How I think ranked could be fixed


(spartamania302) #1

Hi there, my name is Robin and my in-game name is spartamania302. I am a twitch streamer/youtuber who is dedicated to making DB content. I love this game so much and want to say to SD that they’ve done a wonderful work creating this “concept” game. And you all probably understand why I say “concept” game.

As we all know ranked is just broken at the moment, just like in season 1 and pre-season. I don’t know, but a full team of silvers against a gold agent and an elite operative is no matchmaking at all. Sure you could blame the low playerbase for this, but still having to play those matches and losing those still have an immense high impact on your profile. Placing everyone in silver/low gold during placements is bad placement and just doesn’t work. This is why I want to start this discussion on how I as a programmer would fix this. Since I am a programmer, and am currently working on a matchmaking system as a school assignment, I have a few ideas that will fix this once and for all. If you disagree on anything then go ahead and reply.

First of all ranked should be COMPLETELY reworked from scratch. From core to connection, it should be completely discarded and reprogrammed from the core itself. As a programmer I know this because if you rewrite shitty code it will work 100x better. This would take a lot of time I know but at least we will have a better system. And yes I know they already did that but they should do it again.

Second of all placements. During placements, you shouldn’t look at wins or losses because placements will ALWAYS be unbalanced. There is no way at all to balance a handful of players that are unranked. Adding to that you should not look at the ranks from previous season to match players, because until now we’ve had broken seasons with players that belong in gold being stuck in silver, and players belonging in bronze that got carried to gold. I know that there is no way to stop these carries, though there is a way to slow these down. I want to add that it might be better to look at performance of the player in pubs/casual, what I would do is monitor the player during his lvl 1-7, and give him a certain rating equal to a rank that is invisible. Use that to match him with other unrankies. Also level 7 is WAAAAAY too low for ranked. It should be between 15 and 20 no offense to those insane good low levels that come from other fps games. Though because of the low playerbase this might make things even worse so at least crank it up to 10. This will also fix the smurfing problem. Most level 7s just don’t have enough experience.

Going back to what I’ve said about the match against a gold agent and an elite operative with a full silver team at my side. First of all these matches can be allowed since the playerbase is a bit low yes sure BUT if you lose this match (which you are most likely to do) it should NOT have any impact whatsoever on your ranked profile AT ALL. For the high ranked people they also shouldn’t rise a lot from that. IF however you manage to win that, then you should rise EXTREMELY high like an instant uprank or something and those high ranked should get an instant down rank for losing against low ranks (not that this would ever happen but there is a possibilty). Besides in my opinion matches like these shouldn’t even be created but then the high ranks would have a hard time finding games. Also those matches were you have a leaver should if you lose these they also shouldn’t have high impact on your profile BUT if you win 1 of these impacts should be high. Losing with a 5 man team against a 4 man team is a disgrace and should be punished more while winning with a 4 man team against a 5 man team should be rewarded much more. Also these leavers need HIGHER penalties. Because some hop into ranked and then just leave for no reason, ok sure you have those that are having crashes to their game but they can reconnect. If they don’t however they should be punished more.

Next up is what a lot of people have been asking for, is a merc limiter. This is used by DBN for their tournaments so there is no reason to not implement this in ranked. It will fix the 3 thunders meta we have atm. Adding to this comes the problem of not being able to spawn since all those mercs are already on the field. Though this can be solved with 2 things. First of all mercs should be picked in the lobby as in all the moba games but instead of just 1 you pick 3 off course. Second of all, players should have a certain amount of mercs unlocked before being able to play ranked and those should contain of equal amount of engis, meds and dps mercs. Most new players unlock vasili first and jump into ranked with it only to get obliterated. Not saying there are no good snipers, just saying that not even training with a sniper means that you will be bad at sniping. Merc banning can also help. And last but not least, you should AT LEAST have a bronze for all of those mercs.

This one goes directly to SD, can you please, just please, start releasing weekly updates with balance changes to ALL mercs, not saying thunder only, you have to stop nuke nerfing mercs in 1 patch and start balancing every merc in small ways weekly. Thunder is by far the most unbalanced merc atm. Also, don’t go on your dev video and say things like this “Hop into ranked to get balanced matches” -_- you’re literally lying against your players who are your source of income and support. Also the skin cards are very nice, but they attract a lot of noobs that are just not ready to play ranked. You guys can be pretty creative I can give you that, I liked the “visual pun” at the start of your most recent video. BUT DON’T LIE TO YOUR PLAYERS FFS. Sorry, that was the raging me that came up for a second there. Also don’t say “if you want to play with friends hop into ranked to team up with 1 or 4 friends” because ranked is playing serious, and because of this, a lot of players hop into ranked and don’t take it serious enough. Things like “it’s just a game” make me rage even harder during ranked. If you want people to be able to play with friends give them CMM.

Next up, ranking up and down. Ranking up for carrying is way too slow, ranking down when even carrying is way too fast. Ranking up for being total trash is still too fast, and ranking down for being absolute trash is way too slow. As simple as that, the system is NOT looking at the performance you’ve made during a ranked match.

Noobs should have a better play field to train on, this was suggested by a lot of people, we need those 5v5 FF-on servers so they know how ranked works. CMM will also help them to learn so I would suggest releasing that BEFORE ranked season 3. Assuming S3 will ever happen.

For hackers, I don’t really have an opinion on how to fix this since it’s been a long time since I came across a hacker and especially in ranked. But to be fair your anti-cheat system is banning people that are not hacking as well, heard about some really good players that had their smurfs banned for no reason.
To end this post I would like to say, stop saying “it’s in alpha” or “DB is in beta” because, for how long has that been the case? 2 years of beta is like NO. You are just throwing away those potential players, also F2P is just not the right business model for Dirty Bomb. Sorry, but it attracts hackers and smurfs by far too much, and I’d rather pay 20 euros and get all mercs, then having to grind them all (even though grinding them all was fun). But as a new player I would prefer paying.

I hope SD takes a look at this, because this just has to stop, this game is supposed to be a competitive shooter but to me, it’s just a “concept” game. Just an idea that is not yet worked out correctly. It might even be better to rework DB COMPLETELY from scratch in a new engine as well and call it Dirty Bomb 2 or something I have no idea, and then import all profiles to that new game. Because you will get a lot of people mad if you don’t. I love this game and hope for the best, but I am not sure how long it will take until I uninstall the game for the 5th time and don’t play for another 3 months because of this.

This is my first ever post about Dirty Bomb, so if I forgot something please don’t hate me and let me know by replying to this post. If you feel offended by something, let me know and I will change it as fast as possible!

Media:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBGcBjLXNeQNoCVB44wMtcg
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/spartamania302
Twitter: Don’t have one at the moment


(bgyoshi) #2

tl;dr

[spoiler]Reprogram all of ranked

No win/loss for matching

Raise min level

No punishment for losing vs higher ranks/extreme reward for winning + heavy punishment for high ranks losing to low ranks but ideally never mix ranks (though player base is too low for now)

No merc stacking

Balances changes every week

Rank up faster/rank down slower

5v5 FF on Collision On pub servers

Hackers suck[/spoiler]

SUPER TL;DR

[spoiler]Get a bigger team SD[/spoiler]


Just in case you scrolled right through that.


(neverplayseriou) #3

http://imgur.com/a/fq7dd db matchmaking

and as seen in this picture, people that should be nowhere near elite can reach it by dodging matches :smiley: (and no, defying gravity should not be anywhere near elite).


(x3onn) #4

“This one goes directly to SD, can you please, just please, start releasing weekly updates with balance changes to ALL mercs, not saying thunder only, you have to stop nuke nerfing mercs in 1 patch and start balancing every merc in small ways weekly.”

Agree completely about this!

“But to be fair your anti-cheat system is banning people that are not hacking as well, heard about some really good players that had their smurfs banned for no reason.”

I don’t think this is the case. Couple known players got banned but it’s clear already that they were actually cheating. EAC is actually working really damn well for a new AC as far as I’m concerned.


(Armuh) #5

[quote=“neverplayseriou;c-223797”]http://imgur.com/a/fq7dd db matchmaking

and as seen in this picture, people that should be nowhere near elite can reach it by dodging matches :smiley: (and no, defying gravity should not be anywhere near elite).[/quote]

Hahahaha, defying is one of the top players in this game bro. You would have lost that game if me and Amazon didn’t carry you.


(bgyoshi) #6

I’m sure SD would love to do all of this but they don’t have the $$ or the team size to do it. ESPECIALLY weekly updates


(GatoCommodore) #7

should we do 2nd donation wave?

i mean, i got money.


(neverplayseriou) #8

@Armuhsin said:
neverplayseriou wrote: »

http://imgur.com/a/fq7dd db matchmaking

and as seen in this picture, people that should be nowhere near elite can reach it by dodging matches :smiley: (and no, defying gravity should not be anywhere near elite).

Hahahaha, defying is one of the top players in this game bro. You would have lost that game if me and Amazon didn’t carry you.

I didn’t say that I could beat him, just said that he shouldn’t be elite, all he’s known for is leaving pregame, playing thunder and using the stark. If he is one of the top db players he would atleast be known for something that isn’t abusing broken shit.


(GatoCommodore) #9

[quote=“neverplayseriou;c-223848”]> @Armuhsin said:

neverplayseriou wrote: »

http://imgur.com/a/fq7dd db matchmaking

and as seen in this picture, people that should be nowhere near elite can reach it by dodging matches :smiley: (and no, defying gravity should not be anywhere near elite).

Hahahaha, defying is one of the top players in this game bro. You would have lost that game if me and Amazon didn’t carry you.

I didn’t say that I could beat him, just said that he shouldn’t be elite, all he’s known for is leaving pregame, playing thunder and using the stark. If he was one of the top db players he would atleast be known for something that isn’t abusing broken @$!#.[/quote]

playing thunder with stark is a crime now?


(hoyes) #10

@GatoCommodore said:
neverplayseriou wrote: »

@Armuhsin said:
neverplayseriou wrote: »

http://imgur.com/a/fq7dd db matchmaking

and as seen in this picture, people that should be nowhere near elite can reach it by dodging matches :smiley: (and no, defying gravity should not be anywhere near elite).

Hahahaha, defying is one of the top players in this game bro. You would have lost that game if me and Amazon didn’t carry you.

I didn’t say that I could beat him, just said that he shouldn’t be elite, all he’s known for is leaving pregame, playing thunder and using the stark. If he was one of the top db players he would atleast be known for something that isn’t abusing broken @$!#.

playing thunder with stark is a crime now?

From many hours of experience I must conclude that anyone who plays this way should be put to death, including myself.


(bgyoshi) #11

Welcome to Ranked, top tier loadouts only.


(spartamania302) #12

[quote=“x3onn;c-223807”]“This one goes directly to SD, can you please, just please, start releasing weekly updates with balance changes to ALL mercs, not saying thunder only, you have to stop nuke nerfing mercs in 1 patch and start balancing every merc in small ways weekly.”

Agree completely about this!

“But to be fair your anti-cheat system is banning people that are not hacking as well, heard about some really good players that had their smurfs banned for no reason.”

I don’t think this is the case. Couple known players got banned but it’s clear already that they were actually cheating. EAC is actually working really damn well for a new AC as far as I’m concerned.[/quote]

Well if this is the case then maybe SD should start banning IP’s as well. Because hackers just make a new account since it’s F2P and start hacking on that as well.

I’m pretty sure SD has more then enough money from their other projects. DB is not their only game + they made the gears of war 4 multiplayer. They also said that they’ve been increasing their team size, but yet still we don’t see any difference? After S2 came out, I was expecting the dev vids to mention stuff about when dockyard or when turtle would come out, as we’ve been waiting for those for far too long, but yet still, they seem to disappoint me in every dev video.[quote=“GatoCommodore;c-223854”][quote=“neverplayseriou;c-223848”]> @Armuhsin said:

neverplayseriou wrote: »

http://imgur.com/a/fq7dd db matchmaking

and as seen in this picture, people that should be nowhere near elite can reach it by dodging matches :smiley: (and no, defying gravity should not be anywhere near elite).

Hahahaha, defying is one of the top players in this game bro. You would have lost that game if me and Amazon didn’t carry you.

I didn’t say that I could beat him, just said that he shouldn’t be elite, all he’s known for is leaving pregame, playing thunder and using the stark. If he was one of the top db players he would atleast be known for something that isn’t abusing broken @$!#.[/quote]

playing thunder with stark is a crime now?[/quote]

Thunder is the most overpowered merc at the moment. Combining him with stark makes almost any decent player unstopable. So YES, playing him with stark during ranked is going full pussy and EZ mode, and doesn’t deserve high ranks.


(GatoCommodore) #13

@spartamania302

hey also said that they’ve been increasing their team size, but yet still we don’t see any difference?

hiring bunch of people is not 1 day job yknow

Thunder is the most overpowered merc at the moment.
not vasilli ‘110hp sniper with smg’ tho amirite?
not fletcher with his 3 high damage capabilities tho am i rite?
not fragger and his ‘explode in the face’ 170dmg grenade and BR-16 tho amirite?

stark makes almost any decent player unstopable.

so now being a decent player and playing with best loadout that anybody can get
is a crime?

then what youre gonna say next? people with good aim also a criminal?

how low has the bar sank…


(Armuh) #14

@neverplayseriou said:

@Armuhsin said:
neverplayseriou wrote: »

http://imgur.com/a/fq7dd db matchmaking

and as seen in this picture, people that should be nowhere near elite can reach it by dodging matches :smiley: (and no, defying gravity should not be anywhere near elite).

Hahahaha, defying is one of the top players in this game bro. You would have lost that game if me and Amazon didn’t carry you.

I didn’t say that I could beat him, just said that he shouldn’t be elite, all he’s known for is leaving pregame, playing thunder and using the stark. If he is one of the top db players he would atleast be known for something that isn’t abusing broken @$!#.

Well obviously people are gonna complain, ranked is a cheese factory, put up with the large amounts of bs and stop complaining.
Your opinion on who’s good doesn’t even matter if you don’t even regularly play with top level players. It just seems like you’re salty because he’s got the highest rank lul.


(spartamania302) #15

[quote=“GatoCommodore;c-223872”]@spartamania302

hey also said that they’ve been increasing their team size, but yet still we don’t see any difference?

hiring bunch of people is not 1 day job yknow

Thunder is the most overpowered merc at the moment.
not vasilli ‘110hp sniper with smg’ tho amirite?
not fletcher with his 3 high damage capabilities tho am i rite?
not fragger and his ‘explode in the face’ 170dmg grenade and BR-16 tho amirite?

stark makes almost any decent player unstopable.

so now being a decent player and playing with best loadout that anybody can get
is a crime?

then what youre gonna say next? people with good aim also a criminal?

how low has the bar sank…[/quote]

They said that a while before ranked season 2 came ou which has already been a month iirc. And yes, off course this is not a 1 day job, but we are not talking about 1 day here, this could maybe still improve, maybe they haven’t found that many new members yet.

Fraggers nade and fletchers stickies are harder to get kills with + they both have much less HP then thunder who has 170 HP, thats 30 less than rhino!!! And you just can’t compare the nade or sticky to a concussion gerande, that makes you so slow that you can’t even dodge, and when you get blinded by it, there is no way to prevent death unless you get lucky. I am not sure how anyone could think that snipers are overpowered, because they require much more skill than you think. I’ve been training for 5 days with a sniper now and sure my aim has improved drastically by doing so, but I’m still not unstopable with them. Except against low levels off course.


(neverplayseriou) #16

salty because someone reaches the highest rank in a game I play like 2-3 times a week for a few ranked matches, that’s smthn new :smiley:


(GatoCommodore) #17

@spartamania302 let me get this straight

on your opinion,
Fragger and Fletcher is harder to get kills with
and nothing is wrong with Vasilli?

maybe you should know thunder Conc has bigger area since it has no damage and purely relying on weapon damage to get a kill, thats why he has extra HP. You think rhino has some kind of magic wand protecting him 24/7 thats why he gets 200HP?

110HP on Vasilli is unacceptable. Given his arsenal is very deadly (MOA and Fel-IX can one shot most mercs on any range), his ability negates any surprise attacks/ambush on top of that he also has very good Machine Pistoleros as a backup.

The Machine Pistol was justifiable when he was still 100HP and since he is a sniper out of 2 in the game at the time (the other one is Red Eye which is more of like a designated marksman with 120HP) he was rather made weaker since he is not designated marksman like Red Eye.

but but fragger in team is okay right? becuz insta-kill 170dmg/18 sec is not annoying
but but 3 sticky is okay right? becuz 3x80 insta damage is not annoying

Thunder relies on his own gun to get kills, if his conc explode but he is not in range, pretty fat chance everybody lives

fragger can kill with ability and burst rifle
may i remind the people that the range of the frag grenade is very far?
may i remind you how fragger can spawn camp with the grenade and easily kill 1 team in last stage bridge?

if you didnt die from his nade, pretty big fat chance you will get gunned down while trying to hold that 10hp of yours

also, theres a chance that the people playing refuse to adapt to Thunder nade and just call it broken but they definetly not banning fletcher and fragger and call bushwhacker balanced right?

I’ve been training for 5 days with a sniper now

there you go, you havent felt how OP a vasilli is until you can consistenly pull headshots without needing to hide on the back of the map.


(x3onn) #18

There are a lot things that I would change to make the game more balanced and fun, but one thing almost everyone agrees is that Thunder and his concussion nade are way too strong and annoying, it’s not fun to play or to play against.


(GatoCommodore) #19

you like the thunder Concussion before he was buffed?
sure go ahead. Spam #NerfThunder everywhere. Just dont say its too weak again like before he was buffed

i remember when his concussion is very weak everybody said thunder is useless, his gameplay sucks, #BuffThunder.

his main damage dealer is his own gun and people said its OP because “its annoying”

but sure go ahead ask SD to nerf him


(bgyoshi) #20

And as such

A. Their teams are working on multiple projects not just DB
B. They fund projects based on financial performance, not on player forums
C. Their team is really small even if it’s expanding. They have to train employees and bring them up to speed before they can consider production experience. I wouldn’t expect something as resource-heavy as weekly balance updates for another year or two AFTER ranked is ‘fixed’