Intercontinental Matchmaking means High Latency

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

After hours of playtesting here is some Halo 5 beta feedback relating to matchmaking.

Request: Local/Same Country matchmaking given WAY more priority

343i,

I don’t think that competitive multiplayer matchmaking should match players in multi-national games. I’m not a xenophobe. Every time I am matched in games with players in the USA, or Australia it is felt instantly. The gameplay is significantly affected because of the latency.

Can Halo 5 be the competitive online shooter that recognises this. Can Halo 5 be a game that goes out of it’s way to match UK against UK and Australians against Australians - etc. How much priority is given to this? It should be massively weighted in my opinion, beyond player skill. Because a skilled player is still going to have problems playing an average player if they are hosting the game thousands of miles away. I know the game is probably developed in the USA, so 343i you must have experienced your own game on a UK host and found it frustrating. That is felt everywhere. I haven’t have a fun game on Halo 5 against people on US/Australian hosts and I’d rather wait in matchmaking lobbies for longer then get matched against hosts thousands of miles away.

I’d like to know other peoples opinions on this. It’s an unknown problem that should get more attention.

2

to solve the latency problem be sufficient to give the possibility to choose the dedicated server like happens in titanfall.

3

> 2533274803714470;2:
> to solve the latency problem be sufficient to give the possibility to choose the dedicated server like happens in titanfall.

This, or have an option to prefer good connection like we’ve had in previous halos

4

> 2533274803714470;2:
> to solve the latency problem be sufficient to give the possibility to choose the dedicated server like happens in titanfall.

How would dedicated servers resolve this problem?

I understand it negates host advantage and allows for cool things like spectating. But that is all.

Think about it.

If it takes one second to send information to the server and then another second for it to be retrieved from the server, you are both seeing each others actions two seconds behind. Consequences of that are obvious.

5

I absolutely agree. The moment I end up playing only USA players in this game, I end up being unable to kill ANYTHING at all. It’s incredibly unfair and it totally strips any enjoyment you may have with the game.

You can tell latency is the issue. The frame rate feels different, it doesn’t feel smooth, and popping your head out for a minute amount of time generally guarantees you are killed.