Aw man, I felt so sorry for that guy you shot every few seconds from above him and he barely reacted and then just ran off when he realised something wasn’t quite right. I kind of relate to that guy!
Ace, I too feel that SSBM has been giving easier lobbies… but I think it’s heavily influenced by the combat pacing. High skill players will go look for kills in Blitz pacing versus playing Tactical. This brings into question what kinds of players choose which kind of combat pacing modes. I think your study has a significant limitation in that it only recorded lobbies in the Tactical pace. I always appreciate your work, but I think the SBMM phenomenon requires this study in all combat pacing modes to really be understood. Thanks for the video! Great work!
I would think its the opposite that higher skilled players would avoid blitz. Because its so random and chaotic. A higher skilled player is going to control variables and avoid randomness.
@@gandj19 logically, but I’ve noticed that a lot of sweats like to play faster paces to have more people and call in streaks all game and kinda just spawn kill and stuff so who knows really
I have all pacings turned on and it seems not as severe this year. I’m a decidedly average player but I get a good mix of lobbies. That pacing setting does really throw a wrinkle in this whole thing.
Combat pacing is a horrible idea. It splits up the player base and makes certain maps unplayable. Like Tactical on Berlin or Blitz on Das Haus. You are either bored out of your mind or getting spawn killed over and over again. No in between. They should have made certain maps strictly for tactical and certain strictly for blitz. That way the games aren't really inconsistent and weird. Two thumbs down from me. Just a bunch of out of touch developers who don't play test their game and are completely out of new ideas in my opinion.
This is much appreciated XclusiveAce. Your sacrifices will not be in vain. It’s sad to see ping is still being sacrificed for skill. That should never be the case for a casual game such as CoD. Other than that, SBMM appears to be moving in the right direction.
I agree. This is hopefully good news. The only thing I might be a bit concerned about, is if this was done on purpose or if SBMM isn't coded correctly and it ends up just being a glitch.
I am often put in overseas servers, like in Asia (I'm in West Oz) but in CW for example, the highest ping I ever experienced was about 150. In this travesty of a game I am getting into lobbies with 300-500 pings about 1 in 5 games. I don't think it's SBMM - I think there's just no one playing.
@@bigdaddy5303 I think it is probably still SBMM, with some influence from what you said. Most likely your experience with CW was just offset by something.
I'm glad my experience was pretty similar to yours. I also feel like my lobbies haven't been as bad as the past couple of years. This is the cod I've enjoyed the most in the past 3 years and I guess this kinda contributes to it. Awesome vid as always Ace!
@@HiJack3r "nobody bought this game" ^that's just incorrect. It is a top seller in the industry, just because you are not having fun that doesn't mean the game is doing poorly.
dude, please, your so calm, skilled, and intelligent. cod players who practiced and are now "high skilled" need someone like you to illuminate this sbmm problem and to moniter it. THOUSANDS of people depend on you and appreciate the time and effort you sacrifice. THANK YOU!
Ace, my man, you do incredible work with bringing pertinent statistics and overall helpful Call of Duty information to the community, that honestly, sometimes I'm embarrassed to be a part of. So many people talking shit and totally disregarding the fact that you don't *HAVE* to do any of this. But I digress. I'm always impressed with the amount of attention to details - minor or otherwise - you spend so much time on. That being said, I've never been one to get involved with patreon or discord, but do you have any of those? What you do should really be praised and not shit on by people who either just want to be a dick, or have hopes of receiving a couple "likes" from their like-minded unappreciative counterparts.
Thanks for doing this every year Ace. SBMM. Especially the way CoD is doing it, is pretty damn evil. It really sucks feeling like CoD doesn't want you lmao. And it's been years too man. I just want to play CoD bro. I don't want to have to play like its my full time job. Just wanna play for fun again...
From my own personal experience, I'm sitting on a 1.43 K/D, 275 SPM and, 1.19 W/L Ratio and it feels like I've been put into a somewhat odd Tug of War. Majority of games end up having me getting kicked in the throat by sweatlords, followed up by near potato lobbies and, then some "somewhat" average lobbies layered in between. It's abit hard for me to describe what I'm experiencing in my games but like I said, I feel I've been put into a bit of a weird bracket almost.
This has been my experience too; some average games, then a couple games where I go off, then a few more average games, then then a good chunk where I get wrecked, rinse and repeat. My stats are a bit different (1.3 kd, 375 spm, 1.13 wl), but that roller-coaster is definitely there, though it does feel better paced than previous years. MW/CW felt like it would spike directly from going off to getting wrecked, with the only average games being after that spike in difficulty as it slowly decreased until I could have another banger. One positive I've found this year is that playing with my varied skill friend group isn't nearly as painful as previous years.
Yeah I've also experienced more or less the same thing (1.53 K/D). Except right after I got my first v2 rocket, the following twenty or so games were a nightmare. I got matched up with literal professional players and like next-level sweats LMAO, not even exaggerating. I am yet to have that occasional "average/casual" couple of games break for some reason. I had to use meta weapons, hold angles and play really considerably in order to compete (and I hardly did) rather than just experiment with weapons and vibe like I usually do.
@@dlarsh I agree regarding MW, it seemed to put you in high sweat lobbies for your stats and progressively lower them until comfortable before shooting you back up to do the same.
I'm not a frequent commenter but Ive watched every video of yours for the last few years so at this point I know how much time and research it takes for this topic, so my first ever video like will go towards an Xclusive video, not based on the content in the video because all of us XclusiveAce diehards know this is not at all a new topic, but still an extensive one that impresses me with your an drift0rs ability to cover and analyze the vast amount of variables that go into our current system of "retention based match making" I love seeing your input on topics and feel as if you'd make my mainly solo play in cod a lot more enjoyable. Keep up the good work Ace, your statistic gathering impress me far more than scumps double V2's. (Which I analyze daily) can't wait for the next in-depth
TBH my experience lines up relatively to what Ace found out. I was kinda shocked at how as my SPM dropped because of the camo grind my lobbies began to balance out. A mix of high, low and average skills. When I booted up MP for the first time on launch day it felt like I was in a MW or Cold War lobby in terms of sweat levels. My Spm in MW was about 281 and Cold War it was 315 and i felt like I was being placed in the above average lobbies cuz of past stats. Now my SPM is 160 cuz of the grind for Atomic and my lobbies are mellow and chilled
I’m an average/low skill player with a 1.10 k/d in Vanguard and I’m finding lobbies where they are bunny hopping all over the place and are tearing me to pieces. I will come across some easier lobbies now and then. But comparing to Cold War where I was a 1.5 k/d which felt a lot easier. So for me it seems the opposite way around but I know there are other factors like I find it visually harder to see and pick up enemies (I must be getting old and my eyesight is getting bad) where I found it was easier in Cold War and Modern Warfare. I also feel the difference with console and pc there is almost a visual advantage on pc, not that I’ve tried both to compare just what I’ve heard people say they do and don’t see.
Bunny hopping and sliding has been in COD since BO2 I was doing all of that since I was 13 I’m 25 now so it come natural to me instead of playing like a BOT and yeah my KD ain’t the greatest either.
@Carl Palmer I agree I can’t see many of the enemy in this game and get punished by them. My old eyes are struggling with this Cod. Cold War I was fine with the weapons and could hold my own Solo always but this game I’m not enjoying with Bad Ping Packet Burst and so much lag. No it’s not my connection I went back to CW and game is fine. I’m waiting for another year and a more futuristic game with Vibrant colours. The joys of getting old 👍
Vanguard SBMM being less strict actually makes sense, because in Cold War for example I felt like I was sweating every single game just to do good... but in Vanguard I feel like I have a lot more good games without stress. There is some lobbies that are obviously ridiculous, but a lot seem to be just fine
True in Cold War every match feels like the fcking mlg half-finals, after 3-4 hours (with 2 buddys) everybody was sweating to the last drop, in vanguard most matches are really competetive but some are really full of bots, like in domination the enemy team ..i don't know are too dumb to get a flag or just blind.
@@TheShapeshifter The investors have expectations. Just because the game still sells a lot doesn't mean it's enough. Compared to previous years the game is underperforming and Activision knows it.
keep cranking out the vanguard vids ace. i know youtubers are running away from this game but millions of people still bought vanguard and will seek content for it, and eventually they will notice you are one of the only channels making guides so i hope that blesses your algorithm
I honestly think Combat Pacing has made SBMM less noticeable in Vanguard. I enjoy tactical filter although it's sometimes pain on larger maps. I can't touch Blitz because 90% of the time I get killed, it's a bad spawn/luck, and rarely me getting out played/out smarted. How do blitz players even have a grasp of how good they really are when a lot of kills in Blitz are "cheesy" kills? There could be people who tear it up in Blitz, but go down to Tactical and get stomped. Does the SBMM system have a new variable to consider players' performance in each combat filter individually?
It’s all about positioning, it’s the same formula just more players on blitz, push the spawns aka make space and get into the most advantageous angles of the map, and start farming kills, when the spawns change you should have enough time to realize it since you are the ones changing them as opposed to being railed because someone else is controlling the pace of the game
Thanks Ace for the hard work you do on these videos. I was also feeling the same way about Sbmm especially after turning off cross platform. Overall my experience has been more enjoyable compared to the last couple of years.
Literally every time I play with my friend, who’s nowhere near my skill, 99% of the time, we get insanely hard lobbies for him. I can think of only twice where SBMM catered to his level.
Great work Ace! Just wanted to say the high skill players play blitz. I’m one of them (4.10kd, 657spm, 22wl) I always playing parties though with other high skill players. Sbmm is definitely there but it really depends on who is in my party. Great work, would love to see you test higher pacing game modes because that is where the data will really get interesting. I know for a fact when I’m with my sweatiest of friends partied up games take forever to find because the game doesn’t “want us beating up on everyone else”. But if we have even 1 in the party of significantly less skill level we will find matches quicker. It’s clear cut not anecdotal, I have over 2000 games played. When it comes to ping your absolutely right it’s higher on average for my friends and I. How do I have 2gig internet but still will lag because I connecting to play with only people of our caliber. Know I’m and outlier but just want to confirm your testing it’s true and you would see even more sbmm in higher pacing game modes.
I doubt u have a 4.10 kd cuz u would be in the top 100 in the world and prop wouldn't be watching a video on skill based match making. Unless u camp in the spawn with a bar and close app when ur doing bad. And only play blitz in parties.
I have a 3.62 Kd and I personally think that the sbmm system is horrific I always have 80+ ping in everymatch where as in csgo in global elite and immortal 2 respectivly I get 20-50 ping consitantly
It may be party leaders SBMM. We used to do this when we played with my pro friend as it would always be a 6 man sweating if he hosted. If I'm not mistaken it was Bops 3 that was EXTREME with that. So we would have me host, as I'm far above average but not that top 1% like Carlos, but top 10%. As we only had 4 in our party and the other 2 were average who were playing with us to get better. When Carlos would host the search it was night and day, we would have to wait like 5-15 mins if he host and never had less than a 5 man to our 4 man. If he hosted with just me it would do the same. Also, in Vanguard it seems like I get alot of 2-4 mans who are way above average and the rest of the lobby (my whole team, and the rest on the enemy team, seem to be low skill). I payed heavy attention to this every game. But, its mere anecdotes from one account.
I sincerely hope COD can go back to how it used to be. I genuinely play the older CODs (Like BO3 and BO4) wayyyy more than the new CODs. I just really enjoy them much more. I don’t know how much of that enjoyment is from weaker SBMM or just better gameplay mechanics, but I do tend to go on bigger streaks on the older games.
I kinda feel this way as well, i think its more the map design than SBMM or anything. In bo3 or bo4 i can do well because i know where people will be, predict the spawns, etc. The games just had a flow to them back in the day and you felt more in control.
You were just better at those games. Every game varies a little bit in its mechanics, those games were just better suited to you. I was great at MW3, BO1, and BO2. In the more recent CODS i'm only slightly above average. We're getting old, and these young kids doped up on all their ADD/ADHD meds are whooping are @$$€$
Thank you ace I still play the game despite what everyone is saying about it and I always look forward to these every year of CoD so once again thank you 👍
I am a solo player, with on cod tracker: 1.65KD | 825 SM, and in game 2.09 KD with 697 SM (looking bugged or counting assists too maybe?). Since a couple week I feel the game more "easy" dropping V2 and getting 31.87 K/Match on average (while grinding guns) before that I wasnt able to get more than +15 kills without dying, so for me something as been changed since launch. Your work is insane keep it up !
I hardly feel like I'm just getting smashed in this game outright. It's still tough and competitive (which I like, unlike others), but it's not like going against gods of CoD as much. Those matches are still there, sure, but it seems like there's less of it.
@@sixstarhorizon295 yes it did. Especially in TDM. 402 Thunder did many videos on it showing every game was a 75/74, 72/75 sweat fest. Super competitive.
I think one of the main reasons why SBMM seems to be less strict is potentially due to the fact that Vanguard Multiplayer may have less concurrent players than Modern Warfare/Cold War Multiplayer. Smaller pool means there are less, skilled players within a reasonable ping radius. If we were able to see the total amount of players online, total amount of players searching, and total amount of players within the potential match pool while doing this study and could compare it with the relative results with Modern Warfare/Cold War Multiplayer SBMM studies, I think there would be telling results.
Your content is, as always, fantastic. I find Vanguard a rollercoaster. Good game, do well then get slapped in the next. This seems to happen over and over again.
If anyone has taken a stats class before you can see by the first set of graphs their is a normal distribution between all sets of graphs meaning you will be matched up with similar players with maybe 1 or 2 outliers on either end
The more I think about it the more I realize SBMM doesn't have to be an on/off switch. At the very least, you can for example, lower a bad player's expected matchups skill-wise up to a certain amount below the average then cap it. You do this by just lowering the top-end of players they face up against. Same goes for higher-skilled players, you can raise their expected matchups by say 20% above the average. You do this by raising the bottom-end of players they're matched against. This is one way to put a limit on SBMM without removing it entirely. The average player will either be placed in normal random public lobbies as well to a certain extent, except they can compress the top and bottom-ends of the skill pool towards the average. And this isn't using team-balancing (aka matching by ping then lobby balancing), this is merely trying to give bad players a better chance by inflating or deflating the matchups percentage-wise. The average player will either be placed in normal random public lobbies as well to a certain extent, except they can compress the top and bottom-ends of the skill pool towards the average. The qualities of this system would be that players directly below the 1 k/d average, will gain a benefit of having top-ranked competition capped while players directly above the average will experience an initial disadvantage of having the bottom-tiered competition capped (the skill ceiling and skill floor will appropriately be lowered or raised). But, overall the better you are the better you should do even with this system. Lobby balancing (aka team-balancing) is still probably better though. There's a reddit post on it. It also mentions reversing the Pointman perk to be a killstreak perk while making scorestreaks the standard. Personally, I wonder if making snipers slightly projectile-based would be a better solution than removing quick-scoping.
@@conayoll I play BO4 almost everyday. I dominate 2 or 3 games and I’m almost guaranteed to have several prestige master sweats in the next one. SBMM is definitely in the game
@@protoman2260 i was prestige 11 with a 2.6kd and i never experienced strict sbmm... now in vanguard i have like a 1.8kd and it feels like everyone is aspiring to be professional streamers (mind you i stopped playing vanguard)
I think your comment at the end about blitz is the primary difference. The better players want more bodies in the field, more kills to be had and stay away from tactical unless that’s just what they get. On top of that, ship haus pulls in another ton of camo grinders which overall are probably more skilled or at least committed.
I think the lobbies are easier because most people who play seriously... stopped playing. Ace had to do this pretty much alone this time, it says a lot. A lot of the dedicated players have stopped playing and vocalized it. In my experience, lobbies have been near static. I say this as someone who was playing semi-seriously but then decided to just hip fire only using an LMG. I felt no difference from matches where I'd get over 2.0 K/D and then my matches after doing poorly in my hipfire runs for a long time. ...as a subnote, going positive hipfire LMG is both the saddest and most hilarious thing ever.
No, people play the vame by the millions. Every hard core cod player bought the game. This is without proof nonsense. It is just bettwr servees and mixed lobbies. Cold war was a mess connection wise.
Let's appreciate much hard work this man puts in❤️👍. And yea i have noticed that the sbmm was a bit lower this year ever since that free 2 play weekend
first of all thank you for your hard work i really Appreciate it, and my biggest problem with cod right now is team balancing i hate playing 1v6 matches all the time i always quit any match like that
It feels less worse because it just came out. Cold War felt the same at first also. But after a while the wheat is separated from the chaff and what's left is the sweats.
Pacings do seem to impact the sbmm. When I let my dummy accounts search, tactical pacing seems to give the easiest lobbies, assault and blitz seem to have a more loose sbmm since the players are still very mixed when searching with dummy accounts.
Since they introduced Armageddon as a featured game mode, i had ton of fun. I don't know if i was smashing Christmas noobs or the mod had SBMM turned off, but i had the best time of my life (since black ops3!!!!) In general i find that i have easier time going positive in this game than i did in MW. I still don't get the hate this game receives, sure its realism is thrown out of the window, but com on, its CoD... My only complain is still "My team - Enemy team"
@@Barndollar98 I can't call Modern Warfare a fun CoD. It was very immersive with the way it looked and how its guns felt, don't get me wrong, but it lacked fundamental features that makes CoD flow the way it does. MW overall gameplay was the worst in the series IMO. Vanguard kept the good things that MW brought and enhanced them, while keeping the CoD formula nearly intacted. I only wish Vanguard wasn't WW2...
I dropped cod after mw2019. Every few months I log in to get a game or two and I'm always reminded why i hated it. First lobby gg good kd, next game instantly thrown into a sweat room getting stomped...
So to sum up. Not everyone will have the same experience. Some or us may have sweaty or perhaps feel like bot lobbies. But hey, hope everyone is having a great christmas so far.
Thanks for the testing Ace! I feel it is less strict this year which does make it more playable. By this point last year with cold war I'd uninstalled and called it a day, where with vanguard I'm still playing and enjoying it. Don't get me wrong vanguard has some serious issues with bugs and balancing issues but still overall a good experience 👌 your effort is much appreciated
I literally have a negative w/l ratio and it’s not because of me, I’m literally in the top 14% when it comes to K/D and I’m in the top 20% when it comes to score per minute. It really bugs the hell out of me that my friend who is barely in the top 50% has a higher w/l ratio than me all because the game expects me to carry! I’m getting so fed up with this franchise between the sbmm and the broken bugs/glitches.
I'd be interested in if the input device matters on PC as well, because I'm getting a different picture, when playing with mouse and keyboard. Very interesting.
Been having the same feeling when it comes to SBMM and the lobbies in general. It's nice to see that your data somewhat confirms the differences to the last two games (although I do understand your limits, but still, the data suggests a difference). Edit: I think I'm a fairly good player (I hope 99% of the time most points/kills on the leaderboard supports my case) and when it comes to SBMM I actually did a 180° when it comes to my opinion. Newer players need to actively be protected from players like me. Now, before you destroy my comment with dislikes, hear me out. I mean bad players, like XclusiveBot bad type of player, the
Older games had other means of a new player to get the hang of CoD, like boot camp (where they put the noob to play with easy bots for the first 10 levels). Personally i play since CoD4 and i had my father following me around in a 1v1 and knifing me after following me the entire game, just for (his) fun. I was getting so mad, but thats how i learnt to use more than just my eyes. Then it comes to map knowledge. As a pc player, I can't understand how someone cannot point and click somewhere on his screen (in soon to be 2022). Also, if someone wasn't stunning me and then junpshoting around the corner to kill my campy ass, i would never have thought to do it myself... In the end, i don't see why dividing the player base helps either side... If we are going to be so protective, then the SBMM should be based around playtime or average playtime. No way i - that I don't have a single gun max level and play maybe 10 hours/week - am as good as someone that streams its games and waits for the Panzer Faust to be patched to get atomic camo and plays 8-12 hours/day (aka wears diapers so he won't have to leave his gaming chair for the chair with the hole in the middle)!! That doesn't sound fair, right?
Yeah I'm 100 percent convinced the SBMM will sometimes allow lower skill players in my lobbies. For instance on Vanguard 1/10 games I might blow out the other team vs MW I'd be lucky for say 1/20 games going up against low skill players.
Another great video from Ace. My experience match up with his findings. Vanguards ''feels'' easier than cold war and MW2119. In my opinion the most logical explanation is that this year fewer ppl bought the game so is harder foe sbmm to find good players on the same level as you (specially when you are a 2+ kd player).
Aw man, I felt so sorry for that guy you shot every few seconds from above him and he barely reacted and then just ran off when he realised something wasn’t quite right. I kind of relate to that guy!
why would you feel sorry for him lmao
Thank you 😊
Lmaoo I laughed so hard at that. Bot lobbies really do exist lol
@@conayoll because he's most likely disabled
He can’t see he getting shot from above 😂 they’re clear indicators showing you where your getting shot from, not to mention that compass . Poor kid
Ace, I too feel that SSBM has been giving easier lobbies… but I think it’s heavily influenced by the combat pacing. High skill players will go look for kills in Blitz pacing versus playing Tactical. This brings into question what kinds of players choose which kind of combat pacing modes. I think your study has a significant limitation in that it only recorded lobbies in the Tactical pace. I always appreciate your work, but I think the SBMM phenomenon requires this study in all combat pacing modes to really be understood.
Thanks for the video! Great work!
I would think its the opposite that higher skilled players would avoid blitz. Because its so random and chaotic. A higher skilled player is going to control variables and avoid randomness.
@@gandj19 logically, but I’ve noticed that a lot of sweats like to play faster paces to have more people and call in streaks all game and kinda just spawn kill and stuff so who knows really
I have all pacings turned on and it seems not as severe this year. I’m a decidedly average player but I get a good mix of lobbies. That pacing setting does really throw a wrinkle in this whole thing.
Combat pacing is a horrible idea. It splits up the player base and makes certain maps unplayable. Like Tactical on Berlin or Blitz on Das Haus. You are either bored out of your mind or getting spawn killed over and over again. No in between.
They should have made certain maps strictly for tactical and certain strictly for blitz. That way the games aren't really inconsistent and weird. Two thumbs down from me.
Just a bunch of out of touch developers who don't play test their game and are completely out of new ideas in my opinion.
Maybe all the sweaty tryhards are on the shipment playlist?
I feel it’s toned down compared to Cold War . But the faster ttk in this game makes 1v6 and stuff that possible to win
yeah, the second two or more people walk into a room I know I’m only taking down one of them before I get lit up like a Christmas tree
Sbmm is probably bugged too. Lol
I did way better in Cold War. But I’m in all lobbies in Vanguard. So much more chaos
@@seadoo4life127 Vanguard is really chaotic and action packed ngl even though it’s a shitty buggy game , but Cold War is so boring 😭
@@AlexanderTheGreat222 Vanguard is horrible
I'm really shocked that you stress yourself every year to do this study on SBMM. We all know it ain't going nowhere. Appreciate your hard work though
@コープシア I'll take lobbies to stop disbanding
Not everyone scared to say something lol
It’s called content
Its his job . I wish I was told good job stress my self every year to DO MY JOB
@@YeetBeater I was a 1.87 in Cold War and now a 1.28 in Vanguard. Ahhhhhh
This is much appreciated XclusiveAce. Your sacrifices will not be in vain.
It’s sad to see ping is still being sacrificed for skill. That should never be the case for a casual game such as CoD. Other than that, SBMM appears to be moving in the right direction.
I agree. This is hopefully good news. The only thing I might be a bit concerned about, is if this was done on purpose or if SBMM isn't coded correctly and it ends up just being a glitch.
I am often put in overseas servers, like in Asia (I'm in West Oz) but in CW for example, the highest ping I ever experienced was about 150. In this travesty of a game I am getting into lobbies with 300-500 pings about 1 in 5 games. I don't think it's SBMM - I think there's just no one playing.
@Yolo
I’ll have you know. My K/D hovers around a 1.00 on average…
…definitely not great but still…
@@bigdaddy5303
It’s very plausible.
@@bigdaddy5303 I think it is probably still SBMM, with some influence from what you said. Most likely your experience with CW was just offset by something.
I'm glad my experience was pretty similar to yours. I also feel like my lobbies haven't been as bad as the past couple of years. This is the cod I've enjoyed the most in the past 3 years and I guess this kinda contributes to it. Awesome vid as always Ace!
I agree, this cod has felt easier for me too
@@adampodlinski1734 it’s the TTK
Watching your video for last few months and never subscribed but feel you deserve it with effort put in . Good luck in future from Ireland
Outstanding work. And confirms my own experience - Vanguard is noticeably less sweaty than Cold War and MW2019. It’s actually fun, most of the time.
@@HiJack3r second best selling game of the year bro
@@Aegis4521 Exactly! And that is just with November sales. It'll probably be #1 after the December Holidays.
@@HiJack3r "nobody bought this game"
^that's just incorrect. It is a top seller in the industry, just because you are not having fun that doesn't mean the game is doing poorly.
Cold war wasn't that sweaty
@@Real_Beaky LOL they lost 50M players but the game isn’t doing poorly... this comment didn’t age too well
Been waiting for this, THANKS 😊
That first clip of the XclusiveBot was so entertaining to watch
That was all I needed to see to know SBMM was in the game. It’s not even debatable at this point.
dude, please, your so calm, skilled, and intelligent. cod players who practiced and are now "high skilled" need someone like you to illuminate this sbmm problem and to moniter it. THOUSANDS of people depend on you and appreciate the time and effort you sacrifice. THANK YOU!
Ace, my man, you do incredible work with bringing pertinent statistics and overall helpful Call of Duty information to the community, that honestly, sometimes I'm embarrassed to be a part of. So many people talking shit and totally disregarding the fact that you don't *HAVE* to do any of this. But I digress. I'm always impressed with the amount of attention to details - minor or otherwise - you spend so much time on. That being said, I've never been one to get involved with patreon or discord, but do you have any of those? What you do should really be praised and not shit on by people who either just want to be a dick, or have hopes of receiving a couple "likes" from their like-minded unappreciative counterparts.
Thanks for doing this every year Ace. SBMM. Especially the way CoD is doing it, is pretty damn evil. It really sucks feeling like CoD doesn't want you lmao. And it's been years too man. I just want to play CoD bro. I don't want to have to play like its my full time job. Just wanna play for fun again...
From my own personal experience, I'm sitting on a 1.43 K/D, 275 SPM and, 1.19 W/L Ratio and it feels like I've been put into a somewhat odd Tug of War. Majority of games end up having me getting kicked in the throat by sweatlords, followed up by near potato lobbies and, then some "somewhat" average lobbies layered in between.
It's abit hard for me to describe what I'm experiencing in my games but like I said, I feel I've been put into a bit of a weird bracket almost.
This has been my experience too; some average games, then a couple games where I go off, then a few more average games, then then a good chunk where I get wrecked, rinse and repeat. My stats are a bit different (1.3 kd, 375 spm, 1.13 wl), but that roller-coaster is definitely there, though it does feel better paced than previous years. MW/CW felt like it would spike directly from going off to getting wrecked, with the only average games being after that spike in difficulty as it slowly decreased until I could have another banger.
One positive I've found this year is that playing with my varied skill friend group isn't nearly as painful as previous years.
Yeah I've also experienced more or less the same thing (1.53 K/D). Except right after I got my first v2 rocket, the following twenty or so games were a nightmare. I got matched up with literal professional players and like next-level sweats LMAO, not even exaggerating. I am yet to have that occasional "average/casual" couple of games break for some reason. I had to use meta weapons, hold angles and play really considerably in order to compete (and I hardly did) rather than just experiment with weapons and vibe like I usually do.
That happened to me in cold war for 2 months lol
I feel the same way. That’s why I gave up on CoD. I’m sick of it.
@@dlarsh I agree regarding MW, it seemed to put you in high sweat lobbies for your stats and progressively lower them until comfortable before shooting you back up to do the same.
I'm not a frequent commenter but Ive watched every video of yours for the last few years so at this point I know how much time and research it takes for this topic, so my first ever video like will go towards an Xclusive video, not based on the content in the video because all of us XclusiveAce diehards know this is not at all a new topic, but still an extensive one that impresses me with your an drift0rs ability to cover and analyze the vast amount of variables that go into our current system of "retention based match making" I love seeing your input on topics and feel as if you'd make my mainly solo play in cod a lot more enjoyable. Keep up the good work Ace, your statistic gathering impress me far more than scumps double V2's. (Which I analyze daily) can't wait for the next in-depth
TBH my experience lines up relatively to what Ace found out. I was kinda shocked at how as my SPM dropped because of the camo grind my lobbies began to balance out. A mix of high, low and average skills. When I booted up MP for the first time on launch day it felt like I was in a MW or Cold War lobby in terms of sweat levels. My Spm in MW was about 281 and Cold War it was 315 and i felt like I was being placed in the above average lobbies cuz of past stats. Now my SPM is 160 cuz of the grind for Atomic and my lobbies are mellow and chilled
You are such a high quality channel. I don't ever see myself unsubbing
I’m an average/low skill player with a 1.10 k/d in Vanguard and I’m finding lobbies where they are bunny hopping all over the place and are tearing me to pieces. I will come across some easier lobbies now and then. But comparing to Cold War where I was a 1.5 k/d which felt a lot easier. So for me it seems the opposite way around but I know there are other factors like I find it visually harder to see and pick up enemies (I must be getting old and my eyesight is getting bad) where I found it was easier in Cold War and Modern Warfare. I also feel the difference with console and pc there is almost a visual advantage on pc, not that I’ve tried both to compare just what I’ve heard people say they do and don’t see.
It's the map design versus the Canon design... they blend in so well in vanguard... vs cw, where everyone had SOME bright costume equipped lol
Bunny hopping and sliding has been in COD since BO2 I was doing all of that since I was 13 I’m 25 now so it come natural to me instead of playing like a BOT and yeah my KD ain’t the greatest either.
@@MalikATL BO2 had dolphin diving, but yeah they've had sliding in Cod since Ghosts and it's way better.
@@MalikATL u can't bunny hop like now on bo2 it's worse for gun fights cuz the camera doesn't snap 😂
@Carl Palmer I agree I can’t see many of the enemy in this game and get punished by them. My old eyes are struggling with this Cod. Cold War I was fine with the weapons and could hold my own Solo always but this game I’m not enjoying with Bad Ping Packet Burst and so much lag. No it’s not my connection I went back to CW and game is fine. I’m waiting for another year and a more futuristic game with Vibrant colours. The joys of getting old 👍
Vanguard SBMM being less strict actually makes sense, because in Cold War for example I felt like I was sweating every single game just to do good... but in Vanguard I feel like I have a lot more good games without stress. There is some lobbies that are obviously ridiculous, but a lot seem to be just fine
True in Cold War every match feels like the fcking mlg half-finals, after 3-4 hours (with 2 buddys) everybody was sweating to the last drop, in vanguard most matches are really competetive but some are really full of bots, like in domination the enemy team ..i don't know are too dumb to get a flag or just blind.
However I encountered in CW that big idiots that I went to like 100 kills with no deaths XD
I would say that they learned to make it less annoying. But, I'm pretty confident it's only different because no one bought this game.
Nah the game sold very well
@@fifteen8850 least successful COD launch in 14 years. Says it all.
@@rjaymurphy but still sold like 15 million copies
@@TheShapeshifter The investors have expectations. Just because the game still sells a lot doesn't mean it's enough. Compared to previous years the game is underperforming and Activision knows it.
@@rjaymurphy in specifically the uk, not everywhere
keep cranking out the vanguard vids ace. i know youtubers are running away from this game but millions of people still bought vanguard and will seek content for it, and eventually they will notice you are one of the only channels making guides so i hope that blesses your algorithm
I’d love to see some gameplay of Ace playing like a “below average player”.
Seeing those guys play man.... I'd have V2 Rockets every. single. game... That honestly was so hard to watch!
XclusiveBot always kills me those low skill games are a riot lmao
2:48 that guy under the tree was so confused😂😂😂
I honestly think Combat Pacing has made SBMM less noticeable in Vanguard. I enjoy tactical filter although it's sometimes pain on larger maps. I can't touch Blitz because 90% of the time I get killed, it's a bad spawn/luck, and rarely me getting out played/out smarted. How do blitz players even have a grasp of how good they really are when a lot of kills in Blitz are "cheesy" kills? There could be people who tear it up in Blitz, but go down to Tactical and get stomped. Does the SBMM system have a new variable to consider players' performance in each combat filter individually?
It’s all about positioning, it’s the same formula just more players on blitz, push the spawns aka make space and get into the most advantageous angles of the map, and start farming kills, when the spawns change you should have enough time to realize it since you are the ones changing them as opposed to being railed because someone else is controlling the pace of the game
Thank you for putting in the work to pump content out.
Thanks Ace for the hard work you do on these videos. I was also feeling the same way about Sbmm especially after turning off cross platform. Overall my experience has been more enjoyable compared to the last couple of years.
I really appreciate this study ever since MW2019! Definitely matches my experience that sbmm exists but is looser this year then the last 2
Ace, I love the videos you’re doing man this is a great breakdown. I respect your dedication to the call duty community. Thank you
Thanks for all you do, Ace…Merry Christmas!
Just a real note of thanks, Ace. The work you do for the community is amazing.
Literally every time I play with my friend, who’s nowhere near my skill, 99% of the time, we get insanely hard lobbies for him. I can think of only twice where SBMM catered to his level.
I think you have to join in on his lobbies.
He needs to be party leader, or simply select tactical pacing or all pacings so he can have different experience in every match.
@@flippineddy627 yup, gotta join on him so SBMM goes by whoever is party leader
"Took me a month to make" I opened my mini player up just to like this video. Thank you ace.
I’d love an hour long video of you just messing around on your low K/D lobby watching some of those players was hilarious
Thank you for all the work you put in for the community 🙏🏽
I'm not interested in Vanguard so maybe less overall players in the game, so less SBMM to keep players playing
Me either bro the game is a mess right now and now they got a krampus freak running around ruining everything
@@thecrownoffusion8420 no it is not a mess
@@elg7365 lol nice joke
@@thecrownoffusion8420 it’s really fun tho 🤷♂️
lol nah there’s plenty of people for the sbmm algorithm to work with imo
I agree, SBMM feels way more lax now. I'm having a great time and rarely struggle to do well, which was not the case in CW.
Lmao, the xclusivebot gameplay is hilarious, no matter how badly you try to play, the other players just had zero clue.
Great work Ace!
Just wanted to say the high skill players play blitz.
I’m one of them (4.10kd, 657spm, 22wl) I always playing parties though with other high skill players.
Sbmm is definitely there but it really depends on who is in my party.
Great work, would love to see you test higher pacing game modes because that is where the data will really get interesting.
I know for a fact when I’m with my sweatiest of friends partied up games take forever to find because the game doesn’t “want us beating up on everyone else”. But if we have even 1 in the party of significantly less skill level we will find matches quicker. It’s clear cut not anecdotal, I have over 2000 games played.
When it comes to ping your absolutely right it’s higher on average for my friends and I. How do I have 2gig internet but still will lag because I connecting to play with only people of our caliber. Know I’m and outlier but just want to confirm your testing it’s true and you would see even more sbmm in higher pacing game modes.
What ur Activision ID
I doubt u have a 4.10 kd cuz u would be in the top 100 in the world and prop wouldn't be watching a video on skill based match making. Unless u camp in the spawn with a bar and close app when ur doing bad. And only play blitz in parties.
I have a 3.62 Kd and I personally think that the sbmm system is horrific I always have 80+ ping in everymatch where as in csgo in global elite and immortal 2 respectivly I get 20-50 ping consitantly
It may be party leaders SBMM. We used to do this when we played with my pro friend as it would always be a 6 man sweating if he hosted. If I'm not mistaken it was Bops 3 that was EXTREME with that. So we would have me host, as I'm far above average but not that top 1% like Carlos, but top 10%. As we only had 4 in our party and the other 2 were average who were playing with us to get better. When Carlos would host the search it was night and day, we would have to wait like 5-15 mins if he host and never had less than a 5 man to our 4 man. If he hosted with just me it would do the same. Also, in Vanguard it seems like I get alot of 2-4 mans who are way above average and the rest of the lobby (my whole team, and the rest on the enemy team, seem to be low skill). I payed heavy attention to this every game. But, its mere anecdotes from one account.
Always appreciate this study Ace, thanks for the hard work man
The video we've all been waiting for
I sincerely hope COD can go back to how it used to be. I genuinely play the older CODs (Like BO3 and BO4) wayyyy more than the new CODs. I just really enjoy them much more. I don’t know how much of that enjoyment is from weaker SBMM or just better gameplay mechanics, but I do tend to go on bigger streaks on the older games.
I kinda feel this way as well, i think its more the map design than SBMM or anything. In bo3 or bo4 i can do well because i know where people will be, predict the spawns, etc. The games just had a flow to them back in the day and you felt more in control.
You were just better at those games. Every game varies a little bit in its mechanics, those games were just better suited to you. I was great at MW3, BO1, and BO2. In the more recent CODS i'm only slightly above average. We're getting old, and these young kids doped up on all their ADD/ADHD meds are whooping are @$$€$
Thank you ace I still play the game despite what everyone is saying about it and I always look forward to these every year of CoD so once again thank you 👍
This seems to line up with my experience so far (about 20 hours). Thanks Ace.
I am a solo player, with on cod tracker: 1.65KD | 825 SM, and in game 2.09 KD with 697 SM (looking bugged or counting assists too maybe?).
Since a couple week I feel the game more "easy" dropping V2 and getting 31.87 K/Match on average (while grinding guns) before that I wasnt able to get more than +15 kills without dying, so for me something as been changed since launch.
Your work is insane keep it up !
Anyone else notice few weeks ago the mvp screen at end changed from whole lobby to just your team
I hardly feel like I'm just getting smashed in this game outright. It's still tough and competitive (which I like, unlike others), but it's not like going against gods of CoD as much. Those matches are still there, sure, but it seems like there's less of it.
This is my experience as well. I skipped Cold War, but it definitely feels less strict than MW19.
@@travisbailey6633 english?
SBMM amongst a plethora of other scumbag tactics has made me skip the last three COD’s. It really blows as I’ve been a COD gamer since COD 1.
SBMM has been insane since WWII. Horrendous
@@protoman2260 WWII didn't have very strong SBMM. It was the last cod with semi-reasonable matchmaking
@@sixstarhorizon295 yes it did. Especially in TDM. 402 Thunder did many videos on it showing every game was a 75/74, 72/75 sweat fest. Super competitive.
I think one of the main reasons why SBMM seems to be less strict is potentially due to the fact that Vanguard Multiplayer may have less concurrent players than Modern Warfare/Cold War Multiplayer. Smaller pool means there are less, skilled players within a reasonable ping radius.
If we were able to see the total amount of players online, total amount of players searching, and total amount of players within the potential match pool while doing this study and could compare it with the relative results with Modern Warfare/Cold War Multiplayer SBMM studies, I think there would be telling results.
the enormous effort and work that this video has 👏👏👏
Thanks for the results ace. Suffice to say I won’t be getting this game or supporting due to that SbMM system they have.
Thank you for your time and testing
The bot account gameplay is priceless!!!
Your content is, as always, fantastic. I find Vanguard a rollercoaster. Good game, do well then get slapped in the next. This seems to happen over and over again.
Much needed video! Thank you bro
Damn man one month? Greatly appreciated, even if this particular info doesn’t speak to me! I’m trash no matter the match making!
Reminder: give the vid a like! It deserves it for the sheer amount of work
Make sure to watch ads and support ace for all the work
Good stuff! Thanks for the video. I have noticed more frequent easier opponents in this game at times
If anyone has taken a stats class before you can see by the first set of graphs their is a normal distribution between all sets of graphs meaning you will be matched up with similar players with maybe 1 or 2 outliers on either end
The more I think about it the more I realize SBMM doesn't have to be an on/off switch. At the very least, you can for example, lower a bad player's expected matchups skill-wise up to a certain amount below the average then cap it. You do this by just lowering the top-end of players they face up against. Same goes for higher-skilled players, you can raise their expected matchups by say 20% above the average. You do this by raising the bottom-end of players they're matched against. This is one way to put a limit on SBMM without removing it entirely. The average player will either be placed in normal random public lobbies as well to a certain extent, except they can compress the top and bottom-ends of the skill pool towards the average.
And this isn't using team-balancing (aka matching by ping then lobby balancing), this is merely trying to give bad players a better chance by inflating or deflating the matchups percentage-wise. The average player will either be placed in normal random public lobbies as well to a certain extent, except they can compress the top and bottom-ends of the skill pool towards the average.
The qualities of this system would be that players directly below the 1 k/d average, will gain a benefit of having top-ranked competition capped while players directly above the average will experience an initial disadvantage of having the bottom-tiered competition capped (the skill ceiling and skill floor will appropriately be lowered or raised). But, overall the better you are the better you should do even with this system.
Lobby balancing (aka team-balancing) is still probably better though. There's a reddit post on it. It also mentions reversing the Pointman perk to be a killstreak perk while making scorestreaks the standard. Personally, I wonder if making snipers slightly projectile-based would be a better solution than removing quick-scoping.
I was playing MW2 on steam the other day. I was actually having fun playing COD again.
Appreciate the work!
The bot lobby gameplay was very entertaining to watch.
True dedication. This man is the only reason call of duty is any good now
SBMM has been my clan tag since BO4. It’s utterly horrendous
B ops 4 had hardly any noticeable sbmm. if thats how sbmm was to always be, i dont think the community would have an issue with it
@@conayoll Fax, BO4 is awesome
@@conayoll I play BO4 almost everyday. I dominate 2 or 3 games and I’m almost guaranteed to have several prestige master sweats in the next one. SBMM is definitely in the game
@@protoman2260 i was prestige 11 with a 2.6kd and i never experienced strict sbmm...
now in vanguard i have like a 1.8kd and it feels like everyone is aspiring to be professional streamers (mind you i stopped playing vanguard)
Yes yes and yes yes
Thanks for your hard work, agree with yr feelings on SBMM
Really great work here, thank you for your analysis!
I think your comment at the end about blitz is the primary difference. The better players want more bodies in the field, more kills to be had and stay away from tactical unless that’s just what they get. On top of that, ship haus pulls in another ton of camo grinders which overall are probably more skilled or at least committed.
I'm convinced I get lobbies based on my past CoD games kdr. I'm terrible now but I did maintain a 2+ in the past. Too bad now I'm trash.
You're the man, Ace! Also a big fan of the Exclusive Bot footage. Laugh out loud stuff
Totally had same experience with vanguard as you said.
I think the lobbies are easier because most people who play seriously... stopped playing.
Ace had to do this pretty much alone this time, it says a lot. A lot of the dedicated players have stopped playing and vocalized it.
In my experience, lobbies have been near static.
I say this as someone who was playing semi-seriously but then decided to just hip fire only using an LMG.
I felt no difference from matches where I'd get over 2.0 K/D and then my matches after doing poorly in my hipfire runs for a long time.
...as a subnote, going positive hipfire LMG is both the saddest and most hilarious thing ever.
No, people play the vame by the millions. Every hard core cod player bought the game. This is without proof nonsense. It is just bettwr servees and mixed lobbies. Cold war was a mess connection wise.
Let's appreciate much hard work this man puts in❤️👍. And yea i have noticed that the sbmm was a bit lower this year ever since that free 2 play weekend
first of all thank you for your hard work i really Appreciate it, and my biggest problem with cod right now is team balancing i hate playing 1v6 matches all the time i always quit any match like that
I bet it's less strict because Vangaurd hasn't sold well as the past two CODs.
It feels less worse because it just came out. Cold War felt the same at first also. But after a while the wheat is separated from the chaff and what's left is the sweats.
The data suggests otherwise. The Cold War data presented in this video was collected right around the same time in its life cycle.
Thanks for the hard work.
Pacings do seem to impact the sbmm. When I let my dummy accounts search, tactical pacing seems to give the easiest lobbies, assault and blitz seem to have a more loose sbmm since the players are still very mixed when searching with dummy accounts.
Since they introduced Armageddon as a featured game mode, i had ton of fun. I don't know if i was smashing Christmas noobs or the mod had SBMM turned off, but i had the best time of my life (since black ops3!!!!)
In general i find that i have easier time going positive in this game than i did in MW.
I still don't get the hate this game receives, sure its realism is thrown out of the window, but com on, its CoD... My only complain is still "My team - Enemy team"
100% agree with you. I feel like this game is miles above cold war and on the same level as mw in terms of funness
@@Barndollar98 I can't call Modern Warfare a fun CoD. It was very immersive with the way it looked and how its guns felt, don't get me wrong, but it lacked fundamental features that makes CoD flow the way it does. MW overall gameplay was the worst in the series IMO. Vanguard kept the good things that MW brought and enhanced them, while keeping the CoD formula nearly intacted. I only wish Vanguard wasn't WW2...
I dropped cod after mw2019. Every few months I log in to get a game or two and I'm always reminded why i hated it. First lobby gg good kd, next game instantly thrown into a sweat room getting stomped...
I wouldn’t even know how to begin conducting a “skill based match making study”. Couldn’t even gander a guess
4:16 you erased that poor dude from existence lmao
Had to like instantly for the hard work !
I know this took ALOT of time and effort. Just wanna thanks! Its appreciated 🏆🥇
Guy at 2:48 is me every single game. Hang in there buddy
the dude playing wade is a real n00b
When I first got Vanguard I had a .80 KD and perfect ping, now with a 1.26 KD I have poor ping more than not.
for me it was a 1.1 KD because I didn't know what guns and attachments were good. Now it's a 2.27 KD
Thanks for all you do bud! Yes agreed on your findings.
So to sum up. Not everyone will have the same experience. Some or us may have sweaty or perhaps feel like bot lobbies.
But hey, hope everyone is having a great christmas so far.
Thanks for the testing Ace! I feel it is less strict this year which does make it more playable. By this point last year with cold war I'd uninstalled and called it a day, where with vanguard I'm still playing and enjoying it. Don't get me wrong vanguard has some serious issues with bugs and balancing issues but still overall a good experience 👌 your effort is much appreciated
I literally have a negative w/l ratio and it’s not because of me, I’m literally in the top 14% when it comes to K/D and I’m in the top 20% when it comes to score per minute. It really bugs the hell out of me that my friend who is barely in the top 50% has a higher w/l ratio than me all because the game expects me to carry! I’m getting so fed up with this franchise between the sbmm and the broken bugs/glitches.
I'd be interested in if the input device matters on PC as well, because I'm getting a different picture, when playing with mouse and keyboard.
Very interesting.
I've noticed a huge difference this year. Especially in hardcore (less player base so it makes sense)
Been having the same feeling when it comes to SBMM and the lobbies in general. It's nice to see that your data somewhat confirms the differences to the last two games (although I do understand your limits, but still, the data suggests a difference).
Edit: I think I'm a fairly good player (I hope 99% of the time most points/kills on the leaderboard supports my case) and when it comes to SBMM I actually did a 180° when it comes to my opinion.
Newer players need to actively be protected from players like me. Now, before you destroy my comment with dislikes, hear me out.
I mean bad players, like XclusiveBot bad type of player, the
That bracket your talking about was implemented in bo2.
It work and never had me playing bad looking clones of myself
Older games had other means of a new player to get the hang of CoD, like boot camp (where they put the noob to play with easy bots for the first 10 levels). Personally i play since CoD4 and i had my father following me around in a 1v1 and knifing me after following me the entire game, just for (his) fun. I was getting so mad, but thats how i learnt to use more than just my eyes. Then it comes to map knowledge.
As a pc player, I can't understand how someone cannot point and click somewhere on his screen (in soon to be 2022). Also, if someone wasn't stunning me and then junpshoting around the corner to kill my campy ass, i would never have thought to do it myself...
In the end, i don't see why dividing the player base helps either side... If we are going to be so protective, then the SBMM should be based around playtime or average playtime. No way i - that I don't have a single gun max level and play maybe 10 hours/week - am as good as someone that streams its games and waits for the Panzer Faust to be patched to get atomic camo and plays 8-12 hours/day (aka wears diapers so he won't have to leave his gaming chair for the chair with the hole in the middle)!! That doesn't sound fair, right?
that guy at 2.48 literally almost chokes me because of how much i've laughed
Yeah I'm 100 percent convinced the SBMM will sometimes allow lower skill players in my lobbies. For instance on Vanguard 1/10 games I might blow out the other team vs MW I'd be lucky for say 1/20 games going up against low skill players.
Another great video from Ace. My experience match up with his findings. Vanguards ''feels'' easier than cold war and MW2119. In my opinion the most logical explanation is that this year fewer ppl bought the game so is harder foe sbmm to find good players on the same level as you (specially when you are a 2+ kd player).