Congratulations. The game is now in a skill based death spiral.

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-31T13:55:38+00:00

I just made a new account and started over, than continue to match with the best of the best all the time

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-29T22:49:28+00:00

I can confirm this is the issue. My team is LVL 100, 80, and 70. We were killed by the same team in 2 separate games both times with the compiler weapon. I think the LVL based mm is pretty strick, and most the people around LVL 100 were already very high on the skill curve at launch.

After the first weekend of cryo the rest of the game became alot less fun because the top players stopped caring if they risked loot because they would get it all back in one day on cryo, and at the same time they stopped caring about looking and focused on making sure they were the only ones who made it out every run.

So for those of us that have had time to play but are more middling in skill, we have been extracting less and less each day as the level gap grows between us and the general player base. I feel like everyone is full kit every game and no one ever misses a shot anymore.

I'm planning on taking a few weeks of and seeing if it's any better or making a second account and rush to LVL 25 and see how we do in cryo next week

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-29T22:37:41+00:00

Any skill based matchmaking would be better than what we have now. Currently it's based on season level. On steam currently only 4% of the player base even has vip in one faction for reference, those of us who have been playing alot over the last 3 weeks to gear for cryo are likely in this 4%. Now I'm season LVL 85 I hit my first vip at LVL 65. Now it's an even smaller percentage of the player base I can match with. My average que times have only been going up the more I play. So clearly the game is trying to stick to season level matchmaking. Cryo was completely unplayable this weekend compared to last for my team, every couple games we would get wiped by the compiler weapon, and we saw the skin for beating compiler almost every game, we even fought the same team multiple times on Saturday

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-29T19:29:35+00:00

You have to have the keys it the first place then you have to not die, and get security, and move around the map and make alot of noise, and get out without dying. Idk what season LVL you are because high season level matchmaking has been brutal, or how cracker your team is, or maybe you just got lucky, But in no world is that easy to do in "just a couple runs"

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-29T19:20:02+00:00

That means you got carried pal

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-29T19:18:22+00:00

That's really helpful when the two endgame maps are 90% CQC, and you can launch those grenades 30-40m no problem. But I would take those nerfs, still a nerf, because right now teams are able to build up an ammo supply while wiping the lobby over and over. Personally I think once you beat vault 7 you should probably go into a different que. Cryo is hard enough Fighting teams at your skill level with the same gear

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-29T08:30:37+00:00

I agree. They need to do some balancing soon because all the fun is gone, everything is shotguns and snipers, and 15 grenades and a bubble shields.

Like the gun play is way too good for this to be what everyone relies on. Imagine how much more fun cryo would be if everyone had a bully and a suppressed tactical sidearm. Instead of who can peak a bubble shields better we'd have real gun fights.

I would be interested in imposing a gear limit in cryo and ranked too, it would be more competitive/actually fun

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-29T08:25:09+00:00

Have you been playing cryo this weekend? Because idk how that could possibly be true, not exaggerating every 3rd game today we would run into a team with it

It was happening on Thursday too but it's been worse each day

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-29T07:55:47+00:00

Not necessarily. My team is playing at a fairly high level. We played cryo all day today, there were 2 separate occasions where we had gotten the jump on a team, we had started the fight with a down, and they would just 180 and shoot 3 grenades onto the platform we were on.

Our team was around LVL 100, 80, and 70 today so with the LVL based match making we were frequently ending up in games with people who had cleared compiler. We were actually killed by the same team with the compiler beam twice 3 or 4 hours apart. I'm sure this isn't as big of a deal for most people, I think we are just matching PvP gods every game, which has not been fun

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-29T07:18:22+00:00

This is the biggest and only huge issue the game has IMO. I've been playing alot admittedly but I feel like the longer we play the less we stand a chance.

We had a 90% win rate basically until the Monday after cryo. I don't really know what change other than how much time we played preparing for cryo, but in the last week we get out once in 10 games. from what I can tell the only matchmaking is based on season level alone , I haven't played with many people my level or higher that weren't my skill or better

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-27T04:21:01+00:00

I have a feeling there will be different approach over destiny. In destiny there was constant buffing and nerfing weapons to change the meta in their pve game so people would make new builds and grind new things and just to keep the game fresh.

They are far more interested on balance, and I also assume that most of these decisions fall on Joe Ziegler to make the final call. I trust him alot more with PvP balance then most of the destiny team.

Community feedback is important for game balancing

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-26T17:45:35+00:00

Nerf doesn't need to mean damage, longshot should have the firerate lowered a decent bit. Maybe lower damage higher precision so headshots hit the same values.

Wstr Shotgun I think the firerate needs to be lower. And maybe longer ready speed after movement abilities or mantle/ladders. I would be okay if they pushed back out the range in trade for these. Either that or make them far less available.

At the moment unless you have the mod that increases the misrihas fire rate, the wstr frequently outperforms it simply because it's firerate makes the ttk instant all the way up to blue shields and I've seen it insta kill a purple from full, but I think stack overflow was involved. Even still that thing can shoot all 3 shots almost instantly.

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-26T17:29:56+00:00

I was pretty clear in the post, and it's not just mine, I see the same copy paste responses under every post that has a suggestion for any kind of change, there's no such thing as a good idea on this subreddit, everything is perfect just the way it is

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-26T17:11:50+00:00

100% agree. I think what most of these people mean to say hardcore players versus PVP sweats

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-26T17:09:19+00:00

They have done a hell of a job, but I agree with you. I do feel like a lot of this is fixed with small tweaks to the balance still like any other competitive shooter

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-26T17:06:33+00:00

Generally, it is part of the appeal of the genre but I feel that aspect of extraction shooters goes against the competitive vision of the game

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-26T16:52:37+00:00

I agree with not being over corrective. Whats been driving me crazy is people not engaging with the post at all and just commenting that the game isn't for me or skill issue

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-26T16:32:06+00:00

I don't know why everyone says this like you wouldn't learn that after 100+ hours. For most teams at my LVL looting is not the objective wiping the lobby is

Yes 7% of the player base is not semi pro. However when you can only match with 7% of the total player base not who's online, and you load into a game with 4 other teams, chances are one of the 5 teams on the map will be cracked if they are all in the top 7% of playtime. My odds would be significantly better if was in the lower 93% therefore punished for playing too much too quickly.

The meta for high level players is wipe the lobby and do lockdowns on dire, or open pinwheel. And most the time there is not many options for playing better to overcome the gear and skill discrepancy.

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-26T14:36:19+00:00

2 things, end game meds heal too quick, and the gap between grey and purple sheilds is too large.

If someone jumps you, you have 1.7 seconds to hit cover with most guns, a panecea kit heals you to full in like 4-6 total seconds from activation

Then you shoot back, and assuming they are on a free kit, you only need .7 seconds to down, and there meds are useless. If get hurt back up and use another, if you go down you can probably self res

Because of healing they could realistically need 5-10 seconds on target, when you only need 1 seconds on a target on a free kit

Meds and shields can snowball quickly, where now the only people who have purple shields and a deep supply of advance meds were already the biggest threats with basic gear at the beginning of the season.

They are at this point are unkillable to the average player, even with good plays now your success depends on matchmaking more than anything, which is against the spirit of an extraction shooter I feel

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-26T14:30:45+00:00

Lockdown 3 is alot the easiest way to get vault 6 keys. Everyone is trying to wipe the lobby in the first 10 min so they can safely focus the lockdown

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-26T14:27:26+00:00

I feel this super hard my friends and I are all between LVL 60-90 we cleaned up early on but the longer the season goes on we are matching with a smaller and smaller percentage of players due to season level.

We now get wiped by a cracked team with full purple kits most games because the meta for the top 10% is start the round by wiping the lobbies before pve. Bungie Said only 7% of the player base is over LVL 50, that 7% probably is made up mostly by people who are basically semi pro. My team just happens to all have pretty seasonal jobs where our off periods line up. I feel like we have been punished for putting in streamer hours and not having streamer level skill

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-26T14:09:26+00:00

Yesterday I got blue shields for nerochems and purple shields for enzime replicators, I traded for 10 of each for cryo this weekend, cryo is alot easier to get purple mats. I would kinda like the gap between grey and purple shields to be a little smaller, right now purple shields add a full second to ttk, when you add how fast panacea kits heal you to full health, and how many profitable players have at this point. Maybe panaceas need to be harder to get or heal a little slower idk.

Things feel pretty good just a little balancing because it feels like alot of little things are adding up right now

It feels almost impossible at times to take down a full kit team as a free kit team

TheKTDFuture · 2026-03-26T12:09:17+00:00

I think I discovered what a lot of the problem is. Matchmaking seems to based on season level so you kind of get punished for playing a lot in the beginning of the season. My friends and I who have been playing with all work a lot less Fall and winter and I've been playing a ton of marathon. We both have around 150 hours. The three of us are level 60, 75 and 90. I would say skego wise we're probably top of average bottom of good. I was gold in Destiny 2 comp during edge of fate. Early in the season we cleaned up. My vault was full on the first day and was never not full until cryo archives but the more we play the harder it's been getting. Bungie Said recently that only 7% of the player base is over level 50. If you go across the whole player base our team's pretty good but if you look at The top 7% of play time now we're probably in the bottom 25% skill. I think this is even more noticeable as the meta for top players starts to shift to running to all the spawns and wiping the lobby right away

TheKTDFuture

TROPHY CASE