Skill Based Matchmaking is back on the menu, boys! (Destiny)

by cheapLEY , Thursday, July 28, 2022, 15:19 (855 days ago)
edited by cheapLEY, Thursday, July 28, 2022, 15:27

https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/51618

They are implementing "loose" SBMM into Control next season, to be monitored and adjusted and implemented in other playlists at later dates. No Trials changes at the moment.

It's about goddamn fucking time.

This is the part really worth highlighting if you don't want to read the whole thing--their goals for the new matchmaking:

Amongst other things, we’re looking at:

Amongst other things, we’re looking at:

• Matchmaking time
  
• Minimize players who cannot find a match in 10 minutes with a goal to keep the average under 2 minutes, and under 4 minutes for 95% of players.
  
• Mercy games
  
• Right now, mercy rates vary based on the map (as low as 5%, and as high as 25%).
  
• We believe the number of mercy games should be under 5% on all maps but not actually hit zero.
  
• Final score differential
  
• In general, games should be closer in score.
  
• Right now, 65% of matches end with one team hitting the score target, (15% going to time, and 15% ending with a mercy). Our goal is that >80% of matches end with one team reaching the score target, and most of the rest ending with a time limit. We are looking for most matches to have under 10-point difference between the two teams.
  
• Less variance between the top player and bottom player
  
• Right now, 5-10% of matches have the best player scoring 30-39 more kills than the worst player in the match, and 50% of matches have the best player getting 20-29 more kills.
  
• We believe that 90% matches should have less than 20-kill difference between the best and worst players, and 50% should have no more than a 10-kill difference.

Also of note is more changes to matchmaking coming in Season 19 regarding Fireteam sizes.

It's no mystery that full fireteams often stomp six solo players who matched against them. Fireteams that are used to playing together may also be in voice chat with each other, allowing them to communicate more effectively than those who are not. Oddly enough, if we look at the average skill for solo players, it fits the bell curve from above clearly. If we look at the average skill for full fireteams in Control, we can see the bell curve centers around 400-500. So, not only do the fireteams have a communication advantage, but they also have a decisive skill advantage. The big question is, "Are high-skill players more inclined to play in fireteams? Or do regular fireteams make your skill go up?"

Either way, we will be implementing a form of fireteam-size preferred matching in Season 19. We will be sharing details about how it works closer to release. Our goal is for it to be utilized like skill—sometimes as a strict requirement, sometimes as a loose one, (or sometimes not used at all!). Further, it will allow us to eventually replicate the benefits of playing in a Freelance playlist without having to split the population.