Public Test Server
Drakwald, our Public Test Server is online again to provide testing ground for the New Scenario Matchmaker, which will be arriving on the Live server in the near future!
You can join our Public Test Server through the launcher:
As with any new system, it's normal to have some bugs to iron out - one of the best ways to help us reduce and squash bugs before this arrives on the live server is by joining the PTS, either alone or with friends, and queueing for some Scenarios!
On the PTS, you can select Templates for new characters to help you start fully geared and level 40, ready for testing!
New Scenario Matchmaker & Improvements
The New Scenario Matchmaker is focused on building better balanced parties in Scenarios, and we're also adding in a few more quality-of-life improvements alongside it! There's even more we're building under-the-hood, which we may spotlight and talk about closer to launch.
Scenario Party Reservations
Now if you queue as a group, your party will stay together automatically in the scenario, without needing to hit the white flag icon and move parties. Slots will be automatically reserved for your party members until they join, keeping your groups, well - grouped!
Archetype Balancing (2-2-2 System)
Scenarios now enforce a 2 Tank – 2 Healer – 2 DPS composition. This applies even when backfilling players. This helps avoid unbalanced setups (e.g. 4 DPS, no healers). As an example, a scenario will no longer pop if one side has healers but the other does not.
This change does mean that there will be times when one faction may have tons of DPS but lack the Tanks or Heals to get a scenario to pop. In these situations, we're introducing a new bonus to not only allow players to see which archetypes are needed, but to reward them for playing them:
Incentive Bonus
New single-SC bonuses are now periodically applied to certain Archetypes. Queue times are now periodically analysed, and if a role is queueing too long, other archetypes are incentivised to help speed things up.
For example, if DPS players are waiting much longer than others to get into a match, Tanks and Healers may get an incentive bonus. Likewise, if one side has tons of Tanks or Healers but fewer DPS, the system will temporarily grant the bonus for DPS players to motivate them to queue. This encourages healthier queue balance and, long-term, should motivate improved queue times.
Start Time Adjustments
Scenarios can now start with fewer than full players. Players load in early with a 2-minute timer. As the scenario fills closer to the threshold, the timer reduces to 30 seconds.
“Give Me a Minute” Improvements
If you click “Give me a minute”, you’ll be automatically teleported in when the timer ends. This helps avoid missing the start and getting a quitter debuff.
Ready Check for Group Queue
When a group leader initiates queue, all members will now get a Ready Check pop-up. After your group has all hit "Ready", you will enter the queue as a party.
Unified Random Queue
Instead of separate queues per scenario map, there's now a single random scenario queue, which will improve queue speed and map variety. We're just testing this single queue on PTS, and behind-the-scenes we're discussing how best to handle Weekend Warfronts and other Scenario types, which we'll share more on later.
