https://youtu.be/6i5642d4DNoThe above link details a long standing CoD dev’s thoughts on “SBMM” in non-ranked modes. Please watch.His highlighted point is that “VARIANCE” is the most favorable and ethical experience for non-ranked online game modes. This is something I have literally been screaming about for years.I am exactly 361 games in on Season 15 and I have 2 wins. Please read that again. TWO wins. Not because I am below average, but because above average players who aren’t Preds are literally punished by matchmaking. Each online service game is different. There is a difference between BR’s and Arena shooters. But the fact remains that curating lobbies without reward (non-ranked) creates a problematic experience for anyone who is on the “right side of the skill bell curve” (save the tippy top players).

@Axs5626Sxa5001I got as far through that as I could before it made me want to put my fist through my screen.The idea that non-ranked gameplay should be a feeding ground for high-level players, and that it's completely okay because there are no ranks at stake, is the single most offensive thing I've ever heard on the subject of sbmm. It's exactly the thing that high-level players say when they're tired of slogging it out with other high-level players and start feeling put upon, as if they have some intrinsic right to crap all over lower-level players for no other reason than because it would be more fun for them.And I'm also tired to death of the very mistaken idea that ranked gameplay is reward driven and unranked gameplay is "casual," "non-competitive," "insert your own rationalization here for why it's okay to pit what amounts to professional athletes against kids." Rankings are a head game that do not REWARD players, they DESCRIBE their abilities. Players very mistakenly think of it as reward-based, and hence my description of it as a head game. The only reward in any game, imo, is a win. And last I checked this game offers wins in both ranked and unranked gameplay. Taking a win away from a guy who just started the game and has twenty matches in two weeks, so that some sweaty diamond grinder can feel better about himself is pitiable.Virtually every competitive sport I can think of has gameplay broken into peer groups, grouped either by age or by skill. Little Leaguers very seldom, unless I've missed some new development, play against the Red Sox. And with reason. That kind of pummeling doesn't make the kids into better players, and it absolutely shouldn't make the pros feel all tough and manly. If it does then those people should be medicated. And barred from the sport.Sorry about the rant but I've been pissed off about this since Halo 2, and it depresses me to have to keep defending something that seems so obvious. If you can explain it to me in a different way than Mr. Former Infinity Ward I promise to read every word.

@reconzero wrote:@Axs5626Sxa5001I got as far through that as I could before it made me want to put my fist through my screen.The idea that non-ranked gameplay should be a feeding ground for high-level players, and that it's completely okay because there are no ranks at stake, is the single most offensive thing I've ever heard on the subject of sbmm. It's exactly the thing that high-level players say when they're tired of slogging it out with other high-level players and start feeling put upon, as if they have some intrinsic right to crap all over lower-level players for no other reason than because it would be more fun for them.And I'm also tired to death of the very mistaken idea that ranked gameplay is reward driven and unranked gameplay is "casual," "non-competitive," "insert your own rationalization here for why it's okay to pit what amounts to professional athletes against kids." Rankings are a head game that do not REWARD players, they DESCRIBE their abilities. Players very mistakenly think of it as reward-based, and hence my description of it as a head game. The only reward in any game, imo, is a win. And last I checked this game offers wins in both ranked and unranked gameplay. Taking a win away from a guy who just started the game and has twenty matches in two weeks, so that some sweaty diamond grinder can feel better about himself is pitiable.Virtually every competitive sport I can think of has gameplay broken into peer groups, grouped either by age or by skill. Little Leaguers very seldom, unless I've missed some new development, play against the Red Sox. And with reason. That kind of pummeling doesn't make the kids into better players, and it absolutely shouldn't make the pros feel all tough and manly. If it does then those people should be medicated. And barred from the sport.Sorry about the rant but I've been pissed off about this since Halo 2, and it depresses me to have to keep defending something that seems so obvious. If you can explain it to me in a different way than Mr. Former Infinity Ward I promise to read every word.AMEN!!!This is what I keep talking about. Their EOMM doesn't work, except on the poor kids who think they will be the next twitch star and keep taking the abuse. It doesn't convince me to play more, it convinces me to do my "2 a day as ________" for 2 total stars and log out. It convinces me that dropping the match before we hit the ground because hot drop harry insists on taking me to Fragment is perfectly OK. It convinces me that this team game isn't a team game. And I don't care about getting all the stars because I don't care about fully completing the battle pass because I will never buy it when I am the freaking product. A product that exists to feed kills and egos to those people that want to be 'content creators' instead of getting a real job.Sorry, might be showing my age here but in my days 'content creators' made freaking ART be it paintings, literature, music, dance, something tangible and real that gave something back to humanity.This (and all video games to me) is not my dang job. I have a job. It pays me very well to think of solutions to real problems and then solve them. I put in my 40 hours plus on that. I'm not going to learn this game as a 2nd job. I'm a super casual player. I play my single player games the first time on easy. If they want me to put more time into this game, then they need to make the "I don't care I'm casual" league.And if they EVER want me to spend real cash on it, they better give me some single player content. For crying out loud, just give me the Apex version of Frontier Defense. Give all us crap casuals that that are here just because we miss Titanfall game-play and we'll go there, never to darken your BR again.

@Axs5626Sxa5001 from my point of view, the problem with Apex SBMM is the matchmaking with teammates.when I get matched in a lobby where the champ team is a stack of 3 preds or a pred and 2 masters, or a team with total kills combined are more than 250 K kills ( yes, these numbers exist ) but my teammates are lvl 200 s and so.then we have a big problem because the closer we get to facing this champ squad the more our chance of winning decreases until it gets to 0% once we get to two squads remaining.I am not going to talk about the last and current season-ranked MM because everyone knows that it's broken ( except for Respawn ) because they want to pamper their crying babies.honestly, I don't want easy matches but I don't was super sweaty ones as well and I don't want to waste 20 minutes in a match where I know that the result is already written.everyone wants a challenge...... a fair challenge where the chances are 50/50.so the teams as a whole should be all equal or ...or we need solos.but the babysitting should stop, I don't need to babysit two players who obviously don't belong in the lobby, and no one needs to babysit me when I don't belong in their lobbies.note: no disrespect to anyone, we all have different skills and I am not saying that I am great or something, not even close to decent.but you know what I mean

Games like this one are merely a lure to attract customers to spend money on microtransactions.The player is treated as a means to an end and not an end in itself.That's why they are so desperate to manage player satisfaction through "engagement-based matchmaking" because they fear losers will be leavers and then they won't have the maximum number of punters for their microtransactions and loot boxes. They want to squeeze every last cent out of the players.We may be fools for playing but then these companies have a monopoly on production and do what they like.The continued existence of this business model is really all down to government doing nothing about it.

Matchmaking thoughts from a Dev | EA Forums

44 Replies

DankToliet
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@gg123xyz I just simply want to be matched with and play against people with my similar k/d. I'm getting 3-6 kills 1K+ dmg, on average per game. By the end of most games my teammates typically are 0/0/1 100-200 dmg. I feel like I'm being trolled on this point, like this is some sick joke.
LaughingSharko
3 years ago
@DankToliet As someone who sometimes is on the other side of that equation, getting third partied and melted in lobbies I clearly don't belong in, I feel exactly the same way. Like it's a sick joke. The problem isn't SBMM as much as Respawn's strange math skills. As if it's fun for less skilled players to get carried by more skilled players in lobbies that are insane. The less skilled players feel miserable and so do the more skilled ones.
reconzero
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@gg123xyz

"what would change apex legends is landing you have a gold 301 and this gun has a timer that its valid for like 2 minutes then landing hot is fun even for beginners. after 2 minutes the gun disappears, and you have to loot."

Interesting idea, but I have to say that to me it falls into the category of "crutch." It encourages bad players to think of battle royale as team deathmatch where you respawn by just dying and queueing up again. This game already has too many get-out-of-jail-free cards, imo.
gg123xyz
3 years ago
i think people dont know that a game can replace apex legends by having a battle royale but with more fancy visual effects.
this is from abilities with extreme showmanship.
this kind of game with enough of a thrill factor from making the sparkly visuals by using tacticals and abilities can take over as the best game in the world. beating call of duty, apex legends, csgo, valorant etc.
its all about how flashy and spectacular you make it is how to make a new game the best game in the world, and this then competes against no loot hardcore fighting at the start of the game with no weapon dying team mates, numerous enemies looting up before you, and you might have no skill like maggie with her shotgun so your weak.
it isnt even a question of which game the average player would play. its just like addition math 1 + 1 = 2 by my understanding. flash and thrill = control and money from the game.
so simple.

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