There is nothing going on to match players up behind the scenes based on any skill. If you are buying this you really have the wool pulled over your eyes. Matchgmaking as it stands is a complete cesspool. JiP is an absolute joke. Three games I just played… first down 3 to zip in ctf… figure, okay i’ll warm up and roll with it. Next game start 5 against two. Which side do you think I was on… The third game with a full party shoots me to a JiP game down 4 to nothing. Each game was nothing but DMR’s and Boltshots… 343 has run this franchise into the dirt. What a shame…
I don’t think there is any hidden skill system matching players up either. If there is then it is extremely broken
I remember back when Halo 2 came out, once I hit the mid to high 30’s, that’s where I remained, and the vast majority of my games felt evenly matched. Now everything seems totally random, I’m not buying it either.
The True-skill system is in effect, the problem is that the True-skill system itself is rubbish. Hang on I’ll find a link or two for you.
:::EDIT:::
Here you go:
True-skill system basics
At least its not as bad ad Reach’s matchmaking was…yet…
> I remember back when Halo 2 came out, once I hit the mid to high 30’s, that’s where I remained, and the vast majority of my games felt evenly matched. Now everything seems totally random, I’m not buying it either.
Don’t you also remember how much longer it took to get games together?
> We start out with a list of requirements for an ‘ideal’ match, and if we can’t find one, we try to pick a match that’s as good as we can make it with what’s out there.
>
> If we can’t find any ‘ideal match’ results within a certain amount of time, we switch over to what we call ‘acceptable search mode’. In this mode, we realize that you’ve been waiting for a while to play a game, so we’re willing to accept a less-than-perfect match in order to get you into a game. In this phase, there are no restrictions on latency and skill. However, we still sort the final results by latency, skill and DLC (although in a different ratio, with less emphasis on DLC and more emphasis on latency). The end result is that we give you the best possible game out of what we can find at any given time.
>
> In an ideal world, if we allowed players to search in matchmaking forever, we could create perfect games every time. However, we have to make compromises in order to form games in a reasonable amount of time. [F]inding a good balance between game quality and search times is a constant challenge.
> > I remember back when Halo 2 came out, once I hit the mid to high 30’s, that’s where I remained, and the vast majority of my games felt evenly matched. Now everything seems totally random, I’m not buying it either.
>
> Don’t you also remember how much longer it took to get games together?
No. If Halo 4s matchmaking is quicker then it is really not that much faster than Halo 2,3, and Reach.
In Halo 2 they told you what map you were going to play so it eliminated the time it takes for people to vote or veto
> > I remember back when Halo 2 came out, once I hit the mid to high 30’s, that’s where I remained, and the vast majority of my games felt evenly matched. Now everything seems totally random, I’m not buying it either.
>
> Don’t you also remember how much longer it took to get games together?
Yes, but the games were so much better.
dude the system is there but if it’s working?
the reason why I know that it’s there is because I joined someones session in Progress 0.32 KD guy in my friendlist and he asked me to help him get some wins for his achievement and he was playing BTB and when I joined I was like LOL they where playing on Ragnarok the enemy and my team members where running around with AR’s 
and when being shot at there where 0 -Yoinks!- given 
they just stood there minding their own business not even trying to get to cover.
True skill does exist and it does work. I have 2 groups of friends that play halo. One group is pretty good, and when I play with them, the games are tough. The other group is a bunch of people that aren’t too great at the game, and I consistently go 25, 28-5,10.
> > I remember back when Halo 2 came out, once I hit the mid to high 30’s, that’s where I remained, and the vast majority of my games felt evenly matched. Now everything seems totally random, I’m not buying it either.
>
> Don’t you also remember how much longer it took to get games together?
First of all, NO. No it really didn’t. Also, quality over quantity. Now if it took 45min to find a matchup THEN we could start talking about problems. Even when you were in the high 30s it took maybe 2 minutes at the most. Like honestly I don’t even remember it ever taking a minute… anyone?
Seems like a JIP issue instead of a trueskill issue.
There is trueskill or else you would get matched up against complete newbs every time, or you would get destroyed every time if you started at the beginning of the game. The problem is it isn’t perfect a lot of the time.
Even if it is there, and even if it does work, MatchMaking CHOOSES to ignore it in favor of faster match ups or ones where people have better connection to eachother.
> > > I remember back when Halo 2 came out, once I hit the mid to high 30’s, that’s where I remained, and the vast majority of my games felt evenly matched. Now everything seems totally random, I’m not buying it either.
> >
> > Don’t you also remember how much longer it took to get games together?
>
> First of all, NO. No it really didn’t. Also, quality over quantity. Now if it took 45min to find a matchup THEN we could start talking about problems. Even when you were in the high 30s it took maybe 2 minutes at the most. Like honestly I don’t even remember it ever taking a minute… anyone?
I have been playing ranked games of Halo since Halo 2. I have several thousand in Halo 2 and over 10,000 ranked matches in Halo 3 on my main account alone. Unless there is severe population problems it NEVER takes more than 5 minutes to find a match, which is why I can not comprehend why they decide to ignore trueskill in Halo 4 in favor of “faster” matchups. Why would you sacrifice vastly superior games for 1-3 minutes faster matchups?
Its not like waiting 5 minutes is unbearable and 1-2 minutes is. Just doesnt make sense like most of what 343 does.
> How matchmaking works thread.
>
>
>
> > We start out with a list of requirements for an ‘ideal’ match, and if we can’t find one, we try to pick a match that’s as good as we can make it with what’s out there.
> >
> > If we can’t find any ‘ideal match’ results within a certain amount of time, we switch over to what we call ‘acceptable search mode’. In this mode, we realize that you’ve been waiting for a while to play a game, so we’re willing to accept a less-than-perfect match in order to get you into a game. In this phase, there are no restrictions on latency and skill. However, we still sort the final results by latency, skill and DLC (although in a different ratio, with less emphasis on DLC and more emphasis on latency). The end result is that we give you the best possible game out of what we can find at any given time.
> >
> > In an ideal world, if we allowed players to search in matchmaking forever, we could create perfect games every time. However, we have to make compromises in order to form games in a reasonable amount of time. [F]inding a good balance between game quality and
> > search times is a constant challenge.
I’d rather wait for a quality and matched up game than go for some -Yoink- game with bad teammates.
> I’d rather wait for a quality and matched up game than go for some Yoink! game with bad teammates.
You’re in the minority, and this is why the system is the way it is now. People already fuss about waiting as long as they do now, just imagine making them wait longer. They do not share your Blood Knight philosophy of having better matches, they will only complain about waiting 6mins between matches.
Nobody cares about the fight anymore, they just wanna rank up and move on. We Blood Knights are few.
> > I’d rather wait for a quality and matched up game than go for some Yoink! game with bad teammates.
>
> You’re in the minority, and this is why the system is the way it is now. People already fuss about waiting as long as they do now, just imagine making them wait longer. They do not share your Blood Knight philosophy of having better matches, they will only complain about waiting 6mins between matches.
>
> Nobody cares about the fight anymore, they just wanna rank up and move on. We Blood Knights are few.
And its a damn shame. However if you’re team communicates via mics or even 1 or 2, you can get a win, however with the bad skill matching and people not liking to talk, I give up. Also if you have friends on you can definitely win a lot, me and my friends make a very skilled team so we win 8/10 of our games. It is sad that people are so impatient now.
> > I’d rather wait for a quality and matched up game than go for some Yoink! game with bad teammates.
>
> You’re in the minority, and this is why the system is the way it is now. People already fuss about waiting as long as they do now, just imagine making them wait longer. They do not share your Blood Knight philosophy of having better matches, they will only complain about waiting 6mins between matches.
>
> Nobody cares about the fight anymore, they just wanna rank up and move on. We Blood Knights are few.
I’m sure there is an equal amount of people who would rather have an evenly matched game as there is people who want a quick game and do not care how the teams are formed.
It was just 343s choice to do the JIP. I personally think it was because they tried to copy as much from COD and other games as possible but who really knows
Also finding a game in Halo 2 and 3 almost NEVER took 5 minutes. Lobby times are practically the same.
All 343 had to do was leave the filter that Reach had… choice is always the better option. Instead, it’s one of the many things they decided to strip to make this Halo their own. They say ranks are on the way, but they also say a fileshare fix is coming too. Have to see it to believe it. Once the final DLC is out, which really isn’t that far from now, look for the post that says they are going to focus all efforts on Halo5.