I just left yet another extremely disappointing Fleet Battles session. Myself and two others (plus two randoms) against opposing teams.
I really don't *want* to quit playing this game. The single-player campaign is awesome! The Fleet Battles vs. AI was fun for a while, until you get good enough to beat it every single time. (There need to be harder modes here.) But it is getting so frustrating losing constantly in multiplayer that I'm unfortunately not sure it is worth it anymore. When you can manage to get into those close-call matches, the game is fantastic, but that is becoming less and less frequent as time goes by. More often these days, I see us up against these Level 200+ players with no hope of even enjoying the match. Getting repeatedly trounced is no fun at all, and doesn't give you any chance to improve. (You don't get better at any game by being repeatedly outmatched so badly you can't even see what you did wrong.) At this point, I can't in good conscience recommend this game to any new players. Can you imagine being a new player jumping into that situation?
I keep seeing this argument floating around that a player's Level doesn't mean anything. I don't feel that this is an entirely accurate assessment. The player's Level is not a direct representation of skill. While this is strictly true, it is also misleading. The Level *is* a reflection of the amount of time spent playing the game. That time spent does yield increases in skill. Will two Level 40 players perform at exactly the same proficiency? No, of course not. But, you can bet they each have roughly the same time logged in the game, and can easily out-fly someone of half their Level. I have also seen people claiming to run across Level 200 players who suck, but I have *never* seen that.
I am an adult, with a job and other commitments, so I can't play more than one night (at most two) each week. My "progress" has therefore been correspondingly slow. I'm fine with that. But, my gaming time is limited, and I can't afford to spend it getting needlessly frustrated by a game that makes absolutely no attempt to skill-match teams. Without some alteration--some *attempt*--to balance out teams in Fleet Battles, I don't see how I can continue playing in the long run.
Please don't misinterpret my intention here. I'm not looking for excuses, nor am I railing against the game in blind rage. I enjoy playing the game when it actually presents our team with a challenging (but not horribly overkill) opposing team. I also feel bad on the ultra-rare instances where our team vastly overmatches the other, because I know they are frustrated by it.
I hope that these message boards are actually monitored by people at EA, and that they will recognize and make some attempt to resolve this very real problem. How about limiting the player Levels to within 50 of one another? Or totaling Levels on each side and putting some cap on the disparity? Or comparing K/D ratios to make sure they are comparable between teams? If nothing is done, the ultimate outcome is pretty clear: there will be no one playing except these elite teams, with no room for new or returning players to enjoy the game. It will die.
If anyone else is frustrated by the matchmaking, you are definitely not alone.
Thank you for your time. (And the opportunity to vent a little--hopefully in a constructive way!)
