mannon
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Post by mannon on Dec 14, 2009 13:36:31 GMT -5
I'm on XBL and the other night my brother and I had a party of six friends and such. Anyway I noticed that it became MUCH harder to get a game started.
Obviously playing during peek hours would mean better odds of getting in games quickly, and we could have played ground war with bigger teams, possibly, though I'm unsure whether there are enough other people actually playing that game type at any given time to make it actually faster.
So my question is how big is too big for a party if you don't want to wait forever for a game? Or I guess, how big is practical, and how big is optimal? I'm guessing 4 would be optimal in most game types since you have enough for one team already, but it still offers some flexibility.
Five seems to still work okay, but six really did seem to drag.
I actually wish there were a mode where you could have potentially a huge party and all those beyond the team limit would spectate until someone died, and then it would rotate them in like new batters. That would be nice when you don't want to play ground war but just want to play with your friends and no having to kick someone to invite someone else.
Anyway... Any good tips on what to do with lots of friends? I mean we could always do private games if we get 8, but meh... The control over the game is nice, but the lack of exp and such kinda blows unless you're level 70. Plus we really want to play on the same side, generally.
I suppose we could split into two lobby's, (which would give us decent odds of playing against each other) but since party chat is only allowed in some game types that effectively cuts us into two parties.
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Post by noscreenname on Dec 14, 2009 13:43:24 GMT -5
This raises the question as to how matchmaking is done on xbl and psn. I am wondering if it tries to find parties before single individuals when you come into a lobby with a party. Anybody? Bueler?
Also, as to psn, is there a skill/level matchmaking system?
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Den
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Post by Den on Dec 14, 2009 13:47:42 GMT -5
I certainly see lots of opposing parties when I'm in a party of six for PC.
Often we are are against pairs of two or three guys with matching tags more often than a bunch of individuals. Though even with a party of six, we never really have to wait more than one minute at peak hours.
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mannon
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Post by mannon on Dec 14, 2009 14:02:10 GMT -5
From much discussion in another topic where the matchmaking discussion was actually off topic it seems that the game does try to find parties when you are in a party and that there is in fact some form of skill matchmaking. Though exactly what it's based on has been much debated. The suggestions generally key off of W/L ratio, K/D ratio, and your score, and in fact all of the above may factor in.
Level doesn't seem to be factored into matchmaking at all.
That's just an overview, but I don't actually know the specifics, nor am I sure that we have a firm understanding of it other than anecdotal experience.
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mannon
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Post by mannon on Dec 14, 2009 14:04:45 GMT -5
Hmm that also raises another question. Exactly what are the peak hours? Something like between 6 and 9 pm or so? And what are the peak days? My friends and I seem to play Fridays and Saturdays since we're free those nights, but then we don't have the going out and partying kind of social lives. ;p
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n1gh7
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Post by n1gh7 on Dec 14, 2009 20:31:45 GMT -5
2 and 4 are the best numbers for a party IMO. with 5+ it takes a bit longer to search than I would normally like, and with 3 if someone doesn't have a very good connection they can be dropped easily by some single person coming into the game. This raises the question as to how matchmaking is done on xbl and psn. I am wondering if it tries to find parties before single individuals when you come into a lobby with a party. Anybody? Bueler? I think that if you are a 1-4 person group it looks for anything with room. With more people in the party it looks for groups of similar size. However if it is a 6v5+1 and after a game the group of 5 drops out it can be replaced with something different messing everything up. none exists on any platform to my best knowledge. From much discussion in another topic where the matchmaking discussion was actually off topic it seems that the game does try to find parties when you are in a party and that there is in fact some form of skill matchmaking. Though exactly what it's based on has been much debated. The suggestions generally key off of W/L ratio, K/D ratio, and your score, and in fact all of the above may factor in. I don't think they do at all. true [/quote]That's just an overview, but I don't actually know the specifics, nor am I sure that we have a firm understanding of it other than anecdotal experience.[/quote] I wish that companies that make games would just flat out tell people how their matchmaking systems work at the deepest level.
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Post by ssog on Dec 15, 2009 2:26:38 GMT -5
I have a big group who I always play with, so I'm almost always looking for games in a 5 or 6 man party (unless, of course, I'm going Ground War with an 8 or 9 man party). To be honest, it's not a big deal. It usually takes a couple of minutes to get everyone into the game (we'll frequently lose just one person and have to back out and try again), but once you're in a lobby the games keep rolling along very quickly. I don't mind taking 5 minutes to get into a good lobby if I'm going to be spending an hour or two in there once I'm in.
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mannon
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Post by mannon on Dec 15, 2009 6:25:52 GMT -5
Yeah same here, once in a lobby it often goes well for several games. One note is that we've had less luck getting several games when the opponents were also a large party/clan. Often they will play one game then drop out for some reason. That or be glitching. We actually played one clan that was so big one of their members got stuck on our teem and he spent the entire game intentionally letting them kill him so they could boost and call a kazillion harriers. Needless to say we dropped from that lobby.
So glad that IW doesn't let us vote people out... oh yeah, no I'm not!
I'm not 100% sure there is any kind of skill matchmaking. There was a long discussion in which it was implied that yes there in fact is. but I'm not convinced. The skill of my opponents when I play on my own seems rather random, sometimes way higher than mine and others I kick arse. In any event even if there is matchmaking it's broken.
Halo2 had a whole ranking system that was absolutely awesome. You started off with a ranking of 1 I believe and each match you could gain or lose points to your opponents depending upon your performance. The better your opponents the more points you can get from them. Pretty much the same thing they use in Chess only lower numbers. On top of that it was entirely transparent. You could easily see everyone's ranking in the match, and watch as yours would go up or down based on performance.
Plus if you improved your rank you knew that you really earned it rather than merely getting more points and it didn't penalize you for playing a long time the way the W/L and K/D ratios do since they are aggregate and get progressively harder to budge.
I really wish more games used a ranking system like that. It made it QUITE clear who the best players were and made you aspire to get there.
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Post by noscreenname on Dec 15, 2009 22:33:58 GMT -5
Someone could just twitter 402 and I'm sure he would explain it to us.
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n1gh7
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Post by n1gh7 on Dec 15, 2009 23:22:25 GMT -5
Someone could just twitter 402 and I'm sure he would explain it to us. Please try it. I don't have/know how to use Twitter.
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