Remove SBMM. Player base is not big enough to support it causing unacceptable queue times.

@iamvladd2000 said in Remove SBMM. Player base is not big enough to support it causing unacceptable queue times.:

SBMM would be a good idea if there were large numbers of players playing but the issue is that

1. There are 3 different ship types so that’s player base split up into 3 parts. [ ... ]

There are actually four parts: solo-sloop and duo-sloop are separate.

Also regions

@iamvladd2000

I just said this in another post, but Rare confirmed that the matchmaking parameters such as skill and region are basically just preferences of the system and it is ultimately supposed to match you with anyone of the opposite faction that is out there playing the game.

So unless there are literally zero players representing the opposite faction while you are looking for a match, you should be finding battles. The design of the system isn't the issue. Based on how Rare said it's supposed to work versus how it is actually working, it seems like this thing is just bugged/broken.

You’re not wrong unfortunately.

Any chance you could let us Australian OCEANIC players into other regions too? I’m lonely.

@chronodusk that is absolutely not true. I decided to test out matchmaking for myself.

I have an Xbox and 3 accounts on Xbox Cloud. On my main Xbox account I queued up as Athena and on the other 3 I was reapers.

I managed to get matched up against one of my accounts once or twice and even that took at least like 10 minutes. Afterwards I never got into the match with any of my accounts. I was sitting for 20 minutes before giving up. I even lowered the hourglass to see if it helps but nope.

Either Rare is spreading misinformation or the system indeed is glitched.

I believe the player base is big enough.

I personally have 0 battles, 0 progress in either of the new factions. Why? Not really interested in sweating a 1v1 and doing 100tasks a minute for some meaningless rep. Would not mind to try it with a crew tho. However, most people I know quit this game and Open crew is a total disaster.

Also I see a lot of flaws and reports with the way it is done and personally I dislike the approach.

Not saying I won't try it, but I certainly have no will to grind 100 or 1000pvp levels to get some curse at this point.

So can imagine a lot of players just don't care about it that much and once the 'new thing hype' wears off, the numbers will drop further.

What if...instead of this...Rare would have relaunched Arena, obviously with the care and respect for the mod it deserves and that is rarely shown for anything else in this game apart from pirate emporium or streamers.

What I mean, listening more to players, taking ideas from other successful games, being creative (instead of recycling content). more game modes for arena, like king of the hill, capture the flag etc. Not saying omg this would change everything but Arena was as much cared about as OOS or Idk half the game literally? Nobody cares for these time limited adventures as much as they care for the main adventure. So in the last year we got how many of them? Seems like a lot, ok it expands the lore and shines the light on the future of the game.
How many main adventure improvements we have received (not talking about captaincy, just voyages, tall tales)

One content update per 2 years for Athena for example, this is not the fault of only 2% of players playing Arena, this is fault of developers of not knowing how to make things fun and interesting once things start to get boring.

Why Flamenheart could not have been the ''Talking head in the sky announcer, throwing around jokes and taunts to crews battling the arena''?

If well made I guarantee such small thing could have pushed the player base to at least 3-4% wouldn't you agree? Now imagine more fun options and new things, number goes up further...

So a few streamers or old players complained that they have too much gold..So now everything is super expensive.
I reached Athena 30. What I got for it? Some joke of a costume, and ability to spend 2.5million for the ship set. Thanks.

Trinkets? Super cool, but I am not able to buy anything else apart from them as all the money is sinking there non stop most of the time, as soon as one is finished another one gets unlocked or upgraded.

Worst thing, some things just require something fresh/new that would not even take a lot of effort. Why this stupid adventure could not become a limited time voyage instead (not exactly as it is) but why cant OOS have Briggsy for a month as a boss to fight?

I know I'm just ranting, but just wanted to say to all the people who love the new game mode - buckle up. Your experience depends on other people and a lot of people are not as loyal or dedicated to this game and excitement/patience will sooner or later end.

@iamvladd2000 What exactly did I say that wasn't true? It sounds like you proved what I was saying about this being broken.

@lordqulex I like the game, but I do not necessarily relate to myself when I point out something, just things I have observed and formed opinion about from other players experiences.

I like the adventures, I don't like that they are time limited and can't be replayed. Why those time limited adventure can't be brought back in some shape or form to remain in the game as a voyage or tall tale is my problem.

Not many people over the years still have any will or interest go to Old Faithful to look for some skelly's that drop mid tier skulls, or dig some marauders chests.
Things in game cost millions now, there is not a single piece of loot worth even 50k.

It just takes a bit of creativity to spice things up, some things you cant predict or anticipate that would truly surprise you and give you some dopamine.

Not saying that getting 5x Chests of Legends on Old faithful isle would bring old players back, but would certainly be more exciting for us who still remain and like this game. But this is just a silly example without any imagination.

How would I improve current voyages to make them more fun?

OOS skelly voyages - introduce bosses on the islands as the final wave. Have skelly ships depending on crew size/faction level emerge from water when you approach the island to try and guard the mentioned boss.

GH X marks the spot - without going out of the way to completely change the voyage to the point where you cant call it 'x marks the spot anymore'' - increase the value a lot.

Athenas - I don't dig up skulls as a gold hoarder, just like I don't get captains chests as OOs, why I get those items for Athena is beyond me. Especially when there is literally 0 reward for leveling up the 'end game' faction to max.

Don't get me wrong, the voyages are great when you have not done them for hundreds of times. So if you are a new player, all of them are awesome. But there is very little fresh content for seasoned players. The sandbox becomes very small, and the toys get worn out and old. Can't be that difficult to keep this fresh, they like to recycle content, but even this has disappeared, instead we get now recycled cosmetics.

Also players are split up between Xbox only and crossplay. I’ve already fought the same boat 4 times in the last 3 weeks on Xbox only and they’ve slapped me 3 of those times. It’s incredibly frustrating.

We already know the SBMM isn’t working for the top 1% of players that are just cruising through the levels, so why it is super punishing for low-mid leveled players?

I’d say just have a win streak based matchmaking, and if you’re over 4 then you can get matched with everyone because it’s shouldn’t be waiting upwards of 20 mins for my first match of the day.

@lordqulex well you can’t always search up and then complaint that good people are getting matched with noobs, those happen for the same reason. The problem I’m seeing is that the expanded search isn’t working most of the time.