Real concerns over Brinks Rank system

(tokamak) #241

Can you join higher ranked matches as a low guy?

(AnthonyDa) #242

Yes and it sux because there is only few people joining higher serv, so they got pwned.

(tokamak) #243

Doesn’t that stress the need for a matchmaking system even more?

(AnthonyDa) #244

Doesn’t that blocks me to play with my friends ?
Without limitation we could have a good mix of noob&pro VS noob&pro (basically) instead of pro vs pro&noob mixed together.

(AnthonyDa) #245

Also I got a tips for you : QL isn’t based on overall XP only, so in BRINK a player playing on lower skill server shouldn’t unbalance the game too much.

(tokamak) #246

The matchmaking is intended to make people either not feel like pawns or totally bored with low opposition. I’ll hand it to you that SD hasn’t released much about how optional this would be, and your concerns of this turning into QL are valid (though there are games that manage to make this work). I can imagine you can sign your server up to matchmaking but if you’re not fussed about this (and want mixed players) you just turn it off and welcome everybody.

With that in mind, you can chose, either you play with friends against higher ranked players or you join a mixed server together.

Yes, though from what I understand there won’t be much difference in ‘character power’ in Brink either, you grow by extending your options and the limit for the unlocks for each player is equal.

(AnthonyDa) #247

It’s just a pain in the ass to disconnect to join a friend just because your overall XP is too low.

I don’t think that the matchmaking can be turned off on a server, you can only set the avg rank, let’s say it’s a value between 1 and 50, 50 = higher ‘skill’ (xpwhore). I’m affraid that if you turn the rank option to 1, then only lv1 noob will connect on it, others player are going to be oriented to higher rank server, so instead of welcoming everyone, you’ll just welcome nublet.

(tokamak) #248

That’s not what I got from SDers but then again, they were quite vague on this, maybe they just don’t have anything yet.

(Jamieson) #249

[QUOTE=AnthonyDa;221257]It’s just a pain in the ass to disconnect to join a friend just because your overall XP is too low.

I don’t think that the matchmaking can be turned off on a server, you can only set the avg rank, let’s say it’s a value between 1 and 50, 50 = higher ‘skill’ (xpwhore). I’m affraid that if you turn the rank option to 1, then only lv1 noob will connect on it, others player are going to be oriented to higher rank server, so instead of welcoming everyone, you’ll just welcome nublet.[/QUOTE]

AnthonyDa just expresse my original cocnerns expressed in my diagram, Until we get further details we don’t really know.

(H0RSE) #250

I’m affraid that if you turn the rank option to 1, then only lv1 noob will connect on it, others player are going to be oriented to higher rank server, so instead of welcoming everyone, you’ll just welcome nublet.
then don’t set it to just lvl 1…

(Nail) #251

Originally Posted by rahdo
for pretty much every single one of you guys on this board, i suspect that simple “take me to the next mission” option will not be good enough, and you’ll all instead opt for the “take me to a server browser” choice. Once there, you can find missions where voip is on by default (for everyone), ff is on, player ranks are restricted or open, high level abilities are allowed or disallowed, etc.

I expect the majority of console players will opt for the former (the standard ‘friendly’ matches), and the majority of pc players will opt for the later (the let me play the game without restrictions, i’m a big boy, i can handle it matches). So hopefully everyone will be satisfied…

how’s this sound, familiar ?

as mentioned before, it’s all optional

(Apples) #252

Now that you made a good definition of yourself can we move on?

Peace

(tokamak) #253

Can’t take that accusation seriously, I went into all the arguments.

(ultraddtd) #254

Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t rank in Brink only open up weapon and character customization options and not directly effect the core game play mechanics? If so, why would they even bother seperating players by rank? Or is rank seperate from character progression and therefore onto a measurement of one’s FPS skills and not of how far they advanced in the game?

Either way, I have to agree with the OP in that matchmaking like this only manages to fracture
an online community, thus making the process frustrating. As another poster pointed out, a more sophisticated system that balances the skill levels of players who join a game instead of restricting is a much better approach that keeps teams balanced while giving players more people to play with much faster matchmaking.

Halo uses the rank restrictive matchmaking and it was EXTREMELY frustrating when the game spent several minutes to find a game I was “alllowed” to play and ultimately led to me ditching it.

(INF3RN0) #255

[QUOTE=ultraddtd;221558]Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t rank in Brink only open up weapon and character customization options and not directly effect the core game play mechanics? If so, why would they even bother seperating players by rank? Or is rank seperate from character progression and therefore onto a measurement of one’s FPS skills and not of how far they advanced in the game?

Either way, I have to agree with the OP in that matchmaking like this only manages to fracture
an online community, thus making the process frustrating. As another poster pointed out, a more sophisticated system that balances the skill levels of players who join a game instead of restricting is a much better approach that keeps teams balanced while giving players more people to play with much faster matchmaking.

Halo uses the rank restrictive matchmaking and it was EXTREMELY frustrating when the game spent several minutes to find a game I was “alllowed” to play and ultimately led to me ditching it.[/QUOTE]

Yes that is the plan. Rank only “separates” people, and I use it loosely as it is entirely optional for PC, by time played XP. No one is at an advantage, but rather if your brand new you don’t have to be matched up versus vet players (unless you want to be of course).

(ultraddtd) #256

Do we know at this time if it’s optional on consoles as well?

(Nail) #257

PCs have dedicated servers, so all options are possible, with consoles the ranking system should even things out for them

(tokamak) #258

Just to make it clear, I’ve been discussing the latter in this thread. Character progress doesn’t equal skill.

It should also only there for people who chose it.

(brbrbr) #259

PC have many other things, many of which “dear” console users never ever dream about.
so i guess, thats not point.
for anything, except migration 2 PC platform.

p.p.s.
its all about ZM decisions, mainly.
SD just develop game according to ZM needs.

(ultraddtd) #260

Ug. That kind of matchmaking just doesn’t work. Trying to play Halo 3 a year after launch was an excersise in paitence since one would have to wait several minutes for the matchmaking system to find other players of equal skill to play with. GTAIV’s ranked matches were almost impossible to play as well.

If the console version must be tied to matchmaking system they should let go of thus outdated method and adopt something closer to what Gears or COD uses. It’s not perfect in anyway, but they do a decent job of balancing the varying skill levels of players between the teams while keeping players who party up together on the same team.

On a platform that doesn’t gave the convenience of a server browser, easy, fast and reliable matchmsking is a must if the developers want their game to still be popular years after launch.