If there's one constant thing plaguing Black Ops 2 players now regardless of platform, it's the matchmaking. Contrary to what some people might think, it doesn't match you with players around your area based on skill. This is the case for League Play matches, but for the majority of users who play Public Matches, this isn't the case.
Fortunately, Treyarch has detailed how Black Ops 2's matchmaking works. But unfortunately, if matchmaking doesn't work right for you, there's not really anything listed to fix it. So if you're suffering from lag compensation still, sad to say, you're still out of luck.
According to the official Activision Support page, the first step in the matchmaking process starts at the playlist level. "Playlists divide players into collections of maps and gameplay rules. Playlists are a set of rules that form a mix of gameplay experiences and should not be confused with game modes." This specific collection of gameplay rules defined in playlists change over time based on the "changing tastes" of the Black Ops 2 community.
Once a playlist's been chosen, the game starts the search for the best match within the playlist population. Typically, playlists will range in population from 500 to 100,000 players around the world at any point in time. Also, the number of available games in a playlist is around 10-20% of the total player count. At the lower end of the pool, for example, a playlist of 500 players may only have 50 possible games from around the globe to join on.
The actual "search queries" takes the list of all available games and filters it down using the steps listed below:
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Filter all games that can be joined by proximity to the player. Proximity does not adhere strictly to city, state or country as seen on a map. Rather, it breaks down into four tiers of geographical region surrounding the player. The query starts in the tier closest to the player and expands from there if it cannot find enough matches. The query also ignores all full or “non-joinable” games, which could be half or more of the total available games in a playlist.
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Filter by broad skill range. This step takes the proximity-filtered list and narrows it further to the set of games that fall roughly in the same broad skill range. This is very loose criteria in Public Match and is a broad-stroke filter that avoids games at the extreme ends. A player of very high skill should generally not get matched to games where the average skill of players is very low, and vice versa.
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Steps 1 and 2 normally take a fraction of a second and result in a list of “top 50” available games. From here, the game tests for the best connection quality of those 50 games. Connection quality includes a measure of ping, bandwidth between you and the host, and NAT compatibility. The game attempts to join the you to the game with the best connection quality of all possible matches, starting at the top of the list.
Also of note, Activision states, "The total process of all three steps could take several seconds, depending on your connection to the internet and the games available in your playlist and region at that point in time. In the best-case scenario, you should get matched to game hosts in your region, where the average skill is not at an extreme above or below your level, and where the game is the best connection quality you can find."
Now here's the more interesting part: the factors that can decrease the quality of matchmaking and "degrade" the quality of your matches.
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The first is your local network connection quality which itself is determined by a number of variables. If the quality of your network doesn’t meet minimum criteria, the matchmaking won’t matter – the game cannot control variables that are general aspects of internet connectivity. For steps on improving your local connection quality, see the article on decreasing lag. Here are some factors that can decrease your quality of network service:
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Low bandwidth to the internet due to ISP bandwidth limits.
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High bandwidth usage by other services in your home (video/audio streaming or high-volume concurrent downloads, for example).
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Your local home network has restrictive NAT settings.
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You are playing the game over a WIFI connection rather than wired Ethernet.
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Your ISP is throttling data throughput from your location. Some ISPs erroneously flag online games as “spam” and will throttle the speed at which data can transfer in and out of those games. If you experience consistently laggy games or games that lag during the same time periods every day and there are no other problems with your home network, check with your ISP to ensure that they aren’t throttling specific types of data.
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The second variable is your region. If you live in a remote region, it will be more difficult to find hosted games that match your profile. The best option for those in extremely remote regions is to play during local peak hours in playlists with high player counts.
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The third variable is time of day. Since matchmaking works to find the game with the best connection quality, it will have a much easier time finding high quality connections when there are more players online in your area. As a general rule, peak usage occurs during the late afternoon and evening hours in each time zone.
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One last variable to be aware of is DLC. DLC map packs divide matchmaking pools into groups of players who have DLC and players who don’t have DLC. The more map packs that are released, the more matchmaking pools there are. Nine months after the initial launch of the game, for example, the highest single population of players is that which owns all map packs.
Activision states, "If you frequently find yourself in games with lag, first check your local internet settings for ways to improve performance. Then, check with your ISP to make sure they aren’t throttling bandwidth." So, what if your internet and home network are both good but you still find yourself in laggy games? Well, you might want to "schedule" your online sessions for times of day where there are more players online in your location, according to the pubisher.
So, there you have it. Call your internet service provider to make sure they're not "throttling" data, try playing using an ethernet cable instead of WiFi, and correct your NAT settings. If that doesn't work, try playing in the late afternoons or evenings to see if that helps things out. Not to be an ass, but I play a lot of multiplayer games and I never had to jump around in hoops like what Activision is suggesting for me to get a "proper" matchmaking connection.
Anyone implementing any of the publisher's suggestions or should they just fix all these with the implementation of dedicated servers in Call of Duty games?
How's your Black Ops 2 connectivity now? Are Xbox 360 users experiencing the same issues as the PS3 player-base? Sound off regarding your connectivity issues and a "fix" if you know of them.
