19 replies to this topic

[aeota]

This game is pretty awesome in many ways - particularly the free to play model with cash shop for vanity only (all other things being easy to unlock by playing). I love the gameplay, art style, sound effects and music.. all of it is great.

The matchmaking, however, is fuzzy bunny awful. I think many others can attest to this. It seems that it's coded to 'autobalance' by rank rather than by KDR or any meaningful common sense practice... leading to NEARLY EVERY (I'd guess like 4/5 or even 9/10) game being completely one-sided. It's not a fight when your team of 5 has three new players who don't even know how to do objectives, even after you spam in chat 'PLEASE STAND INSIDE THE AA' over and over.

Just take a look at your Siege win/loss statistics and tell us if there's a huge margin of one-sided dominations. Because if that's true, as I feel it very much is, you guys need to fix this game-breaking matchmaking.

Otherwise, keep up the good work. I come back every few months to check on Hawken. (I've donated)

PS: Consider slightly nerfing berserker damage and slightly beefing predator flak cannon damage, that gun is garbage-tier awful.

[PepeKenobi]

well.... sometimes works well... others not so well...

[Silverfire]

Breacher is hands-down one of the most versatile weapons in the game.  Full hit from uncharged Breacher does 144 damage, I think that may even be higher than a full Flak Cannon hit.  Doesn't need a damage buff.

Zerker nerf_ Maybe.

If you're worried about people not playing Siege right, maybe it's NOT a matchmaking problem, but rather a problem with how the game educates players about its game modes.  

One team working together vs one team not working together is the basis for a one sided match, even if the skill levels are evenly matched.  I think it boils down to a teamwork issue rather than matchmaking.  In a server where people are adequately informed about the game mode and express a desire to work together, in my experience at least, the autobalancer divides up the teams fairly well and the game is decent, provided nobody leaves or joins.

The matchmaking does not work for hot joining.

Edited by Silverfire, Yesterday, 07:57 PM.

[TwentyFirstPilot]

Hawken's population is small. Because of that, low tier players often get teamed up with/against mid tier players. Usually, matchmaking tries does a decent job balancing matches like that (first login noobs + a vet on one team, a bunch of less new noobs on the other).

Occasionally, that system doesn't work, because the noobs involved are just so new that they can't/don't know how to counter the veteran's skill. I think that's the problem you're facing. Likely, you're a low rank player who keeps getting put in those matches.

Solution_ Take a bit of time and learn to play better, so you can carry your team, and eventually play against and crush the best.

You're fighting agains tthe odds, and that's an admirable thing to do. However, it can and does get better-- just play and you should see that. If you'd like help learning how to play, shoot me a PM and we can come up with a time that works well for both of us.

Incidentally, I main Predator-- I can teach you how to use the Breacher to its fullest potential.

[Hyginos]

Silverfire, on October 30 2014 - 07:56 PM, said:

The matchmaking does not work for hot joining.

This.

Every time you leave or join a server while a match is in progress, you break the MM.

If you want balanced matches, stay on the server as long as you can.

[nokari]

It is neither balanced by rank or KDR and is actually one of the most accurate balancing systems. The ACTUAL problem is a too small pool of players to match make.

[Moreapples]

aeota, on October 30 2014 - 07:22 PM, said:

slightly beefing predator flak cannon damage, that gun is garbage-tier awful.

no

[SparkyJJC]

Moreapples, on October 30 2014 - 09:04 PM, said:

aeota, on October 30 2014 - 07:22 PM, said:

slightly beefing predator flak cannon damage, that gun is garbage-tier awful.

no

[Akrium]

The reason why the MM tends to fail.... because you are trying to play with your friends in a party or someone else is trying to play with friends in a party.

Done.

It's all our fault in actuality because otherwise the system isn't really that bad.

Though to be fair, a system more similar to what CoD does is FAR better than the MMR system that was put in place (in my mind). But everyone (game company wise) are trying to replicate LoL and Dota since they are doing so well. But it too does fail with allowing friends to team up.

For those that don't understand what I am getting at w/ CoD.. there is no global MMR rating(sorta), instead you are ranked by your last game played. Thus when it sorts teams out for the next round it balances based on the last game played. Thus it handles the way humans play.. which has more random ups and downs than consistency of being X good always. Also it is (sorta) because it does track a Ranking that works similar to MMR, but it has nothing to do with how you are put into games.

[Houruck]

Akrium, on October 31 2014 - 04:15 AM, said:

It's all our fault in actuality because otherwise the system isn't really that bad.

[Akrium]

Houruck, on October 31 2014 - 04:21 AM, said:

Akrium, on October 31 2014 - 04:15 AM, said:

It's all our fault in actuality because otherwise the system isn't really that bad.

Why could I not turn this off.... ugh.. i feel.. dirty... but in an AWESOME way.

[Amidatelion]

aeota, on October 30 2014 - 07:22 PM, said:

PS: Consider slightly nerfing berserker damage and slightly beefing predator flak cannon damage, that gun is garbage-tier awful.

Hey, aeota, I won't jump down your throat re: match making since everyone else has informed you of its problems, but I figured I'd let you know why the breacher doesn't need a nerf:

Its charged mode shoots through shields, barriers and other mechs. Also, since you probably don't know this, you can cut a second off its reload time by charging a shot and then firing an uncharged shot, which will fire faster. With two well-placed mines, you've now killed an A-class in 2 seconds flat.

[Sorroritas]

Just be patient and continue playing.
Eventually you will someday get into the higher mmr brackets (for lack of a better term: out of "elo-hell") and get placed into matches where people have a bit of a clue about how to play siege.
The matchmaker has been denounced several times about balance, especially in siege games and yes the main problems are probably low population and parties (though I guess parties got cancelled out now because of the FL bug)

[Odinous]

1.with low population MM can't do wanders.
2.when the MM does its job most of the time people leaving their group and fuzzy bunny it all up.
Imo I  haven't sen better matchmaking system In a game.

[Skitzo1d]

aeota, on October 30 2014 - 07:22 PM, said:

The matchmaking, however, is fuzzy bunny awful.

The only reason you say the Matchmaking is terrible, becuase you have a matchmaking system set up in the first place.  Many (specially games of old) never have any matchmaking set up in the first place.  You only have something to complain about because its there in the first place.

Second point being is the matchmaking is not normally the results of the fail, but ability for teams to work together. Ie..  Sometimes you get put on a team that just doesnt know how to attack together or work together for nothing.  Each persons skill individually makes the matchmaker work well, but put certain people together that dont know how to work as a team and thats when you have people blaming matchmaker cause they need something to blame rather than themselfs for their utter failure in working together as a team.

[thabz]

Most of the times when a game is heavily unbalanced it is because of a smurf...

[hestoned]

AMERICA

[StubbornPuppet]

The matchmaking (balancer) works very well when:

A. there are enough players in the pool to work with.
B. folks wait to start the match until the teams each have 4 players
C. players stick around between matches so the next one can start full

Matchmaking breaks down when:

A. a bunch of players rage quit a team at the first sign of trouble and another player is in queue for that game mode.
B. a group of high mmr players party up and join a match in progress so all 3 are on the same team.
C. players sign into an alt account on another computer and join the other team of the same match they're playing to force them to be a man short the entire rest of the game.

I am not saying that Hawken's matchmaking is perfect, it's not.  I'm just saying that it worked very well when there were more players than there are today.  If there were still developers working on Hawken, they could make adjustments to it that would accommodate the lower player count and combat some of the poor sportsmanship techniques that have been learned over time.

[Call_Me_Ishmael]

thabz, on October 31 2014 - 09:11 AM, said:

Most of the times when a game is heavily unbalanced it is because of a smurf...

Getting tired of this refrain.

Edited by Call_Me_Ishmael, Today, 02:43 PM.

[TwentyFirstPilot]