The near exclusive skill descriptions for intended skill of lobbies are:
Ultra noob
Noob
Semi-noob
“No noob”
Good
Pro
First of all noob is just bad across the boarder, very few know what it means at all and in practice it used for more or less all ratings between 0-1999 (teamgame) but worst of all is perhaps that half the players seems sure it the same as newbie/beginner.
We used to try solve these problems with the broader newb-rook-inter-master-expert labels and I seen them being mentioned here in forum posts but only to talk about what the players of each label should know to qualify, not to use them in the game, in the lobby titles.
I dunno, maybe people like to feel like they the best player in the game or have a “noob” to blame the lose on.
But it seems clear to me that it hard to find fair games and sometimes games at all, because since the lobbies have poor skill description, you never really know if the host is going to find you to bad or good for the game.
Now to two types of lobbies that tend to waste a lot of time for people in my experience.
1: “4vs4 AI, no noobs”
Well first of all these games catch peoples eyes because they 5/8 filled which is what most people like to see. Then you see AI and most not going to want that. All okay, but then the kicker, no noobs in a 4vs4 vs AI.
Nothing against AI but they not good and “good” players are also a lot less likely to wanna play against AI.
So what find happens every time is that these lobbies stay 5/8 forever which makes them annoying and a waste of space.
2: 4vs4 but the host has a pre-made team and they wait until 8/8 to change from “?” to the same team.
I guess this is just bad manners, but it really kicks you when you already down to find a decent game that seems to be balanced just to have the host change and stack the deck last minute before game launch.
Team the f up if you premade or at least put “FMT” (friends may team) in title to declare the lobby is not going to be random teams.
Anyway, all the complains aside I really think it up to us that care and do read forums etc to try set example, so I would urge anyone reading this to be stubborn about describe the intended skill level of your lobbies when you make any.
If you want quick, balanced games, then go to ranked. You can found a new game within some minutes. Match making will make sure teams are much more balanced compared to the lobby.
1v1 ratings are pretty accurate in my opinion. So almost all 1v1s are pretty close. TGs might be much more unbalanced, but i still think it will be much better then the lobby. Unbalanced TGs is the result of a calculation error in the elo calculation for team games. More about this issue:
I am pretty glad the devs added ranked / match making to DE. Match making is much superior to a lobby in my opinion. I once tried the lobby, but is was a terrible experience. So i never went back to it. I also notice most of your complaints. Match making solved most of my complaints.
So i see the lobby as place for some niche maps, playing against friends, for tournaments, stuff like that. If you just want a quick balanced games, then the lobby isnt the place to go. Ranked is the place to go.
Ooooh! I hate that! It is such a dishonest way to take puntos from unsuspecting players. The host knows that an arranged team vs random team is unfair and that no one will play them otherwise.
The general consensus of noob is to refer to new player and those with low skill level. So unless AOE has a special definition that most are unaware of were using it correctly.
Oh yes according to alot of these clowns it definitely does… You’ll find “noobs” with 100s of games. And openly admitting to joining noob only servers like they deserve it.
But tons of people are a-holes so giving them access to the lobbies just allows them to exercise their true character, as pointed out by the OP.
You won’t change their minds. This post won’t serve to change anything. A-holes will be a-holes.
The best you can do is host your own lobby with stated elo level and then just screen players. It has its own risks. But safer than any other lobby