The New Matchmaker

and still, for me i barely group up anymore just because of tha group queue, which ends up in more frustration than usual

 

The group drops are a ton of fun. It's remarkably satisfying to take down a 12-man with a hodgepodge of grouped players. Now that doesn't happen all the time- We encountered one 12-man that was so excellent at focus fire that we were all dead in 2 minutes 0-12. They even timed their shots together so that they would all hit one location at the same time, cooking their victim instantly. This is the thin line between fun and "serious biznez" I've been waiting for.

 

Dropped all night tonight, 7 to 10 mans, and 4 very hard fought 12 man matches. We expected 12 mans to be pitted against us the whole time, and played accordingly.

Most of our non-12 man drops were against teams of smaller groups, with only 1 or 2 actual 12 mans dropping on us. In our 12 mans, 3 were against other 12 mans. None of our 12 mans were roflstomps, we won all 4, but 3 were down to the last man. Including a come from behind win 12 - 11 (having been down 5 - 9).

This was 19:00 to 0:00 EST. Not sure about other time slots, but this one seems to be working as intended.

Just wanted to point out something I have noticed: If you are running a large group, and you communicate your intentions to the PUGs, much of the time they will attempt to coordinate with you. We've started to focus on doing this, keeping the PUGs aware of what our plan. This can make dropping against an actual 12 man be less of a pain.

 

Funny you say that. Most of the times where someone has taken charge and given an order in my last few drops, we ended up doing quite well. It's when it's every GPuG for themselves do we do badly.

 

For a group of 2, it is just hell to almost always face large coordinate group. I tend to play only with one or two friends, and this matchmaker just kill this possibility. I think 2-3 mech group shall be merged with pug drop as thay can not influence the whole battle, and The 4-12 mech could continue to play together for "high elo" play

 

I don't know how many groups of what size there are (if there are more smalls than larges you can put most of small groups into the solo queue), but you can't remove all small groups from the group queue since large groups need a small group to complete the team.

 

Then for group, I would say 2-3 (Soloqueue), 4-8 (Group queue), 12 (Group queue).
No reason for people who try the game with a friend for example to be in the group queue.

 

I haven't decided yet what I think of the new matchmaking as I see irregular results but on principle it sucks not being able to train new ppl in a 2 man group.

Overall, I am leaning to positive but it still needs some tweaks.

 

I noticed one bad thing that I do feel quilty about... unless I really can rely on the other 1-2 I'm with I prefer to solo now. With more you can get away with someone with less stable connection or someone learning. The solo and rest is great.

 

I wish PGI gave 2-4 mans the option to select which queue they want to drop in. Maybe like they do with the game modes. That way, you can select solo only, group only, or both. Maybe add in an incentive for selecting group queue only.

 

My notes about the new MM after playing for the past few days.

Overall - Much better
Weight class matching is fantastic and working very well. Lights are not seen as much (mainly due to the clan mechs) but i've been seeing a gradual return of light mechs to the game over the past few days. I have to say that most solo queue drops have been a lot more even. Group queue with a group of ~8 was a roflstomp most of the time, but we were playing with some really good players. Had one match against a lot of other good players and it was a VERY even and close fight (2 vs. 1 in the end). We lost 10 to 12 and couldn't complain because it was such an awesome match. That's the biggest thing i've noticed after both Clans and the new MM, you can match up good players and actually have a close/fun fight most of the time.

- Solo Queue -

Good - Finding matches extremely fast based on the weight class indicator. Finding a match in a light mech has been nearly instantaneous. Perfect time to level the Kit Fox, Adder, and Firestarters. Wait times for heavies and assaults takes about the same time as it used to for me.

Bad - Typically more disappointed with the pilot skill level. Teams are noticeably less coordinated (probably due to less groups to none in the solo-queue). Often finding myself doing better as a pug on average with the new MM which means I have less challenging opponents. I also notice my own team having less than favorable skill levels more often. These indications lead me to believe 2 things:
1) ELO is no longer a large priority for MM.
2) Most of the high ELO players are now playing exclusively in the group queue. I rarely saw any of the players I would REGULARLY drop against in pug matches.

- Group Queue -

Good - Feels more like previous pug dropping with a 4-man. Running into the same people I used to drop against on a frequent basis. Not as frustrating since there are no solo players. Much more competitive than the solo queue. Groups of 5+ is fantastic. Being able to play with more people in a group is a lot more fun and keeps everyone inclusive. No longer the 1-2 guys that join late and have to form their own group and try to sync drop. More shenanigans and tactics which are always welcome.

Bad - Being more competitive, you will drop against a lot more meta, but it hasn't been a huge problem for me personally. 12 man groups seems inappropriate as an option for group queue, I would much prefer it to be capped at 8 or 10 players to even the odds. Leave full 12 man coordinated groups for private lobbies IMO. Other than that, nothing really to add.

I'm very happy with the

 

SUCKS

 

Please enlighten me

 

[size=13pt]I can't
Always say
It's gonna be
better tomorrow

Falling away from me
Falling
Away from me

Beating me down
Beating me
Beating me
Down
Down
Into the ground​

 

Lol well spotted... was walking down the road and typing on the phone at the time.

 

Those types of blanket statements may get you in trouble some day, Remarius! hear:

 

Solo Queue is actually alright, match finding is quicker for me.

Group Queue yesterday was a pain. We were 2, and in about 10 games, we were always in teams made up of several small groups against teams made up of 2 large groups or 12-man.
And there was absolutely no willingness to coordinate on our teams, when asking politely how large the respective groups were, I got no answer, in one case "41". How do people think to have a chance in this game like that?
I saw better coordination in PUG games.

My statement is basically the result of 2 hours of being on the Brasilian side of MWO.

 

I get where you're coming from as I've been there but last night we dropped in 5 lances (we checked) against a 10 and 2 with some well know players. Somehow it worked and our side all seemed to perform decently from the damage scores. They fell back and stayed together so should have been a foregone conclusion with their firepower as we had to cross open ground to get to them. We were quite fluid and in 3 groups firing then fading to other positions so that they couldn't concentrate fire. Took us a good 10 minutes but we walked away with a deceitfully easy win from the stats (lots were quite heavily damaged but rotating and striking from different angles at range kept us mostly alive).