Greetings Party Animals! Your feedback is super important to us. We'll be regularly picking some of the most common questions and answering them right here on the forums. Hope this helps clear things up and makes your gaming experience even better!
1. "I've been noticing a lot more AI in my games after the Matchmaking Overhaul."
Regarding the recent problems with the Matchmaking Overhaul, I wanted to provide some context.
Our initial goal when implementing the recent Matchmaking Overhaul was to address a few issues:
- Many players have complained about unfair matchmaking
- High-level players, in particular, have difficulty finding real opponents
- Additionally, many players in less popular servers experience high ping lobbies
To address these issues, we implemented Ping Priority mode and overhauled the matchmaking rules to create a fairer Quick Match experience. And this succeeded, in many cases. We received a lot of feedback that players felt a positive improvement in their match quality, and felt their matches were a lot more fair and balanced.
This came with a drawback (that, in hindsight, we should have foreseen, and we apologize for that). Higher MMR players encountered more "bots" in their matches.
Here's why this is happening:
- As you queue up, our matchmaking system has limitations on both skill range and player count, which the system adjusts over time to increase the pool of potential players.
- As the system relaxes the skill level requirement, it is simultaneously reducing the required number of human players. For example, if you're a high-level player, you know it's lonely at the top. Since there aren't many players at your level, if you can't find a match quickly, the system will add some AI opponents or teammates.
- During this adjustment, we focused too heavily on ensuring fair matches and did not adequately balance the relationship between skill gap and the number of human players. As a result, we set skill gap restrictions too strictly, causing the system to frequently add AI opponents or teammates. We sincerely apologize for any disruption to your gaming experience.
We're making additional changes to address this. In the newest version:
- We've reduced the frequency of AI matches to a level comparable to our original version. Based on our testing, we expect to see at least a 30-40% reduction in AI in matches compared to the current version.
- Before players are matched with AI, we adjusted so the system will first widen the skill gap requirement (while keeping the player count requirement the same). As in, the player count requirement will not decrease as quickly as it does now.
TL;DR - we are making changes. We hope that the new patch will make it so players encounter more fair matches than the first version of the matchmaking system, but will encounter a lot less AI / bots.
Please continue to let us know how it's working!
2. "Please split Last Stand and Team Score into two separate queues."
We're worried splitting Classic queue into two different matching pools will split the playerbase further, which will lead to potentially longer queue time, more AI in lobbies, etc. There are no current plans to do this - but we're definitely seeing your feedback and will look into it.
3. "Do you plan on bringing limited-time battlepass outfits back?"
We went through everyone's feedback regarding limited battlepass outfits. It seems, most players agree that these outfits shouldn't be brought back, but they're okay with basic outfits making a comeback. We're still trying to figure out the best way to do this. Here are some potential options:
- We could put them in the store directly, but this might ruin price balancing, as some players have invested time and effort, and others invested money. There's also a factor of rarity to consider. Theoretically, it's a solution, but it's not ideal, and it's basically not feasible. We most likely will not go with this option, but it's not completely scrapped just yet. (While Lotus is brought up as an exception, he was not directly tied to Battle Pass levels but acquired through a different method during the event.)
- We could add a mystery box to future battlepasses where you could randomly get an old basic outfit. We're still working on the details of this option.
- Or, we could let players buy them with a new in-game currency. We could add a special section in the store just for old event outfits, and give out a certain amount of that currency in future battlepasses.
Would love to hear everyone's feedback on this! What do you guys think?
We understand the desire to make base outfits accessible to all players. Let us consider the options a bit more! We'll continue to explore potential solutions that balance the interests of both new and existing players.
4. "Will Cabbage Dog ever return to the store?"
We're sorry to say that we can't bring this outfit back right now because of some licensing restrictions. But if the demand from our players is overwhelming, we'll try to work something out with the IP owner.
5. "When's the new Surprise Egg machine you talked about before?"
It's coming! However, due to a strategic adjustment, our planned Christmas Surprise Egg release will be postponed to January or February. Sorry about that!
6. "Any updates on content for players level 100+?"
We will directly extend the current level cap, allowing players to earn more rewards as they level up. The specific launch time has not been determined yet, so please stay tuned!
7. "Will you be providing a way to obtain legacy outfits that have been retired? For example, Cowboy Valiente."
To be honest, we messed up on the Cowboy Valiente outfit removal. We had announced the date it would leave the store prior to the official day it leaves the rotation. But, we hadn't realized it would not have a chance to return to the store rotation before its removal.
We're sorry for the mix-up! Since then, we make sure to manually add any outfit to the store before it leaves. However, Cowboy Valiente and other legacy outfits may not be able to make a return for the time being.
8. "Is there a way to obtain region or platform limited outfits?"
We're doing our best to work with our partners to obtain the licensing to bring you limited-edition outfits from platform events. When we are able to, we will make these outfits available for purchase with cookies in the shop. We'll announce the exact release dates on our official community and social media platforms!
Currently, the limited-time platform collaboration outfits Birthday Garfat, Birthday Max and Xiaohongshu Otta from Douyin and Xiaohongshu are available in the in-game shop (until November 10th, 08:00 PM PST).
9. "Levi's elite outfit felt a tad bit underwhelming."
We received feedback that the elite outfit for Levi was not quite "elite" enough. We're adjusting it! It'll be cooler (we think 😛).
10. "Any plans to update Winter Cabin and add Pool, Mahjong, etc.?"
Of course! We'll continue to update the Winter Cabin with more fun gameplay and experiences. As for what specific updates we'll make, we'd love to hear your suggestions!
Previous Issues
Party Animals Player Q&A | Issue 1
