Myself and plenty others have been pretty vocal about this too, so I'm gonna spout out why this SBMM is a more ideal method of matchmaking.
Wall of Text incoming, TLDR at bottom.
1. It is not "Strict" SBMM. Loose SBMM is more of an outlier protection than the kind of Skill-based matchmaking we have in Glory playlist. Low-skill players wouldn't be purely matched with low-skill, and High-skill players aren't going to be left hanging for 10+ minutes just to match up with the same people they've already fought for the past 5 matches.
Low-skill players will not have a safe haven to hide from better players, but they also wouldn't be matched up against high-skill players either. Top skill players will still be able to chill out more and fight people less skilled than them, but they also won't be getting kills for free either.
Think of it like sorting Skittles / M&Ms. You're not matching red to red, green to green, blue to blue, but more making a cut in the middle so blue never matches red, but green gets allowed in. And red isn't only with red, green gets added in to the mix as well.
2. This should revitalize the PvP playerbase short-term, and potentially long-term IF the average player can agree with the matches they end up in.
People like new things. People especially like new things that promise to not skin them alive and toss them in a pit of salt, that's basic psychology. People right now also do not like the current state of PvP. These people are the average player, the ones who are the cannonfodder to the high-skill players, the ones who pop in for the pinnacles, challenges, or bounties and then immediately leave once they're done. Like a fresh shiny gun offered in Trials opening week, the population will most likely spike up so we need to do what we can to hold as many of them as possible. Loose SBMM should provide them the reduction in headaches needed to keep a more healthy playerbase once they see that they have a fighting chance.
3. This new SBMM is not set in stone.
Bungie can adjust this one as needed, and is working on also making this Adaptive. Meaning that it can be narrower skill allowance at the bottom and getting wider at the top. I've called it this before, and I'm saying it again: The "Inverse Pyramid" SBMM. But that's where we come in. As a community, we need to help Bungie find where the sweet spot is in the first few weeks while it's fresh and they're still adjusting it. And please, we need to also give better feedback aside from "SBMM bad, remove it". Because then we'll all just return to the cesspool it currently is.
4. This new SBMM does NOT fix team stacking.
So hey, if you got some quality buddies to shoot up crucible with, go nuts. There's no guarantee that you'll be facing other stacks every match, and if you do there's no guarantee that the other stack has the same skill level as you either. Your overall skill could match the highest skill of the other stack, but they're carrying 2 low-skill friends. Who knows?
5. This new SBMM still prioritizes connection. But it will increase waiting times as it sorts out player skill and assigns teams accordingly or increases allowances to create the lobby.
This will need the most feedback I'm thinking. Hopefully if the playerbase kicks up again to look at the new thing, this won't be too much of an issue. Same as note 4 though, International Fireteams WILL throw a wrench into that. A fireteam consisting of an American, German, Englishman, etc will both cause -and- have a bad time for latency. That's unavoidable.
But also going back to note 2, we need to try and foster this returning playerbase as a community as well. If we keep scaring or gatekeeping them out, crucible might as well remain on life support.
6. We might be able to revert specific nerfs that were made due to the skill disparity.
I saw this mentioned in another thread, but remember the slide nerfs? Those were made to try and balance the skill differences. We could probably push to revert them if the skill disparity is solved in matchmaking.
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And I get it, too. Bungie has done a lot of "Say one cool thing, -blam!- it up somehow". There's been a lot of total silence while feedback is a raging dumpster fire, but finally with this recent TWAB specifically mentioning Loose SBMM, it's a sign that they DO listen. They do see the issues and common threads of suggestions how to fix it. The speed of which this happens is sorely lacking... but I digress.
Also for consideration, Destiny now is not the same as Destiny then. Especially since the reshuffle after Beyond Light's launch. The change is aggravatingly slow, but it does seem to be happening. Witch Queen's PvE is in my opinion the best I've ever played so far (From Season of Arrivals), and with PvE being their main Bread and Butter, I can see why they'd want to get all those eggs sorted out first. Especially after the debacle of sunsetting.
TL:DR - Loose SBMM should kick-start PvP again and offer a more balanced experience in Control. It's not a silver bullet, but it's a start. Being a new algorithm, we cannot base past experiences on it and need to give it a try + give feedback while it's hot because this algorithm CAN change. You can probably still go pub stomp with your high-skill buddies. If we fix the skill difference issue in matchmaking, we might be able to push Bungie to revert the movement nerfs they made to try and balance that issue.
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5 Replies[quote]Myself and plenty others have been pretty vocal about this too, so I'm gonna spout out why this SBMM is a more ideal method of matchmaking. Wall of Text incoming, TLDR at bottom. 1. It is not "Strict" SBMM. Loose SBMM is more of an outlier protection than the kind of Skill-based matchmaking we have in Glory playlist. Low-skill players wouldn't be purely matched with low-skill, and High-skill players aren't going to be left hanging for 10+ minutes just to match up with the same people they've already fought for the past 5 matches. Low-skill players will not have a safe haven to hide from better players, but they also wouldn't be matched up against high-skill players either. Top skill players will still be able to chill out more and fight people less skilled than them, but they also won't be getting kills for free either. Think of it like sorting Skittles / M&Ms. You're not matching red to red, green to green, blue to blue, but more making a cut in the middle so blue never matches red, but green gets allowed in. And red isn't only with red, green gets added in to the mix as well. 2. This should revitalize the PvP playerbase short-term, and potentially long-term IF the average player can agree with the matches they end up in. People like new things. People especially like new things that promise to not skin them alive and toss them in a pit of salt, that's basic psychology. People right now also do not like the current state of PvP. These people are the average player, the ones who are the cannonfodder to the high-skill players, the ones who pop in for the pinnacles, challenges, or bounties and then immediately leave once they're done. Like a fresh shiny gun offered in Trials opening week, the population will most likely spike up so we need to do what we can to hold as many of them as possible. Loose SBMM should provide them the reduction in headaches needed to keep a more healthy playerbase once they see that they have a fighting chance. 3. This new SBMM is not set in stone. Bungie can adjust this one as needed, and is working on also making this Adaptive. Meaning that it can be narrower skill allowance at the bottom and getting wider at the top. I've called it this before, and I'm saying it again: The "Inverse Pyramid" SBMM. But that's where we come in. As a community, we need to help Bungie find where the sweet spot is in the first few weeks while it's fresh and they're still adjusting it. And please, we need to also give better feedback aside from "SBMM bad, remove it". Because then we'll all just return to the cesspool it currently is. 4. This new SBMM does NOT fix team stacking. So hey, if you got some quality buddies to shoot up crucible with, go nuts. There's no guarantee that you'll be facing other stacks every match, and if you do there's no guarantee that the other stack has the same skill level as you either. Your overall skill could match the highest skill of the other stack, but they're carrying 2 low-skill friends. Who knows? 5. This new SBMM still prioritizes connection. But it will increase waiting times as it sorts out player skill and assigns teams accordingly or increases allowances to create the lobby. This will need the most feedback I'm thinking. Hopefully if the playerbase kicks up again to look at the new thing, this won't be too much of an issue. Same as note 4 though, International Fireteams WILL throw a wrench into that. A fireteam consisting of an American, German, Englishman, etc will both cause -and- have a bad time for latency. That's unavoidable. But also going back to note 2, we need to try and foster this returning playerbase as a community as well. If we keep scaring or gatekeeping them out, crucible might as well remain on life support. 6. We might be able to revert specific nerfs that were made due to the skill disparity. I saw this mentioned in another thread, but remember the slide nerfs? Those were made to try and balance the skill differences. We could probably push to revert them if the skill disparity is solved in matchmaking. - And I get it, too. Bungie has done a lot of "Say one cool thing, -blam!- it up somehow". There's been a lot of total silence while feedback is a raging dumpster fire, but finally with this recent TWAB specifically mentioning Loose SBMM, it's a sign that they DO listen. They do see the issues and common threads of suggestions how to fix it. The speed of which this happens is sorely lacking... but I digress. Also for consideration, Destiny now is not the same as Destiny then. Especially since the reshuffle after Beyond Light's launch. The change is aggravatingly slow, but it does seem to be happening. Witch Queen's PvE is in my opinion the best I've ever played so far (From Season of Arrivals), and with PvE being their main Bread and Butter, I can see why they'd want to get all those eggs sorted out first. Especially after the debacle of sunsetting. TL:DR - Loose SBMM should kick-start PvP again and offer a more balanced experience in Control. It's not a silver bullet, but it's a start. Being a new algorithm, we cannot base past experiences on it and need to give it a try + give feedback while it's hot because this algorithm CAN change. You can probably still go pub stomp with your high-skill buddies. If we fix the skill difference issue in matchmaking, we might be able to push Bungie to revert the movement nerfs they made to try and balance that issue.[/quote] I’m just hoping that it reduces the games where I feel I have to carry by at least 40%. You take it I have to carry at least 75-80% this cut in half would be tremendously fun and can use different guns and builds