Lately I have been facing the same handful of players with each individual game session, even during peak hours. Matchmaking queues are also taking an eternity, even when it starts to expand mmr ranges. Eventually I have to settle for fighting the same person who has a curse and is 200 levels over me on repeat.
As someone who has played Mordhau and other dwindling MOBA/Fighting games, this is concerning because I have seen the negative feedback loop this situation creates.
Essentially what is happening goes the follows:
General player numbers drop -> Concentration of dedicated players remains similar -> Mature playerbase creates a larger barrier for entry -> New players become discouraged due to major gap in skill and leave -> Repeat until mode is canned
Hopefully the crew at Rare notices this death spiral and makes the process of hourglass less of a slough. Specifically with queue times, no additional rewards for drawn out battles, massive mmr gaps in most matches, etc.
If anyone has any good ideas on changes that could be made I would love to hear it.