Hourglass Mode Has "Mordhau" Syndrome

  • CritShovel
    Rogue
    Insider

    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.

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  • BurnBacon
    Champion
    Insider

    I wouldn’t be surprised.
    To get fights more they introduce two new ships npc

    Athena and Reaper ships. Maybe turn them phantoms or something.
    Anyways, so if the game can’t find someone it spawns you as normal but you fight against either sloop or galleon ship.

    Win, since it was an npc you get half vs player rep. Lose you still get the same for losing (but who’s gonna lose against npc ships?)

    Idk, this way you find a fight and battle. And if another third party ship wants to join maybe the npc will dip out so the random player who joined becomes the new player vs player and there hourglass activates. So they can not run out of the circle

    Idk…at this point I take anything just to earn some points toward my ghost and skeleton curse

  • CritShovel
    Rogue
    Insider

    @BurnBabyBooM256

    Interesting take, I wouldn't know if that would work out though. AI ships in this game aren't known for being the most intelligent opponents.

    For me, if they made queuing up less of a chore and added an incentive to face higher skill opponents this mode would stay fresh for longer. Also adding an option to immediately dive again after sinking would be a much desired quality of life change.

  • GrumpyW01f
    Lord
    Insider

    @critshovel
    An inevitable outcome with the streak system.

    Like every other competitive mode in every other game, the matchmaking and allegiance payouts should have been built on a ranking system. With some adds like dailies and end-of-month ledger rewards, it would have been a healthy ecosystem. But Rare is too focused on not being like other games, that they don't learn lessons that other studios have. Arena died for the same reasons.

    The way it is now, expert players want to fight newer players because the payout is the same as fighting other expert players. And many who lived through the bad system just to get their curse have quit the mode. This leaves just two groups in hourglass: the expert players who like to play the mode/grinding to 200 or 1000, and the newer players who haven't got their curse yet.

    Hourglass needs a rework, and the Burning Blade world event should pay out Allegiance when you sink an emissary or destroy the ship when a player crew is manning it.

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