Hourglass PvP matchmaking is turning away players

So.
The problem is that there arent as many people interacting with HG anymore.
The system tries to find you a match closest to your whatever the internal matchmaking integer level is, then expands outwards the longer it takes.

If there only a crew of veterans to choose from on your stamp, thats what you get.

What we need is more rewards, a better smoothed out procession OF those rewards pre and post 100, maybe a first win of the day bonus... and more people will engage in HG - resulting in more accurate skill level matchups.

Yes, I agree.
I'm also sure many players, would also rather wait 5-10 minutes for someone to queue that is in my mmr range. instead of matching you within a minute but it's not a good matchup.

I think there should be a cutoff where the game tries to find a balanced match for a set amount of time before even considering matching you with whjatever is there.

Well, at least thats how I tend to solve starvation problems in the software I build, because there isn't really a good solution that fixes all issues. But in this particular instance, I think catering to a wider audience and rewarding regular play is pretty much necessary, in order to get players to engage with this game feature long term.

Right now its something that only really good PvP players are engaging in regularly, because everyone thats inexperienced gets destroyed so hard they are gonna heavily consider trying this game mode again.

It's all down to lack of player count taking part and it's a real shame. It has so much potential. Everything @Soulstinger2k20 said above is needed to increase interest. Even the double allegiance weekends doesn't provide enough motivation from what I'm seeing.

In my opinion the defensive side of hourglass needs a buff, people should be voting in and rewarded for the increased risk by receiving a loot multiplier on loss value. Diving should be there for those that just want to be matched instantly without the sailing around part. Half of your HG value should be awarded on loss if you have a streak, bonus should be awarded to champions opting in to take on bigger ships and I'd even say at this point just award people for dropping HG with loot onboard with no streak. Atleast they are taking a risk and increasing the player pool, just make sure it's a minimal amount so it takes a long time to achieve 100 this way. It's time to lower the gates and get the masses involved in HG.

My final one is abit of a longshot and wishlist really but guild HG. 2 ships per guild matched against each other in a 2v2 fleet battle. Ships then separate once battle is over to prevent alliance cheesing.

Yeah, I feel ya. Approaching 3k hours in the game, and the first hg match in three months results in matching against 2 double gold curse accounts. C'mon, I'm less then lvl 400 combined. It's what happens when you try to integrate a competitive pvp element into a sandbox game.

I know I am not good at PvP, but I want to learn

Stay away from hourglass. It not the best way to learn

@burnbacon you are incorrect. It is an excellent way to learn if you approach it from the standpoint of trying to learn.

Just be sure to communicate to your teammates that you are new and wanting to learn.

@ix-indi-xi

So the best way to practice pvp is use hourglass? A place where 99% of complaints from cheaters rain from? That good practice?

Yeah nah. I’m sticking to the original way. Natural pvp that happens randomly or unexpected. It the best way because it’s “unexpected” and not something you dive down to find and know the outcome before it happens

@burnbacon

@burnbacon sagte in Hourglass PvP matchmaking is turning away players:

I know I am not good at PvP, but I want to learn

Stay away from hourglass. It not the best way to learn

it is the best way to learn, where do you get decent fights in adventure these days? its all running and bad PVPers mostly. ofc its gonna be insanely frustrating if all you do is sink.

you can que for inf decent fights in an HG session, while in adventure u might not even find a bad one.

@driezdst said in Hourglass PvP matchmaking is turning away players:

So, as a fairly new player (~200hours) i have tried to do some Hourglass, so far I am rank 15 with 6 wins (2 of which were players afk loss farming) and about 35 losses, and I still get matched with people that tell me that they are rank 500+ or even rank 1000.

CAN WE HAVE MATCHMAKING?

I know I am not good at PvP, but I want to learn. But I can not learn when the gap is so large that I can't even try things and learn from mistakes because I get stomped every single match by someone who is so much above me in skill that I have no chance to even try.

I would GLADLY wait 10-20 minutes for an opponent that is around my skill level and I am very sure most newer players would instead of getting matched within 1 minute but with someone so much better than me that I would do better to just scuttle...
What this current matchmaking that only prioritizes quick fights does, is to make to something that newer players will try a couple of times and then just quit, resulting is worse matchmaking and less people to match with perpetuating the problem, and making HG a club for expert pvp players only.

We dont need 1 minute matchmaking.... we need good matchmaking!

If you want HG to be only for the best players then lock it behind some progression that makes it so that newer players can't do it. How about a commendation for sinking 200 player ships?

Your wouldn't match a League of legends silver player with a diamond or masters player, so why do it here? There is no challenge for experienced players in stomping someone that is way less experienced and there is no learning opportunity for the less experienced player, is there?

TLDR: HG needs good matchmaking and not just quick matchmaking, because this matchmaking philosophy is turning away all less experienced players because they get only matched with people that are way better than them and completely stomped, quitting after they see that it doesn't teach them much.

I like all of this except keeping half your streak if you lose. If you want to keep that rep, you need to lower, or gamble it again. Ain’t no checkpoints on the poker table!

I do tend to agree with the mindset of this is probably the best way to learn PVP.

Yes, learning football at pei wee level and playing every year slowly learning what you need to master the skills is probably the recommended way.

Go join an amazing team with some skilled coaches and hardcore players and you’ll skyrocket skills in at an unprecedented rate, it’s just gonna be a painful process.

Meaning, IF you want to learn how to slowly adjust into pvp and are concerned about losing a bunch off the bay, learn on HS, but you wanna get REAL GOOD, REAL QUICK? Fight nothing but sweats until you learn how to hold your own. You WILL get humbled A LOT in the beginning, but stick to it and it pays off. I sail with people that have just been grinding the HG mode lately and it’s impressive to see their boarding skills and fighting on the ship.

Either way I think you can progress well and far, how much suffering are you willing to put up with in the beginning really.

Sorry to hear you're having a tough time with Hourglass. The time of day you play has quite an impact, too. You want to play at peak hours for your region so that you get the widest possible range of players—that range will hopefully include players of your skill level. If you find you're getting the same crews over and over, quit the game entirely and start again as it should put you into another pool of servers.

I just returned to the game after about a year's hiatus. I solo Hourglass and lose often. What keeps me going are the little areas of improvement I see over time.

Keep at it, you'll get better. Don't worry about losing too much, and do your best to learn when it happens. It is definitely the best way to get better at PvP since you're exposing yourself to skilled opponents. There is an 'average' skill out there, and you're either already there or you'll approach it over time. When you get there then the majority of games you play should feel balanced.

HG is not the best method to learn PvP, it is a good place to improve your skills.

But to obtain these skills, the best method is a crew of veteran people who teach you by constantly getting into fights in adventure mode.

Anyway, right now it's not worth a minute of your time to play HG unless you're really looking for curses, it's infested with cheaters (Thanks Rare for promising an anticheat that never came).

It seems that this mode is not going to have any improvement, we have been giving feedback for a year and they have constantly ignored it.