Interesting article in Forbes about matchmaking (Destiny)

by Slothboy, Monday, June 01, 2015, 20:42 (3462 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY

When I first started playing destiny I was incredibly annoyed by the lack of matchmaking in all activities. I wanted to do the Vault of Glass but I didn't have enough friends to do so. I was also intimidated by destinylfg. It was a scary prospect to message a stranger and get in their game.

When I finally started using destinylfg.com it changed my Destiny world. I'm having a ton of fun and surprisingly often the people I play with end up on my Friends list. Mics are usually on and it feels like I am playing with humans.

Now, let's contrast that to the matchmaking activities that DO exist in destiny. Jump into the weekly strike. Go ahead. I'll wait.

Sweet. Enjoy your 9 strange coins.

Did you talk to the other two players that you were paired up with? Joke around? Share strategies? Send a friend request?

I'm betting you didn't. I bet you cruised through the level with a couple other players that might as well have been NPCs. If you're like me you join the team chat with your volume on but your mic muted, just on the off chance that someone does speak for some reason. Match over, see you later.

So i get what the Forbes guy is frustrated with, because taking that step to tap into a different system to find players can be initially intimidating, but I think it works much better than straight matchmaking does. Personally I find that it works so well that I don't really care if Bungie puts dev time into a similar system.

If they did add something I would suggest a new social space, with proximity voice enabled, where people can form up into teams. That would be much better than folks spamming me with messages when I go to the tower. But as it is it isn't that hard to find a team and it creates a far more social experience than matchmaking.