[2021] Again.. why no skill based MM?

Random Battles is... Random. Literally.

While a variety of other games do use forms of Skill Based Matchmaking, there are upsides and downsides to that. Ultimately the decision to stay truly Random favors preserving the long-term replayability of World of Warships, as every battle is so Random as to be remarkably Unique. While some may disagree with this decision, it's worth noting that many players on these forums have THOUSANDS of battles, some in the TENS OF THOUSANDS.

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There are other modes which are more delineated by skill, such as Clan Battles, some Brawls, and Ranked. While some will decry Ranked as not providing "Highly Skilled" experiences, it DOES have a process which seperates out players according to interest in advancement.

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Lastly, there is a very informative video which was released which details the inner workings of the Matchmaker. Check it out!

Raw Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7PmOMVLgsE

I understand some folks might think it's a company line because it's said all the time, and there's a reason for that.

It's true.

I have played a few thousand games in League of Legends over the last 8 years. I've done Ranked and 3v3s and all sorts over there. Once I play the new season up to my skill level and 50%/50% out, I stop. Compare this to World of Warships, where I had over 10,000 Battles in slightly more than 2 years time.

The difference between being put into a match where you are expected to win/lose evenly, and being put in a match where even the game has no idea who will win, is something that makes for a more varied experience. It's purely down to what you bring to the table, and even then it's still going to be a wild ride.

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We want World of Warships to live for decades. We've got a solid audience, but we're not a 15 million player-a-day game because we're a bit more niche in our implementation and design. So, it's very important that we allow the room to be as open and varied as possible to help it live a long and healthy life.

This is true, but World of Warships is an Asymetric Game. As such, people have identified what X or Y class does to alter the experience of a match and an acceptable range of X or Y class is found.

In simple terms, most folks enjoy World of Warships with a certain ratio of ships in the game, so that class mixture is the target (though Queue Time can cause flexibility there in the interests of keeping Queue Times low).

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Worth noting, we've run 3-ship Brawls which do not require Class Mirroring. So one team might have a CV while the other does not, or one team might have a Destroyer while the other does not, etc... Clan Battles also allow non-Mirrored play.

I know there were folks that enjoyed the variety, but at this time Random Battles is kept Mirrored to allow for a base-level of consistency.

Halo and other FPS shooters are fairly static, though. They have standardized weapons, as well standardized player characters health/shield/capacity.

While SBMM may increase the engagement... how LONG does it increase engagement?

World of Warships is 7 years old, and has players that have played it for all 7 years (or more). What is the average lifespan of an FPS using SBMM? 2 years? 4?

Ideally World of Warships could live another 10 years, or more. It could be a flagship title that lasts well into the future and stays active for decades. At the heart of that concept is "endless replayability", which in other games is often associated with randomized map creation or sitiuations. Randomized player encounters is innately "more varied" then selective player encounters.

While anything is possible, please understand that the choice for Randoms to be Random is quite intentional. Analysis of other games that are in and outside of our competitive space led to the belief that Random assignment was a better choice then not. Years of play and observation have not altered that.

Please know that games as an industry is a fairly tight field. While developers do withhold their secret sauce where able, they also do attend conferences and share ideas with other game companies because of a love of the work. SBMM is something that some companies use, and other companies do not. The decision for us is intentional.

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Worth noting, it's been brought up in this thread that limited runs of SBMM have been performed. Recently, Brawls have used a version of it. As to "skill-based battles", Clan Battles is a long running concept where teams reach their skill ceiling and fight with others that have done the same. Ranked is a hybrid-style format where it gates most players by skill/desire, so those with more passion will rise to higher leagues while less competitive folks will stop ranking up/out at a league of their choice.

Data is great, sure. However releasing it does have its downsides.

While said data might convince a 20 year industry veteran that X or Y decision is good, it may do nothing to convince a player. So in that case, the release of data may only result in undermining player faith, because the player could come to a different conclusion. This isn't to say that would happen, but it's awkward as data can be open to interpretation.

I've never looked into the line of work, but I've heard Data Analyst is really quite a hard job to do.

I have told you already in this thread that both SBMM and SBB have been tested in this game. They have not been tested on Random Battles, but they have been tested.

Just because they have not been put in place into Random Battles does not mean there's no information to work off of in this field/situation.

I haven't gotten this sense from the conversation at all.

The pushback your getting is from people that enjoy the Randomness of Random. You might roll high on your teammates, you might not. You might roll weird ships or non-meta divs, you might not.

Much of what's being said about "Well, if there are 4 Unicums, then distrbute them amongst both sides" is that it's self-defeating in the long run. If you have 4 players that are 55% Win Rate and you divy it out so everyone with above 50% Win Rate is facing another person who is the same... then the Win Rates fall to 50% over time. As that happens, Win Rate as a "skill" metric stops being valid, and a different form of identifier would be required.

This is a complex game that is more than just showing up and doing damage. Most of a person's "PR" is related to damage, so folks get a skewed impression of damage's relevance in the game. Support and setting up Teammates has an intangible benefit which shows instead in Win Rate, which would be negated through this weighted system

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As a bit of a call back...

I used to play shooters in the 90s. There was no Matchmaking. You just found a server with people on it from a list and you joined it, kinda like hopping into a random Training Room and just going along with whatever's happening there.

Sometimes you were the best on the server. Sometimes the worst. You had no control over what you would find, but you did have the ability to leave and try a different server.

No stats were tracked in the game, so the only thing that mattered was what you brought to the table when you joined something.

Not gonna lie, I love the fact that Random Battles is actually Random because -I miss those days-. Current SBMM means I'll play a game until I get to "100% Effort or you lose" which gets old after a while. Sometimes it's just nice to play the game at a casual level that isn't 100% tryhard to win/lose.

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As a metric for what SBMM is like, play Clan Battles. You rise until you reach your skill limit and face others that are similar. Clan Battles are TIRING. Folks play for a few hours and then need to rest for an extended period of time, because if yo're not giving it 100%, then you're just losing until you reach wheverever 90% is located... or 80%...

Skill Based Matchmaker is Clan Battles

Skill Based Balancing was Brawls

Both were quite public and played by many!

Yes, the recent Brawls were matchmade regarding Win Rate. If memory serves, Base XP earnings were also factored to give additional context to "player skill"

After a few hours, some of the higher-end players just couldn't play anymore. They waited in the queue until they gave up.

It's actually just Current Team Rating. The players that compose the team are not factored, so it's generally assumed that folks on that team are representative of the team's current rating.

The range of opponents able to be chosen increases the longer a Team waits in the matchmaker. Hurricane Clans can face some rather underpowered teams if the wait is long enough.

The points Gained/Lost is based upon the difference between the two team standings.

If I recall correctly, it usually maxs out around a 2 League jump. So Hurricane could see Storm, Typhoon could see Gale, Storm could be Breeze. This is all after a sufficiently long wait.