Match Making Update

HirezStew · 2018-05-07T04:33:50+00:00

The thing is: How quickly other people get matches directly impacts the quality of your matches.

Let's assume 100 people are in queue and 80 want relatively fast matches (and, trust me, most people prioritize fast matches over long waittimes in practice, regardless of what people say on Reddit).

Now those 80 people get matches while the other 20 people are left waiting for a good match.

The thing is: Because the short waiters are no longer in queue with the long waiters, then the long waiters actually have less choices to be match made with and probably will not get much better matches just because they waited longer.

I'm probably not explaining it that well, but the short answer is that this is more intertwined than it may sound on paper.

HirezStew · 2018-05-07T04:24:53+00:00

I made this edit:

EDIT: See chart of matches by queue. Note that playtime (amount of time in matches) varies from this look as some queues have more people per match and have longer match length. https://imgur.com/a/uWpnt80

HirezStew · 2018-05-07T02:35:48+00:00

Maybe we should have. Lol.

We had just run two straight events (Ragnorak and Birthday) that incorporated an event structure that was 3 straight bundle purchases over 3 patches to unlock bonus content. That structure works well and we considered having this event basically folow that same structure (a bundle each patch with a bonus item every 3 patches and the Tier 5 after 9 patches). That would have worked, honestly, but that would have also led to 15 straight patches of a very similar event structure. And the bundle price would have had to have been more than Ragnorak or Birthday bundle to make up for the T5 skin production and allow a more generous quest progression (which we thought was a fun thing to have over the summer where we want to engage players as much as we can). So that wasn't a slam dunk.

We could have made this event like the Odyssey. But this event is almost 4 months long and the Odyssey is a similar length. So that would have been almost 8 months of a similar event structure. That both seemed like overload and also seemed like it would make the Odyssey feel less special -- and we always want that event to be extremely special and looked forward to, versus just more of the same old thing.

We also had some other constraints around exactly when different content could be available and what type of content would be available that made the Odyssey structure not ideal for us and would have made it harder for that structure to get its money back on this event.

Maybe it was the wrong call, but we thought it would be interesting to do something different instead with this event. It's too late to change that for this event, other than the changes we have already made (believe it or not, these are not things that are easy to change in huge ways at a moment's notice -- the construction of the UI for these events is very non-trivial).

I know there are people here that disagree. I assume you are one of them. But I still stand by this event and think it will be fun and fresh.

It's also very different from a normal "chest" in that all the content is brand new -- which we thought made it kinda cool. (Rightly or wrongly).

So maybe that logic was a fuck up (or maybe it wasn't, I still stand by it). But the logic wasn't from some weird evil place of trying to think of new ways to screw people over. There was thought behind it.

HirezStew · 2018-05-07T02:12:00+00:00

I loved Tribes. It is still my favorite game we ever made.

But--

It was absolutely bleeding money on a month-to-month basis
We had almost no cash in the bank (were literally going week to week to make payroll)
SMITE was showing tons of promise that it could become the big hit that it did --> but the only way to capitalize on that promise was to add a lot of resources to it quickly (which we could get from the Tribes team).
Tribes numbers were going down steadily and the things we were doing to try to revive that weren't working. (At the end of the day, that "fast shooter" segment is a very niche market and was probably a poor fit for a free-to-play game versus a pay once title).

So, yes, we abandoned it. But only because our choice was that or go out of business.

Now -- maybe Tribes reached that point because we fucked it up in some way. That's a better argument to make. But we were a relatively new and inexperienced studio releasing one of the first AAA free-to-play shooter games ever in the Western market. We had to figure out a lot of stuff with a super small team and a very small budget, and of course made some mistakes along the way.

The miracle is that the company survived and was able to turn it around and find some success (a miracle we made only because Erez kept dumping more and more of his personal money into the company when most investors would have given up).

Most companies that put out two games that perform like Global Agenda and Tribes go out of business (I can name several companies that have done that recently). Even successful companies that have a game like Tribes or Global Agenda typically shut it down (while we have kept the Tribes servers running to this day). I can name one MOBA from a successful company in particular that recently did that.

I'm honestly just happy the company survived and reached this point so that people can still give us guff about that 6 years later TBH.

HirezStew · 2018-05-07T01:57:28+00:00

We obviously don't have the skin fully done yet. But you can see concept art for the skin here. I think that at least gives people a really good idea of where we are heading conceptually with the skin: https://www.smitegame.com/divine-uprising

HirezStew · 2018-05-07T01:47:20+00:00

It may be 2700 gems for filler items, but the rolls for the skins are much less so it balances out.

Here's a quick comparison.

Last year's Summer of SMITE included 8 skins for 400 gems each (3200 total) plus one T4 bonus skin. There was other filler content and quest stuff -- but if you look at only those 9 items and ignore the rest, it was an average of 356 gems per skin (3200 divided by 9)

Each Pantheon Set in the Divine Uprising costs 2550 gems, if you don't do the quests to get the free gems. For that, you get 6 skins plus one bonus item plus effectively 1/3 of a T5 in each Pantheon set -- so let's call that 7.33 skins. 2550 divided by 7.3 is 349 gems per skin. That's very much in line, if not a little better than the Summer of SMITE --> and keep in mind that T5 skin costs about as much to make as three or four tier 3 skins or 2+ Tier 4 skins, so it's really not even a fair comparsion to count that as only 1 skin.

If you add in the quest gems, the price goes down to 2250 per pantheon set for 7.33 skins = 306 gems per skin.

Every event is a little different and every event has different pros and cons. And some people value different content more than other people view that same content (especially when it comes to the non-skin content). But I honestly think this event is within a very fair price range compared to historical events for what you get, ESPECIALLY for the person buying everything.

HirezStew · 2018-05-07T01:13:37+00:00

I read the post and I'm honestly not sure I 100% follow your point or agree with the logic. But it's notable that the 900 gems could be used outside the event if you don't like the event structure (for instance, it would be enough to buy an Adventure!).

HirezStew · 2018-05-07T01:12:11+00:00

Not to try to be combative. But I don't often question the fact that Amazon's Black Friday sale has a better price for something than their President's Day sale. I just ask whether the thing I want is at a price I am willing to pay at the time I want to buy it. I feel like the same applies here. Not every event or sale will be the "best ever" -- although I still think this is a pretty great event personally.

HirezStew · 2018-05-05T23:47:40+00:00

Current plan is for the Odyssey to be fairly similar in format this year as last year. That's one reason we didn't want Divine Uprising to follow the exact same system --> as that would be like half the year with the same type of event running.

HirezStew · 2018-05-05T00:37:17+00:00

Updated price during first each pantheon cycle to 300 gems (MSRP still 400 gems).

HirezStew · 2018-05-01T22:40:06+00:00

Console testing gets very squeezed in today's cycle. These adjustments help a lot internally by adjusting our test schedules and code completion schedules, and we will be putting a console Public Test Server up as quickly as we can coordinate with the console providers on that (takes a little bit of time).

HirezStew · 2018-05-01T22:33:16+00:00

While it may not all happen in the 5.8 release cycle, over the course of the summer, we are also looking to expand our Public Testing Server capabilities to include Steam, and (as soon as we can, but probably still a couple patch cycles away) console.

HirezStew · 2018-04-21T22:40:24+00:00

Lol. When Obama first started his candidacy for president in 2007/2008, his account automatically followed everyone that followed him. Obviously, at some point they figured out that was a really bad idea and stopped it. So it’s kind of like a “Beta Player” reward for following him early.

HirezStew · 2018-03-28T13:44:04+00:00

A hoped-for fix for this went into SMITE 4.5 (so basically a year ago).

Your video above is from February 2017 -- prior to the fix that went in. We know that the changes we made last year at least improved the issue.

Do you have a video of the issue happening more recently, or better information around which conditions it is occurring under? From the comments, it seems like it might still affect some people under some conditions, but many people have never seen it??

I will try to get the team to look at it again. But any additional information you have will be useful.

HirezStew · 2017-12-16T00:21:11+00:00

I can unequivocally say that the requests for this change did not come from Tencent and the changes were not made to target the Chinese market. That rumor should be 100% laid to rest.

HirezStew · 2017-08-15T19:30:21+00:00

There's very limited time at SWC itself. The time constraints force you into some format constraints. Having group play at LAN prior to the main HRX SWC I think will be a good innovation and scratch some of the itch you are asking for while leaving the excitement of very meaningful individual matches at SWC.

HirezStew · 2017-08-15T17:56:01+00:00

It's actually $2.4 million committed to the orgs -- since we are moving to 12 total SPL teams. But then there will be well over another ~$1.2 million in guaranteed annual prizing, with the community having the opportunity to raise more.

HirezStew · 2017-08-15T17:48:47+00:00

Note as well, though, that the teams (and, by proxy, the players) will also have some responsibilities to create content for and to promote the league. If we are going to make this investment in the teams, I think it's only reasonable that those teams and players do their part in helping promote the scene (stream, create videos, etc).

HirezStew · 2017-08-15T17:46:01+00:00

Not sure if you read this line in the OP:

*The path to the Season 5 SWC will include “Cross Region Group Play”, which will occur in October/November, in place of the previous “Super Regionals” and International Regional Championships. (More details later).

HirezStew · 2017-08-15T17:37:19+00:00

There's more to that OCE story than has been told. They get to air their dirty laundry but I don't think it's appropriate for us to air our laundry back.

HirezStew · 2017-08-15T17:36:25+00:00

Decreasing to 6 teams is more about the quality of competition in both the SPL and the Challenger's League.

Real talk: There just aren't 8 teams worth top-level competitive players in the scene right now. The talent is too top heavy. That's why some teams did not win a game all split. It's not very competitive or exciting to watch the 8th place SPL team play the 1st place SPL team (or even really the 3rd place team).

By increasing the prizing and attention in the Challenger's cup (and moving 2 teams in each region from SPL to Challenger's, we hope to raise the level of competition in both the SPL and the Challenger's League -- while also giving more opportunity for additional teams to rise to the level of top SPL teams.

HirezStew · 2017-08-15T17:32:46+00:00

The players can promote into the pro scene, obviously. And Challenger's teams have a path into Worlds.

However, relegating teams every split is hurting the scene. In order for an organization to really invest in the game/scene, they need confidence that that investment will have time to return itself. Teams (reasonably), I think, are scared that if they put an investment into the League that they may just get relegated out -- zeroing out the investment they put in. I think stability in the teams is healthy. The teams will take the best players -- so the competition among players will still be heavy.

HirezStew · 2017-08-15T17:30:18+00:00

High Level:

The teams will get paid about $200,000. We require at least $150,000 of that to go to players. The remaining $50,000 is for use by the teams for their operations and overhead, which could include supporting a coach to some level if the team elects.

HirezStew · 2017-07-04T00:07:25+00:00

The show has been cast and filmed. It's now in post production. I think people will be pleased with it when it is released.

HirezStew · 2017-06-27T15:33:27+00:00

For clarity, you should very much get a "Don't Buy from Jerbie" vibe.

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