First of all, in order to lay a foundation for the discussion of this topic, it’s crucial to make three facts very clear.
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The primary reason why players play ranked and quickmatch is to find balanced games. Due to this reason, you will be able to find multiple players posting their experiences with the matchmaking system, in which they encountered unbalanced teams. I’ve selected a post (https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe4/comments/18tysce/matchmaking_garbage/) simply to provide a source, but I could have included dozens more similar posts. Additionally, what differentiates ranked/quickmatch from other game modes and makes it what it is is exactly that: automatically matchmaking teams and balancing them.
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By queueing up, you agree to the settings given by the ranked system, which are the game settings and the map pool. You can’t change anything about the game settings, and you don’t have an explicit choice over the map you are given.
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The lobby is currently not a viable way to create and find balanced games. This is due to the many features the lobby and lobby browser are missing. (Almost) all of these missing features unnecessarily prolong the time it takes to find or create a balanced game in one way or another.
The reason why map dodging exists is very simple. Players queue up for ranked/quickmatch because they want to find a balanced game in a sensible time on a map they like, and ranked/quickmatch is the only feasible way to achieve this. However, finding a game on a map that they like is an outcome determined by the system they have no influence over. What could be done is to increase the influence players have on the map pool. However, based on my experience in Age of Empires II, this doesn’t work. Players have more control over the maps that appear in the map pool, but I still experience map dodging in team games about 40–50% of the time. The proper solution needs to be to overhaul the lobby and lobby browser. Doing so will definitely decrease map dodging because it will create another feasible way to allow players to find a balanced game at a sensible time on a map they like. Players who wanted to stick to their preferred map could do so in the lobby browser and wouldn’t have to dodge a map they didn’t like. And while this would decrease the total number of regular players in ranked and quickmatch, it would still reduce queue times since games wouldn’t be cancelled due to a player dodging the map since these players are in the lobby. However, in its current state, the lobby and lobby browser are missing many things not only necessarily related to recreating an experience that is similar to ranked or quickmatch but other ways of playing as well that not only hinder current lobby players but also potential players that may have an interest in multiplayer but not have an interest in ranked or quickmatch. I therefore provide a list of things that need to be added to provide a much smoother lobby experience.
The lobby browser needs:
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A search function.
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A better UI. Clicking on a lobby within the lobby browser should show all the settings of that lobby on the right-hand side. Currently, it only shows the players that are within the game, but literally not a single setting.
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More filters in the lobby browser; filters need to make more sense. Example: I want to be able to select more than one map in the filter. Filter presets: Instead of having to reapply filters every time, you should be able to save the currently selected filters, name them, and load them at a later point.
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Live updates instead of refreshing should be possible.
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There needs to be something to prevent lobbies from appearing when the host of that lobby is afk.
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The ability to sort columns.
The lobby needs:
To let hosts set a password for their lobby.
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More game settings without having to use a mod, because some players might not know that such a mod exists and because mods can stop working due to the modder stopping maintenance of the mod (https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe4/comments/17su85y/end_of_advanced_game_settings_mod/).
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A game code that you can share so that other players can find your lobby by entering that game code in the search function.
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An improved UI: the game settings should be on one page, maps should also be sorted alphabetically in languages other than English, and settings should take up less space. Age of Empires II as an example:
In Age of Empires IV, setting up a game takes two different pages and a third page for an overview that, as shown above, could be displayed on one page. If you have ever used the mod “Advanced Game Settings”, you will have experienced how chaotic the lobby UI really is. This isn’t the fault of the modder though, but rather the fault of the devs, if you look at 1. again.
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A setting for grouping players into teams of warm vs. cold colors. I find it confusing to see a player and not be able to immediately tell whether that player is a teammate or an enemy based on their color. The players can only select colors that are within the color temperature of their team.
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To let hosts create their own presets, save and name them, and once in the lobby, load them so that the game settings are automatically correct.
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Elo requirement: This is needed for hosting a balanced game. Preferably, the lobby would only show up to players that are within that Elo.
Finally, I would like to suggest something that I wish wasn’t necessary, but in my experience, it totally is. The purpose of this suggestion is to reduce the amount of time it takes to start a game. Therefore, if anyone has other suggestions, I’m more than willing to listen to them.
- Players should be limited in how often they are able to join a new lobby. In my experience, players are very impatient and oftentimes leave lobbies way too early. These are situations in which the total number of players that have joined the lobby would have been enough to start the game; however, some players leaving, sometimes leading to other players leaving, prevents the game from being started. I think a player should be able to join a new lobby every 2 minutes or so. This would overall lead to a faster start to the game and a smoother lobby experience.
