I just started a fresh imp character to do GSF on the Bastion and MY GOD - coming from a pub character on the shadowlands - it is rough going.

After a few play throughs I'm trying to break down what exactly is making this experience so tough and what parts are making it tougher than it should be. On the forums the four big reasons are gear difference, player skill / experience, OP ships and weapons, and matchmaking.

So far, my cop out observation is that its a crippling combination of player skill (80%) and gear (20%) MULTIPLIED several fold by what is obviously a borked matchmaking. It's something I've noticed as a pub but on the receiving end of things on the Imp side, it is mind boggling demoralizing. A quick look at the pre-game roster of 12 imp with 2 ships vs 12 with 4+ and it's patently obvious which way the game will turn and its no fun for anyone.

I'll keep on with this character because, as a veteran, I already know it'll get better. But I wonder by how much? Even if i outfit my Rycer with all the bells and whistles I'd like, If Match making is still throwing me with 10-11 other newbies against 8+ vets, the outcome is still obvious.

This is mostly a rant out of frustration, as its very hard to recommend changes to the matchmaking algorithm because all that works under the hood. But I hate to make posts without constructive suggestions so i'll have at it here.

1) Increase rate of Same faction war games. If there are too many newbies on one particular faction, just keep having them fight each other until they've cut their teeth and optimized their play style. Thematically this makes sense as you train your guys as much as possible before throwing them into a real battle.

2) balance by team size. If match making HAS to put a group of vets vs rookies then let the rookies stand a chance by weight of sheer numbers by placing an upper limit on the more experienced team. This also feel right thematically in the starwars universe: A small band of plucky rebels (republic) fighting off waves of empire.

Weak suggestions, i know. And complaining about matchmaking is nothing new on these forums. I just hope an additional post further highlights the severity of this problem. Thanks for reading.

Matchmaking is definitely the number one issue in GSF right now, and I think your number 1 option is really the only way to fix it.

Right now, if you have enough Empire and Republic players to make, say four teams each where three of the Republic teams would be considered "Experienced" while only one Empire team would fall into that category, matchmaking will set up teams like so:

• Experienced Pubs Versus Experienced Emps
  
• Experienced Pubs verus Inexperienced Emps
  
• Experienced Pubs verus Inexperienced Emps
  
• Inexperienced Pubs versus Inexperienced Emps
  

Whereas it should be doing it this way imo.

• Experienced Pubs Versus Experienced Emps
  
• Experienced Pubs verus Experienced Pubs
  
• Inexperienced Pubs versus Inexperienced Emps
  
• Inexperienced Emps verus Inexperienced Emps
  

That would help resolve faction imbalance by quite a bit, and I think would go a long way towards making each game more competitive for everyone involved.

Option 2 is kind of fun to think about, but honestly I think it's impractical both from a game mechanic standpoint, and also from a "lambs to the slaughter" standpoint. It's my experience that a seasoned vet can easily take out a group of noobs, and it would be even more frustrating if you died while outnumbering your opponent 2 or 3 to 1.

2) balance by team size. If match making HAS to put a group of vets vs rookies then let the rookies stand a chance by weight of sheer numbers by placing an upper limit on the more experienced team. This also feel right thematically in the starwars universe: A small band of plucky rebels (republic) fighting off waves of empire.

 

Weak suggestions, i know.

Actually, I haven't heard that one before, and it strikes me as highly meritorious. I think Bioware should at least consider it. I particularly like it because it would even work on Jung Ma, where the population is so low that matchmaking will likely never be a factor.

The best solution would be a much larger pool of players so that you could have better matchmaking, and that means cross-server. Without that your options are limited. The problem is that the unbalanced factions will tend to perpetuate as outmatched players quit or leave for other servers.

People don't seem to like the same faction fights as much, even though the battles are much more even (and perhaps that is why).

I've always preferred PvP that also had NPC/PvE-like elements. Those tend to be the most popular because it makes it more attractive to non-hardcore PvPers (classic example: Alterac Valley in WoW). The example in GSF are the guns that spawn around satellites. One thing you could try would be to rebalance the NPC/PvE elements based on the Requisition earned by the players on the respective sides.

The best solution would be a much larger pool of players so that you could have better matchmaking, and that means cross-server. Without that your options are limited. The problem is that the unbalanced factions will tend to perpetuate as outmatched players quit or leave for other servers.

 

People don't seem to like the same faction fights as much, even though the battles are much more even (and perhaps that is why).

 

I've always preferred PvP that also had NPC/PvE-like elements. Those tend to be the most popular because it makes it more attractive to non-hardcore PvPers (classic example: Alterac Valley in WoW). The example in GSF are the guns that spawn around satellites. One thing you could try would be to rebalance the NPC/PvE elements based on the Requisition earned by the players on the respective sides.

I absolutely agree that cross-server tech needs to be implemented, at the very least for PVP. Having never PvP'ed before GSF I had no idea of how useful this can be. In the short run, however, their matchmaking algorithm is something that can be tweaked.

If there was matchmaking there would not be enough matches to make teams on many servers.

If there are only 20 players per side online, how is matchmaking going to help?

They needed matchmaking day one, before the majority or the player base tried GSF and walked away.