16 replies to this topic

[Necro]

Try to convince people to wait till they click ready.

Whenever I have 6 people in a lobby I ask them to wait for a bit and we seem to then start getting more players. I have started being able to play 6v6 games like this.

for some reason servers with already 6 people in it seem to get people a lot faster then a new server the game sets up and it's only you in it.

[Akaon]

From my experiences, that actually works, yeah. Shame you have to wait to get players though, once the game starts chances of people joining are very slim.

[Saer]

Another way I've found to be quite effective is simply, add people to your friends list. I find it much easier to find full matches when I just join a game someone on my friends list is already in.

Granted, you're not very particular on the game mode.

[h0B0]

Saer, on November 30 2012 - 05:01 PM, said:

Another way I've found to be quite effective is simply, add people to your friends list. I find it much easier to find full matches when I just join a game someone on my friends list is already in.

Granted, you're not very particular on the game mode.

That^

[Modus_Pwnens]

I don't seem to be able to find any matches. I've been trying for several days on both the US West and East in each game mode. Aside from one time that I got into a 5-man TDM and another time I went into a room with one other person (who swiftly left), the matchmaking has taken me into an empty room every time. About a dozen times now, I've also sat in the rooms to see if other people would join, each time for about 20 minutes. Most of the time no one joins - once I had three people after ten minutes, but they all left about two minutes later.

While I understand the need to test matchmaking, it seems a little odd to me to have paid access to a beta where it's this hard to actually find a game. This is the sort of thing that ought to be tested before you ask people for money to get access. I'm perfectly understanding of the notion that I paid to help test, but I'm not even doing that - I can't get into a game to test anything. And really, much as it's still a "beta", once you start asking people for money to gain access, I think it's reasonable that there's some expectation that there will be something to access.

(This probably comes across as more bitter and entitled than I actually feel.)

Edited by Modus_Pwnens, November 30 2012 - 10:56 PM.

[bacon_avenger]

Modus_Pwnens, on November 30 2012 - 10:55 PM, said:

While I understand the need to test matchmaking, it seems a little odd to me to have paid access to a beta where it's this hard to actually find a game. This is the sort of thing that ought to be tested before you ask people for money to get access. I'm perfectly understanding of the notion that I paid to help test, but I'm not even doing that - I can't get into a game to test anything. And really, much as it's still a "beta", once you start asking people for money to gain access, I think it's reasonable that there's some expectation that there will be something to access.

Umm, Hawken is free to play, they have never asked for money to access the beta, nor will they.

The vanguard initiative was full optional, you could have waited for open beta in about twelve days or looked for a closed beta code (they were still around when the initiative was made available for purchase).

The matchmaker has been a point of soreness for a lot of players since the start of CBT3.  I don't know if they have fixed it up yet, but one of the devs was on a personal mission to get it fixed ASAP (this was posted last week/weekend).

I must be lucky, as the times I've been able to log in, I've only once found myself in an empty lobby.

[Gestankfaust]

Hi Bacon!!  Grants pass OR here.

Match making sucks....still. What ever they are talking about up there...matters not. Spotting upgaraded mechs_ Shouldn't have to.

[Modus_Pwnens]

bacon_avenger, on November 30 2012 - 11:16 PM, said:

Modus_Pwnens, on November 30 2012 - 10:55 PM, said:

While I understand the need to test matchmaking, it seems a little odd to me to have paid access to a beta where it's this hard to actually find a game. This is the sort of thing that ought to be tested before you ask people for money to get access. I'm perfectly understanding of the notion that I paid to help test, but I'm not even doing that - I can't get into a game to test anything. And really, much as it's still a "beta", once you start asking people for money to gain access, I think it's reasonable that there's some expectation that there will be something to access.

Umm, Hawken is free to play, they have never asked for money to access the beta, nor will they.

The vanguard initiative was full optional, you could have waited for open beta in about twelve days or looked for a closed beta code (they were still around when the initiative was made available for purchase).

The matchmaker has been a point of soreness for a lot of players since the start of CBT3.  I don't know if they have fixed it up yet, but one of the devs was on a personal mission to get it fixed ASAP (this was posted last week/weekend).

I must be lucky, as the times I've been able to log in, I've only once found myself in an empty lobby.

So the suggestion here is that because the $5 was optional, there is no reason to expect to get something for it_ That's preposterous. They're selling access to CB3 under the rather clear assumption that people who buy said access will be able to play it. They absolutely asked for money to access the beta - the fact that there were other routes into it doesn't somehow mean that the other no longer exists. Hell, they're taking it a step further than a lot of similar free-to-play games in not just offering packages that include beta access, but offering a package that includes only the beta access.

That stupidity aside, my main point was more of a query than an indictment. I think it's odd to begin offering paid-access to a beta on a beta stage that makes it hard to actually find a game, but mostly I was just offering my experience thus far and, I suppose rather implicitly, wondering if I was doing something wrong.

[Akrium]

I can say I've had many full games since this last patch. I don't wait for the server to fill either before readying up. People are filling in while we are starting it up. And even though I've added up a lot of new friends, it isn't always them filling in either.

So I don't know if they changed something this last patch or not.. but it feels better at any rate. Maybe they dropped the number of servers open too...

[bacon_avenger]

Modus_Pwnens, on December 01 2012 - 12:58 AM, said:

So the suggestion here is that because the $5 was optional, there is no reason to expect to get something for it_ That's preposterous. They're selling access to CB3 under the rather clear assumption that people who buy said access will be able to play it. They absolutely asked for money to access the beta - the fact that there were other routes into it doesn't somehow mean that the other no longer exists. Hell, they're taking it a step further than a lot of similar free-to-play games in not just offering packages that include beta access, but offering a package that includes only the beta access.

Preposterous, how_

The 5 USD spent, at the lowest level, was for early access to a beta and 5 USD of meteor points, nothing more.  Anyone who spent any amount of time looking at the forums would have seen that matchmaking is currently not "optimal", no matter how loosely you use the term.

If someone wanted to spend the money to get access instead of doing the work to find one of the free codes or waiting about 12 more days, that's their decision.

Modus_Pwnens, on December 01 2012 - 12:58 AM, said:

That stupidity aside, my main point was more of a query than an indictment. I think it's odd to begin offering paid-access to a beta on a beta stage that makes it hard to actually find a game, but mostly I was just offering my experience thus far and, I suppose rather implicitly, wondering if I was doing something wrong.

I don't know what you are referring to as stupidity, but as this is off topic, I won't continue discussion of this subject.  I merely wanted to point out that paying anything to get early access was 100% optional.  Your post made it sound like they were asking for money to get early access and that was the only way to do it (which it's not).

*back on topic*

You aren't doing anything wrong in regards to the matchmaking, it really is that boogered up, or a good amount of
players have stopped logging in due to disgust with the current matchmaker system.  It didn't help that the 'all regions' option was removed as well.

Edited by bacon_avenger, December 01 2012 - 01:30 AM.

[Noin]

h0B0, on November 30 2012 - 06:45 PM, said:

Saer, on November 30 2012 - 05:01 PM, said:

Another way I've found to be quite effective is simply, add people to your friends list. I find it much easier to find full matches when I just join a game someone on my friends list is already in.

Granted, you're not very particular on the game mode.

That^

I agree with this except I need to stop adding the great players and add more average players,  I am getting awesome full games, it is just that I am middle of the road or getting stomped now.  

[Modus_Pwnens]

I don't know if anything's changed, but it seems to be marginally better today. I actually got into two games in a little over an hour total.

[Subdivision]

The best way to a get a game with people to begin with is to let your friends list grow as much as possible. Then you can join a friend's game. Once you're in game with people, try the OP's suggestion.

Plus, you can get better as a player by practising with better players than yourself. The community on the whole is really nice and I'd like to shout out to all the awesome folks I've had pleasure of playing with and against in game! If anyone see's me, feel free to add too.

[The_Silencer]

Additionally, I think that, most of the times, pilots should wait a little more time before clicking on Ready.

[Noin]

The_Silencer, on December 03 2012 - 10:37 AM, said:

Additionally, I think that, most of the times, pilots should wait a little more time before clicking on Ready.

If you are saying this, the match maker or game starter or whatever it is should compensate for what you are manually compensating for.  

I personally want to start as soon as possible.  The game should fill up in the first 1-3 minutes time if that is all you are doing by waiting.  But by starting, you don't have people giving up on the game and leaving.  

Theoretically, the match maker should know how many people are starting a game by time of day, type of game, and what region they are from and should automatically be deciding when that time is that it should 'start' the match.  It should also be tracking things like pre-game impatient leavers and how long they waited, etc.

Edited by Noin, December 03 2012 - 01:33 PM.

[The_Silencer]

Well.. I was referring to, for instance, those TDM or DM matches with only 3 -2 players in.. Still I think that by just waiting 1 more minute.. although players may join in once the match has started; although this is what the matchmaking system should be fullfiling well.

[Noin]

That is exactly right.  The match maker should be managing this all.  It should be putting players on I nan effort to fill up a server and effectively should not be letting them jump ship by one mechanism or another.  

It may need some indicators as to whether you mind joining mid match, kind of a preferences.  That way if your preference is to never be placed in a game in the last 3 minutes, it could take that into account.  Theoretically you would be more inclined then to wait for the start of a match.  

The match maker should have enough stats by now, or soon to even make decisions on starting matches with say 3v3 if the volume of new requests is low that time of day, if the requests pick up, it could tune itself to start with 4v4, and at the busiest times it would not start a match with out full teams.  

Part of the problem is the user's expectations.  Once you get in the ready screen, there is just nothing to do and the user is expecting to be able to start playing, after all that is why they clicked find match. If the matchmaker had a finding match status window and allowed you to be in the garage, your stats, etc while it was finding your 'full' match and once it found the sufficient players it sent you all at once to the server it would be a completely different experience.  

I would be happy to help the devs hammer stuff like this out.  I love product management and agile development.