Proposal: Preferred Player Count in Matchmaking

Subject: Proposal: Preferred Player Count in Matchmaking

Hey everyone,
I’d like to propose a feature that I believe will resonate with many players and help strengthen the game’s long-term player base:

Allow players to set their preferred player count in the matchmaking preferences menu (where modes and maps are selected).

From what I understand, game sessions are already spawned on demand when enough players with similar settings are searching for a match. If enough players select a 48-player count, for example, a 48-player session could be spawned—just as 64-player sessions are currently.

Key points:

• No need to change anything else in the game. 
  Map sizes, objective placements, or mechanics can remain untouched. Some players simply want the same experience, just with fewer players and less chaos.
• No need for special considerations about “good” player counts per map/mode.
  Let players decide what works for them. While I’m primarily speaking from a Conquest Mode perspective, this feature should apply to all modes, adjusted for their respective maximum player counts. E.g., Rush shouldn’t suddenly spawn with 64 players!? Or maybe it should? Some people like the meat grinder, so who am I to judge. 😅
• Implementation seems straightforward.
  Add a third column to the matchmaking menu and update the session spawn logic.

Addressing concerns:

• Playerbase fragmentation:
  At first glance, this might seem like it would split the playerbase, but I believe the opposite is true. Many players are on the verge of leaving due to the chaos and lack of smaller servers. This feature would retain them by offering more tailored experiences.
• Portal isn’t a solution:
  Portal is dominated by bot and farming servers. Our squad searches daily for smaller, official-rule servers, but they simply don’t exist.

A note on our current workaround: We’ve tried setting up a 40-player Conquest server in Portal with regular rules and no bots, but it remains empty 100% of the time. This underscores the need for an official solution.
Our server ID is z9nfa for anyone who it might concern. 😄

I hope this proposal gains traction in the community and catches the developers’ attention. Let’s keep the discussion friendly and constructive!

Kind regards