[quote]Quote #5 (broken up into parts) SBMM does not belong in Quick Play for a number of important reasons: · SBMM has been universally disliked in every game that has attempted to apply it to casual playlists (D1, CoD, Fortnite, etc.)[/quote] The only truth in this statement is that it’s been disliked by he and his contemporaries since D1. Never before D1 had there been this kind of reaction to skill in matchmaking from high profile influencers and yes, it has since spread to Fortnite as well, but the basis of all the anti-sbmm movement has been completely fabricated from the start. [quote] · SBMM causes many players to play less and/or quit entirely[/quote] Not having SBMM causes many players to play less and/or quit entirely. It’s funny how that works. I can show very easily from my game results that FAR more players quit out of my QP games than Iron Banner, beyond that his statement has no basis in fact or reality and there is nothing he can show to prove it is true. [quote]· SBMM restricts your ability to enjoy non-meta play[/quote] For 196 Iron Banner games I could play with what I wanted and try different things because I wasn’t going up against a top 15% player running Luna’s/NF/DRB/Wardcliff/Hammerhead every single goddamn game while trying to put up 50 and get 7th Columns and WROoM. No one and I mean NO ONE who’s a top player in QP is playing non-meta and just chilling. [quote]· SBMM prevents friends of different skill levels from having fun together (the worst thing for a social game)[/quote] All it takes is one trip through post game stats of a high level running with a low in Iron Banner to show this isn’t true. Iron Banner has skill in matchmaking and it takes the average fireteam skill. So if a 1700 is playing with a 1200, their average will be 1450. Beyond that, the games will still mostly be silver and gold opponents regardless. Also, not having sbmm is preventing my friends and I from playing and having fun together so… [quote]· SBMM inevitably harms connection quality in a P2P-based multiplayer[/quote] Another universal cornerstone of the anti-sbmm movement and still as completely false today as it was 2 years ago. Skill being factored does not preclude connection also being factored. They are both components in a complex algorithm that works to match players in the game. When skill is factored and no players within the acceptable skill range also meet the required connection criteria, the game is able to expand the allowable skill range until it finds a player or players who fit both skill and connection within acceptable ranges. I played with 2352 players last week in IB and I saw maybe 6-8 laggy players and only 3-4 that were what I would call bad. I also looked at TW’s stats from the 16 Iron Banner games he played with skill enabled the previous IB to this last one. 89% of his opponents were still Bronze through Gold. 4 Bronze, 46 Silver, 34 Gold, 6 Platinum and 4 Diamond. The fact is, the game isn’t going to be able to or ever would match those players to strictly their own skill. What it does do is match them far less against Bronze opponents and it tries to at least get a player or two close to their skill on the other team when it can. It also will match them vs solo players much less often. There is another myth that sbmm is intended to give everyone a 50/50 win loss record and we hear that all the time from the anti-sbmm crowd. It’s of course not true. The actual intent is to give both teams as close to a 50/50 chance of winning as possible going into the game rather than one team having a 10% chance of winning and the other 90%. When the match-ups are fair and balanced, our actions matter more and we can actually have an impact on whether we win or lose games. It isn’t fun or fair when we’re grossly outmatched by someone dropping 40+ while 3 players on our team combine for 3 kills and 40 deaths. [quote]Quote #6 In Halo, Bungie had Social and Ranked (they even had additional matchmaking filters YOU could choose!). Most games have a variation of that. It works for a reason; it gives players a clear choice in the type of PvP experience they have. That is important, and it is good.[/quote] Players should be able to choose their PvP experience and since the removal of skill from QuickPlay, only one portion of the community has had a choice and it’s not the average player. [quote]Quote #7 An anecdote: Before this past week, I played very little D2 Crucible despite being known as a “hardcore” Destiny PvPer. That is because SBMM has been so pervasive that even in the beta I was matching the same 20 people I had played for years in post-TTK D1. Going into D2 Crucible with anything less than a full-stack using meta loadouts was a miserable experience most of the time, and before long most of my friends had quit along with me.[/quote] 2526 QP games are not “very little” and no he was not playing the same 20 people over and over while winning 1908 of those games. Also the “full stack with meta loadouts” had nothing to do with sbmm. D2 year 1 was all 4v4 with over 1 second weapon kill times, 3 hit melee kills, grenades that could not OHK and supers and weapons that were of no comparison to what is in the game today. It was all about stacking and team-shooting and again had zero to do with sbmm. [quote]Quote #8 Then 6v6 Quick Play went live, and to my surprise; matches were refreshingly all over the spectrum! Some games were very easy, some games were very hard, and many were in-between. There was variety. Hell, I was even going into matches solo, and despite all the current problems with the gameplay, I hadn’t had this much fun since the first year of Destiny PvP. The “just one more game” itch was back. In fact, just the other day I planned on doing a couple games to end the night and before I knew it SIX HOURS had flown by. It legitimately put a smile on my face, and upon telling my friends this many of them returned to start playing again. The community I’ve missed just as much as the game is showing signs of life.[/quote] And the real tragedy is that we will never know how great the Crucible could have been for EVERYONE with skill still factored from just the move back to 6v6 and the subsequent sandbox changes with Forsaken. To pretend they didn’t play the lion’s share in the changes in the enjoyment of the experience from year one to year two would be disingenuous as well. We now have in my opinion the best sandbox the game has ever had and I want to uninstall it constantly because the matchmaking is so punishing in QP and none of my friends want anything to do with that dumpster fire. [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/250424092?sort=0&page=0&path=1]Part 3[/url]