Annual Online Rant Topic - Matchmaking "Pools" For OTP

[aBiNeR1]

In addition to the previous matchmaking suggestions I've made over the years (as yet to be addressed), I'd like to throw this one onto the online wishlist pile...

Scenario

So, you've catalogued over 200 games (maxing out your character attributes and seemingly understand the game of hockey). It's March and you turn on NHL after a hard day's work. No one is playing (due to lack of interest from no end-game content) so you decide to jump into an OTP game. After queuing up 5 times to get your desired position (along with 11 others), you realize after the first 5 minutes that your teammates are all in noob gear and have absolutely no idea what they are doing on the ice. When the score hits 5-0, you find yourself slamming your controller on the floor, yelling into your headset or kicking the power button on your console before moving on to playing 1 vs 100. Of course, this is the result of EA throwing everyone into the same playing field regardless of the disparity of skill level and/or mental competency.

The Solution: OTP Matchmaking Pools

In addition to earning character achievements, players should be classified by online "class" and should be factored into matchmaking intelligence. Meaning, everyone starts out at the lower levels and then progress into different classes or "pools" when looking for OTP games. Additionally, once you achieve a certain pool level, your character should be at risk of losing your level by being demoted for consistently poor play. Combine this with matchmaking intelligence that selectively matches players with 12 unique positions, this will make for more competitive games rather than the lopsided, ineptness you see pretty much every time you jump into OTP competition.

To start, I suggest establishing 3 pools in order to provide enough of a playing field for all players of all skills to find a match within a 5 minute maxium queue time (yes 5 minutes...you spend that much time as it is from re-queuing trying to find your position along with 11 other players from both teams combined). Hypothetical "class" or "pool" names can be as follows:

Hockey Noob: Dedicated to the pathetic novice or video game rental player, this pool should be where everyone starts...way at the bottom. Matches at this level should be for players that have logged between 0-50 games and maintain grade averages between and including F and C-.

Amateur: Players in this grouping should have catalouged between 51-200 games and maintain a grade average between and including C and B-.

Advanced: Players in this grouping should have cataloged at least 201 games or higher and maintain a grade average of B or higher.

Of course, these are arbitrary grade suggestions and should be tossed around/debated heavily. The point however is an "expert" player should not be thrown into the same class of players that just rented the game from Blockbuster Video.

See you in summer 2011 for my next online topic to be added to the list.

[b3organ]

This would be great. I personally find those "amateur" or otherwise twisted goalies at OTP the worst game offers.

Also EASHL-game matchmaking should be redefined somehow. My team always plays teams that are top100 while we're max. top1000-team (season ranking).

[aBiNeR1]

Quote: Originally Posted by b3organ

This would be great. I personally find those "amateur" or otherwise twisted goalies at OTP the worst game offers. Also EASHL-game matchmaking should be redefined somehow. My team always plays teams that are top100 while we're max. top1000-team (season ranking).

That's because the EASHL queue system search times are too short. You can easily see how fast it works by going to online shootout mode (where the UI tells you what skill level it is looking for and then how it expands when it doesn't match you up in only 1-2 seconds). It's the same engine in EASHL matchmaking.

If you queue with 5 guys, you should always and only match up with a 5-man team...and of similar skill level. The initial minimum search time should be 30-60 seconds as well as each expanded search.

But this (as well as eliminating the 2-team game setup screen & adding position-based matchmaking) was last year's topic.

[plaidchuck]

Yeap been thinking that for a while.. seperate everyone by which card they have earned so far or how many games they've played.. it sucks when you start playing online a few months after the game comes out (happened to me, didn't have as much freetime last year) and everyone you play has all the gear and their attribs maxed. Though I'm not doing too bad.. I have about 75 pts in 78 games as a dman... and about a 30-31 record or something and a B+ average... all on OTP. I usually find better games by entering games in the lobby.. takes longer to find games but you can generally find better matchups and teammates..

[aBiNeR1]

Quote: Originally Posted by plaidchuck

Yeap been thinking that for a while.. seperate everyone by which card they have earned so far or how many games they've played.. it sucks when you start playing online a few months after the game comes out (happened to me, didn't have as much freetime last year) and everyone you play has all the gear and their attribs maxed. Though I'm not doing too bad.. I have about 75 pts in 78 games as a dman... and about a 30-31 record or something and a B+ average... all on OTP. I usually find better games by entering games in the lobby.. takes longer to find games but you can generally find better matchups and teammates..

Might be a bit too granular to separate by player cards (5 of them) as you need the player base to support that many classes. Regardless however, any system they would implement would need to be actively monitored to make sure queue times don't get too long. It would need to be an active process on EA's back-end (server/online group) making adjustments as needed to keep enough players in each class throughout the year.

I know I know...good luck seeing that kind of TLC with NHL.