92 replies to this topic

[Ziljheim]

1

 

Super consolidation!!!

[ReEvolve]

I'd choose option #3. If you merge too many server regions people will have trouble finding the servers best suited for them. Especially newbies rely on the matchmaker to find the best server for them and the matchmaker doesn't really care about your ping iirc.
 

3. Make it obvious and clear what the skill ratings for the servers are. The current 3 star system is very confusing. Many new players hop into a 1 star server, thinking it's "easy" when in reality it's an awful server for them to join. They should be joining 3 star servers but they don't because they think it's a harder server.

Good point on the 1-3 star system.. whatever the case, we need to make it obvious that "this server will be a really good time for all involved"

Well, "using actual words" might be worth a try. >_>
 

Change the display of match quality (dev)

Problem: New players often don't understand the star rating system for the quality of a match in the serverlist. There is a short explanation above the server list but many people don't even see it properly. I also heard of newbies who thought that a 3 star rating means that there are only high skilled players on that server. Due to that misunderstanding they joined 1 star rated servers instead and got stomped.

Effect: Players repeatedly join servers not suited for them and get stomped. Frustrated players are more likely to leave the game.

Possible solution: That system can definitely improved by replacing the ambiguous stars by actual words like "ideal match", "okay match" and "bad match". It could look like this:

(https://community.pl...nce-of-newbies/)

[Draigun]

The community is too small to remotely benefit from a revamp of matchmaking enhancements, imo. Generally speaking, the matchmaking function will offset the majority of the dynamic population more so than the server browser function. It's simple intuitive behavior that clicking the Play button will hand you a quality match within a relatively short period of time. Therefore, what needs to be done is exactly what capnjosh had proposed in this thread.

 

In that regard, my choice is leaning towards option #3. Of course, there are those of us who prefer to use the server browser in every possible scenario. Option 3 seems to fit Hawken's player base quite well, as it both remediates the US East population monopoly and should mitigate region latency, if implemented the right way. Option #3 is not as specific and informative as the others, but the lack of information in the server browser could benefit Hawken for the goals of increasing the player base and improving player retention. Unfortunately, it's impossible to predict how well it will improve the quality of matches, since Hawken has been predominantly playing on USE servers to accommodate the lack of activity in other regions, for quite a while too.

 

Ultimately, the ability to interpret ping in the server browser will be vital in the long run, but isn't necessarily needed at the moment. There needs to be a force�in this case, the matchmaking system�that unequivocally distributes players to their relative regions accordingly.

 

However, the possible drawbacks that I see from any consolidation and/or change to the matchmaking system are a stagnation of matches, and/or a larger ratio of undesirable matches to quality matches. Hawken has the small player base to amplify these effects, depending on how many play during the time of day. And of course, there is always a possibility of nothing working for Hawken; more specifically, the matchmaking system and any revamps to it, depends on a large player base, so our numbers may not fit the bill.

 

Even if the right option has been chosen, we won't see its benefit immediately until there are attempts to rev up the efforts to increase the size of Hawken's player base.

Edited by Draigun, 31 March 2015 - 01:43 PM.

[Kvalheim]

You know, I've been a part of other F2P games that have sadly died, but in their latter days I always feel like the notion of separate regions loses benefit with small playerbases. Having a matchmaking system that takes player ping into account alongside skill seems like it would be more beneficial, as would a Server browser that consolidates within one "Planet Earth" region but SHOWS ping, instead of a general "3-Star Quality" system that's a little too vague

[Jayged]

Interesting. Color me stupid - I never realized I could change servers, but then I've never had a truly awful connection in all the hours we've played. I like the sound of #1 if you can show expected pings beside the servers.

[mccrorie]

I'm curious, would Australasia get bundled into Asia?. That would probably make it not worth my time to re-install. Disappointing but par for the course for games that are not extremely popular.

[plato666]

Honestly i dont mind how it's done but i would like to see more European players,I just wonder why people haven't fallen in love with the game like we have.At the momant i'm in the uk and play mainly on USA east servers with no problem at all.sorry if went slightly of topic.

[camtheking20]

The matchmaker should be replaced by a list of all available server's whith ping and player levels range showing

[WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW]

Option 1 or 3.

Having said that, I don't think this consolidation will help as much as a better region selection interface and matchmaking algorithm. Things I'd like to see that I think of as objectively better solutions:

(1) New region selection interface. It is designed to show all regions at once in graphical form with multi-option select. Players can toggle all regions that they would like to participate in. I hate being confined to looking only at USE servers when I could be looking at USE, USW, and USC simultaneously while also offering the opportunity as an individual to help with server population problems by observing multiple regions at once.

(2) Better matchmaking algorithm. Players can select multiple regions at once to matchmake in, and the algorithm performs a search in an increasingly large scope that adjusts for ping and skill level. This way, even if no consolidation was performed, the player can choose to play in whichever regions they seem suitable, or multiple at the same time.

[Draco3]

I myself tend to see option 3 as the preferred of the 3 options.  I am in Australia and while there are Singapore / Australian servers most of the time there are "0" players when I log in.  Now given that I am playing generally from 7:30pm (GMT+8) time, most of the East Coast of Australia players are probably retired for the night.  All my games are always played on the East coast and I can live with a 300 ping (and as someone else previously said yes you can be successful playing the game at 300 ping, mind you I have been able to get lower down at 250 ping on some occasions).  It's rare I look at anywhere else outside of the US east as that's where all the games seem to be.

[Upright_6]

I actually think that choosing wichever locations you would like to connect to would be a good option. Like in DOTA 2

Edited by Upright_6, 01 April 2015 - 11:07 AM.

[sonnyketsit]

im indonesian, i dont really understand the different haha but looks like the choice no.2 and 3 is simple enough

[capnjosh]

As a recap of what stood out to me in the replies to this topic:

 

1. Server browser needs more filtering and sorting options

  - ping, indicate how much time is left in match

2. Do not "unlock" the server browser

  - just let everyone use it if they want to

3. Star system needs to be improved or removed

  - example:  Does 1 star mean "easy" or "stay away"?

4. Matchmaker should prefer servers with lower ping

  - if no servers are found given current filters, it should expand search

 

 

My dev thoughts:

Matchmaker may require a good bit of work, along with the information provided by what the matchmaker calls "client announcements".  

Region definitions are flexible.  As player size grows, I'm all for tuning it in response.

Things like adding ping to the server browser would require client patches.

Some updates to the matchmaker can be done without a client patch, but those changes won't be comprehensive.

 

 

 

I'm going to lock the thread after this post.  That way I'll be able to easily reference this in the future.  PM if you think I should add another point to my encapsulation.