Ping Based Matchmaking

@BabbediboopiI don’t really thing its entirely server ping, but also a mix of a players internet speed or hardware

For instance I used to play on satelite Internet on roblox and a few other games when I was little and well 900-1200 constant ping was the best I could get no matter what game I chose... and anywheres between 1.5-3k+ ms ping on games that required a huge map to load, so you could imagine players with faster mbps will not lag as bad as players with lower mbps this depends on their subscription with their internet provider  or what is available in their area , also sometimes outdated hardware can cause your game to lag and your character to barely move with incorrect video settings for instance settings higher than you are able to run so you can expect them to appear laggy as hell on any other players screens as well

I do think sbmm and the servers are another factor to this issue though, usually at night I get teammates speaking spanish, japenese, thai or something Russian etc, and I live in eastern us... i dont think much about the spanish as its common for mexicans to be in my area but All of the other languages I expect to be overseas

Hey everyone,

lets keep it to the topic, so far everyone is on topic and lets keep it like that. 

Ping Based Matchmaking not something I heard before per say, games normally have that you get MM the best ping and servers for a better experience. Apex and SWBF2 does this if you don't choose what server you want to be on as example.

/Atic

@TheJumpingJawa We are NOT discussing SBMM we are discussing Ping based matchmaking PBM. These are two different types of matchmaking. One is based off of the players skill, the other is based off of the players connection.

Ping often gets used synonymously and interchanged with latency, but while it is related, this is not correct. The term has its roots in active sonar, with a ping being the pulse of sound sent out, followed by listening for its reflection to come back. Ping in computers actually refers to the signal sent out across the network to another computer, and this other computer then sends its own signal back, which is another ping. The measurement of this round trip then gets referred to as latency.

@EA_Atic 

1. Apex may pick the best server based on your location but it is not 100% accurate all the time. I live in Ireland & theres multiple times where I have started the game up & its auto selected me to be put in Australia, New York, Sao Paulo etc.

2. Apex will auto select the server on start. But its extremely easy to pick another server & a lot of people do this to get an unfair advantage.

3. All in all after all of the arguing in this post with others, I still come to the conclusion that Ping Based Matchmaking needs to come to the game.

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@KUSHD wrote:

@TheJumpingJawa We are NOT discussing SBMM we are discussing Ping based matchmaking PBM. These are two different types of matchmaking. One is based off of the players skill, the other is based off of the players connection.

Ping often gets used synonymously and interchanged with latency, but while it is related, this is not correct. The term has its roots in active sonar, with a ping being the pulse of sound sent out, followed by listening for its reflection to come back. Ping in computers actually refers to the signal sent out across the network to another computer, and this other computer then sends its own signal back, which is another ping. The measurement of this round trip then gets referred to as latency.

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Yes. And?

At no point did I confuse the matchmaking paradigms or my use of terminology.

My initial post attempted to contrast how matchmaking expectations have changed over the years, and how these changes have altered our perception of fairness.

As to server selection, it's still unclear how Apex's backend handles locating lobbies when mixed location parties & potentially sparse player populations are involved.

Honestly a better in my opinion idea would be to remove the ability to change servers on the client side. Dedicate some resources to better understanding the server errors in play now and get a stable server farm that actually functions. I play in the midwest US, and sometimes play with friends in England and France. We collectively stay on our own servers and I don't see them nor do they see me rubberbanding across the  screen. Yet I play with someone in Oregon and sometimes I swear it is like watching an infinite wraith portal they move erraticly and somethings just seem off.

While in theory I do like the idea of ping matchmaking, when and where would the line be drawn? You hear now of people in diamond and predator lobbies in Australia not being able to get games. What happens to outlier countries and player bases when they are stuck playing against the same 60 or so players over and over. Just food for thought. I am not against it, just seeing the bigger picture of what I have seen in game and on the forums. 

As far as testing high ping, I have tried changing servers a few times to high ping and no way would I say it is an advantage. Audio cues completely gone teammates and enemies teleporting around you. Not really an advantage in my book at all. If all 3 of your teammates went to high ping you would have no way to test it's effect unless there was an active kill cam so you could see what the enemy sees.

Bottom line on ping is the fact that it is higher in this game than any other I play an has not come down since launch. I would say one of the best implements at this point for UI they could do was offer an in game hud of actual ping rate. Fortnite had/has this and it makes it easy when recording fights to see if ping was playing a part in why you lost a certain battle or not. 

I can't speak for anyone else, but I am getting sick of hearing shots landing seeing the splash effect of a hit marker yet no damage numbers only to leave a game and see 3 out of 10 shots hit.

All in all if this gets an implement in the future I hope they lock out the ability to change servers manually. Just saying.

@mastiffslinger & @EA_Atic 

The best thing to do, would be to look at how PUBG managed to take away Server Select & how they implemented Ping Based Matchmaking. 

Also, I would not mind if I occasionally matched against people from other countries if the system of autoPing Based Matchmaking selected them to be there because there isn't enough players in that region. But constantly playing against people with 60+ Ping is a no go in my books.

Another thing that should come with Ping Based Matchmaking is a report system to report people who use VPN's to get around the Ping Based Matchmaking System.

@SmallZzy 

+60 Ping would be a no go?

I live just outside of Minneapolis MN and my server is Iowa. I have excellent internet service and the best my ping rate is at launch of game is 38, more likely 56. The next region is 60-70. So having a cap at 60 would region lock me. And  I would assume it would region lock alot of people. 

I stand by what I said earlier, the resources need to be allocated to fix the server issues and hit reg issues,(which I am sure are  server related in discrepancies in ping and what not).

These ping rates we go by are what show up on the load in screen, so in game  I am going to assume the numbers are worse. Which is why it would be great to have an in game monitor hud display of real time ping. Judging by some of the characteristics of opponents I am going to say I see some serious spikes in ping throughout my games.

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@mastiffslinger wrote:

@SmallZzy 

+60 Ping would be a no go?

These ping rates we go by are what show up on the load in screen, so in game  I am going to assume the numbers are worse. Which is why it would be great to have an in game monitor hud display of real time ping. Judging by some of the characteristics of opponents I am going to say I see some serious spikes in ping throughout my games.

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Much *much* worse if independent analysis is to be believed; latencies approaching 300ms are typical for those playing with a 50ms ping.