SLOW MATCHMAKING SINCE JANUARY PATCH (UK PLAYER)

Hiya All and I hope 343i or a Mod reads this too,

I and many other British Onyx players have had a huge issue since the January patch which makes it virtually impossible to find games online in all playlists resulting in a ‘‘unable to find games to match’’ message.

I know 343i did SOMETHING to the matchmaking algorithm in January as they stated it themselves, however, we are not aware specifically as to what they did. All I do know is that Pre-January Patch in Onyx Ranks, which I have been since release in each season, I was consistently able to find games in any playlist. I consistently found games against people situated all around the world.

Heck if you what the proof, just look back at my Service Record and see just how many games I was able to go through per day before the January patch versus afterwards. Ive checked, and its over Double the number of games per day.

What it appears to be is the regional modifier within whatever algorithm 343 uses for matchmaking was tweaked to push games found more locally, however, what this appears to have resulted in for UK players is, if there arent enough UK players online at the time in your RANK, you arent finding a game. Why has this become the case? The shocking thing about it all is, if I invite any of my buddies who are located in the US, we find games immediately, and i really do mean IMMEDIATELY. The other night, I was searching for a SWAT game at Diamond/Onyx level for 25 MINUTES, no exaggeration. I decided to try and troubleshoot the issue by inviting a Silver Rank US player to my party whilst matchmaking and upon joining we were immediately put into a game! It was so fast in fact, that I watched us join a game before he had fully joined my Fireteam! I have repeated this test several times with different players based in the US and the result is always the same: Instant Matchmaking,

343, without sounding aggressive, is this a joke?

Why have you put such strict Walls up around your pools of players?

There simply arent enough Xbox One’s out in the wild and therefore numbers of players playing Halo 5 consistently to put in such restrictions. Furthermore, of the Xbox Ones out there, the vast majority are found in the US, and as far as Im aware, you did not make this game simply for US players. I never experienced connectivity issues prior to the January Update, it was always smooth with only the occasional PLAYER, Not Game, lagging, which was obviously their own connection to the Servers.

Its sad because the Onyx Population outside of the US is probably 1/2% of your total population so its hard for us to have a voice, but if you are listening, please, analyse the statistics of players in Onyx finding games per day pre January and post January and take into account their Locale as well as their parties Locales and you will see where my claims come from.

This genuinely is up there with Halo 3 as one the Top Halo’s ever made in providing an addictive and exciting experience even with a comparitively small map pool! The previous algorithm for finding games, whatever it may have been, worked perfectly, can it be reverted so that UK / EU Onyx players can finally find games consistently again?

Has any other EU/UK Players noticed this issue?

If you want to see my Ranks or Game History search for iEvil iProdigy. This Forum acc is my alt.

same here i cant even qualify in FFA

same here i cant even qualify in FFA

Just checked your Ranks. Highest achieved is Champ but a Constant Onyx player just like me.
Common trend leading to common problem.

Yep it is awful. And i am also an onyx uk ffa player. I have to wait several minutes for a game and then match platinums- at onyx 1600? You know how that was always going to end. And i am fed up with being matched on american servers as well - the time delay is too much to overcome between what americans see and what we see fractions of a second later. It means our shots dont register and everything and we get 2 shot killed because their first 2 shots dont even register our end.

Please for the love of Halo 343 please match us on our regional home servers and take care of them. America isnt the only place where people want decent matches and they are not the only Halo players with any skill either.

Admiral, Im not sure you are experiencing the same issue at all. You have one Onyx, meaning in every other playlist, you will most definitely be finding games with ease given that you range from mid Gold to Platinum where the population counts, even if just in the UK are much higher. Furthermore, if you play with Americans in your fireteam, you wont find an issue matchmaking At all.

This isnt about not being able to find games QUICKLY, its about High Onyx level players and with High MMR’s (not to be confused with CSR’s) finding it IMPOSSIBLE to find games, as in Halo 5 offers me and others nothing but an ‘‘unable to find server’’ message after waiting 5 minutes at a time, repeatedly.

Whilst I know it can be frustrating to lose, playing on Dedicated servers (which is what we have in every single gamemode including CUSTOMS) means Lag is at an absolute minimum and the instances you are describing, just dont happen as often as you think.

With all due respect of course, but given that my average ranks now and for the past few seasons are much higher than your own, dont you think I would have noticed an issue with ‘‘Americans seeing things earlier’’ or ‘‘their first 2 shots registering on their end but not ours so it feels like im getting two shotted’’? Dont you think that playing against higher calibre players on average, I would have noticed this myself and complained also? But I havent, because its no where near as prevalent as you think or believe it to be. This isnt Call of Duty, or even Battlefield, where those exact issues you noted are most definitely an issue down to Low Tick Rates, Poor Net Code and in COD’s case, continued P2P matchmaking and Lag Compensation levels.

What your OWN connection is offering you in terms of connectivity I cannot comment on, and finding the odd person lagging around online, and I really do mean that is a RARITY, does not mean you can claim the whole game or every game or even most games are laggy in that way.

Lets not distract from the actual problem, which is in fact the HARSH REGIONAL MATCHMAKING, making it IMPOSSIBLE for Onyx and Champion level players in all Arena playlists from the UK to find games. That is the real issue, that certainly does exist.

> 2535435482470791;6:
> Admiral, Im not sure you are experiencing the same issue at all. You have one Onyx, meaning in every other playlist, you will most definitely be finding games with ease given that you range from mid Gold to Platinum where the population counts, even if just in the UK are much higher. Furthermore, if you play with Americans in your fireteam, you wont find an issue matchmaking At all.
>
> This isnt about not being able to find games QUICKLY, its about High Onyx level players and with High MMR’s (not to be confused with CSR’s) finding it IMPOSSIBLE to find games, as in Halo 5 offers me and others nothing but an ‘‘unable to find server’’ message after waiting 5 minutes at a time, repeatedly.
>
> Whilst I know it can be frustrating to lose, playing on Dedicated servers (which is what we have in every single gamemode including CUSTOMS) means Lag is at an absolute minimum and the instances you are describing, just dont happen as often as you think.
>
> With all due respect of course, but given that my average ranks now and for the past few seasons are much higher than your own, dont you think I would have noticed an issue with ‘‘Americans seeing things earlier’’ or ‘‘their first 2 shots registering on their end but not ours so it feels like im getting two shotted’’? Dont you think that playing against higher calibre players on average, I would have noticed this myself and complained also? But I havent, because its no where near as prevalent as you think or believe it to be. This isnt Call of Duty, or even Battlefield, where those exact issues you noted are most definitely an issue down to Low Tick Rates, Poor Net Code and in COD’s case, continued P2P matchmaking and Lag Compensation levels.
>
> What your OWN connection is offering you in terms of connectivity I cannot comment on, and finding the odd person lagging around online, and I really do mean that is a RARITY, does not mean you can claim the whole game or every game or even most games are laggy in that way.
>
> Lets not distract from the actual problem, which is in fact the HARSH REGIONAL MATCHMAKING, making it IMPOSSIBLE for Onyx and Champion level players in all Arena playlists from the UK to find games. That is the real issue, that certainly does exist.

I was talking ffa for this and yes it is hard to find matches there. Even with my low onyx mmr as you like to say - i dont play enough matches to get it higher. I dont have lots of time to raise it to my limit. Same the last 2 seasons on it. Wouldnt the fact that me struggling with a ‘rubbish’ low pathetic 1629 csr (and therefore appalling mmr) to get matches back you up that champions would have it worse? I have had loads of searches take forever and even get screen prompts about lack of suitable matches. And timing out like you have said. And that if i have problems you would have them worse? I was backing you up but you didnt even realise. I didnt expect you to then rubbish and belittle me off your mistake. Of course getting matches is easier in lower divisions - there are more players to play. I would never dispute that. I was talking only from a ffa perspective which i had already made clear. So its not just the champs getting probs but also low-ish onyx. That was my point.

Oh and btw i still got onyx ffa playing the american guys. I only noticed that during the day on uk servers the lag problems didnt exist playing euro players that i get at night v americans some, but enough of the time to influence several matches. Hence my csr rose much faster during the day. Not saying at all i couldnt compete with admittedly lower onyx csr players. I only learnt of the link after getting onyx the second season in a row. But hey i must still be awful mustn’t i? Hate to think what you think of diamond players

Oh no, I was agreeing with you RE: Time taken to matchmake. Absolutely I was because that IS the only issue.

Im sorry if it came across the wrong way, that was not my intent at all.

Petulant argung isnt going to get this issue sorted, so I can assure you, it was not my intent. Petulant arguing will only see this thread ignored by 343.

Everybody under Onyx has an increasingly easier time to matchmake, so Im happy for them. But that shouldnt be at the expense of us Onyx players.

> 2535435482470791;8:
> Oh no, I was agreeing with you RE: Time taken to matchmake. Absolutely I was because that IS the only issue.
>
> Im sorry if it came across the wrong way, that was not my intent at all.
>
> Petulant argung isnt going to get this issue sorted, so I can assure you, it was not my intent. Petulant arguing will only see this thread ignored by 343.
>
> Everybody under Onyx has an increasingly easier time to matchmake, so Im happy for them. But that shouldnt be at the expense of us Onyx players.

Thanks dude, i appreciate you clearing that up. Sometimes tone doesnt always come across well in messages and i have provably upset people as well unintentionally so im willing to start again if you are? :slight_smile: a whole division shouldnt have problems matchmaking and the fact they are is ridiculous. If there are no matches as well then how are peoples csr and mmr ratings going to improve? Altogether it spoils the onyx rank a lot.

Its all good bro.

Well its just frustrating because we never had this issue before the January Update.
Now it almost feels like the better you are the more punished you are. Its like someone said to me today when I was playing WZ. (The ONLY gamemode I can currently find games in). Some guy was talking about how much he wanted to reach Onyx, and here I am telling him to just lose games to stay in Gold because if you keep gunning for Onyx, you will only ever be playing less and less games overall the better you actually get.

I should never be able to legitimately be giving that advice to somebody without trolling of course, just to make sure they have a better overall experience in a wider range of gamemodes.

I really dont know what they changed, but my goodness, it needs to be reassessed, because you are right, it IS spoiling the Onyx Tier for many, and only gets worse the better you get. Believe me, I wish the Xbox One had Sold as many consoles as the Xbox 360 did when Halo 3 came out, because realistically, this change to a more regional focus wouldnt be an issue. The simple fact is however, the overall player base is nowhere near that of Halo 3’s and while H5 might have the best Player Retention Rate since Halo 3 (congrats to 343 btw, because it is a fantastic Halo Game), the total population is not high enough to be splitting up with odd Matchmaking algorithms!

Unless of course, they are catering for the US Population only, (but I highly doubt thats the case)

Already started again (Y)

Well I will admit I did not read that entire OP. But I can agree with matchmaking definitely being slower since the last update. I’m on East coast US and I still take a while to find games in arena since that last update, or when i do find games its against the same people over and over again.

Well thats interesting.

Obviously I have no idea how many Servers are over here in the UK, but if your matchmaking even within the US has slowed down (and not just become impossible like it has for me), then the ‘region locking’ they appear to have increased/tightened, is not restricted simply to country and in fact narrows to territories.

Still needs to be reassessed. Not fair on areas of low populations who cannot find games.

-Bump-

Same here in Germany, since the January Update the Matchmaking is slow as hell.

It’s impossible to find matches after 11 - 12 pm. I have Fiber with 120k - 6K, I search since 10 Minutes, no match show up for me. It’s like the MCC now…

So please 343 do something for ur EU Players out there. :slight_smile:

The took a step in the right direction and I have no doubts they will patch it so that we so find us servers as a last resort, no idea when that will be but prob soon.

> 2533274887252527;13:
> -Bump-
>
> Same here in Germany, since the January Update the Matchmaking is slow as hell.
>
> It’s impossible to find matches after 11 - 12 pm. I have Fiber with 120k - 6K, I search since 10 Minutes, no match show up for me. It’s like the MCC now…
>
> So please 343 do something for ur EU Players out there. :slight_smile:

Yeah, i’m saying that since early February.

I find it slow or impossible to find arena games. Cough FFA cough

Onyx in slayer and have to wait around for 15 minutes to find games now, such a joke. Can’t find any games after about 11pm either

edit:Currently been waiting 30 mins…nice one 343i

Same thing is happening to me but only in swat can find games in slayer and arena fine but I wait 30 minutes for a game in swat just keeps giving me the message about not enough players in playlist since Sunday night it’s been a joke

343 don’t care, they have your money, the online version of the game is rendered useless for European customers, but 343 couldn’t care less since they already took your money.

> 2535435482470791;1:
> Hiya All and I hope 343i or a Mod reads this too,
>
> I and many other British Onyx players have had a huge issue since the January patch which makes it virtually impossible to find games online in all playlists resulting in a ‘‘unable to find games to match’’ message.
>
> I know 343i did SOMETHING to the matchmaking algorithm in January as they stated it themselves, however, we are not aware specifically as to what they did. All I do know is that Pre-January Patch in Onyx Ranks, which I have been since release in each season, I was consistently able to find games in any playlist. I consistently found games against people situated all around the world.
>
> Heck if you what the proof, just look back at my Service Record and see just how many games I was able to go through per day before the January patch versus afterwards. Ive checked, and its over Double the number of games per day.
>
> What it appears to be is the regional modifier within whatever algorithm 343 uses for matchmaking was tweaked to push games found more locally, however, what this appears to have resulted in for UK players is, if there arent enough UK players online at the time in your RANK, you arent finding a game. Why has this become the case? The shocking thing about it all is, if I invite any of my buddies who are located in the US, we find games immediately, and i really do mean IMMEDIATELY. The other night, I was searching for a SWAT game at Diamond/Onyx level for 25 MINUTES, no exaggeration. I decided to try and troubleshoot the issue by inviting a Silver Rank US player to my party whilst matchmaking and upon joining we were immediately put into a game! It was so fast in fact, that I watched us join a game before he had fully joined my Fireteam! I have repeated this test several times with different players based in the US and the result is always the same: Instant Matchmaking,
>
> 343, without sounding aggressive, is this a joke?
>
> Why have you put such strict Walls up around your pools of players?
>
> There simply arent enough Xbox One’s out in the wild and therefore numbers of players playing Halo 5 consistently to put in such restrictions. Furthermore, of the Xbox Ones out there, the vast majority are found in the US, and as far as Im aware, you did not make this game simply for US players. I never experienced connectivity issues prior to the January Update, it was always smooth with only the occasional PLAYER, Not Game, lagging, which was obviously their own connection to the Servers.
>
> Its sad because the Onyx Population outside of the US is probably 1/2% of your total population so its hard for us to have a voice, but if you are listening, please, analyse the statistics of players in Onyx finding games per day pre January and post January and take into account their Locale as well as their parties Locales and you will see where my claims come from.
>
> This genuinely is up there with Halo 3 as one the Top Halo’s ever made in providing an addictive and exciting experience even with a comparitively small map pool! The previous algorithm for finding games, whatever it may have been, worked perfectly, can it be reverted so that UK / EU Onyx players can finally find games consistently again?
>
> Has any other EU/UK Players noticed this issue?
>
> If you want to see my Ranks or Game History search for iEvil iProdigy. This Forum acc is my alt.

Dude, this post is a month old but what i wanna say to you is THANK YOU.
I’m Italian, struggling to find a match since early february because all of the problems you explained so well and that can be reassume into one: REGION LOCK.

343, listening to many players’ complains about high latency in their games did the fastest, but also the most sloppy, thing they could: lock zones boundaries, splitting up the community and throwing people outside US in a furious mess made of wasted time and “Unable to match” messages.

They substantially locked up the system, making it FORCING PLAYERS TO FIND EXCLUSIVELY OPPONENTS FROM THEIR SAME ZONE.
No people available? Search for a game, wait 5 minutes, “Unable to match” message appears, repeat.

This, for a game published only 5 months ago, is the biggest failure of all.

Why? Why qualified developers couldn’t think about a smarter system? A system that, instead of throwing you in the first possible match on the planet (like before Region lock) or searching only for players in your zone even if no one is available there (like now), STARTS SEARCHING FOR GAMES REGIONALLY TO LIMIT HIGH LATENCY GAMES AND THAN, IF NO MATCHES ARE FOUND IN A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME, WIDENS ITS RANGE PROGRESSIVELY PICKING EVEN PEOPLE OUTSIDE? IS THAT SO HARD TO THINK? AM I A GENIUS FOR THINKING THAT?