DICE senior producer David Sirland touched base with the fans about Battlefield 6 having a server browser.
What’s A Server Browser And Why Do Battlefield Players Want It?
Battlefield players find servers so they can play online with others. A server browser simply allows them to look at what servers are available, and choose which one to enter to play.
Battlefield 2042 removed server browsers, so some players think that helped make the game worse. But, Activision also removed server browsers for Call of Duty’s online as well.
Developers seem to insist that they are working on better solutions for online matchmaking than server browsers. That could include one recent innovation, skill-based matchmaking (SBMM).
However, a lot of players are still convinced server browsers are better. At the very least, they want to have the option to choose. Fans asked for Battlefield 6 server browsers as far back as April. But if you’ve been playing today, you’re probably not happy with how Battlefield Studios did it.
This Is How The Server Browser Works Right Now
Sirland explained on Twitter (edited for clarity):
The portal browser is basically enabling that (matchmaking) + map playlists and in a persistent way too. It’s not the “I stumbled upon a cool server in my city” server browser – but for organized play, it sure hits the mark.
It’s a server browser, it contains servers, some are custom experiences, some are verified (which is what most are looking for on this topic).
The combination of the pool of the persistent servers and the spun up ones is not very useful. Matchmaking servers spin up in seconds (get filled with players), and spin down after game is over.
That couple of seconds plus when servers lose alot of players mid game is the only time you can join, which makes it a tricky combination (and full of queuing to join issues.)
How About SBMM?
Sirland also explained when SBMM kicks in when you play:
In the matchmaking playlists the matchmaker matchmaked at end of round, yes (SBMM kicks in in this situation).
But that is to allow for playlists of varying size (max players) and modes. For example, you can play the “Yellow maps” playlist that contains Siege of Cairo and Iberian Offensive (any mode).
Then let’s say I picked the playlist called “Domination Bonanza” – which includes all three open beta maps. We can play together when our respective playlists overlap. As in when your “yellow map” plays domination, for example. That way we pack servers much more effectively.
And can allow for more modes and max sizes to co-exist in the same playlists. Stuff like Rush, that for some maps play 48 players, for others 32 players and for some 64 players, we want to be able to put in playlists too.
This is not possible in the old system of persistent servers as the maxplayers count is locked (or we’d have to kick players for example).
That’s a lot to take in, but Sirland does give a huge promise in this conversation.
EA Is Testing The Server Browser “Soon”
Sirland says this:
We think the current setup gives us the best of both worlds, as you can choose to go spin up a server through regular matchmaking – or find an existing server that is already running – or create your own as well.
We’ll soon be testing the server browser, so you can experience it.
The next round of the Battlefield 6 Open Beta comes up this weekend, from August 14 to 17. So that’s when players will get the chance to try out a new server browser. Hopefully, this will lead to them making a browser outside the portal. We’ll also see if EA returns persistent servers, or implements in such a way that players won’t be looking for them anymore.
