Rumble matching needs work. Guild size and scores are seriously out of whack. Not fun be matched against much larger guild by 15 members or ratings 1,000 points difference. Need a fair fight.
The rule for matchmaking is 25+/-. So its possible for a guild with 20 to even match a guild with 45, which is somewhat unfair, I agree. However, it also makes the game more fair, and the likeliness of being matched with a fair opponent should be higher. I am sure @Skye can give you a lengthy and more informative and accurate explanation, but I think that it is PH Level, Guild Size, and then Rank? Anyways, if the rank of a guild is higher than yours, It means that the opposing players are able to attack and score more per attack then your guild sometimes. Sometimes, you will get crushed in a rumble because some buff and unbeatable guild will be matched against you, while other times the opposition will be very equal to you, and it will be a fair fight. Sometimes, matchmaking gives us absolute snoozers, where we are forced to farm! Its just unpredictable, which is what makes it fun! Maybe try starting rumbles around the clock to get more variety of guilds to play against? More chances to encounter international guilds, that are also fun to play against!
@Skillzone10 You may be correct about guild size and PH level/distribution, but I think Midoki removed guild rank from the matching equation a while back. I also suspect parameters expand after about an hour, so figure longer wait equates to more uneven match ups (unless you happen to be the fifth guild pulled into a waiting queue after the matching parameters recently expanded), in which case you get a quick match but with unequal parity among guilds.
Yes, I don't know too many details about how the depths of matchmaking works, just the basics. But I consider it fair enough, as rumble search times aren't all that bad if you get a good match at the end of it all.
If guild rank is any sort of factor, it is a very, very small one. PH level and Guild Size are the most important factors for sure.
We have shifted our rumble start times and it has helped in getting a different pool of guilds and we're not always seeing the big guns that rumble 24/7, or so it seems for the time being.
In the matching that @lady blackbeard was talking about we were up against some crazy gemmers anyway. ONE GUY scored 85,000 plunder points. In my opinion, the greed of Midoki who does not limit the number of battles by a single gemming individual has RUINED rumbles. It is a huge letdown to a guild to be beaten by one or two guys that just buy the win. Seriously, is this who we loyal Plunder Pirate players want to "compete"????? If Midoki limited attacks to 20 per player it would make rumbles much more fun. I would probably gem some of my attacks just to play in a single block of time, and I think many others would do the same. One whale winning a rumble is just horrible contest design.
I agree, rumbles are not fun anymore unless your will to shed a load of money on gemming to win. There are loads of people who play this game the freebie way, picking up the odd gems here and there who are been placed in rumbles with no chance of winning. If people want to gem like crazy fair enough, but why can't freebie players/guilds have a rumble system that is fun for them too.
@Hawkbeard Doubt there will ever be any changes to the rumble system that allows parity between those they spend gems freely and those that don't. It is a format that has been successfully employed in many games before PP. Several have offered suggestions, but most of the suggestions that seem great at first glance, later reveal flaws upon closer examination. Remember, Midoki has investors that demand the game generate revenue. I honestly believe if the Devs could develop a rumble that was not dependent on revenue generation, they would. Any major changes to the rumble system takes time and resources away from any future development. With that being said, back in the early days of this forum when the Midoki Devs get on here a little more often, they did hint at future guild vs guild competitions that are less gem dependent. And while there has been some bumps and small detours along the way, they seem to be sticking to their general roadmap. I continue to believe a guild war type of competition, not dependent on gem spending, is still in the plans for this game. Just keep developing your island and your attacking ability, so when that time arrives you will be ready and competitive.
And by the way, if you think those of us who spend money for gems enjoy it, you would be mistaken. We are just highly competitive. The irrational, competitive part of our brain that says win at all cost takes over the rational part that tells us spending money for gems is foolish.
Rumble matching is bad because guilds dont rumble anymore due to gemming in rumbles and lack of rewards and frustration, also there are a lot less active players than before.
I want to support Midoki making money. I just want something that is considered a competition to not be primarily based on who is willing to spend the most money. I guess they have done the numbers and having ten or so guys spend HUGE amounts is better than most everyone in a rumble spending a moderate amount. I have been gemming this game since I started. I slowed down a lot but keep on doing it. It seems patience is a bad thing for freemium games.
Getting to a really high PR is possible without gemming, as is finding a way to 3* any specific difficult base design you can come across. Those are both valid competitive goals that don't require spending. Most rumbles are winnable without gemming if every player is willing to invest a decent amount of time into battling, you just have to get every single person in the guild to attack whenever their army is finished when they're not asleep or at work. Winning most rumbles is possible for free, but you need to expect to put in a large time commitment to make up for not spending, and you can't have much dead weight. A free player that puts in enough time in a day will outmatch a spending player with only an hour or two available almost every time. There will still be some unwinnable rumbles, but in general, if you really want to win and get all 50 members in a guild to agree to put in a 6 hour shift of attacking every chance their army finishes, you will almost always win, if that's something you really care about. 8 3* wins at PR 401 is about 5k points, and across 50 members, that 250k will win most rumbles. 8 wins during a tough rumble isn't an unreasonable goal to ask of your members if you're trying as a guild to win. If you don't want to spend, AND you don't want to invest time, then of course you're going to lose against someone who does at least one of them; and a player who only does one of them is going to lose to someone who does both. But a player that only does one is usually a fair match for a player that only does the other one. When I don't gem at all during a rumble, but still put in the time to try and score points, I've gotten 12.5k points; asking for not even half of that from members in a tough fight isn't a huge stretch. If all 50 members put in that much dedication, you will win, for free, almost every time. Also you don't HAVE to spend to get gems. You can still earn plenty of free gems from other sources, and use those gems to win rumbles, if you care about winning and wanna do it for free. Save them for when the rumble really does call for it, and a couple days worth of gems can easily net you an extra 5-10k points; across 50 members, again, that adds up.
Today we got stuck with Red Flag Fleet in our rumble and I don't know how. As far as I can tell they're PH 9-10. Every other guild in the rumble is a big mix of PH 1-10. I know that average score doesn't matter in matching but their average score is 10x ours and we're second highest in the rumble. How does a match like that happen? It's a joke. I don't care how long they've been waiting, that match shouldn't happen.
Someone tell me how my guild with Ph ranges from 3-10 gets stuck with Indonesia in the last rumble. Now this rumble which started an hour after the last one we get them again and now we have wicked storm too. How is a guild like mine getting stuck in rumble matches with guilds like that? Did the matching rules get changed? Those matches are a joke.
But if there's nothing over the horizon to get a matching system to where a guild that's not focused on gemming it out gets matched with one that is. I suggest more events be pushed out. Those are very rewarding in themselves. For example: Sir Henry Boggs challenge comes two weeks after Thunderstruck. And as new events arise, add them into the rotation, you know, to keep it interesting.
I agree ... IF ... IF all 50 members put in 6 solid hours I could see that happening. IF all 50 members pull off 8-3* wins. But really what are the chances of that? Actually there are two chances - slim and fat.
I would like to know from someone at Midoki what the actual matching rules are. We continue to get guilds in our rumbles that are all ph9+. I though those guilds that are all ph7+ were only supposed to match guilds with the same ph range. If that match rule got tossed out the window.
I am not from Midoki, but rumble matching is no secret. It is based on two factors at this time 1) Pirate Hall levels/distribution and 2) number of players in the guild. If no match is found within certain length of time (Midoki secret but I think it is around one hour) the matching parameters expand. You may say "But I only waited 5 minutes and got matched with a guild with more players and higher PH level. That is because there were already guilds waiting in a queue for over an hour and their search parameters already expanded, pulling you into their queue. The guild size matching will never expand out more than +/- 25, which means guilds of 23 people can still match guilds up to 48 people. When Midoki made efforts to limit expanding matching parameters, it provoked many complaints about long wait times. The limited number of guilds competing in rumbles causes this situation. I am sure Midoki constantly is looking into improving rumble matching and will probably make revisions when they are sure it will be positively received by most players.
