1 vs 1 Ladder

[rootbeer23]

consider adding a handicap mechanic. a simple percentage increase in mass income for mass extractors would suffice, based on trueskill rating. if it works, you will more easily be able to play ladder matches and anybody can play with anybody else.

[Ze_PilOt]

I still think that a season-system would be nice. (Like in often "quoted" SC2 )

Ok, for FAF it might ends up in a few unbalanced games at the beginning of every season.
But also, if there are season they perhaps motivate ppl to play more often. Also it takes away the "fear of the Ladder", since you know, even if you just mess your rank/rating up in one season, you know you don't "have to" fix it but can start again from the scratch in the next season.

We need a ladder to do that. The matchmaker is not a ladder.

[Prince__]

If there won't be any big changes anymore , how about to just rename Automatch into 1v1 Ranked?

[Blue]

As a minimum maybe add some lines of text under Automatch (or as a tooltip?): "Click icon to start searching for a 1 vs 1 ranked match using that faction. WARNING: If you're a new player, the first matches (until the system "gets" your skill) may be nasty, brutish and short. If, HOWEVER, you actually win your first matches, you're: A. Very talented. B. Very lucky. C. A smurf."

[Ze_PilOt]

There is already a warning and completion message.

[Ghoti]

there is?! I've never seen it. The only issue I have with the match maker is I feel it doesn't communicate any information about how it's searching to the player, or the matches it comes up with. Is it "I'm waiting for a good match for you". Or is it "I looked for a good match, I couldn't find one, so here's Blackdeath".

When I joined FAF it was the first time I heard about trueskill. So I went and read the papers, I get how it works, but I'm not going to expect some 16 year old to pull that off. Zep, you expect way too much of people sometimes. Even if you think it's easy.

The difference between battlenets placement system and yours is very important, it says "placement matches" Even if it's more or less lying, players innately understand that they may get unfair matches the first few times. Perception and context are not trivial. Even if they're illogical.

[Ze_PilOt]

there is?! I've never seen it.

Probably because you start playing ranked after his implementation. It explain that the matches are placement matches, and how many remains.

Also, it's called MATCHMAKER. Not "random guy finder".

[Ghoti]

Also, it's called MATCHMAKER. Not "random guy finder".

I KNOW

... I'm just one of those paranoid types.

[uberge3k]

When I joined FAF it was the first time I heard about trueskill. So I went and read the papers, I get how it works, but I'm not going to expect some 16 year old to pull that off. Zep, you expect way too much of people sometimes. Even if you think it's easy.

People regularly ask questions which are already answered in the giant green text that appears at the top of the chat window.

More information in the lobby won't solve anything, as I'm certain that even if a link to the wiki was plastered on every available pixel in the lobby, we would still have the same number of people asking the same questions that they could have answered themselves with 5 seconds of searching.

Pessimistic, perhaps, but also a universal law of the internet. One particularly clever moderator on a technical forum has a signature which reads "if people read the FAQs and used the search bar, I'd be out of a job".

[Ghoti]

yah well putting reading material when someone just wants to play a game, no wonder.

The best time to tell the user a little about true skill, is while they are waiting for a match