Scenario Matchmaking Rework Megathread

[Dackjanielz]

Merge skirmish into normal SCs - make it solo + duo only.

Premades can go live in ranked where they belong, rest of us live in normal.

[Valfaros]

I believe that it is the right approach to avoid mixing pugs and premades. This game is sadly heavily imbalanced if you do not run the proper setup with the correct specs. Not only do you lose when matched against this, you get absolutely stomped with zero chance to kill even a single enemy. I know it is difficult to do, but I would also suggest implementing a comeback system that lowers the rewards of the losing side but increases their chances to enjoy the scenario. I would not tie it to points, but rather to a mismatch of deathblows.

Personally, I would truly enjoy scenarios firing in low population conditions or imbalanced queues that have only a single archetype or where both sides lack the same archetype. Maybe with the exception of only having healers, but let's be honest, I would be surprised to see a time where there is nothing available other than healers.

Additionally, as several others have mentioned, barriers should be removed and replaced with guards, which grant rr when killing greedy players. Barriers do not promote a comeback, but rather cement a lost scenario with everyone either AFKing or pressing surrender. Guards give at least some chance to make a comeback if the enemy is not careful.

Spoiler:

For every single post I read in this thread, I feel dumber. I better go and reread my write up... Instead of considering multiple perspectives and playstyles all of you just want to take away other peoples enjoyment of the game, thinking your way of playing is the only valid one. If you don't have to contribute anything constructive, don't post it at all.

Suggest well rounded concepts, that include all types of players. Consider different perspectives. Leave your own filter bubble. Stop fighting amongst yourselves, you all should want the same thing - better SC matches for everyone. If you can't think of such concepts they are not well thought through in the first place.

Some pretty easy options. Match number of premades on each side. Match number of healers and tanks on each side. Pop full dps only scenarios to clear the queues.

Its not that easy in terms of optimization I'm afraid. You gotta apply dynamic rules, fixated rules will end with no or at least less SCs popping. Something we had in the past as an experiment I'm told.

Taking your own write up you fail your own premise of contributing something constructive to their question with that post. All the team is asking for is feedback. Any feedback should be welcome as long as its not bickering. If the feedback is I'm not enjoying the game because of x and I'd be happier without x that should be okay. Also I disagree that one has to present full fleshed out concepts to have a voice.

Spoiler:

using my group for example we used to be hardcore players back in like 2019-2021 we are still friends and game together through variety of games but ror is where we connected and occasionally come back to most of the time we are just having fun talking **** and drinking while playing the game

now what you are asking is to remove players such as myself and allow us only to play together while ultra sweaty in ranked

what is stopping you from playing discordant

the reason i say this is to get you looking at different perspective you are openly asking to get rid of a bunch of peoples enjoyment other groups included for the sake of your own which is very easily solved

Lastly all I get from messages like this is that not even premades enjoy playing premades. It is a perfect example of: "Yeah we just want to grp up and farm pugs an actual fair fight would be ultra sweaty hands and not fun."

[trh382]

I feel like some context would be helpful in this thread.

Currently the silent majority finds scenarios playable. Over 200 fired Monday.

Changes to make them 10% better or 20% in terms of matchmaking, queues popping more/faster, classes being filtered better etc are going to increase that number.

More scs and more enjoyable scs, on the margin, is the goal of the dev team here and they are asking for constructive feedback to help them achieve that goal.

[trh382]

Am I correct in thinking that any changes to the scenario system will result in less overall scenario pops, especially in low pop timezones (NA, AUS) ?

It very much seems to me that the end result with be that premade groups will get less pops if they win more and less pops will happen in general if there aren't enough of each archetype queueing. The thing I want most and what everyone I play with wants most is just getting more sc pops for everyone no matter what time of day it is.

I mostly agree with this. I would be worried that increase to matchmaking focus for better games during EU could kill queues during NA and AU.

I think ideal scenario keeps discordants healthy so that pugs can avoid premades if they want to during EU and provides clear information on sc numbers / status to players so that they can readjust on their own to fire playable games during NA/AU. At the end of the day, no coding fix saves he problem of 8 order dps, zero tanks, zero heals queueing. Only the players can address that with relogs or finding more people and they need to be given the information to help them do that.

[Vaul]

A really simple thing I think is a lot of players don't join Discordant when perhaps they should because when they get the pop up window they are given two choices: "Join" or "Join All" ... and the "Join All" button just sounds better doesn't it?

I try queueing only discordant regularly but it never pops, so I get frustrated waiting and Join All instead, and then get my solo ass farmed by groups.

[Vaul]

Thinking outside the box a bit, a minor thing might be people stuck in combat and missing the pop - especially solo tanks and healers who are trying to do some pve whilst they wait.

[Nekkma]

Matchmaking sounds great in theory but given the limited population I very much doubt that it will work in practice. As a soloquer, I find the difference in quality between discordant and regular to be very small and not worth increasing quetimes over.

Personally, I find a 5-10 minute que good, 10-20 min acceptable, 20-30 min bad, 30 min + unplayable.

[Nekkma]

Spoiler:

using my group for example we used to be hardcore players back in like 2019-2021 we are still friends and game together through variety of games but ror is where we connected and occasionally come back to most of the time we are just having fun talking **** and drinking while playing the game

now what you are asking is to remove players such as myself and allow us only to play together while ultra sweaty in ranked

what is stopping you from playing discordant

the reason i say this is to get you looking at different perspective you are openly asking to get rid of a bunch of peoples enjoyment other groups included for the sake of your own which is very easily solved

Lastly all I get from messages like this is that not even premades enjoy playing premades. It is a perfect example of: "Yeah we just want to grp up and farm pugs an actual fair fight would be ultra sweaty hands and not fun."

That's not at all what he is saying. Presently we have pug in discordant and tryhard in ranked. Regular scenarios provide a niche I think the majority wants, something between pure pug and tryhard. If you don't want to play against premades you already have that option with discordant. You never need to face another premade again if that is all you care about.

[lemao]

Merge skirmish into normal SCs - make it solo + duo only.

Premades can go live in ranked where they belong, rest of us live in normal.

What if i want to play with my friends but my class is an engi, bw, sorc or magus which are all not viable for ranked ?
Or if my teamcomp is overall not optimised for grp ranked ?

[JohnnyWayne]

As long as there is no transparency how alive discordant is at any given time and there are no SC events for it, it is no valid point to make. People rarly queue it, because of the lower rewards (SCs in general are only alive during weekend events and that is for a reason) and they have longer wait times, with the outlook on a good chance to not get pops at all.

To say it again, you design a system for all players, not just for you and your perspective. You can either improve on the match making in general or offer equal alternatives for alternative play styles. I prefer the first option. I also want to mention that, even in low pop situations, you can still kick off good matches to an extent. Except when there are only 6 people on each side in the queue. That is not low pop, thats a dead queue.