about 3 years ago - Ahskance - Direct link

I'm quite sure the Matchmaker won't start a Random Battle that isn't a 12v12 unless someone has tripped the 5 minute mark. Early morning and lower tier can definitely result in matches happening that seem kinda strange~



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

about 3 years ago - Ahskance - Direct link

Two Things!

1) So, your being in Queue for 30 seconds doesn't effect the "Queue Drop"-style pull. In the video, this is described around the 9 minute mark.

Basically, someone was in Queue and waiting for 5 minutes. During that time available ships were pre-assigned spots for a game that could eventually happen. Once that 5 minutes happened, the Matchmaker no longer looked for a full 12v12 and instead took what was available (you happened to be Available, even though it was only briefly) to make the fullest game it could. CV limits are "softened" after 3 minutes, so up to 2 CVs per side were grabbed by the Matchmaker.

At this time there's no button to "Wait until full, non-softened matchmaking" :( However, as someone else was waiting 5 minutes to get 6 people, you may have waited 10 minutes or more to find a full 24 player game.

2) This may sound weird, but I've had some remarkably high Base XP scoring games in Queue Dumps with only a few players per side. My personal hunch is that Base XP/Credit values are inflated during Queue dumps, though I don't have any ability to test that.

I believe the %health damage you do translates to more rewards, because I've had a 2500+ Base XP game where I only killed like 2.5 players, which seemed oddly high.

Hopefully your Base XP/Rewards earned were helped along in this manner so your Flags were still useful.

about 3 years ago - Ahskance - Direct link

It's not only CVs. All classes get a "Soften Limit"

For instance you might normally see up to 4 Destroyers, but that could be expanded to 5 in the "Softened Matchmaker Selection". Maybe as high as 6? I can't remember the specifics off the top of my head.

Battleships can also go to a higher number, or Cruisers, or Submarines even.

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The purpose of "Softened Matchmaker" is to try to keep the queue times down, while still providing a Game Experience that is functional. It may not be Optimal, because the Matchmaker would prefer the more balanced values that are set for people waiting less then 3 minutes. I'm sure there is plenty of research that directly links Queue Times to Play Rate, and that it's considered more important for game health to keep Queues moving than to worry over an awkward game here or there.

And to my knowledge, I've never heard of anyone trying to queue outside of higher player population times in the hopes of making weirdly distorted "soft queue games", so I don't think that's something you should be too concerned with.

about 3 years ago - Ahskance - Direct link

That might be something to try and get worked into the matchmaker. That the "2 CV" condition can't happen unless a certain number of players exist. I'll note that down, but I don't think there are any changes to Matchmaker planned in the near future.

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As for the CV players waiting, there's no actual way to know who was in queue for 5 minutes. I could have been one of the Battleships.

Once someone trips the 5 minute mark, the Matchmaker grabs what's available to provide what entertainment it can. I may not be Optimal, but it is more engaging than "Queue Simulator" for an unknown amount of time.

about 3 years ago - Ahskance - Direct link

If you watch the video, it actually gives all that information directly. 3 minutes in queue causing a Softening of the ship restrictions by number. 5 minutes in queue allows for Queue Dumps which can have games with less than a full complement of ships.

I'll repost the link for you.



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