112 replies to this topic

[Karl Berg]

Hello everyone,

Just a quick update on today’s public test, and the new matchmaker changes we were attempting to trial. Unfortunately PTS population levels were far too low for us to fully test the new system. We saw less than 10% of the turnout that the Clans PTS drew a few weeks ago.

The release valves built into the matchmaker kicked in and performed mostly as expected; and the matchmaker continued producing games despite the highly constrained queue sizes. We were able to monitor the matchmaker using our new analytics dashboard, and we gathered some extremely detailed metrics on the usage and performance of the new systems.

Part way through the test I softened the matchmaking rule set to relieve pressure on the group queue. During this process, I was able to test several of the realtime configurables, and examine their impact on a responsive user base. With 5+ groups, exact weight class matching, and game mode selections in play, groups really need to fit together like puzzle pieces in order to produce a match.

To wrap up, I would like to thank everyone who participated. Despite the population sizes, we did gather some very useful data points, and we were able to verify that the release valves built into the new matchmaker performed as expected.

Thanks!

[Jman5]

Just a thought, but if you want a lot of people next time you do a PTR, give the population some exclusive mech to play around with. For example if you let everyone play clans, I bet you would have had double those numbers. Or maybe you could give people a sneak peak for whatever the next mech is you plan on releasing. Or maybe if you have a new map coming you could put that baby up on the PTR.

[Jody Von Jedi]

I only got to play 3 matches, between 10:30 and 11 PM EDT. They all loaded within 2 minutes. Sorry for the low turnout.

[MonkeyCheese]

Great to see you actually got useful data from the test for the matchmaking.
Next time bribe people with a new map or a free mech bay or something.

I await a post on the fall damage now as it felt like a complete slap in the face to light mechs.

[Edward Mattlov]

Much of Western US and Canada are at work or at school when the Public tests are up. If you really want to test the matchmaker, do it for the whole weekend.

MonkeyCheese, on 24 June 2014 - 07:58 PM, said:

Great to see you actually got useful data from the test for the matchmaking.
Next time bribe people with a new map or a free mech bay or something.

I await a post on the fall damage now as it felt like a complete slap in the face to light mechs.

Come on now, you have had it easy since they nerfed collisions and took knockdowns out of the game. Now you will have to learn how to pilot again.

[Duncan Longwood]

It was too hard to justify spending time on the ptr when I have just gotten a bunch of clan mechs that need leveling on the live server.

[MonkeyCheese]

Edward Mattlov, on 24 June 2014 - 08:05 PM, said:

Come on now, you have had it easy since they nerfed collisions and took knockdowns out of the game. Now you will have to learn how to pilot again.

I know this is the wrong thread for this but Don't even attempt to troll me on that topic, I remember the days of real knockdowns well and as primarily a light pilot I have been screaming about bringing back knockdowns whenever the topic is dug up. I wish they are back it would remove the trash and make people as a whole more aware of their surroundings.

This fall damage is a completely different topic. I know the numbers will be tweaked but the fall damage changes are in to deter the poptart meta but all they really did was make it worse for light mechs and especially light mechs without jumpjets, AKA light mechs with jumpjets are benefiting more from the change than lights without jumpjets as they can cushion their landings.

[Felicitatem Parco]

MonkeyCheese, on 24 June 2014 - 08:18 PM, said:

I know this is the wrong thread for this but Don't even attempt to troll me on that topic, I remember the days of real knockdowns well and as primarily a light pilot I have been screaming about bringing back knockdowns whenever the topic is dug up. I wish they are back it would remove the trash and make people as a whole more aware of their surroundings.

This fall damage is a completely different topic. I know the numbers will be tweaked but the fall damage changes are in to deter the poptart meta but all they really did was make it worse for light mechs and especially light mechs without jumpjets, AKA light mechs with jumpjets are benefiting more from the change than lights without jumpjets as they can cushion their landings.

I hear you to an extent, but the fall damage is still kind of pidly for Light Mechs, and the Module for reducing fall damage makes it almost non-existent for Lights. If I were a Light Mech without JJ's, then I wouldn't start getting angry about how my legs hurt when I run off cliffs because, face it, I just ran off a cliff. That *should* cause my Mech's legs to shatter.

[Toadkillerdog]

didn't you guys offer a day of premium time for a test before? Honestly, the fact that we have to download the entire game again just to run on the test server just so we can help you is not really any kind of motivation. Like a few other guys have said, either let us run stuff we don't have access to on the test server, like clan mechs or such, or offer some kind of incentive. Especially considering how most of the population feels about you guys, expecting us to spend all that time just to help you out is a little silly. If you offered any reward you would get quite a few more people, as it stands it's like expecting people to go to the DMV and wait in line just out of loyalty to their mayor.

[Tezcatli]

Perhaps offer something? Just give a ton of MC and C-bills on the PTS so people can play around.

I barely want to play against the Clan imba hordes. Even less on a different server where I earn no C-bills. I was only gonna jump on to see how much of an effect the falling damage would be. But I got more concerned with other things.

[Threat Doc]

Karl Berg, on 24 June 2014 - 07:50 PM, said:

Just a quick update on today’s public test, and the new matchmaker changes we were attempting to trial. Unfortunately PTS population levels were far too low for us to fully test the new system. We saw less than 10% of the turnout that the Clans PTS drew a few weeks ago.

That's because people COULD NOT get in. I had two friends trying all through the test to get in, and they couldn't log on at all. One of them told me that it seemed like you guys were so busy tweaking stuff that it was difficult to get in. The other one tried and tried, but it wasn't until like the last five minutes of the PTS that he was actually able to log in. You guys might want to check that.

[Cavendish]

Me and a lot of other europeans would have loved to log on the PTS and help, but for some odd reason you placed this test really late at night.

[627]

See, you need european prime time for a good test


ok just kidding, but what is working on other games I play is a little incentive to participate on a test.

Like giving everyone who is on the test for more than 30 minutes a little gift. A coffee cup with MWOTester on it or any of those cockpit items or some hours premium time or or or...

Edited by 627, 24 June 2014 - 10:01 PM.

[Imigo Montoya]

IF you had allowed us europeans to help out it would not be so depopulated on the test server.... but you choose now live with it...

[Bishop Steiner]

I got a 240 dollar clan pack in need of leveling, and limited time to do it. As Jman5 said, without some interesting reason to log onto it, while I would have liked to, it was low priority. Sorry.

[Karl Berg]

Jman5, on 24 June 2014 - 07:54 PM, said:

Just a thought, but if you want a lot of people next time you do a PTR, give the population some exclusive mech to play around with. For example if you let everyone play clans, I bet you would have had double those numbers. Or maybe you could give people a sneak peak for whatever the next mech is you plan on releasing. Or maybe if you have a new map coming you could put that baby up on the PTR.

Yes, I will definitely be bringing up incentives the next time we consider running a PTS that requires a large population turnout.

edit: And to everyone else with similar feedback, thanks for your suggestions as well! I will certainly be passing them on.

[Thorqemada]

Glad to hear it went well - aside of the absence of "Exciting Clan Stuff" the timing of the test surely would not attract many Players to participate - great to hear you still were able to gather good data from it.

See forward to the release of the new MM

[BladeXXL]

You wanna more ppl joining the test?
So try some viable times! :-)

1 am to 5 am european time ... realy?
Can you clear up the mwo playerbase quota for the time zones PST, EST, CET (other major?) please? ^^

[Karl Berg]

BladeXXL, on 24 June 2014 - 11:33 PM, said:

You wanna more ppl joining the test?
So try some viable times! :-)

1 am to 5 am european time ... realy?
Can you clear up the mwo playerbase quota for the time zones PST, EST, CET (other major?) please? ^^

The window was chosen to coincide with the production servers north american peak time, as per http://mwomercs.com/...test-24jun2014/

Unfortunately, even though we had very high population levels on production at the time, the turnout for public test was quite low. I'm sure there will be a lot of analysis as to the distributions of players who logged in, and how we might improve for the next time we run a population sensitive test. I will also pass your feedback on as well.

Thanks!

[OneEyed Jack]

If you want decent testing, you need to leave the PTS up a lot more. Bribes wouldn't hurt, but leaving it up long enough for people on different schedules to cycle through would be helpful. And opening the patch server sooner. I got this one pretty fast, though I ended up not playing. Other tests, though, I've missed simply because I couldn't patch in advance, and the patcher gets so bogged down that by the time it's ready, I don't have time to play.

Oh, and GIVE US SOME FREAKING WARNING!

Edited by OneEyed Jack, 24 June 2014 - 11:44 PM.