Why does matchmaking suck nowadays?

[Paragon Fury]

Like how CoD used to have Mercenary Moshpit, or the Solo protections that used to exist in Halo, Gears etc. where it would absolutely not put you in a match with a premade unless it had no choice. At this moment the only three games I can think off the top of my head that have any sort of protections for Solo/Duo players are League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm and Starcraft 2.

But games haven't had Solo protections/playlists for so long now, and it's absolutely ridiculous how bad the matchmaking can be in games like OW, Halo, Gears, CoD etc. now. OW and Rainbow Six: Siege are notoriously bad at this, putting randoms vs. premade teams all the time at all levels of play.

It was nice to be able to play a game solo and be relatively sure that the rest of the match was going to be made up of solo players too, or at worst a duo MAYBE a triple.

But now it seems like matchmaking actively HATES Solo players; I honestly gave up on OW and Siege just because it was getting to the point where nearly every match was a joke because I'd join in and it be me Solo with 3 randoms and duo vs. a premade 6 stack in OW, or get a match in Siege where it's me and 4 randos vs. 5 man premade (with smurfs to boot).

It feels like at the end of the last generation and definitely into the new one devs just stopped giving a shit about MM experiences for Solo/Duo players in favor of "GOTTA GET MATCHES MADE. FUCK TEAM COMP BALANCE. MAKE MATCHES."

 

[sXeth]

I mean, you answered your own question at the end there. They don't want to give a hint that their playerbase might be shrinking or their game is winding down. And taking ages to find matches is the first obvious sign there.

Esports splitting off as its own thing is another one. Rightfully or not, there's an assumption that an actual competitive demographic will just move into those games or whatever specialty modes your game offers in that respect. So anyone left in the standard queues is a casual that doesn't give a ****, so there's no need to smooth out the experience.

Then there's the obvious just too lazy to be bothered making 2 or 3 separate matchmaking setups for solo, duo, whatever. Admittedly, covering all options could get pretty demanding, and split your playerbase up. Liek if you have solo, duo, squad, then have those options for best ping vs best skill match. You already end up with six different queues of players and splitting the playerbase all over. If you start adding separate game modes in there too, it gets pretty fractured.

 

[TopazFusion]

Because everyone is playing Fortnite instead.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Because everyone is playing Fortnite instead.

It's been like this for a long time; I mean, Fortnite was just a dream back when OW was released, and OW is one of the prime offenders here.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

That's why a game lobby/room setup is what I've always found to be the best. Also, very few games have a level system based on skill so the game can't make even teams even if it wanted to. At least 90% of matches in games end up being a curbstomping and clan/squad matches are the only ways to get fun competitive games IMO.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Because everyone is playing Fortnite instead.

To continue, because everyone is playing Fornite on Twitch or pretending being a pro-gamer is a viable long-term job and trying to get onto a Overwatch 'team' like Cyan_TigerXXX_WorldWIDEL33T.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

Granted, I haven't played Overwatch competitive mode since season 4, at which point my highest was diamond, but I'm consistently being paired with grandmaster players, a few times top 500, in both Quickplay and Mystery Heroes.

This is exacerbated when I'm in a duo group with my girlfriend, at which point we're frequently paired with 5 or 6 man groups who are at least Masters or above. And my girlfriend is a high platinum player, so I don't know how Blizzard is utilizing it's matchmaking at all.

So unless I play on the same level as Grandmaster players, I don't think the matchmaking is really doing anything at all. All it sees is "Oh! You're in a group with ONE other person. I think pitting you against a 5 man group of all Masters is fair."


Also, is Blizzard is still claiming that their matchmaking is made to allow a win/lose of about "50/50", that's a crock of shit too. I'd say recently, it's more like 30/70. Or 10/90 on a particularly bad day.

 

[Elijin]

Because everyone is playing Fortnite instead.

It's been like this for a long time; I mean, Fortnite was just a dream back when OW was released, and OW is one of the prime offenders here.

The game is irrelevant, the concept is key. A few titles used to dominate online play. Those days are gone. Now there's a laundry list of titles in each genre, cannibalizing each others player bases. You cant have ultra refined matchmaking because online play has become the norm.

 

[IceForce]

OW's matchmaking has always been shite.

In competitive, the SR is balanced between teams (as shown at the top of the big "VERSUS" screen at the start of the match), however the competitive matchmaking often fails due to the matchmaker putting 5 Mercy mains on one team, or no-one who can play main tank on a team, or Symm/Torb 1-tricks on KOTH, etc, etc.
So, while the matches are technically 'balanced' between teams, curb-stomps still happen regularly due to the hero pools (or lack thereof) of the players on one of those teams. (This is why lots of people now are demanding a 'role queue' for competitive.)

Quickplay is a completely different beast. In quickplay, 'balance' isn't really a thing, and this seems to be because the quickplay matchmaker absolutely HATES streaks of any kind that go on for too long. It's generally impossible to win or lose more than about 6 or 7 matches in a row in quickplay. (In contrast, the competitive matchmaker doesn't give a shit about streaks, and it's entirely possible to go on a win or loss streak in competitive for basically forever.)
I've played the game quite a bit now, and I'd struggle to name a time where I went on more than a 7-game loss streak in quickplay (even while I was drunk / bored / not really trying / etc). Generally, if you lose too many quickplay games in a row, the matchmaker notices this and recognizes you're not having a good time, and it will put you in a match that's basically a free win (even if you do nothing and don't really contribute).
Conversely, if you win too many quickplay games in a row, the matchmaker will very soon put you in a completely unwinnable match. (Presumably these 'unwinnable matches' are matches where one or more people on the enemy team are getting their 'free win' because they're currently on a losing streak. So the matchmaker decides it's their turn for a win, and your turn for a loss.)

I've rambled on enough here and probably gone a bit off-topic, but anyway, in OW's quickplay the matches are often not actually balanced due to the matchmaker manipulating the balancing so wins are 'shared around', so to speak.

 

[Tanis]

Because I live out in the 'country' so my internet MAXES at 250kb/s?

I can't wait till I can move back into a town.