SBMM Thoughts Post-Developer Update
Hi, all. I'll preface this with a full disclosure that I am against the new skill based matchmaking that has been instituted in this games recent history.
To get it out of the way, I'll state that I have 2600+ hrs split between killer and survivor, more hours played as survivor. The most recent situation that occurred to me was last night (Jan 2nd, 2022). As solo survivor, I constantly get teammates that are clearly new to the game/very little knowledge and game sense. Last night, however, I played 4 matches in a row that consisted of my 3 teammates literally not knowing what Borrowed Time is, didn't know to go grab the box against pinhead, didn't understand what to do with Ms. Piggy's traps, and most definitely didn't realize there was a world outside of lockers and crouching. The killers I went up against, were not brand new, were not lacking game sense. You can imagine the frustration (yes, looping a killer for 2+min at the beginning of the match to die on first hook with zero gens done bc no one grabbed Pinheads box, among other things).
It doesn't need to be said that this should never be happening. I don't feel the developers are being as transparent as they claim to be when it comes to SBMM. In fact, based on the update today, it seems pretty clear to me that none of these things were discussed prior to implementing SBMM.
>"Beyond small tweaks, we’ve identified some areas where the system could be improved."
Backfill improvements, DC handling, extended breaks, general improvements are things that should have been discussed and fleshed out prior to releasing a game-changing mechanic. Seeing that the post says they have "identified" tells me that these are only issues now. This is especially frustrating because as we all know, the community has brought issues prior to and during the implementation of SBMM. Again, the same school of thought can be applied to the future of Solo Surv section.
This "rating" that is given to each and every player is vague at best. I believe the language of Behavior has centered around the notion of making things "fair." But the definition of what "fair" is in this game isn't clear. We've been told via a live stream on Twitch that escaping a match is a "win" and your MMR ranking goes up, but only if you escape through the gates. An escape through the hatch is "null," your MMR does not go up or down and if you die in match it is considered a "loss" resulting in your MMR being lowered. It was also said that "other factors" are taken into account and "weighted" so that if you're dead on first hook, for example, and you've done 3 gens, unhooks, etc, etc, your MMR shouldn't be impacted as much? But a loss is a loss. Idk. Behavior was very mum on what all of this was when testing it and implementing it and ultimately I believe (at least in my very specific situation) it aided in ruining the game play experience for me and the overall amount of fun I have.
During the stages of testing and implementation, I (I will keep this specific to me, though I imagine I'm not the only one effected) was playing like I normally do. I am an altruistic survivor. When Iri Grade 1 came around, I took it upon myself to try and make sure all my teammates would get out safely. I'd play more aggressively to try and help my teammates pip up bc there was no de-pipping. I was having the time of my life creating content, trying to be the "hero" and make ridiculous saves, throwing myself in harms way to save teammates, testing different builds and perks, etc. I was having a blast. The moment SBMM was implemented and after Behavior defined what wins and losses are (kind of), it started to make sense to me. As someone with 2600+ hours in, I was constantly being placed in matches like I've described above. Sadly, I've been able to see a vast difference when playing with friends in a duo, trio or swf. I am not bad at this game. I'm not legendary, either, but this wasn't right. It is still like this today.
What's "fair" to Behavior seems to be two survivors escaping compared to any other result, bc "fair" is a killer that gets 2 kills while 2 survivors escape. The percentage in which that happens is what the focus seems to be on. Are they shooting for 50% of all matches end "fairly?" That's what it's felt like, that's what it continues to feel like and it feels like there isn't anything being done when it comes to the "weighted" actions in game. We don't know what our MMR rank is or what it even consists of bc we haven't been told. If 2 survivors are getting out and that's deemed fair, then, yeah, it makes complete sense why I'd have 2 survivors that don't know what they're doing, 1 survivor that has a semblance of game sense and a killer that is either straight awful or ready to devour every survivor at any cost. As long as 2 get out, it's fair! This is what it's felt like and it feels wrong for reasons we all understand. Is this what MMR ranking is? Am I close? Wrong?
When this was all being tested and implemented, I had zero clue that every time I was "saving" my teammates and taking the fall that my game play was being assessed and assessed on such a vague, yet black & white scale of wins and losses and MMR ranking. It wasn't until the live stream that occurred that addressed MMR bc the community was upset with SBMM that any of this was even attempted to be explained. So, the only logical conclusion I could come up with was that I'm seen as a wayyy lower ranked survivor according to the SBMM bc of simply not escaping.
I have tried my best to remedy this and it has taken so much fun out of the game for me. Forget the fact that a large percentage of killer mains play to straight tunnel and camp bc of how unhappy they are with some changes, the game is still fun trying to save teammates in those situations for me but it is directly negated if I don't escape. So, now, for the last few months, I've had considerably less fun playing solo or swf bc I'm just not playing with similarly skilled people (survs and killers). Add in that I have a hard time leaving teammates to get tunneled/camped/on hook and that I play altruistically, I'm trying to save noob teammates bc I know how much it sucks. Noobs that I shouldn't be playing with, but I'm more than happy to take a hook for to let them get out bc they are less experienced and don't understand that the game isn't always getting facecamped and tunneled.
There's my take. A bit of word vomit, I'll clarify if needed on anything. I'd love to be able to have a discussion about this without any toxicity as I am generally curious and getting a little tired of trying to play matches that are this unbalanced for me. Has anyone felt this way? Anyone kind of played the way I described during the MMR testing and implementation process? Thanks for reading.
Comments
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Just keep in mind this is what they are thinking about for 2022. This isn't going to be fixed anytime soon. As a killer I either 4K with 3+ gens left 90+% of the time or i get a 3 to 4 man red rank 1 swf and struggle for the 2K in a really salty, sweaty match where I am told to go die and my kids hate me and since im old and will die soon ( they looked at my steam profile ) they will piss on my grave.
A question that keeps popping up in my mind is why the hell do i play this game? The matches are either a complete land slide or I am told to die. This is as killer, when I play survivor I have the experience you have. It's really painful.
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I've asked myself the same question and I've played noticeably less. It just sucks bc I had been in the process of getting ready to start streaming and I finally got it going, so I'm like, "welp, might as well hope for the best."
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I'm seeing this a lot lately, immediately followed by those same toxic people who are trashing you flocking to the forum to tell us "Then just quit! *insert extra degrading/trolling BS here*" It's hard to quit playing something that you've put a lot of time into and care about having fun in, that's why. But they don't care when you respond that way.
A friend trying to get his affiliate status on Twitch is one of the few things that keep me and my husband playing too. We usually get burnt out really quick and I keep looking at him and saying out loud what drpynz said, "Why are we still playing this?" The above issues paired with the insane grind of the rift/bloodweb just constantly remind me that the time I put it isn't worth the return.
One of the few positive reasons I had stuck around for is things like seeing the Silent Hill license get picked up and bringing the series to a new generation in hopes that maybe we'll see new Silent Hill games (or other horror properties that have been left behind by time). But even that's not much motivation anymore...
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