SBMM

Ok so SBMM doesnt just act as this catch all nefarious evil thing dead set on ruining fun. Nor does any one game really manipulate the outcome. A lot of that comes from the odds API sites tend to share to players. In games the matches on paper are typically gonna be designed to be about 50% chance either way. Looser SBMM means faster matches but more chance at lopsided ones, typically seen in casual modes or larger scale modes (like Battlefield) whereas stricter ones where everyones more equal in skill are gonna usually be locked down to smaller ranked modes or in esports titles.

Matchmaking times honestly are likely not due to any one issue but more than likely that there just arent enough actual game instances running to accommodate the sheer volume of players so its more of a "wait your turn" instead of the game being dead, sucking, evil sbmm, or a tech issue.

Afaik TTK wasnt really touched its like all the same stuff just added more maps/modes this weekend.

The game DOES use dedicated servers you mean third party servers, and theres not much indication of those returning. Lot of folks end up just using matchmaking and often enough in browsers its gonna be weird fringe content that people may not want.

Now back to the SBMM... they push it because its literally been a thing since the dawn of matchmaking through Halo 2 IN 2004. Like LITERALLY been a thing for the entire time for over twenty years. The devs arent controlling you its just ensuring you dont have 100 pubstomps in a row either on the giving or receiving end because that unsurprisingly tends to suck for those on the receiving end and pushes players away killing the game. Give players a fair shake to win and they tend to stick around.