SBMM and the Current COD Meta

[IRaMPaGe 3,246]

4 hours ago, J4MES OX4D said:

Activision have now started blocking data apps used to expose cheaters in Warzone and Multiplayer in a shameful bid to protect their SBMM framework. These apps use the API and can showcase lobby data such as k/d's which can quickly identify if a content creator or streamer has been cheating the system. Before Christmas many of the big names were caught and admitted guilt in regards to the multiplayer aspect but now even Warzone is being significantly impacted by this behaviour from a wealth of big names. There also seems to be people actively policing the system so when someone gets a nice clip, these users quickly scrutinise the lobby quality rather than the clip itself and even then, questions are further asked about input cheats being used.

 

What an absolute dire situation Call of Duty is in from a gameplay and social standpoint. Connection-based matchmaking + lobby balancing = good times. SBMM + gameplay manipulation and cheaters = dead game. The fact Activision are only interested in protecting themselves rather than the community wishes says it all. 

 

It is a sad state the YouTubers, Twitch Streamers and big content creators have to hide or on the other side of it prove they are legit.

Activision will always protect the big names, those guys draw in views and hype etc.

 

I'm all for mixed lobbies of varying skill with decent sensible matchmaking/team balancing and priority on as stable a connection as possible.

I would rather a fair fight, I've held my own in some of the sweatiest lobbies if the connection is alright and I play good. I've been smoked by beasts and clans and I'm fine with that some of the time.

 

Well to put it into perspective, my internet is pretty shocking in terms of DL and Upload speeds. It's very basic and I need to upgrade in general, waiting for the old contract to finish before looking into something else.

Now on a few occasions I have had 3-4 very good games in a row and been severely punished.

I was put into an Asian lobby one night, I reckon so because the whole enemy team had Japanese or Chinese letters in their names. They all ran MP5's and AK74U's and I got destroyed. They were indefinitely better players than myself, but because of the SBMM I was put there and some of the gunfights lagged a bit and I had no chance.

As the skill rating goes up and so does the sweat and the higher quality connection. I'm guessing I was in the 100-150ms ping range in that match or something.

 

Just to paint the picture of my setup, I have a 14mbps DL and a 1mbps upload. And I never ever get that full amount. I'm playing on an old 42 inch LG TV that's about  9 or 10 years old and is probably 50-60hz max if I'm lucky. On a PS4 and sitting on a couch about 10 foot away or so. That's why I very rarely use crossplay. I feel I get screwed with it when up against next gen consoles and PCs.

 

I'm not trying to make myself sound better than I am, but I upload whatever clips I feel were decent or I enjoyed at the time and saved. 

So if I can do it so can anyone. But for my sake and everyone else with below average internet, please prioritize the best we can get Activision and stop making it harder than it needs to be.

If the connection is stable and fair I will try hard and sweat if needs be to beat some guys. But the overall punishment is an even harder laggier lobby eventually.

 

Now I also heard they are going to add League play to Cold War. My question is what have we been playing the last 2 months?

We will have the normal sweaty public lobbies, then an even sweatier lobby for League play?

[cyberninja2601 1,106]

5 hours ago, J4MES OX4D said:

Activision have now started blocking data apps used to expose cheaters in Warzone and Multiplayer in a shameful bid to protect their SBMM framework. These apps use the API and can showcase lobby data such as k/d's which can quickly identify if a content creator or streamer has been cheating the system. Before Christmas many of the big names were caught and admitted guilt in regards to the multiplayer aspect but now even Warzone is being significantly impacted by this behaviour from a wealth of big names. There also seems to be people actively policing the system so when someone gets a nice clip, these users quickly scrutinise the lobby quality rather than the clip itself and even then, questions are further asked about input cheats being used.

 

What an absolute dire situation Call of Duty is in from a gameplay and social standpoint. Connection-based matchmaking + lobby balancing = good times. SBMM + gameplay manipulation and cheaters = dead game. The fact Activision are only interested in protecting themselves rather than the community wishes says it all. 

 

According to the data MW has sold 30 Million copies making it the about the best selling cod. So I don't think that Activision is too worried about the premature death of the game. MW2 which a lot of us consider the best of all sold 22 million copies. 

 

I play Cold war and I personally like it. IT's also the COD were my KD is probably the best of all the games so SBMM is has been good to me. The content providers are the ones that bitch a lot because the can't exploit weak lobbies and have to actually work at it. All these assholes that play 24/7 get thrown in lobbies with people who play 24/7 and bitch like spoiled little girls

[techno 3,511]

59 minutes ago, cyberninja2601 said:

 

According to the data MW has sold 30 Million copies making it the about the best selling cod. So I don't think that Activision is too worried about the premature death of the game. MW2 which a lot of us consider the best of all sold 22 million copies. 

 

I play Cold war and I personally like it. IT's also the COD were my KD is probably the best of all the games so SBMM is has been good to me. The content providers are the ones that bitch a lot because the can't exploit weak lobbies and have to actually work at it. All these assholes that play 24/7 get thrown in lobbies with people who play 24/7 and bitch like spoiled little girls

Thats not strictly true, the content creators are circumventing the sbmm to get into lobbies with worse players. Sbmm is actually having the opposite affect that Activision want it to. Withiut sbmm they'd have to spend time lobby surfing.

[J4MES OX4D 10,041]

51 minutes ago, techno said:

Thats not strictly true, the content creators are circumventing the sbmm to get into lobbies with worse players. Sbmm is actually having the opposite affect that Activision want it to. Withiut sbmm they'd have to spend time lobby surfing.

It’s also destroying the experience for average/casual players but Activision don’t really give a shit about those - it’s all about the sweaty tryhards spending money in-game, creators with their codes and simply giving the game exposure through gameplay garnered against the very foundation and metrics ironically in place.
 

None of this is also considering the artificial factors such as ping manipulation based on performance. This is what happens when you design your game around money first rather than quality. 

[GazzaGarratt 11,062]

On 1/4/2021 at 7:18 PM, cyberninja2601 said:

I prefer M16 and Grau. Works for me

 

Good to know other things are still working. I just really wish loadout drops were 20k to buy - minimum. So many people just play > Get Cash > Buy Loadout > Try and Last out until final circle. Its a viable option but it shuts down so many ideas on how to play the game that equally work. Warzone is a fantastic gamemode where if you don't play that strat, virtually every game feels completely different.

[Dan94 913]

On 1/23/2021 at 1:09 PM, GazzaGarratt said:

 

Good to know other things are still working. I just really wish loadout drops were 20k to buy - minimum. So many people just play > Get Cash > Buy Loadout > Try and Last out until final circle. Its a viable option but it shuts down so many ideas on how to play the game that equally work. Warzone is a fantastic gamemode where if you don't play that strat, virtually every game feels completely different.

This is why I really loved Blackout. More skill imo in terms of just working with what you could loot, including attachments etc.

[NCA-Paendrag 2,758]

From reading this thread, I will save my money. Was thinking about getting it, as maybe my new 500/500 connection would help feom my previous shitty internet. But COD is apparently getting worse every year. Playing Warzone but I struggle to win gunfights there even when getting the jump on an enemy. Typical COD feel I would say. 

I wanted to get it for PS5, but will probably be summer before I get my hands on one.. 

[GazzaGarratt 11,062]

On 2/7/2021 at 3:22 PM, NCA-Paendrag said:

I wanted to get it for PS5, but will probably be summer before I get my hands on one.. 

 

You're not missing much on next gen mate, thats for sure. Especially with this game still the winner of the CoD that is keeping most players on it, and clearly available for PS4.

 

Separate problem I think that will hurt their income over time will be the size of their games. They've got to do something about it as it isn't just Sony to deal with it and give us bigger hard drives (although i'll take that purely from a different POV).

 

Now they've figured out the F2P market with Warzone somewhat, I actually think this will do the franchise a favour and maybe they'll go away from their ritual stuff that nearly everyone here and elsewhere hates.

[Dan94 913]

So the AUG/M16 is back as the meta on Warzone after they finally decided to fix *some* of the attachments with Cold War weapons...

[GazzaGarratt 11,062]

On 3/7/2021 at 11:41 AM, Dan94 said:

So the AUG/M16 is back as the meta on Warzone after they finally decided to fix *some* of the attachments with Cold War weapons...

 

Is it the go-to gun again?

[cyberninja2601 1,106]

12 hours ago, GazzaGarratt said:

 

Is it the go-to gun again?

 

 

Nah, I rock the stoner and the AK47 and MP5. 

[IRaMPaGe 3,246]

There is a few lads at work that play Warzone, they all swear by the Kar and the FFAR. The FFAR in particular surprises me as it's underwhelming since they butchered it after launch in MP retrospectively.

[Dan94 913]

23 hours ago, GazzaGarratt said:

 

Is it the go-to gun again?

Pretty much, the AUG and FFAR are the fastest time to kill atm. The M16 is solid too, less damage than the AUG slightly but I prefer the recoil pattern

[MrBiron 1,453]

On 2/7/2021 at 3:22 PM, NCA-Paendrag said:

From reading this thread, I will save my money. Was thinking about getting it, as maybe my new 500/500 connection would help feom my previous shitty internet. But COD is apparently getting worse every year. Playing Warzone but I struggle to win gunfights there even when getting the jump on an enemy. Typical COD feel I would say. 

 

Accoring to Xclusive Ace the SBMM in this game can affect your ping now as it prioritises skill over everything else. In MW2019 your ping would be most important but not any more.

[GazzaGarratt 11,062]

1 hour ago, MrBiron said:

 

Accoring to Xclusive Ace the SBMM in this game can affect your ping now as it prioritises skill over everything else. In MW2019 your ping would be most important but not any more.

 

Weirdly, that sounds like a good thing - SBMM should be based on skill as that's the whole point of it isn't it?

[Dan94 913]

33 minutes ago, GazzaGarratt said:

 

Weirdly, that sounds like a good thing - SBMM should be based on skill as that's the whole point of it isn't it?

It's more that SBMM is now so strong it'd rather put you in a 'fair' lobby with 100 ping rather than 60 ping with a slightly easier lobby

[IRaMPaGe 3,246]

Ping should always be the most important thing regardless of SBMM and other implementations. 

Nobody enjoys lag, and if you do your a straight up Psycho lol!

 

I think SBMM definitely needs toned down a little bit for sure. Everyone is punished by it on all skill levels.

 

From my experience I have good games, bad games, average games sure that's fine. It's how some of the matchmaking and team balancing equates that makes it tough.

 

It's hard to level guns up and do challenges for some of the guns when everyone is sweating with Diamond 74u's. If your not using meta guns you will get shat on in some lobbies. I don't like using a gun when I already have gold/diamond. I enjoy progression of the next gun.

 

I've been in matches where 3 separate enemies have dropped harps and your team are getting smashed. Your the only one on the OBJ. Your not doing that bad, but it's a struggle to carry the team when at least 2-3 enemies are actually better than you are and they are using the meta guns.

[MrBiron 1,453]

6 hours ago, GazzaGarratt said:

 

Weirdly, that sounds like a good thing - SBMM should be based on skill as that's the whole point of it isn't it?

It's not a good thing if the game will put you in a lobby where you have a bad ping just so you're playing with people of the same skill. Ping should be the number one priority for matchmaking. It should be ping>skill not skill>ping.

[Dan94 913]

New COD update? More things broken...

 

 

[J4MES OX4D 10,041]

I hear the infinite stim glitch is back for the 11th time! Previous updates have seen things like invisible players and no recoil weapons. These developers are so incompetent it’s embarrassing. It takes them so long to fix such problems that by the time the next update drops, it breaks the same or other stuff in the process. 

[Dan94 913]

12 hours ago, J4MES OX4D said:

I hear the infinite stim glitch is back for the 11th time! Previous updates have seen things like invisible players and no recoil weapons. These developers are so incompetent it’s embarrassing. It takes them so long to fix such problems that by the time the next update drops, it breaks the same or other stuff in the process. 

I dont get why they dont just remove the stim. No one actually uses it, so it causes more trouble than its worth

[IRaMPaGe 3,246]

3 minutes ago, Dan94 said:

I dont get why they dont just remove the stim. No one actually uses it, so it causes more trouble than its worth

 

Sounds like a good idea for Warzone definitely. If it's a major problem just get rid of it. In multiplayer it's a bit of a crutch for me for sure.

[Dan94 913]

37 minutes ago, IRaMPaGe said:

 

Sounds like a good idea for Warzone definitely. If it's a major problem just get rid of it. In multiplayer it's a bit of a crutch for me for sure.

Yeah multi is a must imo, however in Warzone im pretty sure 99% of players just run stuns or heartbeat sensor. Seems a bit of an easy solution really, however this is COD so common sense usually doesnt prevail... 

[J4MES OX4D 10,041]

Call of Duty: Warzone’s attack helicopters are gone again after the invisibility glitch returns | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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Attack helicopters returned in yesterday's patch after being removed in December, but didn’t even last 24 hours.

 

[IRaMPaGe 3,246]

11 hours ago, J4MES OX4D said:

Call of Duty: Warzone’s attack helicopters are gone again after the invisibility glitch returns | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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Attack helicopters returned in yesterday's patch after being removed in December, but didn’t even last 24 hours.

 

 

Funny, but sad. I mean if it leads to invisibility it's a horrible experience. 

I mean even if Warzone was running smoothly with no glitches and perfect balancing throughout, I still wouldn't play it. It's just not for me, I feel sorry for the folks that Warzone is their primary experience or outlet of gaming in COD.

 

There is just so much wrong with the franchise. I get terrible times playing MP Cold War with heavy SBMM and lag sometimes, but it's nothing compared to the shit that goes on in Warzone. Atrorious really with the amount of money and income the game churns. It's a perpetual experience of forever failure. 

It's almost impossible for Warzone to be in a good place.