSociety 148]

1 hour ago, Flaws said:

We had a period without threat segragation due to server issues and the game was even less playable

Okay i can't say something about that period cuz i didn't play cuz of high ping.

 

So to be fair u also have to say / keep in mind:

there only was NA server available during this period and many ppl, me and my friends included, just didn't play cuz of the ping!

[Shimmer 49]

7 hours ago, Flaws said:

We had a period without threat segragation due to server issues and the game was even less playable across the board because golds would get noobs/new players even more often and would get bored and quit. Meanwhile new players would get stomped 10x times more by said golds and would also quit. I want 50vs50 back but there needs to be some kind of ranking/threat segragation because the lack of a reliable system has played a huge part in APB's downfall over the years. The fact that new players are in no way protected from veterans is what chases said new players away. Taking the little they have already away will utterly devastate lesser players' will to even launch APB. Its no fun for anyone however you look at it. And at least on Citadel we're not that low on population where you absolutely need all players in order to fill a single district. I suppose they could do that for Jericho, but not for Citadel. Not yet anyway.

We did have a period like that.  It wasnt unplayable at all.  It was literally exactly the same because those same golds weren't dethreating to get into the district anymore, they could just freely enter.

 

I think we can all agree that threat is pretty much meaningless.  It literally accomplishes nothing because it is too easily manipulated.  Bronze districts still are plagued by dethreaters.  They were back in the day as well.  At least removing the threat segregation kept you from getting teammates trolling missions to lose threat, or being opposed against another team throwing the game to dethreat making it seriously not fun.  New players have never been protected from veterans.  The only way to do that would be to make the districts rank based, which is the worst idea ever.

 

There isnt a healthy enough game population at this time to do any segregation.  As it is on the US server, we can barely get one full district on a good day.  Most of the time its a half full silver district.  Most "new players" nowadays are just rerolls, or reroll accounts that have been banned.   

[Cyberlicious 31]

On 2/2/2021 at 11:19 AM, wHisHi said:

And after that much waiting you get opp that dethreats on purpose. 

If you eliminate threat and make it a "hidden" factor, and there are no longer threat colored districts... then "dethreat" is pointless.  I honestly wish somewhere in a vault somewhere, were the original RTW game files... the original game, with it's threat and matchmaking system... while not perfect... was far, far more stable and fair a system then the catastrophic tinkering G1 did to those game files... and the multitudinous changes that got us where we currently are now.

 

Merged.

 

On 2/2/2021 at 7:25 PM, Shimmer said:

We did have a period like that.  It wasnt unplayable at all.  It was literally exactly the same because those same golds weren't dethreating to get into the district anymore, they could just freely enter. 

Back like in 2011, the entire threat scoring and matchmaking system was weighted differently, it changed a lot more slowly and so it couldn't be gamed as easily as it is now... well, ofc there was an actual population then, but... a gold of highest threat, I think was like threat 10, could get matched versus bronzes... but there would be like 10 of them... or a silver and 2 bronzes.  We didn't have plentiful fake golds like there are now... the golds back then were truly skilled... and they could "handle" multiple lesser skilled op. I'm not saying we could return to that extremity... but... with some effort, something like it should be implemented. You aren't going to attract new players to what has become an inherently unfair game... with tryhard kiddos with fake gold using every exploit imaginable to stream their "performance..." well, their friends ghosting out of mission to block the other team... their premade gold team with legendaries versus a sad, bronze premade.

Anyway... threat segregation destroyed this great game.  Removing it is a step towards it's restoration... but to do that, at this point.. threat will have to become a hidden game calculation so districts can be open, and matchmaking... because of all the exploits... new accounts with trainee's who are actually max rank, longtime players... or cheaters... will always skew the stats.

[Shimmer 49]

3 minutes ago, Cyberlicious said:

Back like in 2011, the entire threat scoring and matchmaking system was weighted differently, it changed a lot more slowly and so it couldn't be gamed as easily as it is now... well, ofc there was an actual population then, but... a gold of highest threat, I think was like threat 10, could get matched versus bronzes... but there would be like 10 of them... or a silver and 2 bronzes.  We didn't have plentiful fake golds like there are now... the golds back then were truly skilled... and they could "handle" multiple lesser skilled op. I'm not saying we could return to that extremity... but... with some effort, something like it should be implemented. You aren't going to attract new players to what has become an inherently unfair game... with tryhard kiddos with fake gold using every exploit imaginable to stream their "performance..." well, their friends ghosting out of mission to block the other team... their premade gold team with legendaries versus a sad, bronze premade.

Anyway... threat segregation destroyed this great game.  Removing it is a step towards it's restoration... but to do that, at this point.. threat will have to become a hidden game calculation so districts can be open, and matchmaking... because of all the exploits... new accounts with trainee's who are actually max rank, longtime players... or cheaters... will always skew the stats.

im aware of how it was.

 

I totally agree threat needs to be removed.  

[T0rnHaZe 8]

Instead of removing threat, they should bring back the rtw threat levels

[Hexerin 1140]

4 hours ago, T0rnHaZe said:

Instead of removing threat, they should bring back the rtw threat levels

Bring back the T15 announcement on district join too, that was hella cool flavor...

[vsb 6171]

On 2/2/2021 at 1:47 PM, Cyberlicious said:

If you eliminate threat and make it a "hidden" factor, and there are no longer threat colored districts... then "dethreat" is pointless.  I honestly wish somewhere in a vault somewhere, were the original RTW game files... the original game, with it's threat and matchmaking system... while not perfect... was far, far more stable and fair a system then the catastrophic tinkering G1 did to those game files... and the multitudinous changes that got us where we currently are now.

rtw threat was bad, take off the rose tinted glasses - it was based purely on wins and losses and only took into account the last 50 matches or so, it was even easier to abuse than the current system

 

matchmaking was horrible because you could see who the opposition would be and then were given the option to decline the mission, if we brought this back half the pop would never take a mission unless they were certain they could stomp their opp

[Cyberlicious 31]

On 2/4/2021 at 1:39 PM, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA said:

rtw threat was bad, take off the rose tinted glasses - it was based purely on wins and losses and only took into account the last 50 matches or so, it was even easier to abuse than the current system

 

matchmaking was horrible because you could see who the opposition would be and then were given the option to decline the mission, if we brought this back half the pop would never take a mission unless they were certain they could stomp their opp

That's not how I remember it.  Your threat didn't drop as quickly, as a consequence, the tryharding was a lot less, as people's threat was more stable and higher ranks could actually lose a few missions helping newbs.  But that wasn't my proposal... I said remove visibility of threat since it's so abused, especially on Bronze distruct, where griefing golds and premade tryhard full legendary teams rock the living crap out of newer, bad ping, or casual players... exterminating the playerbase.

Contrary to your view... the old population was far larger and far more stable then it was after G1 endlessly tweaked it to the sheer abusive crap the game has become.

[Hexerin 1140]

2 hours ago, Tumbies said:

They should implement custom lobbies and private matches, that would be so dope. 

Ah yes, fragment the already minuscule community even further. Great idea!

[Y2Venom 219]

OK this is how matchmaking works on APB and how match making works in real life.

 

You have 10 professional players and 10 non professional players. 20 players in all for a 10 v 10

 

In real life 5 Professional players will team with 5 non professional players making up 2 equal teams.

 

In APB the Professional players wont team with the non professional players and group together. So you have 10 professional players steamrolling 10 non professional players. GG EZ ......

 

Non professional players say screw this and go play something else. Population diminishes Matchmaking is blamed......

[Shimmer 49]

On 2/6/2021 at 5:59 AM, Hexerin said:

Ah yes, fragment the already minuscule community even further. Great idea!

remember when saturdays used to be the best days to play because everyone was home and playing??

 

I just logged in and theres only one mission district with a population for people to actually get a mission....7 cops and 4 crims.  Bronze district.  So sad.

 

 

only 64 total people online and most are in social district.  

 

Merged.

 

On 2/6/2021 at 5:10 PM, Y2Venom said:

OK this is how matchmaking works on APB and how match making works in real life.

 

You have 10 professional players and 10 non professional players. 20 players in all for a 10 v 10

 

In real life 5 Professional players will team with 5 non professional players making up 2 equal teams.

 

In APB the Professional players wont team with the non professional players and group together. So you have 10 professional players steamrolling 10 non professional players. GG EZ ......

 

Non professional players say screw this and go play something else. Population diminishes Matchmaking is blamed......

First, nobody plays this game "professionally".  The word you're looking for is Veteran.

 

Second, in order for matchmaking to work properly, there needs to be a healthy playerbase.  If all there is in the district is 15 veteran players and 5 newbs, yea youre going to get against vets.  Thats just how it is.  The vets are the only ones still playing this game, new players get discouraged as they cant learn the game without getting "steamrolled".  It will happen, theres no way around it.  Like i said above, theres only 65 people total online and the ONLY mission district with people in it is a bronze district, with 11 people in it.  that means theres absolutely nowhere for golds to play if they log on, unless they dethreat.  This games system is broken, thats no secret.  In order for people to actually be able to play this game, they have to exploit the system and dethreat to get any missions at all which is silly.

[Queen of Love 453]

Gold dethreaters . Any kind of segregation is useless.

 

Better Lock threat level for ...always.

&Maybe segregation could help a bit.

 

50 vs 50 district is better, but 60 vs 60 is perfect.

 

[Shimmer 49]

7 hours ago, Queen of Love said:

Gold dethreaters . Any kind of segregation is useless.

 

Better Lock threat level for ...always.

&Maybe segregation could help a bit.

 

50 vs 50 district is better, but 60 vs 60 is perfect.

 

Right now prime time on a weekend, there are 34 people on a bronze, 18 on a silver.   we cant even fill ONE district to max if you combine the players from both.  segregation is making people dethreat to get into the bigger bronze district just so they have a chance at playing someone different than the same team over and over.  Our population is literally dead.  You cant segregate an already limited playerbase and expect it to suddenly thrive.  It IS currently segregated and obviously its doing little and making things worse.

Edited February 7, 2021 by Shimmer
.

[Queen of Love 453]

7 hours ago, Shimmer said:

Right now prime time on a weekend, there are 34 people on a bronze, 18 on a silver.   we cant even fill ONE district to max if you combine the players from both.  segregation is making people dethreat to get into the bigger bronze district just so they have a chance at playing someone different than the same team over and over.  Our population is literally dead.  You cant segregate an already limited playerbase and expect it to suddenly thrive.  It IS currently segregated and obviously its doing little and making things worse.

Agree, segregation is useless.

[Uhtdred 238]

On 2/2/2021 at 8:23 AM, Aeronaut said:

with no qualifications whatsoever, there's already been an idea that floated around that would help matchmaking immensely.

 

tldr: allow the entire district population to face off against each other. no restriction on factions. mixture of enfs/crims vs a group of enfs/crims to simplify the matchmaking process.

 

lorewise, it would fit right in. enforcers are criminals with badges and a piece of paper allowing them to be vigilantes. bad apples exist throughout the enforcer organizations. 

and criminals are criminals. regardless of faction lines, there should be plenty of backstabbing between the criminals.

 

that means that there needs to be new missions with the appropriate flavor text on why enforcers are grouping with criminals and vice versa. 

 

edit: forgot the issue about LTL weapons. another lore way to solve this is just to enable it for criminals. obviously criminals could get their hands on these supposedly 'enforcer only' weapons. now you have handcuffs and zipties. arrests and uhh...not sure what you'd wanna call it.

 

 

you can't mix criminals and enforcers in the same faction.

 

 

If it's a criminal mission, enforcers wouldn't have the neccesary equipment to do task faster  and viceversa (arm bomb, etc).

 

There's even a bugged mission where criminals have to do  an ENFORCER task, and u gotta deal with the lvl 1 equipment because of this bug.

Edited February 7, 2021 by Uhtdred

[Aeronaut 647]

37 minutes ago, Uhtdred said:

you can't mix criminals and enforcers in the same faction.

 

If it's a criminal mission, enforcers wouldn't have the neccesary equipment to do task faster  and viceversa (arm bomb, etc).

 

There's even a bugged mission where criminals have to do  an ENFORCER task, and u gotta deal with the lvl 1 equipment because of this bug.

it's obvious you can't mix criminals and enforcers. like i said, an easy fix that would still fall in line with the lore is that all enforcers aren't inherently "good", just like the individuals in the "criminal" faction wouldn't think twice about teaming up with some enforcers to get what they want. if you follow the pattern, you would obviously allow enforcers to use criminal equipment, because it wouldn't make sense for a criminal to look at a piece of equipment and go "OH NO, IT'S ENFORCER EQUIPMENT WE CAN'T TOUCH IT!"

[CookiePuss 5379]

1 hour ago, Aeronaut said:

 "OH NO, IT'S ENFORCER EQUIPMENT WE CAN'T TOUCH IT!"

*cough* LTL *cough*

[Y2Venom 219]

On 2/6/2021 at 6:20 PM, Shimmer said:

First, nobody plays this game "professionally".  The word you're looking for is Veteran.

 

Second, in order for matchmaking to work properly, there needs to be a healthy playerbase.  If all there is in the district is 15 veteran players and 5 newbs, yea youre going to get against vets.  Thats just how it is.  The vets are the only ones still playing this game, new players get discouraged as they cant learn the game without getting "steamrolled".  It will happen, theres no way around it.  Like i said above, theres only 65 people total online and the ONLY mission district with people in it is a bronze district, with 11 people in it.  that means theres absolutely nowhere for golds to play if they log on, unless they dethreat.  This games system is broken, thats no secret.  In order for people to actually be able to play this game, they have to exploit the system and dethreat to get any missions at all which is silly.

First : Look up what an analogy is.

 

Second : Healthy playerbase is in decline as not enough new players are spending the time to get to know the game, due to being destroyed over and over again. Hence my point

 

Third : 1 + 1 = 2

[Hexerin 1140]

10 hours ago, CookiePuss said:

*cough* LTL *cough*

Crim mains would play one or two matches with LTL, and then never touch it again when they realize that it takes more than a couple brain cells to use effectively.