Tomorrow, February 16th 2017, Robocraft we will be taking one step closer to leaving Alpha and entering BETA. The Matchmaking Update will bring with it a completely reworked matchmaking engine based on the well-known ELO system for ensuring that players are matched fairly in battle based on their skill.
Alongside the addition of the ELO system, we’ll be making some other improvements to the game and fixing a few bugs too – all of which can be found below.
NEW:
Introduction of ELO system for matchmaking:
With this update this we will launch a new matchmaking system using the standard ELO system. In Robocraft, your ELO rating will be referred to as your MMR (MatchMaking Rating). Your MMR rating will change based on your performance in battle and is used to matchmake players more fairly. So, new players learning the game will be playing against others of similar skill, and experienced players who are pros at Robocraft will be playing with similarly high skilled players. Hopefully this will ensure that everyone will be enjoying the game more overall.
All players will have two account-level MMR values:
– All-Mode MMR
– Normal MMR
The ‘Normal MMR’ will update when you play the main Robocraft game mode ‘Normal Mode’ (formally Battle Arena) and will be visible to you, your friends and fellow clan mates. While the ‘All-Mode MMR’ will update when you play any multiplayer mode and is not visible to players. Both MMRs have been designed to ensure that players are matchmade fairly to make an enjoyable game for everyone.
For more more information on the implementation of new ELO/MMR system, read our recent Dev Jam.
Player Base ELO / MMR score:
For this update, when players first launch Robocraft after the ELO update, their Normal MMR value will be based on their League rank (prior to the update) divided by 3. We chose to divide the League rank number as we felt that keeping max ranked League players at the top, would only mean their MMR would only go down (or remain the same). Having an initial lower number allows high-ranked players to work towards achieving the highest ‘Normal MMR’ possible. This was also done to ensure reasonably good matchmaking from the start of ELO.
Players who had previously been the top of League will still have the best ‘Normal MMR’ at the start of the new update. It’s also worth mentioning that any forged League badges will remain on your account; you won’t lose them.
Those players who have not participated in League previously will have a ‘Normal MMR’ of zero.
In this update, the ‘All-Mode MMR’ for all players will start at zero.
Please note that in the early days post-release, the ELO system is still gathering data based on player performance and so matchmaking may not be perfect (especially for those players with an MMR of zero). However as you play more games, more data will be obtained and matchmaking will improve.
OTHER CHANGES:
- New Game Mode Select Screen:
With this update we’re making a few subtle changes to the Game Mode Select Screen (see image below). Alongside the introduction of ELO, we will be renaming the following game modes.
– Deathmatch will become Basic Mode – this is classic 5v5 Team Deathmatch
– Battle Arena will become Normal Mode – this is the new competitive conquest mode combining the League and Battle Arena modes
– AI Bots will become Play Vs AI – Test your mettle alongside AI-controlled robots in a game of Team Deathmatch
– BRAWL (no name change) – A regularly updated game mode with fun changes to rules and permitted block types
- Changes to keyboard shortcuts:
With the changes to the game mode select screen and the mode names, we’ll be updating the associated keyboard shortcuts too.
For new players, playing Robocraft for the first time, the default menu keyboard shortcuts will be:
– Edit – E
– Test – T
– Basic – B
– Normal – N
– Brawl – L
For existing players, the keyboard shortcuts will remain:
– Edit – E
– Test – T
– Basic – J
– Normal – L
– Brawl – H
If a player goes to the controls settings from the pause menu and clicks “Reset Defaults” they will have the new hot keys.
- Visual optimization changes to Test Mode
BUG FIXES:
– Players leaving a battle early will no longer receive XP
– Fixed a bug which allowed a player to queue up for two different game modes when using certain keyboard shortcuts