Skill Based Matchmaking - A Review

This isn't another rant post about SBMM, I want to break down the system and look at the benefits and problems that is has, while also looking at possible solutions that could be put in place to make it better. It's clear that over the last 3 months or so, the general response to skill-based matchmaking in Apex legends has been very negative. However it's unlikely that you are going to hear from those that believe it's a positive addition to the game, because well... they're busy just enjoying the game and are probably unaware that it even exists.

• It allows new players to play against other new players, helping them to learn the game.
• Highly skilled players have more challenge in their games.
• Middle tier players have less games that are overrun by higher tier players, a more even playing field to achieve badges and wins.

• Skill assessment is not always correct, meaning lower tier players could be playing against higher tier players without any easy way to combat it.
• Almost impossible for higher tier players to have more casual games.
• Grouping up with friends that are in lower skill tiers means that they are playing in a lobby that is too difficult for them.
• More players creating new accounts so that they can have easy games.
• No tangible benefit to being in a higher tier lobby, higher tier lobbies give exactly the same rewards as lower tier lobbies.
• Much harder for experienced but lower skilled players to get wins and rare badges in high tier lobbies.

There is no doubt that SBMM has a benefit to the game's new players, however in order for Apex to succeed it needs not only to be able to draw new players in, but also to keep them playing the game for years to come. This means creating an environment that works for all players regardless of natural ability at the game. 

Being a Battle Royale there is always going to be one team of winners and the rest of those teams are going to be losers, this means it's important at every stage to even out the playing field as much as possible. However as long as there is a higher proportion of players in the mid-range then the high skilled players will be few and far between in each game. 

One thing that I've been saying for a while now is that while the badges show a certain achievement they do not elaborate on the context on how it was achieved. There are a lot of players starting new accounts purely so that they can easily achieve the elusive "20 kill" and "4000 damage" badges. To anyone looking at these accounts later in time the context of which the badges were achieved would remain unknown, and therefore the gravitas behind the badges would wear off. 

Solution 1 - Random tiered Lobbies.

• In this solution there are 3 different types of player pool ( Beginner, Casual & Pro ) 
• Everyone under the level of 50 will default be in a beginners pool, XP for kills, wins and damage are increased by 300% to accelerate the time that good players spend in this pool. Badges cannot be awarded in the beginners pool.
• Once players get to level 50 they will be moved to the casual pool and will be able to unlock badges for their character, every casual lobby is made up of random players of all kinds of skill level.
• At level 100 players unlock the Pro pool, in Pro lobbies players gain XP at 150%. Badges earned in Pro lobbies have a red glow around them to give them more gravitas. 
• Having the Pro pool allows players to choose to have more challenging matches to earn better rewards.

Solution 2 - SBMM with XP variance.

• Players are designated a skill level (between 5000 - 1) based on their in-game performance which they can see on their stats page, players will play against other players at a similar skill level.
• Players also have the ability to play at different skill levels with an adjustment to their overall earned XP.
• Players can play at levels 1000 above and blow their current skill level.
• Choosing the lowest tier will put your overall XP earned at 30% what it would be normally. 
• Choosing the highest tier will put your overall XP earned at 150% what it would be normally.
• Badges can only be earned playing at your current level or above.
• Playing in a party will average out all of the skill levels to create one for the whole party, but will only allow for 500 levels of adjustment either way on the difficulty slider.
• Players get their skill level once they reach level 50, until that point certain badges cannot be awarded.

I hope that this post puts SBMM a little bit more into perspective for people and allows for a positive and fruitful debate on the topic, I welcome ideas for how SBMM could work in the future, but for the game to welcome in new players it has to be more than just "Remove SBMM".

Kind Regards,

Cabowse.