3 replies to this topic

[Diablobo]

We are all talking about PPCs, missiles, and boating as being the big problems to PGI's attempts to achieve a balanced and fun game. All of these are secondary and trivial when the matchmaking system that PGI has implemented is such a horrible failure. Huge imbalances in tonnage and even mech classes make the matches highly imbalanced and one team is destined to lose most of the time. The matches that are evenly balanced are few and far between.

When one team has a bunch of assaults and heavies and has a light or two, they usually do very well. Then, the other team will have a bunch of mediums and heavies with no lights. I lost count of the number of times I have been on a team with no lights playing conquest, or been on a team with mediums and heavies with the other team sporting heavies and assaults. The ELO system might say that Joe Schmoe in his medium is a great ELO rated player, but when he is on my team up against a team that outweighs and outguns him, it doesn't matter.

Trial mechs are a whole different story. One team can have three or four trial mechs and the other team will have custom min/max builds. Sure, there are good players who occasionally roll out a trial mech, but usually those players are new and not very experienced. Each team should have the same number of new/trial players.

Any attempts at weapon design will be a failure as long as the matchmaker continues to put up such imbalanced matches. Quit messing with weapons and make the matchmaker better. Give each team a light, give each team a decent mix of heavies and assaults, and if there are mediums, make sure the other team has the same thing. Instead of worrying about ELO ratings, the matchmaker should be more concerned about team composition and mech varieties.

Edited by Diablobo, 05 July 2013 - 10:00 AM.

[Deathlike]

I don't like the title of the thread, although I'm in agreement with the content of your post.

I assume some tweakage will be made when 12v12 is deployed... there would be more leeway to work with, giving a greater chance to be provided that teams will get a light mech on conquest.

If you were here during MM v2, weight class matching was implemented, but it didn't really help with the skill imbalance that teams had at all. It was a good try, but it only showed that skill was more important than the mechs that were driven (especially if you were in a team/premade).

[GODzillaGSPB]

I agree. As a medium and heavy player I currently get blasted, then again, then again, then again. Whole 4-man-groups drop in all assaults. You better bring an assault or ****, that's the current state of the game. Even people who drop in assaults but not as a group suffer, because they don't exploit the matchmaking.

It's very, very frustrating. I think it's time for a pause again until there are limits for assaults and lights. I'm talking about "soft limits" with exceptions when matchmaking (finding a match) takes too long. Or maybe as a range, like "2 to 4 assaults". But currently there are often more.

[Diablobo]

I was here when the weight class matching was here and I remember it not necessarily being more fair, but it definitely FELT more fair. I have no problem getting outplayed, but when my team has a hole to dig itself out of because we have a bunch of trial mechs, no assaults, or no lights on conquest it makes the loss even more bitter than if the teams would have the proper balance to begin with.