For the TU; Better matchmaking match-up system.

Games Other Halo
1

Disclaimer: This observation is purely based off 4v4 - 5v5 slayer gametypes. Also, I’d like to apologize now for grammar and any disorganization issues with the thread. Futhermore, this is not a bash thread against anyone, good or bad, above par or subpar. This thread is for all of us, so we can better enjoy Halo.

Bungie really dropped the ball on Halo: Reach. Aside from all the broken game play, the AA’s, and such. But there is one core element that made me cringe when I realized it.

The FUGLY match-up system. Compared to other Halo’s, Reach does not know how to balance teams.

I am very disgruntled right now because of my last game, but as I look through all my Halo: Reach games, one thing stands out. About 65-75% of (my games at least) my games are severely imbalanced after looking at the player’s Service Record.

Take my last game for instance.

http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/GameStats.aspx?gameid=775393536&player=Et3Rnal%20LEG3ND

I did some math and I found that the teams were EXTREMELY unbalanced. The average overall K/D for the winning team is 1.28 (with regards to the guest I gave him a K/D of 0.50 because guests are usually not up to par and play for fun and recreation, but the K/D for the guest might be misleading because he did better than the majority of my team., which would further bump up the team’s K/D). The overall K/D for the losing team (My Team) was a whopping 0.76.

Two of the players on the winning team had 10000 kills over deaths. The closest person with those numbers on the losing team was me with a mere 6000 kills over deaths. Those two players were not in a party, therefore the game could have easily divided them for a more balanced game.

So looking at the last game, the match-up system should have done as followed;

1.Divide the 2 top players onto different teams.
2.Divide the two worst players onto different teams.
3.Then divide the remainders by looking at their statistics.

If the system followed those guidelines the game would’ve not only been more balanced, but more enjoyable for all. I did the math once again to show the results if the match-up system was more like the system above. The teams k/d were much closer. One team was at 0.96 and the other team was 1.1 (the team with the 0.96 K/D had the guest placed with a 0.5 K/D but as stated earlier, Guests are capable of doing much better than 0.5 K/D so that number can be swayed even closer to the other team with the 1.1 K/D).

When Reach’s system did the match-up, the K/D’s for both teams were 1.28 for the winning team and .076 for the losing team. Needless to say there is a big difference in the numbers.

Halo: Reach’s match-up system had a difference of 0.52 when it came to the teams’ K/D’s. The system outline above only had a difference of 0.14.

I do know that there are other factors that weigh in on match-ups, but shouldn’t it be a clear cut indicator on how to balance the teams? Wouldn’t it be more fun and enjoyable if we were always matched up with people on our skill level, or at least if the teams were balanced out to keep the skill level of both teams?

2

The foes that you were matched against were probably in a party, and that’s why all of those good people were on the same team.

3

> The foes that you were matched against were probably in a party, and that’s why all of those good people were on the same team.

I forgot to mention that, in most of the games I am referring to, the players were not in a party, namely that one because I played that one right before I wrote the thread

4

> > The foes that you were matched against were probably in a party, and that’s why all of those good people were on the same team.
>
> I forgot to mention that, in most of the games I am referring to, the players were not in a party, namely that one because I played that one right before I wrote the thread

I’m pretty sure that the game matches randoms up with each other at random. But it’s always been that way in Halo. Sometimes, you’ll get that bad teammate or you find that the other team has an MLG minor leaguer on it. That’s why you play with friends!

5

By previous Halo Games you can only be talking about Halo 3’s Trueskill, which was actually fairly strict at matching players based on Playlist Progressive ranking. But Halo 2 was actually WORSE than Reach. Halo Reach has a LENIENT Trueskill matching, meaning it’s nowhere near as strict in the differences in the levels of players as 3. But Halo 2 had literally NO MATCHING at all. You could be playing your first game and get matched up instantly against pros.

6

> > > The foes that you were matched against were probably in a party, and that’s why all of those good people were on the same team.
> >
> > I forgot to mention that, in most of the games I am referring to, the players were not in a party, namely that one because I played that one right before I wrote the thread
>
> I’m pretty sure that the game matches randoms up with each other at random. But it’s always been that way in Halo. Sometimes, you’ll get that bad teammate or you find that the other team has an MLG minor leaguer on it. That’s why you play with friends!

Unlike Halo 3, Halo Reach doesn’t automatically search for Partied up players when you are in a Party. So playing as a random does mean you will have to deal with you and your other randoms going up against the odd coordinated team of players and getting completely destroyed over it.