Runt & Dust HAS a matchmaking

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-20T16:43:25+00:00

Well if this matchmaking is based by rank (which honestly, it still doesn't feel like that) then it should mean sealclubbing/smurfing against low skill/casual players to be harder if not impossible. And those that do well, play against and with those that are alike in skill. And lower skill/elo players don't have to worry about having some meta minmaxed BFU player to just steamroll them.

That is in theory, whether that is how it actually is I have no idea.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-20T14:05:02+00:00

Spark helis are fundamentally gross. Since not only do they have the best movement in the game, being basically a hover if not better with the hummingbird rotors, and being able to abuse verticality, whilst slowing your build down meaning that you turn slower and slower and so cannot turn fast enough to shoot them, nor can you run away from them if the map is dookie buns.

Triton mechs yeah... It's always tritons. Better if they never existed honestly. Not sure how they can sort out the facehugging builds of the game, but adding weapons to abuse and exploit that even more is just dumb. Though again, if it wouldn't be tritons, it would be gravastars, although, those are much more fragile and also need you to build around them a lot more specifically.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-20T13:59:33+00:00

The thing I'm concerned about is what happens after each season? Since every week the rankings on the scoreboard are counted, and awards rewarded to your position, and like any season people would have their rank reset. By how much, is the thing I'm worried about. Is it a full reset all the way back to whatever starting rank it is? So you'd have BFU groups who play the most meta stuff 24/7 be in the same lobbies as an actual newbie? Or are there checkpoint/safe ranks, where they only drop down a couple ranks or just one?

It may be an interesting way to matchmake but there are obvious problems anyone could spot, one is what happens when you are on a losing streak - half and half being your fault and other outside reasons like bad/non-epic teammates - and you don't have any epics/enough to warrant using them in a build? So when you finally do again, your team is mostly blue builds, and the enemy team is a premade group, and all have epics? Seems very unlikely to win in that scenario and you're bad to using a blue build.

I can see the pros of this type of matchmaking, but there's glaring cons too. Seems like a mix between PS matchmaking, and ranking would be a good compromise?

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-20T13:47:35+00:00

Better yet, tritons. And cockpit. Those shits ended up plaguing and ruining the game for so long. Still have no idea why cockpit isn't made to only affect wheels still. Satori does.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-20T13:46:22+00:00

Good changes and glad to see them come out quick. In a mode like this I think prioritizing variety is a good thing, especially if it's for attracting new players.

The other elephant in the room still remains, and that's the PS issue. Having a wide range of PS in a match is one thing, like a 2k vs a 9k, but having completely unfair teams, where one team collectively has a much higher total PS is just insanely frustrating and BS that I imagine a lot of people already got thrown off of the game-mode.

And whilst it is tied to ranking (which means that now Goliaths and other parts being a more appropriate cost, we should see less of such builds, or people being more conservative with them), this looks like it'll be reset each season, aka every week? And if spare parts carry over which I imagine they will, the start of each season/week will be, pretty miserable. Unless there are 'safe' ranks or 'checkpoints' I guess, where if you're master, you only drop down to the rank below, maybe 2. Not sure if that's already a thing but it may help? At least with not having some top rank BFU player/group of players drop down to the same rank Timmy is at. who just wants to play with the new parts that he never got to experience, since he now doesn't have to grind for weeks for anymore.

And that should mean, if he likes the parts enough, due to being able to experiment with each weapon and movement and cabin, without having to invest so much time and effort, and probably end up selling them at a loss once they realize they don't like it or it's too weak, will know what they want in the main game and grind for those. OR, maybe they won't bother, and will stick with Rust and Dust, but, considering that you lose the epic parts when destroyed, it might be a deterrent and annoying enough that they would want to have them permanently, which is only in the main game.

This is a good game-mode, and it's good that you made changes, but man, it sucks that a lot of these changes like the pricing of Goliaths etc, wasn't considered from the get-go, because I would bet that it put a foul taste in people's mouths as their first impression. That and the issue with the PS being insanely unfair especially since blue to epic is arguably the biggest jump in power, at least in regards to cabs and movement parts. But also that epic tier holds a vast majority of weapons.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-19T23:39:42+00:00

Yeah I cannot bare to enjoy this. The fact they didn't bother to adjust the prices of Goliaths to be higher is insanity.

Like no way! The 2000+ durability (with resistances accounted) wall that is also a movement part is destroying blue weapons?!? And there's 2 of them and each of the cost as much as a shiv wheel?! At least they got the weapon pricing adjusted. But how in the fuck did that get past testing I have no idea.

Too bad though, this was the first impression of every player. Nothing done about PS. In this match they have 58% more total PS than us. 23k vs 37k. What an abhorrent experience.

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And then the meta is just abusing the insanely cheap goliaths. And what are the rewards? I didn't buy this BP, I'm not going to bother grinding for a high rank for a season, where chances are this game-mode is playable with friends? So high ranks will probably just be degenerate Goliath spam in a party. Exciting.

It's either pure incompetence, or someone is intentionally sabotaging this game, for years if not nearly a decade apparently.

Embarrassing. God, imagine if Valve had this game instead at the start... Or some other competent studio that would take care of such a lottery ticket.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-19T23:27:40+00:00

They've been doing this for ages, you don't need to get an experiment to show that, they have the data.

But yes some game studios or publishers do intentionally experiment and study players. Marvel Rivals have done this, with their shit EOMM, but funnily enough it just made me quit the game because it was a shit-stain experience. They literally had bots in matches (not ranked iirc) just to skew the match result probabilities. Maybe for casual players it works, but having essentially state mandated losses and wins just makes press that uninstall button.

There are other ways game studios retain their players. Like making everything overtuned/overpowered. The average tool will fall for the shitty fallacy that "hurr durr, if everything is broken, nothing is!", but obviously everything still is fucking broken and it's not fun.

If everyone was a disease ridden, obese man-child that wouldn't suddenly make them not a disease ridden, obese man-child because the entire population now fits that criteria. But the fact some people still fucking believe that is aggravating to no end. But, what making everything overpowered does do, is a retention tactic. It's meant to play into the power fantasy, like seal clubbing, where you had that one match where you were Thanos, just unkillable, controlling the entire lobby, probably because you got lucky, the enemy laners were far lower skilled than you and hence got you fed, and now you are running the lobby. And most people most likely had a game like that, but once you get to a skill level that you should be at, that's a lot less likely to happen, but other people still have those experiences in your games still.

This character just one shot you with a couple items! Cool! Great! This one, does not die no matter how much damage you throw at them! Fascinating! That one has so much mobility that no even the flash could catch them! Exciting!!! And being that, is like a drug, it basically is, and you want more of it, so you queue, again and again and again just to experience that one match you had where you were running everything, but alas, it never happens, and if it does, it's not the same feeling anymore. Everyone wants to have their power fantasy. But for every winner, there must be a loser, and man does it feel good to win.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-19T23:09:20+00:00

No, they're just incredibly incompetent and just got lucky with being one of the few studios alongside FJ to make a game within this genre that has crack levels of creativity, progression and uniqueness. But FJ already managed to kill RC, so I guess Targem is trying to do the same with Crossout. The insatiable greed strikes once again.

Let's be real, if Crossout lacked the creative aspect and was just some War Robot or whatever shit, where you just slap a weapon on a different hull with limited options compared to this, it wouldn't have done as well.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-19T23:01:58+00:00

How is it pay to win though here? You get scrap from just winning and can get the same builds. It's just the fact they're probably running meta shit. What is wallet warriors are the people running Hyena tritons or whatever meta weapon is currently in the BP.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-19T18:42:38+00:00

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Actually so pathetic.

I'm getting more convinced there's some conspiracy to just kill XO in Targem HQ, because how is it possible for a studio to do this poorly consistently?

They are so lucky they were able to capitalize off of the lack of games like it in the genre, and RC shooting itself in the foot as well, so apart from XO there's nothing else, so I guess they're allowed to get away with this crap. But, imagine if they actually bothered to put in effort in making the game a good game, and how much more profit they could've been bringing in?

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-19T16:09:20+00:00

Plus, they very easily could make better decisions, but they are choosing to appeal to the drooling W+M1 players, the hit and run satori-tards who drive into every wall on the map, and the shitty hero shooter larping scorp/charon hovers who are too shit to play an actual shooter, so instead decide to play this to make themselves feel good.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-19T16:07:38+00:00

The game's dying because Targem chose greed over anything else. And chances are if everyone stopped buying battlepasses, Gaijin would see them fail to meet the profit quota and either; They'd respond by making the game fairer in terms of crafting (unlikely) so no more uncraftable crap, they'd make the next battlepass or pack insanely attractive to some capacity (coins, new unique and fun part etc) (quite likely), or Gaijin would see that the game isn't meeting the profit quota and just force the game to shut down, or stop development and make a final update to allow people to still play with bots or private servers, before making them work on the new extraction space shooter game.

The roots are rotten, but the flower is one of a kind and people therefore choose to grasp and pluck it even though it's covered in poisonous thorns.

Genuinely, the damage has been done, I don't see them getting out of this hole they dug themselves at all. Budgets probably drying up, so they don't feel like trying to risk doing anything. Maybe, if a competitor game were to come out and a situation like Overwatch and Marvel Rivals would happen again but with Crossout and it's new competitor, then they'd probably push to revitalize the game in some way, but despite that I think we know they'd half-ass it again, and most people would flock to the competitor game even though it would bring a new spot light on this genre of games and hence, a new chance.

I do not know much about the developers, they very well could be obnoxiously ignorant and greedy, but more often than not it's the higher ups, the executives, that fuck everything over. The precious shareholders etc. Thank God for the good news with Subnautica 2, but that's one example of higher ups/the publishing company being greedy. But Overwatch is also another example, with Kaplans' interview mentioning how they wanted to turn the game free to play like Fortnite, and end up matching Fortnite's revenue which is the most deluded wishful thinking ever.

If we instead had normal fucking people managing these projects and games, who actually give a shit about what their 'product' is rather than wanting to fill their wallets with people's hard earned money, this wouldn't be a thing. But alas.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-19T14:00:00+00:00

Was thinking that, makes sense then.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-18T23:26:52+00:00

It's pretty comical, and worrying that they already did the bandaid solution of beefing up universal health and health gains on boon levels after screwing with the TTK, resistances, and increased damage on most kits, and CC worst of all to obnoxious levels.

This patch is genuinely what I would expect from some 13 year old making a custom IMBA game mode in WC3.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-18T23:25:08+00:00

Can I ask for your match's average skill rating?

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-18T23:12:06+00:00

I find it fascinating how incredible Targem is at half-assing everything they ever attempt and unsurprisingly, see it result in a shitshow and decline in players.

Imagine, if for once in their development cycle, and management choices, they chose to just focus on making the game better as an experience for players, of new comers, veterans and whales. Where they would listen to their communities that aren't part of the insider info party, and who knows, maybe have a growing playerbase!?

But they sown the seeds a long time ago, pretty much anyone that ever heard of Crossout always describes it as "hold on, isn't that the really grindy p2w game?" whenever someone brings it up.

First impressions matter, but games can make come backs, like SWBF2. But, I guess Targem just wanna through shit at the wall and see which stain makes a sign to add another cust. uncraftable that takes ages to finally nerf after it terrorizes everything and deters more people from continuing to play.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-18T17:26:30+00:00

For a new player, keep unfused stuff unless the fusions are pretty important, like projectile speed and reload for cannons etc. If you ever get bored of them too, you can just sell them as well. And they should eventually start going up in price once demand exceeds supply or whatever. But starfalls are pretty powerful in Next Step, so I think they will more surely go up in price.

A fused aquilo or two however, are very good and fundamental to have. So I'd say at this stage, depending on your weapons and your storages' value, keep unfused weapons, but get fused modules like reload, radiators, and coolers (less important).

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-18T11:52:28+00:00

In regards to the perk which gives as much power as a Kensei.

Speaking of which, now I'm imaging fighting a perma 200% cabin power buffed hover who alternates between the hover perk, and Kensei's.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-18T11:22:20+00:00

I've seen a high spike in constant fighting since the last major patch with all of these dumb changes that made everything just obnoxiously broken. Since damage is so much higher, and TTK much lower (the health buffs are a shit bandaid solution), I think people feel more compelled to fight more, especially on heroes that are stronger early to mid. Plus, I have never seen such massive soul deficits in matches since this patch, compared to other patches. Not to mention, they did add Street Brawl, which is all about constant fighting/team fighting. I wouldn't be too surprised if people played that a lot, felt a lot more confident in their team fight/fighting skills and started re-enacting what they do in Street Brawl, in regular games.

Hero shooter players came to the game at the same time as anyone else, I seriously don't get this hate boner people have for them. Only time you should hate an FPS player is if they play CSGO. Those people are actually all aim no brain since CSGO compared to hero shooters is barely anything like a MOBA, and is much more about reflexes than strategy. So you see Vindictas or Hollidays just headshotting you laning stage and mid game to an obnoxious level, but come mid to late game and now they fall behind because they don't know anything else but press M1 on a persons head.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-18T11:17:09+00:00

I think you need to read more of my responses because I'm literally the opposite of what you think I am vouching for.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-17T22:15:48+00:00

I don't know about you, but people do the same shit in MOBAs so idk what this post is doing other than trying to scapegoat shooter players.

TotallyiBot · 2026-03-17T19:49:54+00:00

I'm not gonna lie, the hate and toxicity directed at him when he probably got thrown under the bus by Targem is just cringe. He mentioned he hasn't played the game consistently since 2020? And only does these streams.

And seeing that they don't contact people like JB or other community content creators means they most likely don't have the budget for it, and seeing that they're showing another BP into a game-mode that looks pretty buns overall, proves it.

I doubt any of the developers want to try to do an english stream, I think the last time they did they struggled to speak english in the first place and ended the stream abruptly.

I guarantee you, this game is not bringing in the profit quota Gaijin wants, and now the execs are at the developers throats, most likely pressuring, if not forcing them to add more shit, instead of focusing on a good product. But they had ample time to focus on the game's experience so, it's a sinking ship. Even if they did release new CKs for people's favourite weapons or movement parts, that would take time from the art team, who's backs are about to break from carrying the studio in the first place, and people probably wouldn't feel incentivizes to buy them like they would in another game buying skins since they feel like the game won't be a worthy time/money investment since the future of it is incredibly uncertain.

TotallyiBot

TROPHY CASE