Competition is so broken

(Remedica) #1

So basically impossible to get in the matches now…
First match we had to wait 30 mins to get in 1 match, after that we had to wait 45 mins and now we have been in que for 1 hour…
5k people in the game and its pretty hard to believe there isn’t anybody else in the comp.
Why there isn’t any setting that if you wait certain amount of time in the line the rank system would expand, cuz at the moment I don’t think its working.
1 hour in line is just way too much.

(Amerika) #2

If you let level 5’s in you get thread after thread of unhappy people who were matched up against a team that had level 5’s or was put on a team with level 5’s. Now that the game requires level 7 we’re going to have threads like this where you are waiting forever for a match. It sounds like they changed the matchup system too. In the last iteration I believe a player/team only had to wait a few minutes before the game would match them up with anybody if a proper match could not be found. It appears as if it’s going to make players, at least teams, wait now.

(Remedica) #3

Well, it would be more fun to get stomped or stomp than not be able to play at all.

(kibloy) #4

All the new players don’t even play comp but you at least had some of the high level players in the evenings so you got a few decent games.
Now with these ridiculous queue times pretty much everyone has started playing PUGs on DBN so as far as I know comp is completely deserted.

I want to queue in a lobby with friends and not have to use a 3rd party system and then be matched up against them :confused:

(3N1GM4) #5

I played 13 games yesterday in parties of 3-5, only the last 2 did we have ridiculous queue times, but every single one was evenly matched, which I much prefer. I think its fair how it is now, but I’d like to see “X Players playing Competition” or at least “Average queue time: 4 Minutes” or whatever

(immenseWalnut) #6

So maybe we can extrapolate some logic here. If comp is now pretty much dead, that means that the vast bulk of people who were in there were lvl 5 doing their comp missions? Does that not sound like a crap version of comp play, when you need to rely on brand new, and often bad, players?

I get you like this game and are willing to defend it, but we need to honest here instead of defensive. There is no real incentive to play comp, and yes, I know, in an ideal world comp play would be its own reward, but this clearly isn’t happening right now, so maybe we should, you know, talk about it?

(Dawnlazy) #7

Having a maximum skill gap is stupid in my opinion. I’d rather have a one-sided game than no game. Old MM was fine, try to get a balanced game in 5 minutes, if it can’t be done then use whatever players are queuing. Even if it’s a stomp the lower skill team will lose very few points, plus they could always get the unexpected victory and take tons of points from the stacked team.

(3N1GM4) #8

I’d rather wait 5-10 more minutes than waste 20-40 in a stompfest. Get it right now, it will get better as it grows. And I think its pretty close to “right” as it is. They could increase the skill gap just a tad and I’d be fine with it.

(Dawnlazy) #9

I’d rather wait 5-10 more minutes than waste 20-40 in a stompfest. Get it right now, it will get better as it grows. And I think its pretty close to “right” as it is. They could increase the skill gap just a tad and I’d be fine with it.[/quote]

It’s not 5-10 more minutes, it’s waiting for 20+ minutes and then everyone in your group leaving to do something else. There simply isn’t enough of a playerbase in comp to have the luxury to write off skill gaps completely. This could end up just like Warcraft 3 after patch 1.14, people with high win rates queuing for 50 minutes just to find a 1vs1 with thousands of other players online.

(watsyurdeal) #10

Personally I think comp should have either it’s own missions or it’s own currency.

Like a special type of credit you could use to buy cards with, wheres with normal credits you gamble a bit, with these you buy exactly what you want regardless of the rarity, and of course it scales up as well.

I think that’d be a strong incentive to play comp, you can buy the exact cobalt card you want with comp credits.

(Remedica) #11

[quote=“Watsyurdeal;103141”]Personally I think comp should have either it’s own missions or it’s own currency.

Like a special type of credit you could use to buy cards with, wheres with normal credits you gamble a bit, with these you buy exactly what you want regardless of the rarity, and of course it scales up as well.

I think that’d be a strong incentive to play comp, you can buy the exact cobalt card you want with comp credits.[/quote]

Not a bad idea. They could at least add some cookies for competitive, now it only gives you rank points and that’s it.

(N8o) #12

At this point in time, you either get fair matches with long queues or you get stomps with short queue times (or shorter).

You can’t have both yet.

(FalC_16) #13

and the worst thing on competitive is…when you finally have a game…somebody from your team leaves :smiley:

(Amerika) #14

So maybe we can extrapolate some logic here. If comp is now pretty much dead, that means that the vast bulk of people who were in there were lvl 5 doing their comp missions? Does that not sound like a crap version of comp play, when you need to rely on brand new, and often bad, players?

I get you like this game and are willing to defend it, but we need to honest here instead of defensive. There is no real incentive to play comp, and yes, I know, in an ideal world comp play would be its own reward, but this clearly isn’t happening right now, so maybe we should, you know, talk about it?
[/quote]

@immenseWalnut Exactly what did I defend? I stated simple facts from what we know. I defended nothing. How was I not honest and how was I defensive? Stating what something is and how it works is neither being dishonest or being defensive. Please clarify and/or modify your post.

(immenseWalnut) #15

So maybe we can extrapolate some logic here. If comp is now pretty much dead, that means that the vast bulk of people who were in there were lvl 5 doing their comp missions? Does that not sound like a crap version of comp play, when you need to rely on brand new, and often bad, players?

I get you like this game and are willing to defend it, but we need to honest here instead of defensive. There is no real incentive to play comp, and yes, I know, in an ideal world comp play would be its own reward, but this clearly isn’t happening right now, so maybe we should, you know, talk about it?
[/quote]

@immenseWalnut Exactly what did I defend? I stated simple facts from what we know. I defended nothing. How was I not honest and how was I defensive? Stating what something is and how it works is neither being dishonest or being defensive. Please clarify and/or modify your post.[/quote]

It boils down like this; I have played only a few comp matches, the first few were overrun with hackers, the later matches were filled with low level noobs (I know that sounds nasty, but they were VERY new based on how badly they played, and I guess they were only there for the missions). Comp is supposed to be more than just a poor extension of casual mode. From my own experience, comp in this game, is a joke.

Now I am firmly of the persuasion that casual mode is where the vast majority of players will spend their time, therefore matchmaking is actually more important for casual than it is for comp. But that is just my own opinion, and I know many people don’t share it.

Now, to get to your point, the OP is clearly a bit miffed with the queue times, and he could have articulated himself much better, but his points are valid. Very valid. Comp in Dirty Bomb is a laughing stock. And it always has been.

If the latest changes (to the level requirement) have indeed emptied comp of the bulk of its playerbase, then there is obviously something very wrong that needs not only a good discussion, but also a firm bit of analysis to get it going in the right direction. I don’t want this to sound like an attack, because more often than not I think your posts are pretty good, but I have noticed that the moment someone criticises the game with a bit of passion (or emotion I suppose), you respond in the same manner, ignoring the actual issue (which definitely does merit a good old discussion) and you get fervent in your defense of whatever it is we are talking about. Pay attention to the fact that it was you, not the OP, that started talking about level requirements, you decided to defend the recent change, even though the OP never mentioned it, and may not even have been aware of it.

This is why I often take issue with you, loving the game is great, I commend you for it, but not at the expense of a real discussion about a real issue. We all want this game to succeed, so lets stop with the excuses and work towards getting the game into the place that we all want it to be.

(Sir_Slam) #16

As much as it sucks, especially for me who can’t stand to play clusterf-ck pubs, let me tell you, you don’t want level 5’s on your team. Trust me. You just don’t. I’d rather wait for a good match than get stuck with people who want to make me rip my eyes from my @sshole.

(cordovanJive) #17

It’s solely because the player count is so low, and the majority of players just pub. Ranked is dead because the player base just isn’t interested/isn’t big enough. CSGO, Dota 2, LoL, etc have such fast queue times because they have huge active player bases, who love competetive play.

This game just doesn’t fit the competetive spirit with so many rng bits, a bad free to play model, and more.

I want to love this game, but it’s so dang hard with how this game is being treated. The free to play model needs a rewrite. ASAP.

(Tayski) #18

@Remedica where are you based?
I’m in the UK and play with players from all over Europe in my friendlist. I never had to wait longer than 8-10 minutes for a competitive and it usually takes 5 minutes or less.

It’s important to remember that the game is still relatively new and there are tons of players under level 10. Those will eventually level up and learn the game more, meaning they will be more likely to want and play competitive as they feel more confident and skills. Comp will only get better with time. Free 2 play or not is irrelevant here.

The “X Players playing Competition” or “Average queue time: X Minutes” is definitely a good idea too.

Also I agree that a lobby system should be implemented to be able to enter pubs in the same team with friends. It’s a pain having to play against your own friends while sitting together on teamspeak.

In terms of people from your team leaving when you enter a comp game, just don’t play with randoms and add people to your friendlist + get them on your teamspeak/ventrillo/mumble/whatever. I don’t ever have this issue now that I don’t join comps with free spots for randoms to play in our team.

(Remedica) #19

@Tayski I’m playing on EU servers currently at rank Gold 2 and I always queue with full stack of friends.
And problem is still there, it still takes min. 20 mins to get in a single match :confused: What rank are you Tayski?

At this point, when there’s barely enough players in competition anyways, I find it just stupid that they made that expand thing, since now it only takes longer if there’s people from various ranks.
In the end the ranks has so little to do with the players skills and teamwork, Team of gold 5’s can easily win Cobalts if they know how to work together.

I also agree that system which would show all the people in competition or queue time would be more than welcome.

(M4st0d0n) #20

I play cheap turn based games and browse while waiting for comp matches. They should implement a card game with the loadouts to play with the lobbies so I wouldnt have to alt-tab.