14 DAY TRIAL // Piranha Games has revealed its plans to improve the core experience in its massively multiplayer game, Mechwarrior Online, starting with the current matchmaking system.
The game currently features a rather random distribution of players, not taking into account each player's weight class and resulting in some strange combinations of teams. Instead, the developers want their players to be able to drop into an instant game and find a balanced lance of both pilots and mechs, both on their team and their opponents', that will provide an overall improved play experience.
The new Launch Module Update will offer a means of connecting players in a more structured manner, as the team has revealed that over 84 percent of games are solo launches, and thus the matchmaking system requires a bit of balancing.
Another issue commonly seen in public matches is the number of team players mixed in with solo players, and the update will balance that too, attempting not to group teams together against solo pilots due to the enhanced communication available between pre-made groups that could result in potential imbalances.
As such, the Launch Module Update aims to deliver teams of similarly skilled players with an even weight distribution on both teams.
In order to achieve that, the developers have tried out a few different solutions and finally came to a result that seems to fit best with their planned gameplay experience.
Instead of restricting team builds by total tonnage, a system which could easily be circumvented, the limitation will be enforced based on Weight Class, meaning that for each mech of a certain Weight Class in a team, a similar one will exist in the opposing company.
Additionally, a 3/3/3/3 symmetry will also be enforced on team builds, not allowing for more exotic compositions in order to ensure a balanced experience for everyone involved, making everyone free to launch in any Mech they own without having to worry about a tonnage limit interfering with their ability to play.
The complete list of changes along with the reasoning behind them is available on the Mechwarrior Online forums, for those interested in further reading.
The changes to both the Match Maker and Lobby systems are going to go through an extended testing period, and the final release will be pushed out on April 29, 2014.