Crucible Matchmaking in Destiny 2 has been something of a hot-button issue in the game for the last little while. Bungie has been open about the challenges involved in designing matchmaking systems and their desire to balance a good connection with a fair matchup. Players, meanwhile, disagree on whether skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) helps the Crucible ecosystem or hurts it. In today’s TWAB, the Destiny 2 Rituals team spoke to some of the issues with matchmaking in the game, specifically around the Freelance nodes.
In Season 19 (the current season), Bungie added fireteam-based matchmaking to Destiny 2. This, they say, is the first step towards a more fair playing field for fireteams of all sizes. The goal here is to eliminate the need for Freelance nodes, which allow players to queue into activities solo and be matched up against teams of only other solo players. While useful in the current system, these queues can split the populations of playlists, making it harder to find good matches.
Players should expect to see freelance nodes begin disappearing from the game over the next little while, with Iron Banner being the first to go. The Fireteam-based matchmaking system will supposedly make these nodes superfluous, and will be expanded into Trials and eventually Competitive 3v3 Crucible playlists.
After the Rituals team has successfully implemented Fireteam-based matchmaking, their next goal is to develop what they call “dynamic skill matchmaking.” The goal of this feature is to improve matchmaking for players in a skill bracket with a low population or during generally low population times. In other words, it should improve matchmaking if you’re playing late at night or are at a high skill level.
What do you think of these changes? Do you currently use the Freelance matchmaking nodes in Destiny 2? Do you think the game’s matchmaking is moving in the right direction? Let us know in the comments below.
