That is often the mantra of the barren wasteland of gaming that takes hold in May-July. Of course, Starcraft 2 is now going to announce the end to that period with gusto, but until then we are left with almost nothing new that I am looking forward to. There is a chance that Alan Wake or even Alpha Protocol may turn out to be worth my cash (much in the same way Red Faction did last year) but until then I am catching up on some random gaming.
What is odd is that I fear that Starcraft 2 will be a 95% single player experience for me, and Super Street Fighter IV is shaping up to be the same way (as a side note, to even get SSFIV to work online I had to open ports not needed for any PS3 game to date, including SFIV). There is just something about recent games that seem to cause people to get a bit fanatical about them, and if you don't pick one or two games to spend 90% or more of your gaming time on, it often feels like it is not worth ever trying.
This came up first when trying to play Dawn of War 2 (before the recent patch that apparently caused it to run like ass on my computer, strangely at the same time they switched from Nvidia to ATI, hmm) online, as I quickly realized I was getting shut out every match. Now I have gotten past the phase where I need to win every game, but not being able to get a single point sucks the fun out FAST. The exact same thing happened in my attempt at playing the Starcraft 2 beta, and watching the replay was just hilarious to see how terribly I got beat.
The thing is, these games are just a couple examples of a growing issue - matchmaking has just not caught up to where it needs to be. I thought the entire idea of the 'Trueskill' systems was that I would play people of equal skill, but from Modern Warfare to Forza that never seems to hold true (though Forza is one of the few games I can always hold my own, maybe the last game besides Dirt that I win on a regular basis online). What is the point of keeping track of all these stats if we are not using them to make truly even matches? Win or lose, I think most will agree those are the most exciting parts of competitive gaming.
If I can beat everyone I know in person in Starcraft and Street Fighter, why do I never get matched with anyone close to them online? I know those of my skill level exist, the games just haven't figured out a good way to match me up with them (even searching forums now, it seems SSFIV is currently dominated by those who never stopped playing the last incarnation, with many 'I am 5-90 right now, should I give up' topics). Then again, maybe the other people like me are doing exactly what I am - playing 5-10 matches, losing horribly, and then just saying 'Fuck it.'
That being said, I am still enjoying the hell out of Killing Floor mainly because I can scratch the online itch and everyone helps one another. Maybe I am part of a dying breed that plays a lot of games but doesn't master any of them, and that is part of the problem. Maybe all those 2 liters I drank when I was younger served to be the steroids of a gamer, and without them I am nothing. Maybe 28 is past my prime by 14 years. Either way, I refuse to believe there are no more middle-skill level players out there, even for the hardcore games. I just need to find a game that can tell the difference.
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Dragon Age Day 2023
4 months ago
I think this is the best post you've ever put up here. Good one.
ReplyDeleteI agree, though, about the lack of REAL 'trueskill' matchmaking. I'd love to know what data it uses in its algorithms to match people up, 'cause it never fucking works. Also, ya gotta figure that people in parties fuck the system up, too.
I was actually thinking about this last night while I was playing Uncharted 2 multiplayer. It took 2-3 matches, but I started getting good at the game again, and actually ranked up from 2-7, and even ended with a positive kill-death ratio. In a few minutes, I had a more and more competitive experience than in years of Call of Duty.
What was interesting, though, was that I was WAAAY outranked by all my teammates and opponents, but still found some competitive footing after a couple games. I also noticed that no one I was playing with was a real dominator, and I was booted from my first group, which just killed me, so I wonder if maybe Uncharted 2 has GOOD trueskill matchmaking.
Just avoid the Koreans in online RTSs and you'll be fine.
-Blaine
I'm going to venture a guess and say that I am the minority in that I prefer single-player or co-op. To put it simply, I am not - or will ever be - a competitive multi-player gamer. I don't know how you people get involved in so many different games. Obviously, that leads to the problem that Anthony mentioned - good at many, master of none - and is the bane of your matchmaking issues.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I don't see why multi-player is so popular seeing as there are only so many gamers to go around and the time and effort developers drop into these modes has to be fruitless more times than not. It seems to me that a game is "hot" for only a short time and then the masses move on leaving only the super-hardcore remaining. And who wants to play those people unless it is a game that you want to spend 90 percent of your time on? (Again, like Anthony said).
This is why I thought Epic was genius to include bots (nothing new, but rare in console games)and Horde mode in Gears 2. And that is not even including co-op single-player. I was able to play any mode I wanted, with or without friends, and still have fun.
I guess when it is all said and done, matchmaking doesn't effect me much at all. Like my gamer-tag says - recreation, I play to kick back and have fun. The only time I enjoy playing with others is when co-op is involved.
Sorry I didn't add much to the topic of discussion here. Good read though. By the way, where the hell are those little goombas (Cody and Rav) who always play these types of games and talk about them incessantly on twitter? Where are THEIR comments? We must hunt them down...
I would also love to hear what Cody/Rav (or any other online gamers) think on this, as I know they play the full slate (CoD, Halo, Battlefield, L4D).
ReplyDeleteWhat Blaine brought up about Uncharted is what I believe makes Halo so popular as well - there are no real 'secrets' and not much customization. Most of the time you are going against someone who has similar equipment and will be able to kill someone, then get killed. I never played Halo online before 3, but I was able to have 90% of my games be just over 1:1 ratio, which is what made it somewhat enjoyable (the abundance of games where I could only use sword/hammer is part of the reason I quit). The problem with this is that I never felt like I was getting much better, and the overall game felt a little shallow, but that may be due to the matchmaking actually WORKING.
Laurance brought up co-op, which I love, but the funny part is that Left 4 Dead suffered from the same issue, since my friends either did it and quit it or focused all their time on it. The result was that anyone still playing after a month never wanted to play anything but Hard/Realism, where I just wanted to play fun co-op on easy and kill zombies.
As for Horde mode in Gears 2, I think it is wonderful but could really use unlocks for characters as you level. Dawn of War 2 has a great system with Last Stand, which is pretty much Horde + RTS + leveling to get new equipment options.
Borderlands was an interesting hybrid game, but mainly suffered since I found myself not putting even half the time that my friends were and being so far behind in level that I played more by myself than in a group.
Maybe that is saying everything though - I have hit a point in my life that is pretty much in-between where a Blaine/Laurance are at and where a Rav/Cody are at. I have less time to play games due to being at a full time job, but don't have a family yet to take away even more time. I get impatient waiting to play through Dawn of War with Blaine, but get left behind trying to play Modern Warfare with Rav.
That being the case, the matchmaking system should look at more than just hours played or what the last round score was to determine my next match (I believe many of them are that shallow, which is the main problem) and be able to tell the Blaine/Laurance from the Cody/Rav.
One of my biggest gripes with the gaming community is how fast they forget games. It's like if you don't play during the first couple of weeks of a games release, you miss out on the multi-player experience.
ReplyDeleteThe way you describe Dawn of War II is one of the reasons I want to play it. Besides just being an interesting concept, the rewards for playing are attractive.