In The Division 2, developer Massive is in a dilemma: The new raid comes without automated matchmaking. This caused a lot of anger, but Massive believes that such matchmaking would be detrimental to the raid. Now, Massive is yielding, but matchmaking will probably not be fully automatic.
Here is the situation: The pressure was probably too high. Since Tuesday evening, many players of The Division 2 have publicly complained that the raid comes without automated matchmaking. They expected otherwise and felt betrayed and patronized.
Massive had explained in a first statement why there is no matchmaking: They consider the raid to be so challenging that a mismatched group would be frustrated if they entered without coordination. However, even after the explanation, complaints continued.
Yesterday, on May 16th, just before the raid opened, a second statement from the developers came, and it sounded noticeably conciliatory.
There was a one-hour stream on Twitch about the raid with Hamish Bode, Senior Game Designer Sebastien Lafoutry, and Associate Creative Director Chadi el Zibaoui.
Bode made it clear right away that they would address the topic that is on everyone’s mind as soon as possible: matchmaking in the raid.
The stream lasted about an hour, but the main point was a 40-second clip that Massive quickly shared on Twitter. There, Chadi el Zibaoui explained the new status from Massive regarding matchmaking.
Before that, el Zibaoui had reiterated why the raid is different from all previous activities and why Massive cannot provide “automated matchmaking”: In the raid of The Division 2, all players must function and fulfill their roles, otherwise, it ends poorly.
Group search for raids in The Division 2 in progress
This is what Massive says now: Massive says they are working on a solution that allows players to find a group for the raid in The Division 2. But this will apparently not happen automatically, but manually.
It is rather referred to as “group search” than “matchmaking.”
Because it must be ensured that the members in the raid speak the same language, have a headset, and the right gear level.
Therefore, Massive will probably not find such a simple solution as for all other types of content.
How exactly the solution could look, Massive has not yet elaborated.
How does that sound? That sounds like Massive is relying on a classic “group search” feature where players can manually indicate that they are looking for a raid, have a microphone, and which language they speak.
A group leader could then put together a raid in-game and invite individual players by picking them manually from a list.
That would be a “classic solution” as used to be found in MMORPGs.
In any case, it will probably take some time until this system is in the game. Massive only says, “We are working on it.”
It is probably a compromise to appease the excited mood.
Why don’t they just bring matchmaking? In the one-hour stream, the developers explained again in detail their reasons for not bringing matchmaking. Even during playtests in the office, tensions arose.
The raid is tough and punishes mistakes. It leads to frustration when players cannot communicate and fulfill their roles. Apparently, they do not want to put the agents through that.
Even with the incursions in The Division 1, it was noticed that players were thrown out of the groups.
