Forum Discussion

xLitiJackx's avatar
xLitiJackx
Seasoned Newcomer
9 days ago

WOC - Matchmaking Issues

I'm getting extremely frustrated playing WOC, and from what I've seen both here and on the EASHL subreddit it seems that everyone else is experiencing it as well.  This year honestly feels like EA is actively attempting to make WOC as unappealing as possible to dissuade people from playing it, and instead push them towards their cash cow - HUT.  I'll try to break it down as best I can below:

  • WOC matchmaking appears to be completely random and/or broken.  My club only has players that hover between the silver/gold mark for RP, and our club RP is below 19k.  So why are we being matched up against diamond/purple/red players with club RP's in the 22k range?  We play  for fun while we get drunk on Fridays and want games that are competitive for people at our skill level.  We are not, have never been, and will never be, top players or a top club.  We're quite literally beer league.  It's frustrating to the point of us not wanting to continue playing when we get blown out 7-0 at the end of the 1st because we're matched against people clearly out of our league.  We get to play about 6-7 games per week, and 4-6 of them aren't even competitive games.
  • We are a 3-man club who play 6's (because we want to play hockey and not shinny).  Why was the option to match club size removed?  What was the reasoning for this decision?  Adding the "match my club size +/- # of players" filter back would do wonders for a huge number of players.  Is there any intent to fix this?
  • Lastly, (unrelated to matchmaking but very related to WOC play) is there any intent to fix the atrocious AI defencemen's behaviour?  Every single game it seems to be the exact same strategy used by every team.  Pass along the wing to the 5'9", 160-175lb danger/playmaker w/ max speed/acceleration, blow clear past the defence for a breakaway.  Rinse & repeat ad infinitum.  The AI defence don't even make an attempt to be in better position to force the puck carrier to the outside, step up and make a hit, cut off the pass, or literally anything else a defenceman should be doing.  Strategies have ZERO impact on the defence's behaviour.  It has forced me to play as a defenceman this year because it's the only way to prevent this from happening.

The best suggestion I've heard would be EA adding the ability to select archetypes for the AI players on their team.  A defenceman who plays it safe and will do everything to not allow breakaways vs a highly aggressive shooting D-man who will take chances vs one who plays the body and focuses on clearing the front of the net.  Those kinds of choices would at least make people feel like they have some agency instead of just being frustrated constantly.

  • This is exactly what our club is feeling. It's so frustrating...we just want to have fun. This year is NOT fun.

  • At this point it's obvious that EA had a mandate to make significant changes to the matchmaking this year.   Unfortunately they've been less than forthcoming as to why the changes were made.  We don't know what they're trying to achieve or what the benefit to the users is supposed to be.   And on top of that, it feels like whatever changes they made were half-baked at best.  From the outside looking in, it has all the hallmarks of a feature that was about 25% done but was pushed into production anyway and now they're trying to fix things as they go.   Unfortunately, I get the impression that the missing matching by club size and region options aren't bugs to be fixed, but are by design. 

    They've also apparently removed any kind of matchmaking based on skill level.   My club regularly gets matched up with teams both way above us and way below us in terms of RP.  And not after a long search either.  It happens within seconds.   I'm sure part of this is to deal with a small player base, but continually sending lower skilled players into a meat grinder will cause them to walk away from the game which just triggers a downward spiral in player counts.  I'm sure most players would be willing to wait a bit longer to find a fair match-up, but EA seems to feel differently.

    As far as the AI goes, you need to have at least one human defence man in WOC or you need to be committed to having at least one forward high enough that they can quickly backcheck to defend the rush.  The AI in club games has always been terrible defending the rush and there's no reason to expect that to change in the future.   Personally, I'd love to see them be more than just pylons, but that's all they've ever been.

    • Hester147's avatar
      Hester147
      Rising Adventurer

      Thanks for your feedback. Will pass onto the team to look into for next year's iteration. 

    • chewman11's avatar
      chewman11
      New Rookie

      RE: AI...if we're playing with 2 skaters in 3's, we either forego having a wing or a center to have a defensive player, in order to stop breakaways. In 6's, if we're short 1 player we forego having a wing to ensure we have continuity on defense, sacrificing offense. I heard somewhere that defense wins championships. 😁 

  • What I don't get is the secrecy, the vagueness, the "we'll have to wait and see if it gets addressed" and other platitudes in an attempt to quell a growing number of frustrated and loyal players. 

    A franchise like EA is unique in that it has thousands of consumers buying one of their products yearly - a plethora of knowledge, experience and passion for a niche sport like Hockey that is not being utilized properly.

    For example, if EA were to come out and just tell us what their intention is behind the matchmaking changes, this large database of knowledgeable and experienced users would happily provide detailed feedback on whether those intended changes are actually working in the real world.

    But instead, we're met with all this secrecy as if EA is developing a cure for cancer or hiding UFOs in their studios. It just doesn't make any sense why this massive audience that is literally drooling for a quality multiplayer experience is left to be pacified rather than informed. 

    And we're not asking for promises regarding development or features. (which apparently need to be guarded closely as if they were state secrets) We're just looking for a simple explanation as to why this massive change that's effecting a majority of the WoC players (and their subsequent enjoyment of your product) was made so we can maybe provide real-world insight into its effectiveness. 

    As a publicly traded company, I can't imagine shareholders appreciate that a product with such a passionate fanbase is not taking advantage of such a unique opportunity.

    • xLitiJackx's avatar
      xLitiJackx
      Seasoned Newcomer

      We're just looking for a simple explanation as to why this massive change that's effecting a majority of the WoC players (and their subsequent enjoyment of your product) was made

      My guess as to what happened is this: EA hasn't changed the code for their matchmaking in several years.  Then someone gets the idea for the grudge match system, it's thought to be doable, and EA announces it as a feature.  Nobody who implemented the code for the matchmaking is actually employed any longer, and so new people start grafting the grudge match system onto it without understanding the underlying system.  Grudge matches break matchmaking entirely and they don't know why.  Then they discover that by taking an axe to several things like skill-based matchmaking, server location selection, club sizes, etc, they can at least allow people to connect to each other.  EA throws their hands up and says:

       

      • KidShowtime1867's avatar
        KidShowtime1867
        Hero

        This is the likely reason. It explains why the Grudge Match option was added to matchmaking recently. 

        It just boggles the mind that those who work in communications for a fortune 500 company like EA have such a difficult time communicating with their consumer-base the details of these changes. Refusing to do so or acting aloof about the potential resolutions to these issues just fosters resentment, confusion and eventually stagnant sales. It seems the current marketing strategy leans heavily on FOMO.

  • This entire post pretty much sums up the exact backwards mindset of this hockey video game, all thanks to a lacklustre thought process that was implemented for online play. 

    In reality, having a fair share of drinky poos (Jim Lahey) is the only way to understand why this game is the way that it is, and even then it still doesn't make any sense. 

    The rest of this community, as well as myself, wants to see irrefutable evidence stating that these WoC online changes were necessary and/or beneficial to allow for fair and honest matchmaking. Furthermore, where in this community have these changes been welcome, much less asked for?

    The whole point of this game is for fun, and not getting (for the most part) railroaded due to very one-sided and terrible matchmaking. 

  • kKOV27's avatar
    kKOV27
    Seasoned Vanguard

    Good points! And a good solution is to have a competitive mode in world of chel. and to have access would be to have an rp of 25k and+++. This would solve the problems of the best players and the players with a little less skill... the best players spend their time destroying the less good players which is very boring in the long run and vice versa...