The Circuit system and it's matchmaking

[-FrutyX-]

The way the whole Circuit is designed is rather problematic, I stopped playing it for the same reason, and after I tried it today, I see nothing has changed. It may sound from me like a small issue, but it is an issue that prevents me from playing it.

 

So what's the problem?

People leaving at round 1 (or two, or even three isn't much), and now you have to go and find a new public squad, over and over again, this all is very annoying and time-consuming. Doing any progress while in public seems impossible. I get it, most people realize after round 1 that they've picked the wrong arsenal, and they are not doing much with it, but like this, it's not very playable.

 

Premade squads?

Yes, that would be the perfect answer, but you don't exactly see the recruiting chat full of squads for The Circuit, staring at the chat for a half hour and not finding a squad isn't ideal either. Public matchmaking has its pros and cons, and usually it's no problem, but The Circuit is an exception, and the experience isn't really good. 

 

Nothing can beat the option to just start the game and go play right away.

 

The solution?

Well, there are multiple ways to approach it, from completely reworking The Circuit system to simply adding a minimum number of rounds you have to play before you can leave, this is clearly just up to DE.

 

A small note, I am mostly a solo guy, I don't have a clan to back me up, so just going public is the simplest solution.

[Tiltskillet]

I agree with your feedback, but I'll just mention my workarounds even though it's kind of offtopic.  These are for SP, though they may have applications for some people outside of it.

 - I don't play in squad unless I have a pretty decent combo.  It doesn't have to be "carry three afk doorjams for 90 minutes" good, but solid, and something I want to play.  And this probably goes without saying, but I make an effort to contribute.  People are more likely to stick around if they feel like everybody's shouldering some of the weight.

 - If I really want to play Circuit right away and don't have a good combo, I'll solo a round and exit, which gets me a reroll.  (If the options are really bad, I'll do this in regular.)

 - If I'm looking to stick around in squad, I try to wait until about 15 minutes before a Mood switches to start.  There are fewer people then, but the percentage of people who are looking to play multiple rounds and with better combos is way, way better.  I presume this is because people who don't fit that description are more likely to just wait for the Mood to transition.

 - I keep an eye on what other people are picking.  If two or more people have picked what are obviously awful combos, especially if they're low MR, I'm likely to bail out before we start.

 - I'll announce that I'm planning to do several rounds if I'm hosting.   Sometimes this will prompt people to communicate what they want to do, or to leave. 

 - I solo or do something else when dealing with all of that just seems like too much effort.

[CrownOfShadows]

I agree it's pretty miserable.

I hate being that guy but when I see an MR15 picking Loki or Revenant or Stalker pfffffffffffffft I'm outta there now, can't handle that anymore. I used to tolerate it but not anymore.

But like you say even the people who are there to help rarely make it past the first few rounds. I think maybe 1 in 20 pub squads goes the distance with me.

I hate that I now have to wait for one of the frames that I can solo with because that's the only way I can get any progress without constantly restarting, and it sucks because I prefer playing with people most of the time.

[Famecans]

@CrownOfShadows You cannot see the loadout available to team so you must accept the player's choice or it will become a anti-game soon.

Note that the player cannot always choose the best frame and weapon, so if community starts to give up stationary players, the game will become more frustrating, it will be difficult to player change loadouts without executing a single mission.

Edited March 31 by Famecans

[CrownOfShadows]

On 2024-03-31 at 6:36 AM, Famecans said:

@CrownOfShadows You cannot see the loadout available to team so you must accept the player's choice or it will become a anti-game soon.

Note that the player cannot always choose the best frame and weapon, so if community starts to give up stationary players, the game will become more frustrating, it will be difficult to player change loadouts without executing a single mission.

The issue with Stalker, Loki and to a lesser extent Revenant is twofold:

1. These players tend to just hide up on top of buildings or near the edge of the map and basically afk, looking for a free carry. (Weirdly, I also see this a lot with players that pick Mesa, but I give Mesa a little more leeway than these others because in the right hands she can hard carry to cap).
2. Even players who pick these frames in good faith don't contribute in any meaningful way (unless they have great weapons and decrees and are highly active) to things like defense and excavation in particular. The game increases the spawns because they are there (I believe) but those players aren't defending and typically not outputting massive dps either - they are not helpful. That's not necessarily their fault, but it sucks for everyone else who has to pick up the slack.

I almost feel like we need a higher tier of matchmaking, like everyone MR25 and up in a separate bracket, at least for the Circuit. I think this because to get high MR you have to master a lot of weapons/frames, which means you're much more likely to have something good on hand, and also have spent enough time to really invest and refine them too.

I sympathize with people who get shafted in the Circuit picks, but idk, I just want to play with people near my own level rather than being matched with people who don't get a single thing they own.

Just this cycle I jumped in for my Circuit run. I got my Mirage and some decent weapons and was ready to rumble. I got 3 people between MR 11 and MR16 matched with me. I wanted to bail but I thought I'd play it out, hoping they'd at least help me to round 5. They all left on the first round. It sucks. If I got MR25+ I can almost guarantee they'd go to R5 if not as far as they could, they're just better equipped. The Circuit is like an indirect gear check, and it forces them out sure, but it leaves the rest of us playing solo.