I thought I’d take a moment to shed some light on why we feel that our Casual Matchmaking work is so important for the future of Dirty Bomb, as well as provide a high level outline of our plan to reach our goals.
Quick Join will be removed entirely in favour of matchmaking for general play, though the Server Browser will still be available. Shifting casual play from Quick Join to matchmaking will mean that rather than being placed on servers via very basic criteria, you’re instead placed into a pool with all the other players looking for a match, and a system then tries to put you all together via a set of criteria specifically designed to provide good quality matches in as timely a manner as possible.
Match Balance
Most critically, using matchmaking to create casual matches means that we can construct games that have a better balance of player skill and experience. A simple way of looking at it is that it blends player XP per minute rates and level. As Dirty Bomb leans towards the hardcore end of the shooter spectrum, it has a high skill ceiling and does not rely heavily on auto-balancing mechanics in its game modes. Therefore, it’s extremely important that players of a high and low skill level aren’t likely to be put together. Otherwise, new or less skilled players simply don’t get the chance to improve, and highly skilled players don’t get to experience a challenge.
Party Play
Matchmaking also lets us have players group up before going into matches together as a team, which is understandably massive for Dirty Bomb as it’s a team and role-based shooter. A key part of having competitive viability in a game is having a path from turning up as a new player all the way to the highest levels of clan play, and this system will help fill an existing gap in this regard. It also allows us to tune a “skill bias” for groups, as they have naturally higher coordination and in effect tend to collectively play above the skill levels of the individual group members.
End-to-End Matches
Using matchmaking in the casual side of the game also represents a sort of culture shift that we think is more true to the heart of Dirty Bomb… a culture that is currently only present in Ranked play. It means that when you decide to join a match you’re making an implicit commitment to your team and your opponents to play from the beginning to the end of a match, and we feel strongly that this leads to better quality matches that are also played in a better spirit. We understand that it shouldn’t be the same level of commitment that is associated with Ranked as the stakes aren’t the same, and will make every effort to tailor the system to player needs accordingly.
But what about…?
We realise that what’s been described here does not suit everyone’s play habits and styles, and we’re sensitive to that. We’ll be leaving a certain number of servers up via the Server Browser that operate as matches do now but without Quick Join, and the number that are available will ultimately be based on demand. We hope that you all will quickly see the benefits to the new approach, but it’s worth stressing that we will endeavour to be flexible should the community not feel that it’s working out.
We have longer term plans for game modes that will better support players leaving and joining during the match, as our aim is to allow Dirty Bomb to cater to the wants of individual players without compromising our team ethic.
Moving Forward
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and as ever any feedback that you want to provide is appreciated. Matchmaking systems are complex beasts that require a lot of iteration and tuning, so this will be an ongoing process. We see this as a journey that we’re all on together, and another leg is about to start!
#playdirteh
[SD]Exedore
i hope soon fuckign soon like NOW 