HALO2 MATCH MAKING EXPERIMENT8

Hi,all!.

Well thats it the test is complete,100 games,to see how far could i get my Lv to in slayer by going in on my own.Leaving team mates and gametypes up to the big black heart of Matchmaking.

There were some gametype changes while i did my experiment ,rockets and sniper games were removed, so was duels only, this i thought would only help if anything.And they did, all of the games were very low on my wanted list, i could probably help out in snipers game but rockets is a bit of a coin toss and duel wield games were my bane, usually going negative.

The PICT account has now been closed,sort of sad to see him go,..........

http://bungie.net/Stats/PlayerStats.aspx?player=PICT

GAMES:100

WINS:61

KILLS:1,179

DEATHS:812

ASSISTS:355

LEVEL:25

So level 25 it is, i sort of knew i would hit around here,at times i thought with dropping a level at 11 and 21 that there would be no chance of reaching it,i got the 25 with 4 games left to play, it has been  at times tough, from the start at Lvs 1-5 with people just shooting anyone, including themselves and people trying to write their name in s.m.g. fire on the walls of Gemini, right up to the very last game, sanctuary ,we got shaved and slapped why?.....

Well, the big problem which continued right through all of these games was communication, there really was none, it just didnt happen, out of the 100 games i would say maybe 5-10 games people actually spoke, shouted out postions, told you they had a power weapon e.c.t., the rest of the games it was 3 sillent assasins on your team, who played their "rumble pit" style of slayerA.K.A. run to the hotspots and shoot who ever is there till you die.

With no communication (in all the games i didnt shut up i was constantly telling them what was happening ,what i had, postions of the enemy,even to the point of saying "you guys do have mics dont you?") comes no team work, they just didnt respond,no communication, how can you expect to have any form of team work when you dont talk to each other?

No team work ,why are you playing TEAM slayer?, i learnt the hard way of losing a lot of game by 1-5 kills because some one quit on the team and the other two people on your team arnt talking, no one person on the team will win the game themselves, every one has a hand in winning even the guy with 3 kills and 1 death,so if its team work and co-operation your looking for, dont go in to slayer by yourself.

Another constant thread through the levels was quiting, at least 90 of the games i played someone quit, i have no answer to this one, we have all quit a game, it happens, but i got the feeling that in a lot of these games people were in the habit of quiting when they personally wernt doing to well, although their team may have been winning at the time.

So all in all it has been an interesting experience,playing in a team of "mutes" and actually winning some how....... playing halo with complete strangers, never the same team, peoples attitude in game was ok ,thats when they did speak,  only one game was i  modded and im not ware of how often someone if any,  someone tried to bridge or steal host, in the games so cheating was at a minimum.The amount of second account was rife to start with people who were not quite the Lv12 they proclaimed to be with 35K 4 D,but as the games progressed you did see a lot less of people who were "team killers".

The game  and i mean lag,e.c.t. was not very noticable, only when more than one other player from the U.K or Europe including me, was in the party did you really see any problems,during some games i knew because of the lag that there was someone on the opposing team who was from the U.K. with out asking,so why does this happen? i have no idea.

So would i do it all again?,probaly not,(well i cant 2 monthers are now void are they not???)Because of all the silence in the games, lack of co-operation, i did find it difficult towards the end, these things are to me a big part of the game,these things win the game, knowing whats going on on the other side of the map is invaluable .and i found it frustrating at times, not knowing what was going down where and to who.So if you do plan to go in to slayer on your own first off try and get a team mate,going in with just 1 extra guy who you know will help A LOT, do what i did in these games avoid quiting, speak!!! and try and get a raport with one of the other guys on the team, try and be a team player, even though the guys in the same colour are not acting like a team. 

And for more random stats:-    http://halo2.jaian.com/playerstats.php?sid=11281

Anyways that it over with, done and dusted, hope if anything all this nonsense will help in some way, if it some how does help let me know.!!

Thanks all for reading

R.I.P. PICT...........

 

Posted by REDRooK @ 7:11 pm EDT | Permalink | 4 Comments

HALO2 MATCH MAKING EXPERIMENT7

Hi all ,

Well nearly there! depending on where you look i have either played 77 or 79 games?, out of my proposed 100.

http://halo2.jaian.com/playerstats.php?sid=11281

I think i may have to sit and count the games.....meh!.

So whats been happening?.....  well, i got lumbered with my first modder! YAY!

http://www.bungie.net/Stats/GameStats.aspx?panel=kills&gameid=479224988&player=PICT

A really original name he picked as well, the guy really need to cheat he was garbage, i actually fragged the guy twice although the stats dont say it.

The thing was i think he was going in to games by himself so, he was technically cheating for cheatings sake, he wasnt getting anyones rank up, except himself, and hes going to be banned so a completely pointless exercise.And his mods where awe inspiring, running and jumping really fast and shoot loads of round at once and just to make sure...... auto aim .....WOW..... Your good!, never seen any of that before.

Everyone except Microwave04 on his team and myself quit the game,This being one of my rules of engagement , i wont quit a game against cheats only if they are on my team.The idea being, the longer you keep them "locked" in your game the less time they have to ruin anyone elses, seeing as they (modders)  are playing on a coundown to being banned which is supposed to be anywhere between 6hrs-2 days.

Transcript of post game lobby:-

PICT:- (laughing), you really need your cheats you suck!

Microwave04:-Your weird

PICT:- i think the idea of cheating to at an online game to get the number next to your gamertag higher, the definition of "weird" 

XxxxMODERxxxX:-where about in scotland you from pict?    *recognises my accent?*

PICT:- are you english?  *recognises his accent!*

XxxxMODERxxxX:-Yeah, afraid so

PICT:-GET FUCKED!     #backs out of lobby#

So the first modder i bump in to and hes english GREEeeaaatttt!

So the battle continues....., i did get to Lv 20 at the 60th game but a run of 6 losses dropped me back down, and the night i got XxxxMoDerxxxX to play against id been on a bit of a winning streak, which he put paid to.

So just a short one this time round, probably if nothing terribly exciting happens in the next 21-23(what ever it might be!)games i may be rounding up the experiment in my next blog number 8.

Thanks for reading

Posted by REDRooK @ 4:54 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

HALO2 MATCH MAKING EXPERIMENT6

Hi all!,

I think this will be a short one today just covering a couple of things that happened recently.

First off 2 teams of betrayers YAY

http://bungie.net/Stats/GameStats.aspx?gameID=474073295&player=PICT

This game started with a couple of people on my team betraying, i personally got killed twice i think ,then they started playing for real(if you could call it that).

The blue team ended up with 2 people getting booted/quiting and didnt really recover.

In my last update, mentioned how the game picks your team mates,and how the system must be geared towards matching groups not just through their rank but also how many are in the party.

As for me, i would suspect that the likleyhood of being matched against a group of 4 to be low although i do believe it has happened.Ive come to the conclussion that the slayer gametype will match lone player against lone players and equal numbered groups (3+1v3+1, 2+2v2+2 ect).

I have come to this conclussion through the amount of people who have quit games on my team and the opposing team.In these games people seem to quit in 1s and 2s  ( and occasionally3s) which would give the impression that the numbers of the people who are joining the game.

In my last entry i aired the point that the best possible situation for the lone player entering slayer would be to have you matched with a group of 3, hopfully leading to a bit more communication and team work............... how wrong could i be!.

http://bungie.net/Stats/GameStats.aspx?gameID=474131396&player=PICT

I had 3 people from the same clan in the last game i played they all quit together (cheers for that boys) the game started badly for me as i somehow manged to fall of the map twice DOH!, and not really racking the kills up.

The game really only got good after they quit, and i had to start some covert ops!, sneaking about trying to catch the guys 1v1, they had all the BRs snipe shotty, sword, ect there really wasnt much to use t,hey tried just sending 1 guy after me to flush me out for the snipe, after this failed they sent in 2, i actually got a double kill AFTER my team mates quit.

As part of the my rules of engagment, i wont quit games although going 12k-23d in this game has totally shafted my kill/death ratio!LOL

On another subject i want to discuss the host situation on these games, they have all but a small few which ill mention been really good, i personally have got host boxes3 times in the 60 games played, iam unsure how many times i was host, my eyes arnt quick enough to scan the players joining the game!!.

Anyway, when i have been playing with other people from the u.k. especially, double team with my brother i have found that say 60% of the games suffer due to latency and less so bad lag,sometimes the latency is "map specific"  maps like elongation and ivory tower (why this is i have no idea)  being the worst culprits for disputed kills in double team with my brother.

During these games in this experiment i have i think ,only played 3 games with other europeans, one game of snipes on lock out,2 dutch guys, and the connection was yellow-red for all players, all the way through the game, a bad sign in a sniper game!

The second game was the most  recent zanzibar game, when i had an englishman on my team,both games suffered badly due to latency.

The games where it  is 7 other americans in the party and me, worked well with no problems why is this?.

The only real connclussion  that i can come up with and this is in lay mans terms as i have next to no experience in this arena.What i think is happening is that when their is more than one person in a game from outside the U.S  all the game imformation for these players is being sent through the same way,  slowing up the game on their side(latency) if there is just 1 guy from outside the U.S = less information travelling the same way =l ess latency?.

 This has been in 99% of my games, 7U.S gamers +me! and the game is fine!, add another person from outside the U.S and the game slows, i would assume that it doesnt matter which teams has the non - U.S player, the slow down will happen.

 So theres something to ponder!,

 if you have any ideas on this subject ,or question leave a comment, thanks for reading.

till next time

Posted by REDRooK @ 6:43 am EDT | Permalink | 3 Comments

HALO2 MATCH MAKING EXPERIMENT5

Hi all!,

Well 50% complete (49 games played), i overestimated how quickly id get through it, ;;100 game 2 months ??, no chance more like 2 weeks!.

Anyway, wanted to cover the gametypes and maps that have been played in this exercise so far:-

Game types.

After 49 games:-      25 of them have been map default slayer

                                    9 team slayer B.R starts

                                    8 team snipers

                                     4 team duels

                                     2 team rockets

I ;;know it all adds up to 48 i dunno why??  The actual B.R. starts came pretty thick and fast at the start of this exercise, ;;which i was suprised about ;; the same with the sniper games,team duels which i find a tough gametype,and rockets..... well they are a bit of a coin toss really.!

At lower Lvs i ;;would have thought the gametypes would occur more like map default slayer>,team duels> then B.R.s and sniper settings.

The system obviously doesnt take in to account if your a novice or a pro!,it hands out what ever it think of at the time.

I personally think that sniper and BR gametypes should be at a minimum at lower Lv say to Lv 15 for instance, and the amount of team rockets and duel games dercreses after that Lv15 point,......just my thoughts

Maps.

After 49 games played, here how the maps are distibuted:-Turf(10)

                                                                                                           Burial mounds ( 8 )

                                                                                                            Lockout(5)

                                                                                                            midship(4)

                                                                                                            ascension(4)

                                                                                                            Colossus(3)

                                                                                                            Gemini(3)

                                                                                                             Ivory tower(2)

                                                                                                             Sanctuary(2)

                                                                                                             Warlock(2)

                                                                                                             Beaver creek(1)

                                                                                                             Relic(1)

                                                                                                             Terminal(1)

                                                                                                             Elongation(1)

                                                                                                             Zanzibar(1)

Alocation of teams.

A small mention on the way the game matches you with team mates. I would have thought it an idea if the game match players entering slayer e.c.t. on their own would be matched with people who were also going in alone, i would have thought it a bit fairer.

I could in reality be matched against a group of 4 in every game and i think this would have been a great disadvatage against the lone player, the best i can hope for is a group of 3 in my team (im not sure how often this has happened).

Maybe this is how it  does work, the only evidence i have for this is the games, which ;;seem to show people generally quit games in 1s and 2s.Which could mean that people joined my games in 1s and 2s

And finally a comment on a game where i actually lost my temper with the opposing team

http://bungie.net/Stats/GameStats.aspx?gameID=469961127&player=PICT

As per usual, a person quit on each team at the start, the other thing that threw me was, A) smg start???? B) no sniper????.

This game followed the same vain as others where my team where silent assasins no communication at all,team work ....wha?.

The reason why i lost my temper and nearly broke my rule of engagment (i wont quit games)?The team we were against seemed to have a fetish for the Plasma pistol/B.R combo.....out of my 14 deaths at least 10 were because of this, the rest i was simply double / triple teamed (thanks for the back up Red!)

I take consolation in the fact that my lofty 8 kills where gathered by going 1v1 with these guys, on there own they where struggling.

I dont mind the combo being used against me, i can usually side step it e.c.t.,and if need be ill use it myself.

But when 95% of the kills the enemy gets is with this, and the rest was down to shit team work on your side, it leaves you a little bitter  (AW, PUT IT DOWN!)

Anyway that it for now, please post comments or question and ill speak to you all soon.

Till next time  

Posted by REDRooK @ 5:19 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

HALO2 MATCH MAKING EXPERIMENT4

Hi all,!

I noticed the statsreloaded link in the last post doesnt work so here the real deal!.

http://statsreloaded.com/halo2/members/login.php?usrid=22172&gamertagsearch=PICT

As i said in the previous entry it stalls sometimes and doesnt load for a couple of days, as it has done here it says ive played 15 games, the true number to date is 37!,nearing the half way point.

I just want to take a moment to show you the game which was the worse loss to date:-

  http://bungie.net/Stats/GameStats.aspx?gameID=468090474&player=PICT 

This game followed the route of many im afraid only this one was the extreme,the game continued a pace with  the blue team in the lead.A chain reaction of people quiting left 1 guy on the red team.The players  nking10 and Seanasaurus and myself were left on the blue team .

A easy win you might say........WRONG!, the remaining player on the red team IACI Soldier, played us like fools, he stayed in the streets near the downed scarab armed with plasma pistol/BR and when he got hold of it the sniper that as well, and gunned down my teammates ( and me!) picking us of one by one, drawing then gaining the lead, my advice of not going in individually was ignored.

The player at the bottom started commiting suicide when the guy gained the lead , to stop a red face and pretend he wasnt really trying??,i dont know.

3v1 and he won it with ease he was a good player, yet couldnt help himself from taking the piss in the post game lobby.But to be honest he had a right to, this game was an utter disaster for the blue team.

This game has followed the same route as the majority im afraid. here some random numbers of the top of my head from the 37 games played so far:-

90%  of players that have been in my team did have headsets and were able to communicate.

90% choose not to speak at all.

97%  of the games so far one or more people have quit  in my team in the first 2 minutes of the game.

3%  of the games that my team won,was due to teamwork and communication.

Iam i expecting too much?, before this exercise  began, i had visions of reaching a Lv 25,to be honest i think this is wishfull thinking on my part.

It is very dishearting to say "hello, how you all doing?" to you your team in the pregame lobby who have all got mics and no one replies, it sets  you up for the rest of the game, utter silence from your teammates followed by people quiting  individually.

I believe i have been unlucky in this respect, think im getting very casual gamers who just want to shoot people, and live longer than 10 seconds, as would happen in rumble pit no doubt.

But this is what it feels like a lot of the time, 3 people on my  team playing 3 different games of rumblepit against a team of four, and when they dont seem to be killing many people they quit, good for them!, its their free time they can spend how they like but do they have to do it in my games ALL TIME LOL!!

Anyways, thats enough of that!  hopefully the statsreloaded site will..... em, reload some stats in the near future!

Next time round ill mention the maps, and the game settings that have appears so far and my thoughts also the way MM matches you with team members,

till nex time "there is no "I" in TEAM, but if you look closely there is a "ME"!

Posted by REDRooK @ 5:10 pm EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments