Akumasama
Active Member
I don't know how things go for US players or for other european players, but as far as my country is concerned finding online opponents (especially in ranked matches) is preposterous.
Last week I waited more than 25 minutes with all filters completely open (connection any, zone any, max range for ranks and so on) to find a single opponent.
I gave it a deeper look and came out with the following analysys, I'd be grateful if anybody would be willing to correct it, add something to it or just discuss it.
This is done in light of the fact that DoAU still had players up to the day when XBL service for Xbox was turned down, and DoA4 still had a fair amount of available games even 1 month after the release of DoA5.
tl;dr
in spite of possible total player base numbers differences from past titles (which I doubt it's anything that insanely big of a gap) getting opponents into ranked matches in DoA5/DoA5U is a sore pain. Possible solutions for future patches/games?
Last week I waited more than 25 minutes with all filters completely open (connection any, zone any, max range for ranks and so on) to find a single opponent.
I gave it a deeper look and came out with the following analysys, I'd be grateful if anybody would be willing to correct it, add something to it or just discuss it.
This is done in light of the fact that DoAU still had players up to the day when XBL service for Xbox was turned down, and DoA4 still had a fair amount of available games even 1 month after the release of DoA5.
- Multiformat - For DoA4 and DoAU the user base was concentrated on the same platform. Some fans of the series bought the console just to play DoA. With DoA5 and DoA5U the userbase is split in 2, for X360 and PS3. The overall number might be even bigger than that of DoAU/DoA4 for Xbox, but the total number for a single format is clearly smaller.
- Ranked/Lobby - In DoAU and DoA4 there was no distinction between ranked and not ranked. Everybody was together. Whenever you were looking for a match or creating a room, you would all be going in the same place. The same "square" to meet with other people let's say. In DoA5 and DoA5U there are two "squares". Hence the player base is furtherly split in two. At any given moment you can either go to one square (Ranked) or the other (Lobby). You can't be in both at the same time. So at any given moment you have less possible opponents to fight against.
- The room placebo - In DoAU/DoA4 you always could see rooms, kinda like with DoA5/U's lobby matches. In DoA5's quick match and DoA5U's ranked match you don't see anything. You're just left there hoping for an opponent with matching filters to arrive, and hoping for him to accept the match. This may not create any real difference on a practical level, but on a perception level it gives you the impression that less people are playing compared to the reality (where likely many more players are looking for matches just like you)
- Tag Games - DoA5U brought in another form of split. It separated Tag ranked matches from Solo ranked matches (previously you couldn't do ranked tag matches). Since you can't be looking for "Any" but it's either one or the other it means that at any given moment if you're in queue for a Ranked match, you'll have to decide if you want to go to the first square (solo) or the second one (tag). Can't be in both. Another further split of the player base
- Filters - There are way too many filters, especially for ranked matches where I feel the bigger side of this problem lies. It sorta makes sense in game like the original pre-patch DoA5 was, where you couldn't choose to avoid the incoming fight. But in a game where you can choose to accept or refuse the incoming fight based on some screen-given information (they could add "Region" as one of them) I feel like so many filters (and the unavoidable misuse people willingly/unwillingly do) becomes counterproductive, as it separates people even further
tl;dr
in spite of possible total player base numbers differences from past titles (which I doubt it's anything that insanely big of a gap) getting opponents into ranked matches in DoA5/DoA5U is a sore pain. Possible solutions for future patches/games?
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