Does the matchmaking prioritize same platform first (xbox with xbox, pc with pc) or it's totally random?

@knifelife said in Does the matchmaking prioritize same platform first (xbox with xbox, pc with pc) or it's totally random?:

I wish Rare would just end this topic one way or the other now.. it’s been years lol.

They need to tell people if it’s still happening or not so this can be put to rest. The poor horse has been obliterated into atoms at this point 😂

It looks like they're avoiding the topic on purpose. We can see that Rare does listen, but only addresses the stuff they feel like or are allowed to. Not hating but they're PR talk is strong. Even when the game was a joke at launch, they were still pretending like everything is ok or even amazing. When SoT became the first game in Xbox One history that brought that PC experience full of cheaters to xbox live (I experienced it first hand, almost daily, and no, it wasn't a LTP issue, youtube videos are there for everyone to see), they insisted that close to no one was cheating. I don't know if it's MS breathing down their necks, but some honesty for once would be appreciated.

@fadingtojosh said in Does the matchmaking prioritize same platform first (xbox with xbox, pc with pc) or it's totally random?:

@kapitan-klaps said in Does the matchmaking prioritize same platform first (xbox with xbox, pc with pc) or it's totally random?:

I've got SoT on PC and Xbox. I play on controller on both. Today I've launched it on my PC and every crew I met was using push to talk and were bunny hoping like crazy with incredible sniper aim. Pretty sure they were all on PC. Does the matchaking prioritize xbox with xbox and pc with pc or it doesn't matter?I love you K&M users on PC but I'd like to avoid you as much as possible as you've got massive advantage and it makes the game very frustrating (faster loading times too which is a game changer). Can a dev confirm how it works?

Loading times are based on the hardware. OG Xbox Ones have a 5400 disk drive which is slow as molassas. The Xbox One X has an SSD which is over 4 times faster than a 7200 RPM drive which is faster than the 5400 included in the OG XBox One. Here is an article on the X being 4 times faster than the S

Take a look at this video. 3 older laptops with the same hardware besides their storage.
SSD takes 23 seconds to boot. (Xbox One X Drive)
7200RPM takes 65 seconds to boot.
5200RPM takes 77 seconds to boot. (OG Xbox One Drive)

Launching Open Office
SSD: 1.5 seconds
7200 RPM: 30 seconds
5400 RPM: 70 seconds

As for the faster flicking of aim from PC players with M&KB. Raise your sensitivity on your aim. It will help you turn more quickly.

Here is a new article going over advanced controller configuration.

Support - Advanced Controller Configuration

Lastly, make sure you remap your bindings. A lot of experienced players have a dedicated button for food, jumping, and sprinting. You should never have to take your thumbs off the joysticks during gameplay. Having to press down on your joystick should be remapped to something less critical like shovel or something that you don't rely on during battle.>

The Xbox One X doesn't have an SSD. You clearly have no clue. You can connect SSD to any Xbox, but by default, it has a standard drive. The game loads ages on both OG xbox and Xbox one X. Even respawning back on your ship can take like 30 seconds or more.

@tahngarthor said in Does the matchmaking prioritize same platform first (xbox with xbox, pc with pc) or it's totally random?:

There's no direct way to identify someone as being on PC . You can run into someone playing better than you and THINK they're on PC, but that's about it. Matching does not care about platform for Adventure, it is random. The matching system doesn't care what input method players use either.

Outside of the arena, this isn't a competitive game. There's no leaderboard, there's no way to measure yourself against other players, so it really doesn't matter who is what platform. Both platforms have access to the same control mechanisms. If you think your xbox controller makes you inferior, then plug in a mouse and keyboard and show those PC players what's for.

Seriously: Why are you using controller on PC and then complaining about mouse/keyboard users being better? If you know/think it's better than why aren't you using it? Every PC has a mouse and keyboard standard. You're essentially choosing to intentionally cripple yourself and then demand not to have to play with people who didn't cripple themselves.

Further, on load times. If your PC doesn't have an SSD, get one. They're not expensive anymore. If you can swap the traditional hard drive in the xbox, then do that as well (or just wait for the next xbox). You are complaining about solveable problems that you are choosing not to solve.

@kapitan-klaps said in Does the matchmaking prioritize same platform first (xbox with xbox, pc with pc) or it's totally random?:

I've got SoT on PC and Xbox. I play on controller on both. Today I've launched it on my PC and every crew I met was using push to talk and were bunny hoping like crazy with incredible sniper aim. Pretty sure they were all on PC. Does the matchaking prioritize xbox with xbox and pc with pc or it doesn't matter?I love you K&M users on PC but I'd like to avoid you as much as possible as you've got massive advantage and it makes the game very frustrating (faster loading times too which is a game changer). Can a dev confirm how it works?

Sorry mate, but your argument is the same old silly argument that PC gamers throw around "controller is inferior so use mouse & keyboard" blah blah nonsense. Just because it's easier to play with a mouse & keyboard it doesn't mean it's more fun to play like this for me. I enjoy the controller more instead of clicking at enemies, I enjoy slower-paced console PVP without 720 spin 3 headshots in 0.5 sec and I enjoy the free of cheaters Xbox ecosystem. Is it so hard to understand? Forced cross-play destroys everything I loved in console gaming (and I was a die-hard PC gamer before). I also have a good car, but I use my bicycle most of the time, because I enjoy it more.

As for playing on PC, I've got a monster PC (I work in 3d design/animation so pretty much need it) but I almost never use it for gaming anymore. Sometimes I play SoT on PC when I'm still at my office and gotta stay for the night, but the moment they'd make crossplay optional, I'd never touch the PC version again. It's my preference, you have yours. I don't force you to play the way I want you to play, but you support forcing your way to play on others. There's tons of games on Xbox with cross-play and AFAIK none of them forces it aside from 2 Microsoft titles (Gears of War in anything aside from ranked matches and Sea of Thieves).

@inboundbomb said in Does the matchmaking prioritize same platform first (xbox with xbox, pc with pc) or it's totally random?:

@tahngarthor Please note that Xbox systems identifies all players that they run into in a recent players list on the Xbox dashboard controls. It makes things easier to report, mute and block players from future matchmaking. Xbox players can tell in the SOT world or at any time what you are playing and or watching and what system you are doing it on but not what control input you are using.

Unfortunately, blocking doesn't exclude that player from matchmaking with you. In Halo 5 doubles (2v2) my friend and I blocked few teams who were very "vocal" after the match and kept on teabagginig. We were still getting matched against them all the time.

@tahngarthor said in Does the matchmaking prioritize same platform first (xbox with xbox, pc with pc) or it's totally random?:

@kapitan-klaps said in Does the matchmaking prioritize same platform first (xbox with xbox, pc with pc) or it's totally random?:

Sorry mate, but your argument is the same old silly argument that PC gamers throw around ....

Except, it's not a silly argument. I mean, you have your right to disagree with someone's opinion, but it's a perfectly reasonable argument. To me, it is unreasonable to complain about an "unfair advantage" when you have access to that same "unfair advantage" therefore negating any actual unfairness. The input method comprises at least 90% of anyone's argument against crossplay. But the problem is, you have access to the same input methods regardless of platform. SSDs and load times? You can just as easily use an SSD on an xbox as you can on a PC.

The bottom line is it's unreasonable to ask Rare to solve the problem for you when you're capable of solving the problem yourself, and just choosing not to. It's also unreasonable to punish PC players and brand them as cheaters just for their choice of platform. I didn't specifically buy a PC to play this game, it just happened to come out on it.

If you, the xbox player, legitimately believe that your controller is inferior to the mouse and keyboard, then there are two reasonable options:

1. Use a mouse and keyboard yourself. If you think mouse and keyboard is better, then why the hell wouldn't you use it? If you're that invested in the game, $20 for a basic mouse and keyboard is a small price to pay, and that's only if you don't already have one lying around somewhere. Plus it will come in handy for other games as well.
2. Request Rare to improve the controller controls, and add more options for them like stick sensitivity etc so you can spin around faster and such. Because honestly, such settings should exist, and I would fully support that. I personally believe that if the controls are designed properly, any perceived advantage of KBM can be more or less negated.

Segregating players is not the solution here.

I enjoy slower-paced console PVP without 720 spin 3 headshots in 0.5 sec and I enjoy the free of cheaters Xbox ecosystem.

You're living in a fantasy land if you think there's no cheaters on xbox. Which isn't to say MS doesn't try their best, but you can't eliminate cheaters. It's simply impossible. Also, Sea of Thieves is a WUP (windows universal platform) app, the same as on xbox. Such apps are sandboxed and their processes are guarded against common forms of external interference. It is perhaps somewhat easier to cheat on a PC, but if you think opting out of crossplay will filter out cheating, again, you're living in a fantasy land. Cheaters have existed on every platform since the beginning of video games.

Far as "slower paced PVP", well your choice of input device doesn't affect the pace of the game. What you're really saying is just complaining about other people having what you feel is a better input device than you in a different wrapper. If the pace of the game was generally agreed upon to be too fast, then Rare would make gameplay adjustments to slow things down. But they haven't done that. You are deliberately choosing to cripple yourself and complaining about other people who aren't making that choice. The fact that you apparently like crippling yourself doesn't make your argument more valid. Saying things like "but I played PC games once upon a time" doesn't lend any credence to your argument either.

Rare could easily limit turn speed for all players if they thought that would make the game better . Again though, so far they haven't come to that conclusion. So that tells me they feel the pace of combat in the game is in a place they are happy with.

The long and short of it is there are many solutions to these problems that don't involve splitting the playerbase, but the anti-crossplay posters just dismiss them all out of hand, with the same weak excuses again and again.

This debate has raged on since the game launched, and Rare has not relented with the exception of the Arena, where even there I'm surprised they capitulated. Clearly they prefer having one larger community to splitting it.

You really are clueless and you're missing the point totally.
Why do you think there are car racing categories instead of all cars being matched together? How can you fail to understand the fact that mouse&keyboard input device for Xbox is a result of crossplay? How can you failt to understand that consoles until recently had only controllers available and that's why many prefered it?
As for cheating, the only people who think you can cheat on Xbox are PC players who have no clue how it works. YOU LITERALLY CAN'T CHEAT ON XBOX. It's just impossible. YOU Are the one living in the lala land. Jailbreak for Xbox One doesn't exist. I was modding Xbox 360's and OG's back in the day, installing chips, but MS totally got rid of the problem. Unless you have an undisputed proof of Xbox One getting modded and cheats are injected via custom code, don't spread these lies. Again, you are totally clueless about how the Xbox console and its ecosystem works. It's clear to me you don't own one and never did. The first time Xbox players experienced real cheating was when cross-play got introduced. Using exploits is not the cheating we're talking about here.

Anyway, it all doesn't matter now because cross-play opt-out was confirmed to be launched in January. I can guarantee you I will not meet a single cheater when it lands if it truly will keep PC players away.

@realstyli said in Does the matchmaking prioritize same platform first (xbox with xbox, pc with pc) or it's totally random?:

@kapitan-klaps said in Does the matchmaking prioritize same platform first (xbox with xbox, pc with pc) or it's totally random?:

Anyway, it all doesn't matter now because cross-play opt-out was confirmed to be launched in January. I can guarantee you I will not meet a single cheater when it lands if it truly will keep PC players away.

Except it won't, more than likely, it will be a preference not an absolute - just like the opt out for Arena. So you will still likely be matched with PC players from time to time.

I'm a PC player who uses a controller because I prefer it for my own use-case. I've never felt at much of a disadvantage - I use the highest sensitivity and I'm personally much better at aiming and moving with the thumbsticks than WASD and mouse. If the game was a twitch shooter with headshots meaning anything, I'd probably feel different.

Anyway, I'm happy Xbox players get to opt out as I fear those more than PC players, to be honest, because they're usually in party chat and it's harder to communicate with them. A lot of this game is about interacting with other players and it's hard to do that when they can't hear you or talk to you.

The good aim can make a ton of difference (there are headshots on skeletons, not sure about players tho). I've been sniped from very far away while on a moving boat many times, or when carrying explosives. Superfast aiming + bunny hopping + frames per second (still baffles me that this game runs at 30fps on the X...) + loading times, they all create a big difference when summed up. Cheats and modding is also a PC thing. It doesn't exist on Xbox and whoever says it does has no clue what he's talking about. From what I've seen in youtube videos, it's pretty easy to pull off some simple cheats on PC. Even push to talk can give you a massive tactical advantage. On PC you can hear both in-game chat and party chat at the same time, and talk only to a selected chat. You can't do that on Xbox. In Early SoT days, more Xbox players used in-game chat, but it left them at a disadvantage compared to PC hearing all channels and having the privacy of the private groups. My crew and I use only in-game chat, because we love the immersion and we want to communicate with others, even though they can hear us when we don't want them to. When I finally hear a PC player from another crew, it's only when they decide to use push-to-talk to send some insults while bunnyhopping everywhere or say they're friendly while talking over tactics on their private channel on how to sink us. I get it, it's sea of THIEVES, but it's far from a fair playing field.

As for aiming, I also play in max sensitivity and do very well in twitch shooters (Loving Halo 5, Onyx rank in all arenas) but let's be honest, a player with an amazing aim on a controller is equivalent to average aim player on m&k. And I'm gonna bring it up again, just because m&k is obviously superior, doesn't mean I want to use it. Now again we'll have a PC player saying "oh so it's your own choice! you want to play on the inferior input device and platform" well yes I do, but at the same time, I expect to be matched with players that have the same preference. That's what console gaming was always about.

With that being said, I hope the opt-out is more than just "prefer xbox" or else it won't change much. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against PC players in general, I have a gaming PC myseld and SoT installed on it, but I want a level playing field for everyone. Right now it's far from it and let's not forget Sea of Thieves is a strickly PVP game where you can lose a whole day of progress in a blink of an eye.

@kapitan-klaps said in Does the matchmaking prioritize same platform first (xbox with xbox, pc with pc) or it's totally random?:

As for cheating, the only people who think you can cheat on Xbox are PC players who have no clue how it works. YOU LITERALLY CAN'T CHEAT ON XBOX.

There are programmable dongles that go between the console and the controller that you can configure to macro input, and because they mimic the hardware ID of the controller they are not detectable. There are a few different companies making these, and some of them are sold on Amazon.

There was also a project that was intercepting data packets for PUBG which allowed them to create an overhead map on a separate screen showing player and loot positions - again, because they were not modifying any of the packets this is not detectable.

There are cheats for consoles, even if you can't run software on it. To think otherwise is the same kind of foolishness as those who think that Macs can't get viruses.