SBMM is not actually SBMM [ Edited ]

[RockDokRock]

I feel for the devs trying to fix this.  I don't believe for a second they are not constantly re-evaluating this but it's a hard problem to fix.  I think SBMM is broken too but with so many people trying to constantly game the system it's a never ending battle.

People.  This is why we can't have nice things.

[Redmattgame]

@Cheese9ManI agree but isn't Overwatch's problem that the substantial drop in players over time (moving to other game) has affected lobby numbers rather than their rigid MM plus they have more game modes than Apex.I'm in no way advocating lengthy waiting times for Apex but surely there has to be middle ground for us 'casual players' than just being stomped by teams & players who dedicate most of their time to this game.As I mentioned in another comment short waiting times has left players like me with teammates short before the match has even started.

I only mentioned a solo queue only lobby to at least bring an element of fairness back into the game & got mugged off by someone who just wants quick waiting times.

[Cheese9Man]

@RedmattgameYeah Overwatch isn't the best example since it's also just a 6v6 game compared to apex where you have to fill a 60-player lobby. The queue time problems in the game is definitely multi-factorial not just the drop in players.

It got me thinking of possible solutions to the MM without sacrificing queue times. Does removing some of the servers from a same place help? I play in Tokyo and we have 6 servers. What if we only have 2 Tokyo servers so that there would be less separation of players across different servers, increasing the number of players per server, and having a better MM so noobs aren't forced to fill pred lobbies. I'm no dev so feedback is welcome.

[HappyHourSumwur]

@RockDokRock I do not have any sympathy for the devs in this case. Just measure "skill" in a meaningful way, not by level balancing. I'd rather have smaller matches (15 squads?) instead of playing with or against Preds/Pros. F'ing figure it out, Respawn!!!

Getting immediately lasered to death by players/bots with perfect aim & dodging skills is a horrible experience for a trash can like me. I want to play with others like me and feel like I have a chance. That seems to happen 1 in about 10 pub matches right now. I'll usually go 5-6 in a row getting killed in the first minute, thanks mostly to hot drops in Fragment . . . sigh.

[Redmattgame]

@Cheese9Man All good suggestions but does the player count that Apex claim it has stack up when I frequently have lobbies that struggle to fill over 50 players & I play on London servers & play between 6-9pm GMT (depending if Worlds Edge is on 2 hour map rotation of which I wont be playing).Maybe an idea would be to reduce the lobby in a match to 45 players (15 teams).

[Redmattgame]

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@HappyHourSumwur wrote:
@RockDokRockI do not have any sympathy for the devs in this case. Just measure "skill" in a meaningful way, not by level balancing. I'd rather have smaller matches (15 squads?) instead of playing with or against Preds/Pros. F'ing figure it out, Respawn!!!

Getting immediately lasered to death by players/bots with perfect aim & dodging skills is a horrible experience for a trash can like me. I want to play with others like me and feel like I have a chance. That seems to happen 1 in about 10 pub matches right now. I'll usually go 5-6 in a row getting killed in the first minute, thanks mostly to hot drops in Fragment . . . sigh.

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They say great minds think alike & I didn't get to see your comment mentioning smaller matches as I was typing out the same idea.I have no issue about Pred teams & the tens if not hundreds of thousand of players better the me who put the hours into the game (that I don't) perfecting their aiming an movement etc in the game.But what I don't respect are the players can can brazenly cheat their way through games (strikepacks,aimbots,wall hacks & every other cheat available) where in truth there is very little done about it.A lacklustre reporting system (particularly with fellow PS players).And even if players get banned a smurf account is set up moments later.

Only yesterday playing as Wraith on the SP map when a teammate was downed I used my Dimensional Rift Tactical through A Gravity Cannon to try & traverse them through only to be dropped mid-air by a single Kraber sniper shot (350 damage).Any regular player would have more chance of getting struck by lightening twice than landing a shot like that.If that wasn't one of the worse cases of cheating or aimbot in the game then I don't know what is but when I reported it as a blatant cheat I had the feeling nothing was going to get done about it.

[hayhor]

@BaldWraithSimp Yeah the seperate queue idea is terrible. There is nothing stopping people from joining together to make a team.

[hayhor]

@Cheese9Man No way I'd wait 10 to 15 minutes for a game. Waiting more than a couple minutes is too much for me.

[BaldWraithSimp]

@Redmattgame The point of pubs should be to provide quick matchmaking with minimum matchmaking criteria. If you are looking for fair matchmaking in pubs, I am afraid your hope is misplaced. Sure it's frustrating but that's the nature of mode.

Now that's out of the way, let's talk about ranked. Players are already divided by their rank tiers for fair matchmaking, so to further 50/50(assumed number) that population in a mode that requires 60 players(talking Platinum+) is a disaster for queue times. Or hell if it's 70/30 or something, then it's even worse.

They could test it in pubs, but it should remain as is imo. Big no for ranked, it would be a disaster just like Arena ranked experience.

I called it a 'worst idea', I will change that to a bad idea. Don't take it personally, I was being blunt.

[RockDokRock]

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@HappyHourSumwur wrote:
@RockDokRockI do not have any sympathy for the devs in this case. Just measure "skill" in a meaningful way, not by level balancing. I'd rather have smaller matches (15 squads?) instead of playing with or against Preds/Pros. F'ing figure it out, Respawn!!!

Getting immediately lasered to death by players/bots with perfect aim & dodging skills is a horrible experience for a trash can like me. I want to play with others like me and feel like I have a chance. That seems to happen 1 in about 10 pub matches right now. I'll usually go 5-6 in a row getting killed in the first minute, thanks mostly to hot drops in Fragment . . . sigh.

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@HappyHourSumwur So you know how it works?  You understand how they use "level balancing" and the other nuances (I have no idea how they do it and neither, I suspect, do you)?  So how would you do it?  What about the smurfs?  What about pre-made squads... would they not have an advantage?  How do you counteract that?  As someone with a software dev background I can totally empathise with what they are dealing with.  I don't think there is an easy answer like you make out to be.