2002-2023 Halo Veteran. - A Message for 343 and the Radical Ideology Behind Skill-Based Matchmaking

Games Halo Infinite
1

Hey folks. First and foremost, I’m not here to discuss or counter anyone who has differing ideas about what I’m posting. Post in the comments if you like but understand I don’t actually care. With that out of the way, I’m hoping to keep this as short and direct as possible.

Skill-Based Matchmaking is a Radical and Totalitarian Player-Control Mechanism that is absolutely nefarious in nature, all under the presumption and justification of retaining players to take their money. In reality, SBMM in Halo Infinite is pushing the majority of players away and causing incredible losses in profit.

Halo has always been admired by it’s approachable, casual and social experience 100% of the players get. Contrary to what Devs and Leaders have said, Halo is not first and foremost a competitive shooter. This is not my idea about what Halo has been or is; this is an obvious and blatant fact of reality. The only time Halo has ever seen focus on competitive multiplayer was when the players themselves made it happen. There was never some sort of manipulating and controlling system that has ever forced players (people) under a artificial-controlling umbrella. There was never a system that protected players either A. From Themselves or B. From other Players.

Why on earth was a system like this never considered in Halo? The implications of ever, EVER, controlling a players core gameplay experience would mean literal death of the Halo product the person is buying. Artificially controlling someone’s core gameplay experience in a Sandbox shooter is the most reality-divorced, radically charged idea that could have ever been unleashed like a plague not only into Halo but the FPS Gaming Industry. Yet, here we are on Halo Infinite. Josh Menke should never have ever been let in the front door at Microsoft or 343 and you’ve collectively made a dire mistake of doing so. Your ability to think outside the box just as Bungie once did is weak, pathetic and outright failing.

You people have turned one of the most beloved time-respecting experiences gamers have ever had into a self-destructing, literal pointless and repulsive cesspool, all under the obsession of Skill Based Matchmaking and assumption that I’m going to pay you for it. You sit there and support the never-ending stream of children who have their parents banking information saved to their consoles who throw away their parents’ money on your game under this insane, mass-manipulation scheme.

Can you start explaining to people why you allegedly removed hidden MMR (SBMM) from Ranked and players are still being matched against significantly higher-ranked players? Why did you remove SBMM from Ranked and left SBMM in Social, affectively turning Social into New Ranked? Why is your logical so bent and do you even play your own game? online, against the world.

I have dumped a massive portion of my life into supporting and playing Halo. So has a lot of my closest friends. But this was the last straw for me. I will no longer support this franchise because the people who are controlling it are absolutely nuts, insane and completely divorced from reality. These people don’t deserve my money, my time, my effort or my support. It really is that simple. Skill-Based Matchmaking is without a sliver of a doubt single-handedly destroying every iota of effort the devs who are actually trying to Make Halo Great Again. It’s incredibly sad to see.

Care about what I’m saying or don’t. Keep betraying your Halo Veterans or don’t. You’re running out of players to disappoint and I see nothing but inevitable failure until you people remove Skill-Based Matchmaking from your Video Game.

7 Likes
2

They have used SBMM since Halo 2 lmao.

It would be really funny to see your reaction if they turned it off. I think you’d have a dreadful time.

5 Likes
3

With all due respect, this sounds like the rambling of a madman.

7 Likes
4

Yea, but they used to try and match 4-tops against 4-tops, solos against solos, duos against duos, etc. And social was wild. There was what, a 20 level window on each side of your rank you could match with? I’m not sure what the window is in Infinite, but BTB feels closer to that at least.

I also think that ping used to be weighed a lot heavier than SBMM compared to the modern config, bit that’s just a guess. Logically it would make sense for the peer-to-peer MM in H2 though imo.

I also think H5 Warzone somewhat solved the SBMM problem, because less skilled players could contribute by fighting the AI bosses, and they had marines to help them when they were being attacked at friendly bases. The only MM issues H5 Warzone had for a long time was 12-tops kill farming instead of winning

4 Likes
5

I give this post a 4/10. Some legitimate criticism’s and ideas, some total hot takes, and all of it bundled in a wrapper of hyperbole.

2 Likes
6

They used to pair on visible rank, not hidden rank in Halo 3 so there were a few major issues that everyone complained about. Firstly, was boosting accounts which would give one team an overwhelming advantage and you’d be double punished for losing to them as the system would think you lost to a bad team. Secondly, was derankers which was people purposefully throwing games to create the booster. This would be AFK players, team shooters (not killers, they don’t want to be kicked), leavers etc etc meaning you’d almost definitely lose that game. Thirdly, was Smurf accounts. Due to the time it took to get to the highest rank a player could end up smurfing and ruin 100+ games for everyone else. You would regularly come across profiles with 98%+ win ratios.

In social you could play with anyone, a team of 3 with two random teammates could play a team of 5. A team of 6 could search social and have 5 on one team and the 6th on the other team. It was a kind of wild ride tbh and I get why people liked that because social was inherently less competitive because of it. I also found myself regularly destroying players in social playlists though so I’m not sure how many of them were really having fun when my team of 5 rocked up in a low population playlist like Team Skirmish. We probably won over 90% of our games uncontested. We’d usually just sit back and chat casually while we played, where-as now it’s more likely you would have to focus still if there is tighter sbmm at play and you wanted to grind out a serious win ratio. The older system favoured partied players heavily. Now you are not punished for playing solo.

I think no sbmm only hurts less skilled players. While it does mean they might get the odd game they can feel like John Wick, they will feel like one of the many jobbers he kills almost every game instead.

There is obviously sbmm at play but I dunno how tight it is in all honesty. People seem to think it’s really bad, and maybe it’s because I’ve been at the higher end of the matchmaking but it’s felt pretty random to me and I’ve still been able to put down decent stats and wins in social with minimal effort. Ranked and social feel very different to me in Infinite. Although I will admit it’s not as easy going as the days of H3 in a team.

3 Likes
7

Um. Not sure how to tell you this…

3 Likes
8

If you asked me for a best guess, I’d say there’s a chance a lot of the frustration is more just misguided complaints where the core issue is actually the networking. The MM algorithms feel like they weight SBMM significantly more importantly than connection quality.

A west coast player is going to beat an Australian player of equal skill every time when the server is on the west coast. It’s why I’ve mentioned since launch that I feel like Infinite is more a game of “my ping vs their ping” than “my skill vs their skill”

1 Like
9

It mite be interesting if 343i change just one of the game types with SBMM turn off so the fan base can see if it’s really going to make a difference or not. :thinking:

2 Likes
10

It would be interesting.

I imagine that all the average and below players would simply leave that playlist. Sick of being stomped on.

And then those who are left would just complain about how sweaty it has become

11

That’s basically what happened to all H5’s social playlists, and seems to be the path for a lot of infinite’s social playlists though right? So instead of just re-treading the same path, let’s try a detour and try out a ton of different SBMM MM configs. No problem with trying stuff in one playlist imo.

To be fair to 343, I actually do think 343 has been continually tweaking the MM algorithms all S2 and WU. Maybe they’re already experimenting just like we want lol.

Hopefully the combo of bot bootcamp, fiesta, and the CGB will still allow safe places for newer players to learn the weapons and mechanics no matter what SBMM shenanigans are going on :sweat_smile:

1 Like
12

I think they should turn it off for a Weekend just to see how fast everyone hates it and complains. Then maybe we’ll stop seeing topics like this pop up maybe…

More then likely though you’d see people be like “This isn’t what we asked for!”, except it actually is what your asking for. You just didn’t take into considerations that this is what it’d be like if it actually happened.

2 Likes
13

I actually don’t think it would be that unpopular with most of the people here because this forum on represents a much higher average skill level than the wider player base.

On the other hand the analytics that 343i would collect would paint a very clear picture of it driving new and low skilled players away.

2 Likes
14

I’m sure they have tried heaps over the years.

I still think at least part of the answer lies elsewhere.

They need to change the format of the games to reduce the reliance on pure SBMM.

New rules and modes. Multi-team. Dynamic scoring systems. Personal handicapping. etc

15

I’d like to see a mode where you just get restricted in what weapons you can use and spawn with. If you’re Onyx you get a Ravager or Plasma Pistol. If you’re a Bronze 1 you get a Spanker and Sword and you can’t pick up weapons outside your designated level. Everyone else obviously falls somewhere in the middle.

Outright balance would be hard but it’s not really intended for competitive play.

2 Likes
16

I think solution via modes and rules has merit and even precedent. H5 Warzone let lower skilled players contribute by attacking AI enemies, and defending areas that had friendly AI support

1 Like
17

Balancing would be easy if it had a dynamic element.

Linked to your current game KD.

The lower your KD the better your load out. Fall too low and you also spawn with OS.

High KD get lesser load outs. Plus can’t pick up our use equipment.

If you adjust scoring to KD as well you balance the game as you go.

At some point you could drop SBMM and focus on connection. Just use SBMM to balance the teams, and let the other stuff even out the kinks.

18

I think SBMM is a bit of a tricky thing to tackle, and that many members of the community seem to be of a mixed opinion on the matter.

Let’s cover the basics quickly. The benefits of SBMM are based around the individual players experience. If you play Halo for the first time, you don’t want to be paired up against the best player in the world. You’d like to be fighting someone on a similar skill level, which is fair.

The problems with SBMM is that players gradually get harder and harder opponents because they improve themselves. This often leads to issues with playing with friends, and can also lead to people finding themselves in overly sweaty matches where certain game plans are impossible.

I’d have to note my experiences with SBMM in Halo Infinite. Almost all of my opponents are Onyx in rank. I’m sure I could also reach that rank of Onyx if I played ranked, but I’m sick of playing against players who want to play as optimally as possible. I can’t play with friends because we have different skill levels, and finding matches takes far too long. Furthermore, I don’t want to make content on the game, because I simply don’t have the same hype moments that I used to have when starting the game / from playing other games.

This is the main problem with SBMM, and it’s why people dislike it. Every match feels like you’re playing ranked, and if players wanted to play ranked they’d simply do that. However, they’re not in ranked. They’re queued up for what’s meant to be a casual experience.

I’m aware that there has been SBMM in other Halo titles, however it was drastically toned down as admitted by Bungie. Until SBMM is toned down, then people will complain about the game. But since 343i believe Halo has been competitive since Halo CE, they won’t do this. Ultimately, the only way to experience multiplayer without SBMM is with custom games.

1 Like
19

Not true, in a very strict SBMM the matches stay just as ‘sweaty’, because that ‘sweaty’ is reletive to your own skill. And the game plans: what gameplans are being used in the lower end? They just go mindlessly into battle wihtout an plan. And most of the plans you can still do. You might need more skill to pull them off, but you also have that more skill.

I very much doubt that. Every time i heared someone say that and i just check it, it turns out only a minority of the other players in the claimers matches are actually onyx. And you have conveniently hid your stats, so that nobody can see it…

You CAN play with people who have a different skill level.

No it doesn’t. Social plays very different then ranked, because ranked has a much tighter SBMM then social. This is also way many players have said they had more fun matches in ranked then in 4v4 social and why many people are complaining about being matches with players who are way less or way more skilled. The number 1 problem people are complaining about is the way to big skill gaps created by the very loose SBMM in social.

Bungie didn’t tone it done, they toned it up. since they created it in Halo! And Bungie can’t say what 343 done with it, because Bungie come BEFORE 343 and therefore don’t have internal data from 343.

It is already very weak. That is the whole problem. People are getting frustrated because they need to carry because their teammates are to weak or because they can’t play since everybody else is to strong. The giant skill gaps within matches are the biggest complaint. That is because the SBMM is to weak and does way to little to match you with players around your own skill. It only does the bare minimum and try to balance the team averages (wich it often messes up, because with high skill gaps it is very difficult to get a real balanced match).

Depends on what you call competitive ofcourse. If you call competative that teams are balanced (or at least try to balance them), so both sides have (in theory) a chance of winning: it definitely is and it has been since H2 in the Bungie era. Data also pointed out that that is what players want.

If you mean with competative that winning or losing matters, then it isn’t and it’s also not the case in Infinite. There is no (real) consequence for winning or losing in social matches. 343 didn’t put that in and i don’t think they will.

I think that 343 meant with Halo being competative is that everybody has a chance to win matches. As they should have. That is also what players want. Nobody wants to play unwinnable matches, since that gets extremely frustrating, and nobody wants to play match after match where they can never lose, since that will get extremely boring.

1 Like
20

Why does it have to be first time?

Nobody wants to stomped. Noobs or 20 year veterans.

50% of your players are going to be below average (assuming the median hasn’t strayed too far from Gold 6).

Why does “casual” have to mean feeding average players to Onyx players to stomp?

And why does a close game or a neutral KD equate to being sweaty?

But I agree that there is more to the experience than SBMM. There is a lot 343 could do to make the experience less sweaty.

Putting players on the same maps in the same modes and team structures is always going to lead to ranked type play. What else would you expect?

1 Like