Ideas to solve the matchmaking challenge in a 4 vs 1 game?

The goal of this thread is to find ideas how to solve the

·        waiting times

·        balancing of matchmaking

in a 4 vs 1 game.

...

tldr:

·        Option A: Introduce a role specific quickplay option for both survivors and killers who want the fastest queue times possible and do not mind facing other players of any skill level.

·        Option B: Introduce a Random queue that ignores both balancing and role. Players are assigned a killer or survivor role based on what is needed.

·        Option C: Reward players with more bloodpoints who play the role that needs more players

·        Option D: Make it mandatory that players play at least one game with the role that needs more players before they can choose their preferred role.

·        Option E: Queuing with friends is only possible when 4 survivors queue together.

·        Option G: The role of killer and survivors are assigned randomly.

. . .

. . .

To be able to propose solutions it may help to first look at some examples what challenges 4 vs 1 matchmaking introduces:

Requirements for the quickest way to create a game while ignoring player skill balance:

In order to create a 4 vs 1 game at any time you need

·        4 survivors

·        1 killer

. . .

Example 1 - No waiting time

10 players queued

2 want to play killer

8 want to play survivor

Result:

-> Two games can be created without any waiting time.

...

Example 2 - Survivor queues

10 players queued

1 wants to play killer

9 players want to play survivor

Result:

-> One game can be created without waiting time.

4 survivors are waiting for a second killer to enter a queue and can play the next game created.

1 survivor needs to wait for three more survivors and a third killer.

...

Example 3 - Killer queues

3 want to play killer

7 want to play survivor

Result:

-> One game can be created without waiting time.

3 survivors need to wait for another survivor and a second killer to queue up.

...

...

In examples 1 - 3 Balancing based on player skill was ignored

Introducing Skill or experience-based Balancing

In a balanced game to goal is that new or casual players are not paired with hardcore players with high skill or experience.

Unfortunately, any type of balancing may introduce longer queue times.

Example 4 - Perfect Balance & no waiting time)

1 Rank 20 wants to player killer

1 Rank 1 wants to player killer

4 Rank 20 want to player survivor

4 Rank 1 want to play survivor

Result:

-> One game at rank 20 and one game at rank 1 can be created without any waiting time.

. . .

Example 5)

2 Rank 20 want to player killer

5 Rank 20 want to player survivor

3 Rank 1 want to play survivor

Result:

One game at rank 20 can be created without waiting time.

One rank 20 killer is waiting for 4 rank 20 survivors.

3 rank 1 survivors are waiting for one rank 1 survivor a second rank 1 killer.

. . .

. . .

In DbD another element is added that affects waiting times:

Queuing with friends

Example 6

2 Rank 20 want to player killer

4 friends queue together two are at R20 and two at Rank 1

4 Rank 20 want to play survivor

Result:

One game at rank 20 can be created without waiting time.

One rank 20 killer needs to wait for a better match.

The 4 friends are waiting for a killer that is a better match.

Example 7

2 Rank 20 want to player killer

3 friends at rank 20 queue together

2 friends at rank 20 queue together

3 rank 1 want to play survivor

Result:

Both groups of friends need to wait for 3 more solo survivors to queue up

One killer needs to wait for 1 more solo survivor at rank 20

One killer needs to wait for 2 more solo survivors at rank 20

3 rank 1 survivors are waiting for 1 more solo survivor at rank 1 and a killer at rank 1.

. . .

. . .

What can be learned from these examples?

In a 4 vs 1 game just matching a random group of 5 people into 4 survivors and 1 killer is a challenge.

When balancing is introduced waiting times in queues are increased.

When the ability to queue with friends is introduced the waiting times are increased further.

Are there ideas to reduce matchmaking times in 4vs1 games?

Option A: Quickplay Queue

Introduce a quickplay option for both survivors and killers who want the fastest queue times possible and do not mind facing other players of any skill level.

Players who sign up for a quick play can still be paired with players who signed up for other queues.

The idea is that the player pool from the quick time queue is used to fill up the other queues with the best match as fast as possible.

Because of that only solo players can use the quickplay option.

. . .

Option B: Random Queue

Introduce a Random queue that ignores both balancing and role. Players are assigned a killer or survivor role based on what is needed.

To increase matchmaking and balancing in addition players may need to define a default survivor and killer before queueing. The perks, addons, items are locked after entering the queue and cannot anymore be adjusted in the lobby.

. . .

Option C: Reward players with more bloodpoints who play the role that needs more players

When logging in to DbD players are faced with a basic overview if currently survivor or killer queue times are longer.

Players who choose to queue with the role who currently needs more players are awarded a significant amount of bonus bloodpoints.

. . .

Option D: Mandatory to play x amount of games in the role that needs more players

Before players can freely choose the role of killer or survivor in a session they are required to play x amount of games in the role that needs more players.

To make sure that players not simply disconnect, go afk those games in which the player loose

a pip are not counted. This requires the players to at least try to participate.

As an added benefit the community as a whole might improve when all players are more familiar with both roles.

. . .

Option E: Queuing with friends is only possible when 4 survivors queue together

Players who want to play with friends are required to queue up as a complete team with 4 players.

The situations in which groups of 2 SWF or 3 SWF are paired with solo survivors as filler are eliminated.

The match can be balanced to find a killer who matches that 4 player SWF group.

. . .

Option G: The role of killer and survivors are assigned randomly for everyone

As a last resort it may be required to make the random queue from Option B mandatory.

. . .

. . .

What is the point of this thread?

The matchmaking and balancing of 4vs1 games is still in a very basic state. It is clearly more challenging to make equal teams when not the same number of players are in each team.

From AAA games customers are used to have queue times of just a few seconds.

Finding ways to bring matchmaking times down to a reasonable level in 4vs 1 games seems the most crucial challenge right now. More important than new killers, maps or rewards.

Casual players may want to log in for a quick game and are faced with 15 minutes queue times or longer on one or the other side.

After all that waiting casual players face disconnects or unbalanced matchups.

Players come to the forum and are presented with some explanations why in this case either the survivors or killers queue times are longer.

What is needed now are solutions that address and fix these challenges.