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Just wanted to update you all on what we found out during this test of 8-man group sizes and 8v8 gameplay restriction in the Group Queue.
Initial Findings
For perspective, here were the numbers we were looking at prior to any changes (for communication purposes, this is Scenario A ):
- 12v12 Group Queue
- 12 player max group size.
- Average time for a match 9.7 minutes.
On Friday, we set up a test restriction on Group Queue of 8-player max group sizes and matches were 8v8. During that evening, there was a community event and people checking in on what the change would play out like. Here's what we saw throughout Friday evening ( Scenario B ):
- Average time for a match in group queue: 3.2 minutes.
That was a significant drop in wait times but we have to understand that, that was a best case scenario due to the event and people trying the new system out.
As expected, after the event and check-ins, the number started to climb. We checked the numbers on Monday at noon Pacific Time, (off peak North America) and found the following ( Scenario C ):
- Average time for a match 6.5 minutes.
While 3 minutes in a queue feels like forever, this isn't a negligible amount of time saved. However, it is no where near ideal either.
A Review Meeting
So a few of us sat down with Russ and came to the following understanding:
MechWarrior Online really has not had the population in the group queue to justify its separate queue status for quite some time. Many popular games have never had the separation of group and solo players however for MWO early on with the lack of any competitive mode the Group Queue really became a way to simulate full team competition/organization while granting a solo queue for more casual players and play.
Now with Comp Mode used seasonally in MWO and player counts lower, we feel its necessary to make changes. We recently made a change to reduce group queue to 8v8 and while this helped, outside of special events promoting the group queue it still averaged between 6 and 7 minutes per match so long as groups had more than one server location selected.
Many people over the years have suggested the inclusion to allow solo players to opt-in to the group queue. This is not something we feel worth pursuing as the data shows that wouldn’t make a significant impact on the speed of match making and it also requires we make an assumption on player behavior to opt-in to group queue and for that player behavior to be consistent long term. If players were to stop opting-in, we'd be back at square one.
We feel the best option at this point is to re-combine the queues. Allow groups into solo queue but reduce the max group size to 4. This along with potentially adjusting the group tonnage allowed will reduce the overall influence the group can have on a 12v12 match. The matchmaker would also make every effort that it balanced the groups per side. This would allow all players to still enjoy full 12v12 matches not requiring changes to the economy or UI and spawn points or the way FP functions.
Comp Mode will continue to provide a competitive 8v8 environment. Faction Play will continue to be the playground of organized large group combat and Solaris will cover the 1v1 and 2v2 bragging rights battlegrounds.
Next Steps
Based on this outcome and how the queues are looking at any given moment, we've put together a plan for a next step. This however comes at a cost of development time which I don't have a full estimate for quite yet.
1) Combining Solo and Group queue.
Here is a snapshot of what the queues look like on average throughout the day:
In the image above, there is a ton of wasted match potential in the pictured situation. Those 2 and 8-man groups are going to sit there starved waiting for a match to kick off and there are no further groups in queue. Until a lot more groups show up that queue is going nowhere. Even if groups start showing up, they will need to be in a configuration that works. For example, that 8-man group is going to sit there until two 2-man groups show up or a 4-man group shows up. No other group size configuration is going to help them get a match.
If all those solo players were in the same queue, those group matches would kick off in a few seconds.
2) Max group size of 4
The reasoning behind reducing the maximum group size down from 8 is because of the overall effect a large co-ordinated group has on a match. If there was only one 8-man group in the queue and the game kicks off with all other positions on both teams with solo players, the 8-man group has a significant impact on the outcome of this match.
If the team breakdown was one 8-man group on one side an all other positions filled with 2-man groups, that impact would only be slightly mitigated.
However, looking at a queue that has, at the biggest, 4-man groups, the match maker could easily fill matches and very quickly no matter if the group size is 2, 3 or 4. If solos are used to fill vacant slots, this can be done again in seconds.
A very good 4-man group could have a heavy influence on a match, but it is no where near the impact of an 8 or 12-man group.
3) Group team balancing
The match maker will put groups on opposing teams as much as possible. If there's only 1 group in queue, there's only so much the match maker can do. However, if there are two groups in queue (no matter what the size... and another reason why 4-man max makes a lot more sense) it will put one group on team 1, and the other group on team 2.
4) Experience/Economic Balancing
As pointed out in feedback from this test, a re-balance of rewards/payouts would have to occur if we were to put the game into 8v8. Leaving the game in a 12v12 state negates this necessity and also prevents a few knock-on effects like the number of spawn points on a map, the 3 lances in the dropship/prep area and other UI inconsistencies.
An Alternative
We have another option available too an this is very minimal in terms of development cost:
Leave it as it currently is.
- 8v8 Group Queue
- Max group size 8
- New UI requirement to hard-code prevent 7-man groups from being created
- New XP/CBill/Reward payout re-balance
