Taffer36 on 24/7/2009 at 22:06
Absolutely yes, Matchmaking systems are pure garbage.
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Chet Faliszek, a Valve employee who wasn't imported from Turtle Rock, pushed ahead with L4D2 despite Gabe warning him that it would alienate part of their audience.
I'm interested here - there's actual proof that Gabe "warned" him? I just find it very strange that the community would get a hold of this type of insider info.
mothra on 24/7/2009 at 22:13
wasn't there an interview where gabe said valve is an entertainment provider and this would not fit that description......something along those lines...BUT they convinced him and he's now on the bandwagon. L4D2: 2x times the fun, only 1 time the same money.
sNeaksieGarrett on 24/7/2009 at 22:20
I recall reading an article somewhere where Chet explained that Gabe was skeptical about it.
Okay, so the matchmaking thing wasn't very good, but they've made it better now, imo. Also, if you guys hate it so much, there's a command you can type in the console that shows you the old server browser like in CSS.
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Still doesn't forgive the fact that they promised new content akin to what TF2 has received.
True, but you're forgetting that is what L4D2 is. Again, there's enough content packed in L4D2 to justify a sequel. However, I do think valve didn't do a good job in communication with teh fans and whatnot, which is what i've talked about in the steam forums.
Taffer36 on 25/7/2009 at 00:34
Quote Posted by Wormrat
In principle, ranked matchmaking is a great idea. It eliminates one of the main problems of "pubs," which is disparate skill levels. It's especially important for games focused on teamplay.
Bit of a shame that
Left 4 Dead wasn't a leader in terms of this. Decent matchmaking software could alleviate a lot of the typical complaints people have with online play. Of course you can always just stick with a group of friends, but that's not always possible.
I would even disagree on ranked matchmaking. There are just far too many situations where ranks don't have anything to do with skill level. Take Halo 3 or Call of Duty 4 for example - your rank is determined by how much you play the game, not how good you are. And then there are good and bad days.
IMO, this concept of "ranked" needs to be done away with entirely. Do you want to know the best setup for fair teams I've seen in a game? Gears of War 1. The matches were short enough (typically), that if one team dominated one match, players would continuously switch around each match until perfect teams were formed. Leave it up to the player, not some arbitrary system that is (more often than not) wrong anyways.
EvaUnit02 on 25/7/2009 at 01:02
You see the thing about matchmaking is that more often than not relies on P2P hosting. I.e. the game is hosted by one of the players' home internet connection. So latency is only as good as the host's connection speed.
Most of time the time P2P hosting makes no sense for PC games (possibly with the exception of RTSes), developers aren't restricted by proprietary network infrastructures like they are on consoles.
Also CoD4 on consoles is rooted. The net code favours Americans. I.e. some guys in Australia and NZ might be having a game, then some Yank faggot joins the match and all of a sudden hosting responsibilities are shifted to him, it's utter bullshit. You don't get this crap with the PC version.
Yakoob on 25/7/2009 at 04:41
Quote Posted by Wormrat
Of course you can always just stick with a group of friends, but no one on TTLG has friends
fixed
Phatose on 25/7/2009 at 04:48
Whether or not ranked matchmaking is a good idea, L4D's implementation is abysmal. A team based game with matchmaking, but no team-based matchmaking. Brilliant.
If you've got a team and want to play, you either have to go meta-game to find another team to play against, or more likely, you just go and slaughter random joes tossed together by the oh-so-brilliant matchmaker.
One of many reasons I left L4d.
june gloom on 25/7/2009 at 06:36
And one of the many reasons why I won't play L4D online in the first place.
Phatose on 25/7/2009 at 08:27
Wish I had. I'd had my $50 back.
SubJeff on 25/7/2009 at 13:29
That is ridiculous dethtoll. Jfdi.
Versus is the only time matchmaking is ever an issue. Regular campaigning with randoms is fine.
