In the MMO shooter Destiny, matchmaking for raids, the automatic player search, is a major desire of the community. Is Bungie taking action on this issue?
Luke Smith, the Game Director of “The Taken King,” gave an interview to the print magazine Edge. More details are coming out via the accompanying online page.
The Problem with Matchmaking
The burning question is “matchmaking.” This means that players can press a button, and then they can join a random group for raids or in the Nightfall Strikes.
This is already possible for many activities in Destiny, but for some of the hardest and most lucrative ones, it is not. An automatic matchmaking system for raids and Nightfall Strikes is one of the most frequently requested features.
So far, Destiny has maintained the position that these difficult activities should only be played in groups with friends, as they are meant to communicate over a headset and be wipe-tolerant.
There is a concern that in difficult tasks, a random group might fail due to lack of communication and then quickly fall apart. In February, they loosened the restrictions a bit and at least included the weekly heroic strikes in the matchmaking.
Has anything changed regarding the stance on raids and Nightfall strikes?
Matchmaking Makes Players Replaceable
Smith sees a major disadvantage in matchmaking: it makes other players replaceable. This leads to Guardians just leaving a strike and leaving the other players out in the rain because they are simply harming people with whom they have no relationship, who are interchangeable for them.
Smith can hardly imagine subjecting a group of players to this or exposing them to it.
Matchmaking Probably Won’t Happen, But Something Else Is Plausible
However, Smith can very well imagine a Destiny where it is made easier for players to search for a group to tackle difficult challenges. A version of Destiny where this is easier than it is now.
For Smith, Destiny is also the pub where you can go to have fun with your buddies in your pajamas, blasting enemies and having a good time. It’s a game best played with others. It is Bungie’s responsibility to deliver on this.
Mein MMO says: If we translate that, it means: No automated matchmaking. They don’t want that. But a manual player search within Destiny itself, where you input certain parameters and then talk to people and arrange meet-ups, seems quite possible. Such systems currently exist externally through Facebook groups or dedicated LFG sites. With the idea of implementing something like this, it seems they are playing around in Destiny.
This is the system that is standard in many MMORPGs. Even there, there is usually no “automated matchmaking” for the really difficult tasks, but you search “automatically” for the face-roll stuff and “manually” for the tough ones.
