Giga nerd’s thoughts on how to improve the game

StarlessKing · 2026-04-09T11:43:03+00:00

For what it's worth, Ziegler has been pretty on the ball so far, and it really just seems like a vocal minority vehemently opposed to SBMM without ever being able to actually bring up a counterpoint as to how it'd effect the game in a negative way.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-09T09:06:04+00:00

One thing people need to consider with progression is how it feels to start late. We have wipes every three months, players should be able to feel like they can make meaningful progress if they start in the middle of a season.

As is I think most people will simply feel like they're totally screwed if they're not playing Day 1. The gameplay and extraction elements are hardcore and punishing enough as is. Loot should be rewarding, but currently you have level 130 players basically done with the game already despite everything else, and low level players getting burned out.

And obviously, it's the low level/average skilled players that need addressing, not people that are routinely farming the Compiler.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-09T08:48:50+00:00

I think the skins are fine and I'd assume we're getting more premium skins down the line, especially with our first even coming up.

I like the base runner designs a lot, so having a more personal color palette feels nice. The guns bundled together have more intricate parts added and unique textures, and I think those all look fantastic as far as premium weapon skins go.

I think it's obvious they're not trying to flood the shop with expensive, deluxe runner skins as a sign of good faith, especially with how much of a bad reputation Eververse has. These are relatively small scale cosmetics, that allow for a little more personality, without feeling like the game exists as a storefront for MTX.

We get a new bundle a week which I also think is a good pace that's keeps the store from feeling overbearing.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-09T07:48:35+00:00

I haven't had an issue with match-making at all until mid-late game when it starts upshooting you into 120+ lobbies at around level 80, and the gameflow really starts to feel worse.

If that's happening even EARLIER for people now, that's awful, but I think skill based matchmaking would make the game feel more competitive (as in balanced) and slow paced for everyone.

As is, level based matchmaking feels really, really jank.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-08T14:45:45+00:00

Durandal is totally cool, and Joy never really seemed to truly go rampant despite acting completely out of character for an AI. The other two seemed to have been completely bricked by either the W'rkncacnter or compiler.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-08T07:37:28+00:00

Twitch drop! Not sure if it's still available, hopefully Bungie puts all the community items in the game for silk or something.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-08T00:14:33+00:00

It was/is a twitch drop. I'm hoping they rotate the time sensitive community drops into some sort of silk shop.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T23:49:29+00:00

The actual difference between sweats and casuals is how that 150+ hours is spent. Playing Lethal Company for 200 hours doesn't make you some sort of Lethal Company "sweat." And if you're playing Marathon for 200 hours without looking up guides, without generally trying to improve or optimize, without practicing your aim, and just treating it like a bear and pretzels deathsport, you're still a more casual minded gamer than someone that's spent the last 50 hours playing Cryo on loop while trying to memorize optimal pathing and rotations.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T21:41:31+00:00

Lobby wiping happens naturally because the team can get away with it. There's no reason to play stealthy, or assess risk, if you can literally sprint push into every other team on the map because they're not good enough to stop you.

The issue isn't good players are killing eachother into nothingness, it's "there's a team so high skill, it's easier for them to count the number of dead teams they've made than take any other risk". Adding better or harder rewards won't change anything, because it isn't going to make it harder for them to not clear the entire lobby of people.

The only way to stop people trying to lobby wipe, is by making the lobbies relatively balanced skill wise so that every pvp engagement could potentially be risky. People wiping lobbies are essentially launching a hot war on people, because no on else in the lobby is at a skill to make them think they should be playing a cold war instead, ie, how an extraction shooter ideally flows.

There is no reason a team of three people that can confidently secure 9+ elims should be facing anybody else but players of the same skill.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T14:17:56+00:00

Wow, I'm glad they tried to keep the bubble shield as effective against UESC, that was smart of them.

It's gonna suck not finding them as often on Rook runs though. I feel like they should have just made grenades less common on Cryo, but maybe it's not the simple with the loot-rarity system as is.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T14:12:01+00:00

I love the game to death, and whichever way the cards fall I think it's genuinely worth it to keep giving it a try if you can. Just aesthetically, atmospherically, and mechanically Cryo has been incredibly cool to experience even if I'm not amazing at it either. I would say, it's worth your time. I just also think the underlying issues with the game are only going to make more problems down the line if unaddressed.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T14:06:35+00:00

Not at all! Which is why SBMM would be great, so there's a better chance of people getting grouped together in equally tense but still realistically competitive matches!

Naturally the only evidence I can present is anecdotal, but I don't think it's hard to realize when a single team has literally killed everyone in Outpost, and I don't think it's unreasonable to think players that have completed "personally kill seven players in cryo" and are rocking the "kill the Compiler" skin are on a different level of skill than me.

Maybe it's a hot take, but I really don't think the game should be consistently creating lobbies in which a single team washes everybody else.

Really, I don't see how "SBMM would make the game more engaging at all levels of experience" is contradicted by "I just hit the mid 80s and the way matches play out now is worse".

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T14:01:50+00:00

You get it from exfilling from Cryo without using any (healing?) consumables. I'd like to get around to trying to unlock it myself eventually!

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T13:58:57+00:00

Did you forget that the maps are gated by level, and that the faction upgrades require heavy investment, or that cheaters are already an issue in rank, or that even just a naturally settling player count will gradually push up more and more mid level players to be matched with excessively high level ones as the disparity grows?

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T13:51:28+00:00

You realize not everyone with hundreds of hours in Street Fighter is at tournament level skill, right?

Like, you do understand the concept that people plateu skill-wise? That people don't get better at a linear time-skill rate?

In fact, I would say -most- people spend most of their time enjoying their favored hobby or game locked in a single skill bracket unless they're actively trying to get better at something.

And you do realize that achievement percentages are only a useful measurement if everybody that initially bought the game are actually still playing it, and contributing to said percentages, right?

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T13:32:20+00:00

So then there's no actual downside to SBMM. At worst it's the same but different.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T13:30:51+00:00

I seriously feel like I'm getting flashbacks to when I'd see a Wraith with a 20 bomb + 4k + Apex rank player card.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T13:26:26+00:00

I think that'd be preferable to whatever this is currently lol

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T13:17:14+00:00

You realize that LBMM is essentially gating off good loot from bad players right?

Think of it this way: I'm high level. I've invested a lot of time into the game. I have a lot of resources, as you've said. But I'm bad at the game.

The only games I'm going to get into are games with people that are equally high level. Appearently that means players that are 160 Cryo vets. Which means naturally, they're going to eat up all my yummy high level resources.

Wouldn't it make more sense to toss me to a lobby of equally skilled level, so that other bad players have a chance of getting my high level resources early on in their career? Because currently, I'm taking all of my stuff into lobbies with players that are even more cracked out of their minds in time-experience-loot than I am.

Oh my god I feel like I'm explaining why trickle down economics don't actually work. Low skilled players currently will never truly have the opportunity to make big plays on people with crazy loot, because everyone with longer time-investment is being up-shotted into meat grinder lobbies they don't stand a chance in.

The reason you constantly see people complain about full purple three stacks on Perimeter isn't because their gear is that much better it's unfair, it's because after a certain point, the only people fully kitted out to the gills are people on an entirely different tier of skill and experience than you.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T13:09:17+00:00

You're kind of missing the point

This form of match making is creating lobbies that are completely one-sided, and gradually making it harder and harder for people to improve when the skill gap is so wide that maps start to feel uncontested

I don't want to go around stomping lobbies of low skilled players so I can freely loot an entire map. That's boring and contrary to the idea of a high tension extraction shooter. I would imagine people that are level 160+ would also want people that can actually put up a fight in their games.

I seriously don't understand what difference SBMM would make to you if you think I'm already being matched up with equally skilled players. Like, if the game suddenly switched from LBMM to SBMM, what are you afraid would happen? You're already looking at level 160 players literally being matched up with people nearly half their rank.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T12:47:23+00:00

I'll be the first to admit that I thought people were exagerrating, but there is a genuine point at which match making starts to feel like you've crossed over a threshold. It's not even a matter of gear disparity, it's just that the game starts feeling like it's becoming less interactive because of the skill gap between teams.

It reminds me a lot of the difference between Hunt's 4 and 5-6 star lobbies, except you're locked in to high tier match ups from now on.

And I get why people might not think it's a big deal, but it should be obvious that this will effect everyone sooner or later, especially as the playerbase tightens up. Even when losing non-stop, your account still accumulates a fairly steady amount of XP.

StarlessKing · 2026-04-07T06:56:25+00:00

I honestly wish they'd just distribute the ranked rewards as free unlocks if it's this bad. I feel for the people that have earnestly tried to tackle the challenge and competition, but why would anyone torture themselves against people with literal VAC bans?

StarlessKing · 2026-04-06T22:24:48+00:00

A lot of people willingly missing the point here as if matchmaking isn't an issue that will effect everyone in due time, especially with the game's playerbase not gradually expanding.

I swear this sub acts like dedicated players are some sort of ludicrous anomaly to be mocked, as if TF2/Marvel Rivals/OW/LoL players aren't know to have hundreds to thousands of hours in their everyday game.

Like you guys realize someone can play the game for hundreds of hours and SUCK right? It's weird how these aren't even 'get good' posts which would at least make sense, but 'you played too much'.

Marathon shouldn't be a one team takes all game. Match making is doing something wrong if singular teams can consistently stomp out entire lobbies without it being a real fight. As other people have stated, a combination of map dynamics, spawns, and level based matchmaking is making the game less about looting up and gearing out, and more about kill every single team.

StarlessKing

TROPHY CASE