19 replies to this topic

[Goose]

I keep seeing assault lances and light swarms (including the fast mediums,) so I wonder what the ocation is …

[El Bandito]

If too many people are choosing the same class, the MM simply gives up and lump them together after failing to find matches. Happened during Dire Whale release, happening now, and will happen at Timbie release.

Edited by El Bandito, 06 November 2014 - 12:08 AM.

[Xetelian]

Some days I have 4 assaults some days I have 2, ;lately that medium queue is brutal.

[Hans Von Lohman]

matchmaker is NOT locked to a hard limit of 3x3x3x3.

If needed due to players queing up in too many of one mech weight class, then they can do a lopsided roster if needed with one weight class of 2 and another of 4, but the enemy team will likewise get that ratio as well.

Right now it is all Mediums due some really good quirks falling on old favorites in the medium mechs, and the fact the Clan fast medium 45 ton Ice Ferret just came out.

Edited by Hans Von Lohman, 06 November 2014 - 12:13 AM.

[Vassago Rain]

It never worked to begin with.

[Redshift2k5]

3/3/3/3 was never a hard rule (well it was for like a day). It is a base guideline but the MM will "flex" it's rules after too much time has passed, so it will create matches with other combinations. It's a balance between better matching vs shorter queue lengths.

[Joseph Mallan]

Vassago Rain, on 06 November 2014 - 12:35 AM, said:

It never worked to begin with.

Untrue. It worked once.
...
...
...
Maybe twice. But no more than twice!

[stjobe]

Vassago Rain, on 06 November 2014 - 12:35 AM, said:

It never worked to begin with.

Joseph Mallan, on 06 November 2014 - 10:30 AM, said:

Untrue. It worked once.
...
...
...
Maybe twice. But no more than twice!

They tried to force 4x3 and the matchmaker had such a hard time getting matches together they removed the limit after one day. Then they coded in the infamous "release valves".

Those release valves are why you're seeing so few 4x3 matches, because they allow the matchmaker to make non-4x3 matches if it takes too long to put a match together - making the 4x3 more of a gentle recommendation (read: if the stars align) than any kind of hard rule.

Players seem to want to play mainly assaults and heavies (partly because they're big, stompy robots, and partly because that's what the game has been rewarding you for playing for most of its existence), so instead of trying to incentivize people to run more lights and mediums, PGI just decided to let them.

[Joseph Mallan]

stjobe, on 06 November 2014 - 10:48 AM, said:

They tried to force 4x3 and the matchmaker had such a hard time getting matches together they removed the limit after one day. Then they coded in the infamous "release valves".

Those release valves are why you're seeing so few 4x3 matches, because they allow the matchmaker to make non-4x3 matches if it takes too long to put a match together - making the 4x3 more of a gentle recommendation (read: if the stars align) than any kind of hard rule.

Players seem to want to play mainly assaults and heavies (partly because they're big, stompy robots, and partly because that's what the game has been rewarding you for playing for most of its existence), so instead of trying to incentivize people to run more lights and mediums, PGI just decided to let them.

Truth be told right now its 40-60 percent mediums 25-30 Assaults and what ever for Heavy and whats a light?

[Bhael Fire]

The 3/3/3/3 rule has been a general guideline for MM for a while now, not a hard limit.

I still think they should scrap it and just go with 1:1 chassis tonnage matching (i.e., one side gets a 100-tonner, then the other side does too, etc.). Seems like that'd be a more granular approach.

[Tarogato]

Joseph Mallan, on 06 November 2014 - 10:51 AM, said:

... and whats a light?

If you ask anyone other than a mental-case Locust pilot...

[BourbonFaucet]

Tarogato, on 06 November 2014 - 10:55 AM, said:

If you ask anyone other than a mental-case Locust pilot...

And that's just the problem. Whether or not it was IGP or PGI that did it, the game was designed around the idea of Assault 'mechs being "end game content" and are therefore currently objectively geared towards the gameplay and ideology of the game's inner workings.

In layman's terms? It's a race to the top of the tonnage stack. If it was IGP that caused this, it may be reversed, otherwise I have no idea.

[Davers]

Bhael Fire, on 06 November 2014 - 10:53 AM, said:

The 3/3/3/3 rule has been a general guideline for MM for a while now, not a hard limit.

I still think they should scrap it and just go with 1:1 chassis tonnage matching (i.e., one side gets a 100-tonner, then the other side does too, etc.). Seems like that'd be a more granular approach.

Not enough mechs in certain weight classes for that. If someone drops in a Banshee then you would have to wait for someone else to drop in a Banshee too. So PGI would have to add release valves….and you would end up with what we have now all over again.

[Jetfire]

Joseph Mallan, on 06 November 2014 - 10:51 AM, said:

Truth be told right now its 40-60 percent mediums 25-30 Assaults and what ever for Heavy and whats a light?

The 3/3/3/3 with release valves was step 1 and it works... usually, mostly. What it needs and what it craves though is the other half of the equation. Rewards for filling the lowest queues which adapt at relatively fast intervals.

Edited by Jetfire, 06 November 2014 - 11:48 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

Jetfire, on 06 November 2014 - 11:43 AM, said:

The 3/3/3/3 with release valves was step 1 and it works... usually, mostly. What it needs and what is craves though is the other half of the equation. BOOSTS for filling the lowest queues which adapt at relatively fast intervals.

It was an observation only not a complaint. I'm a dedicated Atlas/assault pilot. I like the lack of faster mechs.

[AlmightyAeng]

Bhael Fire, on 06 November 2014 - 10:53 AM, said:

The 3/3/3/3 rule has been a general guideline for MM for a while now, not a hard limit.

I still think they should scrap it and just go with 1:1 chassis tonnage matching (i.e., one side gets a 100-tonner, then the other side does too, etc.). Seems like that'd be a more granular approach.

The 3/3/3/3 with a release valve DOES Match up the weight CLASSES though. So, if you have 3/5/2/2 then I believe the other side should, too.

[Angel of Annihilation]

El Bandito, on 06 November 2014 - 12:07 AM, said:

If too many people are choosing the same class, the MM simply gives up and lump them together after failing to find matches. Happened during Dire Whale release, happening now, and will happen at Timbie release.

Personally I think it is great. Honestly I miss the days back in close beta where you had no clue what was going to be dropped into a match. It was pretty awesome to have one match swarmed by lights and the next swarmed by Assaults. Honestly felt more like a real battle where things were much less predictable and required you to adapt on the fly. Load outs were different as well. Less meta, more mixed to accommodate the changing conditions or at least that is how it seemed.

[Almond Brown]

Joseph Mallan, on 06 November 2014 - 10:51 AM, said:

stuff
whats a light?

The thing with the Shade on it Joe. Just ask the missus..

Edited by Almond Brown, 06 November 2014 - 12:11 PM.

[Kensaisama]

Viktor Drake, on 06 November 2014 - 11:52 AM, said:

Personally I think it is great. Honestly I miss the days back in close beta where you had no clue what was going to be dropped into a match. It was pretty awesome to have one match swarmed by lights and the next swarmed by Assaults. Honestly felt more like a real battle where things were much less predictable and required you to adapt on the fly. Load outs were different as well. Less meta, more mixed to accommodate the changing conditions or at least that is how it seemed.

Ah yes the good ole days, where you would run into a full group of Streakmandos or a full group of Streakcats, seems like yesterday (sigh)

[El Bandito]

Viktor Drake, on 06 November 2014 - 11:52 AM, said:

Personally I think it is great. Honestly I miss the days back in close beta where you had no clue what was going to be dropped into a match. It was pretty awesome to have one match swarmed by lights and the next swarmed by Assaults. Honestly felt more like a real battle where things were much less predictable and required you to adapt on the fly. Load outs were different as well. Less meta, more mixed to accommodate the changing conditions or at least that is how it seemed.

LESS predictable? It made it MORE predictable. For the last few weeks, the Assault lance was generally jammed with four Dire Whales. Currently the Light lance is mostly Ice Ferrets. And next week, there will be four Timberwolves per team in each queue, for a long time.

Edited by El Bandito, 06 November 2014 - 05:24 PM.