I dunno what you got out of this, the video didnt really say anything that wouldnt be intuitive. Waste of 15 mins to say the least, couldve summed it all up in a sentence.
@@meltedjax3619 well, I just got recommended this video at that time and got me thinking about the state of the game, I have left CoD and now I think CoD is dead or at least the new one
this might be just a pipe dream but I honestly hope that when Ranked comes out they'll either remove SBMM or heavily tone it down. I'm sick of getting stuck in lobbies with like 100+ ms of ping constantly just cause I do well
I played a match late at night/early morning, i found it almost instantly was full of noobs, I got a nuke easy. Then after I couldn’t find another match ping would go up to 100+ trying to find sweats. Had to get off because I couldn’t find a match anymore
I’m so happy to hear that I’m not crazy when the gaming experience differs from weekend vs weekdays...it’s a much better experience for me during weekdays and a bloodbath while playing on a Saturday evening. Thanks Ace!
It's the case with all online games. People don't work or are at the university on weekends or after 6 pm on weekdays. Outside of those times periodes you'll generally just find kids or people who don't have any pressure (in terms of time ) to play, so less tryhards.
It's literally always been like that wdym. Most people play on weekends and Fridays. I always avoid playing on the weekend and find something else to do until Monday.
As a solo player that is fairly skilled the amount of validation this man ace is giving me is life. I really like playing GW and invasion and I definitely get the worst players on my team with the game expecting me to carry. It's not fun after a while. Now I just hop on during the weekdays get a couple of AC130's then hop off for that week. it's funny cuz the matchmaking system is designed to "keep me playing" but it does the exact opposite now.
Because that's designed to keep the AVERAGE PLAYER hooked not specifically you. The average player doesn't even know a manipulative matchmaking system exists in the first place
It’s meant to keep the average player (95% of the game’s population) hooked, rather than the 5% of pubstompers and pros. It must work pretty well in that case if they’ve kept it that long. I remember one of my friends talking about Cold War when it was first out and how much fun he was having with it, and I asked him about SBMM and if it was ruining the game for him (for reference, he’s around a 0.7-0.8kd and I’m a 1.8-2kd) and he told me, “who gives a shit about that? You’re probably one of the tryhard guys that it protects against” so yeah lol, it’s probably great for 95% of people but not the 5% of sweats like us haha
I don’t see them taking it out tho. Maybe they’ll tune it down but it won’t go away. They want the players with negative K/Ds to keep playing their game.
People who watch Xclusive Ace on a daily basis like us are exactly the kind of players the developers want to keep away from noobs, most of them don’t even know about SBMM
The EOMM is pretty much the only reason I’ve stepped away from MWII. After a while all the matches feel artificial and gamified which is far more draining than a more natural approach like ping based match making. I’ve always said that the whole EOMM thing felt like scrolling on TikTok/reels because it’s essentially the same algorithm. After a while you feel absolutely drained.
EOMM doesn't make sense even for bad players. Our squads avg. k/d is somewhere around 0.9 and still in warzone we have played against WSOW participants or with people on my team who play the game for the 2nd time ever but we are in the sweat lobby ( Caldera ). This is just WTF ! Game is punishing you for wanting to play it. I have found that playing less gets you better lobbies..How can a game when you have been doing bad decide you to put in a 1.26 k/d lobby @ peak time in WZ for example? It's just mind-blowing. Just the fact that someone who played the game for 2 years and got 26 WINS and in the same time was in the TOP22% of the WHOLE player base speaks volumes. I'm not surprised that player count has been dropping hard. There's literally nothing to play for.
You're being manipulated constantly. They bait and switch you by giving 1-2 easier game to start a night, to make you think it'll be fun and you'll do well, then they give you matches with all the no life loser sweats who bought skins and blueprints to make you think you need to buy them too in order to compete. And you will get those until you open up the wallet. F off, Activision
I appreciate the transparency Ace! I've always suspected SBMM would punish you in solos, by teaming you up with lower skill players. I've found after a good run of 3-4 games, I find myself on a team where I'm top of the board and no other player on my team posted a positive KD.
That's my biggest issue, I don't mind a challenge with playing equal level players, but WHY DO I GET MATCH WITH DOG SHIT TEAMMATES. Like it's always my team that will drag me down in those lobbies, it's frustrating
@@BetaBreaking they do this because you're a high skilled outlier, and in order for them to give you everyone the same skill as you they would have to increase sbmm, which would exponentially increase wait times to where you wouldnt be able to find a match. If they team balance you with lower skill players then you can still find a quick match where every team has an even chance of winning (50-50), as every games matchmaking system tries to do that
I just want a true public walk on experience. Some people might be better, and some might be worse. I feel like in current state I’m playing against only good players. I struggle to have a positive K/D and it’s no fun when everyone is so freaking good.
Then in that case... all the people who say the SBMM is manipulating players to keep coming back like a slot machine are wrong. If it's supposed to be a cycle of hard games followed by easy games to lure you back, but all your matches are hard.. then the only thing I can think of is that they can't find anyone that's worse at the game than you are to keep you motivated. Which is doubtful because there's kids that play, so it's not likely to be the case. Or the SBMM *isn't* doing what people think it's doing. My experience is different from what people describe as well. All of my games are average. I'm never dominating, and I'm never getting dominated. All of my matches feel average and well balanced. I wouldn't change a thing and am loving the experience. However, that's not the "hard and then easy" experience some describe, nor is it the "always hard" experience you describe.... who knows what the heck is going on?... 🤔
@@DerekMoore82 well, as I understand it there's a "protected" bracket for those severely under the average, I would assume if you're in that you only meet people of comparable skill.
@@jongustavsson5874 Wouldn't it be funny if the majority of average players who are just playing normally are in average matches where everyone has around the same 1.0 k/d ratio and the experience is fair and good. But then there are these bot lobbies comprised of people who are playing bad on purpose to reverse boost, and then really hard lobbies where the cheating wall hackers and aimbot users are, and so only those people who were trying to game the system were being punished by the yoyo effect of the SBMM trying to make sense of the scores that don't add up?
@@DerekMoore82 no I don’t reverse boost nor game the system and I get ass blasted by yo-yo lobbies constantly. It’s like 3 games playing in the CWL for millions of dollars, then 3 games against people who don’t have working thumbs, then the cycle repeats
The off-peak hours tip has mixed results for me. I definitely feel the lobbies are harder during weekends, but I also have an easier time when players are off of work and get on the game. This makes logical sense because it's just more likely for higher skilled players to be on during off-peak hours since they typically have more time played than the average player.
Yup, decided to play around 7am eastern and there was an enemy trio going 50+ kills in one of the normal lobbies(no small maps queue). Quickly decided MW2 was not the move for wakin' and bakin'
@@EgoCarry1 - Sometimes I'll play around 4-5am thinking the lobbies will be calm but then quickly realize that the squads that play all night are the only ones on the game 😂
I wonder if it helps to play on a moderate or even a strict NAT-Type. This willl significantly reduce the players you can connect to. Just not sure if it reduces your connection overall, cause that would suck again.
I think one of the biggest things we lost loosing ping based matchmaking is the social aspect to it. It wasn't uncommon to recognize some names in your lobbies and see them In game often. Maybe you would chat with them and because it's ping based they might end up being close by you. Not a bad way to make a friend or two. But ya good luck hearing about that happening again with engagement optimized matchmaking. It's great to have some community.
Yeah, there was a PSN friend I had that unfriended me cause we didn't play together anymore and literally the next day, we ended up in a team together back in MW3 and we subsequently became PSN friends again.
Totally agree. Back When I played IW and WW2, actually make friend a lot because I saw them like in every lobby when I play. Either they're on the enemy team. They still regconize me and later will team up with
6:50 I think it also feeds into you first strategy of limiting the pool, when you have a full party it stop you from joining high level games that only need one more person for a full lobby.
@@ryanlopez1050 No it isn't. If you think that then you don't understand how cod spawns work. These spawns are nothing like the spawns in any other cod.
I’ve resorted to playing just ground war not because I want to but I find there is more of a mixed player base. Quite sad as I love 6v6 but I don’t enjoy it in this game because half the time I feel like I’m playing in an esports final
Man, I had so much fun with this game for the first month it was out. Skill level seemed even, I was averaging 1.3-1.5K/D on every gun I was leveling up(except the m16 and FTAC which I gave up on until DMZ came out). Nowadays if I’m not in peak physical and mental condition prior to sitting down to play, I just get clapped over and over. Like I have to warm up with an aim trainer for like 15 minutes minimum or my reflexes will just be too slow to do anything in 6v6. And when I am on point and twitchy AF, I’m still going like 1.1 K/D with my best load out. It’s basically ruined the gaming experience and I feel like I wasted 70$.
@@hacimdoowlla2730 Been playing BF2042 since it dropped on game pass. It’s annoying sometimes when your team is getting dominated by vehicles, but overall it’s been more fun. Even the TDM mode seems like big step in the casual/enjoyable direction. I still pop on MW2 every once in a while when I’m feeling scrappy, but usually I only last about 4-5 matches before it puts me into the next tier sweatshop and crushes my fighting spirit.
6v6 is just full of kids on Adderall sweating their balls off with untouchable reaction time. I'm getting older now so my reaction time is naturally getting worse and I while I still do pretty good in most lobbies there's games where some kids just outplay me based on reaction time alone. With fast ttk and fast reaction time it feels like you die before you can even realize you're seeing someone on screen. If I'm feeling sluggish I don't even get on anymore because I already know what's going to happen.
I remember in mw3 you could look at the kd of each player in the lobby before the game started. It was usually a good mix of really good players and bad players. The games felt so much better back then and before.
It didn't occur to me that choosing only the less popular gamemodes (which I actually tend to prefer) would give me better lobbies. Looks like I'll double down on them
@TheXclusiveAce , one of your long time fans here. I just wanna say the thanks you've probably read a bazillion times, but thanks for being awesome! Keep up the fantastic work! I hope to see more of you and Drift0r collaborating in the future, as you guys are just both phenomenal human beings and beacons of hope in the CoD community! Also think I ran into you once in CoD WW2, was honored to have you fighting by my side!
Lower populated game modes is for sure the way to go for an old school COD matchmaking environment. It felt like I was playing against a lot of below average players, the enemy team would have maybe 1 or two players who would match up pretty evenly against me. Bounty felt great for this
By far the best playlist to get around SBMM is the third person playlists, they seem to not have SBMM or just never have enough players to actually match you up.
Great honest video!! Love the recommendations here Ace! It is sort of like your constructive feedback towards Activision… but just to help the player base around against this decease with a positive mindset ;-) As you perfectly mentioned; EOMM is nothing different than a slotmachine trying to get you hooked!
Thanks for the video Ace and I appreciate the transparency! Hopefully this helps others try to take some of the manipulative factors of the game into their own hands. Between SBMM and the hardcore mode (not the realism tier 1 system) being non-existent.. I haven't had much desire to play this game which is a bummer because I have always enjoyed CoD.. Still patiently waiting for an actual, true to it's history, hardcore mode to be released..
I went back to Modern Warfare 2019 while waiting for season 2. The game is significantly more fun and laid back because of what you said in this video. It's obviously still there, and it will match you with players who slide cancel every milisecond, but the SBMM isn't anywhere near as agressive as MWII is at the moment.
You're totally right about the different gameplay depending on the daytime. At evenings and weekends there are also many squads playing and this can be very stressful and frustrating for a not squad player like me.
To answer the question near the end of the vid: I've only been limiting the player pool cuz I only enjoy TDM and KC anyways but it's nice to know that it helps with the matchmaking experience lol, great vid as always!
Disabling crossplay was the greatest tip you ever gave for this game. I started doing It when you mentioned it on another video at the start of the MW2 life-cycle. Thank you a lot for your hard work! Amazing content
I was starting to wonder why it seemed like I ALWAYS get paired with less skilled players...I swear about 75% of the games I play I'm in the top one or 2 of my team. Now it makes more sense why. I kinda wish they would add a ranked mode with SBMM, and a casual mode without SBMM so that I could choose whether to have more chill games or to have more ranked/competitive play. Maybe the XP earned could be different between the two to balance it?
These are great tips, my dude will be looking into that router. One note you can also disable crossplay on Xbox by going through a set of menus under settings, you can find the video for that with a quick google. The only downside is this is for Multiplayer only you cant play, Spec-Ops, DMZ or Warzone with it enabled.
Not really part of this argument, but the studios all collectively removing the map vote that we all grew accustomed to reads a bit odd? Like don’t get me wrong, having 24/7 playlists for certain maps on rotation is a good quality of life change, especially if you just wanna hop in and get out as fast as possible. But the map vote added engagement to the lobbies before the game even starts! I remember multiple times having the vote piled against me, being the first to vote for the other map, and that map winning. It was a super cool thing that added variety to the game, but now you have to play what your matchmaking determines. Also, the fact that sometimes you get placed into a match you CANNOT back out of is ridiculous, especially for a triple A studio. Thanks Ace, keep up the amazing work!
One thing I hate is when I get in a bunch of sweaty lobbies where I keep losing then they put me in a bot lobby. It just makes me even more mad because it’s basically telling me I suck.
@@markhackett8387 No bunny hopping every corner, prefiring, a team pinging you and rushing you, spammed grenades, drop shooting, team of taqs or spr. If you have none of those you are in a normal lobby or bot.
For some reasons Ground War is always very fun with a lot of different playstyles, from spawn camping snipers to people who rush objectives or people who play vehicles. And it's the closest feeling I got to the "no SBMM" feeling. Probably because it's a very niche gamemode.
The fact that a video has to be made like this proves that the system is a terrible thing… like you have a fan saying don’t play at nights or at weekend. Well done activision :(
I had a moment of deep self-hatred and bought MWII last weekend. I put in a lot of time to get good at COD several years ago. On an older COD I can still go back and get anywhere from a 2 to a 5 KD in most lobbies. If I struggle there the worst it gets is a about a 1.2. In MWII every game is painful. How is this system meant to "keep me playing longer"? The result is exactly the opposite. I play about four matches and get fed up with bouncing between a .4 and a 1.4 KD and just shut it down and do something else. I hate what they've done to COD.
One huge tip that was missed is to play the Big Team modes exclusively when you want to chill and ONLY ever play 6v6 when you are ready to sweat hard. That becomes a pleasant mix after a while.
I would say stay in the lobby and start camping. The game will shit on you for the first half, then will allow you to draw even by the end of the match. Either way, you're taking the L. May as well keep your K/D intact
I can't help but stare and admire that AK skin so crisp and clean using a nice shade of white with a perfect amount of black to accentuate the whole thing making the white stand out even better without drowning it out mmm love it.
Do you think not playing for a few days helps as well? Couple months back, I was only able to play once or twice a week and each time I played the lobbies were fine. It wasn’t until I started playing frequently again that my lobbies began to be sweaty back to back.
This is definitely a thing. It's in a lot of mobile games (Candy Crush! - stuck on a level for ages? Have a few days off, go back and the RNG will be your best friend).
disable crossplay is a HUGE difference done it for 3 years now. Also Ace... Playing at peak times is actually FAR better then playing while people are at work/school. when you are playing while people are at work you are more likely to find simular people who grind 24/7 who don't work or have education etc
This would be true for below average players since their odds of running into higher skill players increase but for skilled players, it's extremely obvious that off-peak hours tend to yield a better mix of lobbies. It's literally a night and day difference.
I don't know if someone mentioned it, but you can also disable crossplay on Xbox but you have to do it account-wide since there is no option for it in MWII's settings. Just a quick search will give you the steps on how to do it and just restart MWII and you'll then be playing with only Xbox players.
Personally for me the matchmaking isn't that bad the only problem is that every two or three games I get in lobbies where there's one or two people (usually enemy team) who drop 40-plus kills in tdm and everybody else in the lobby only has 10 or 15.
Excellent video, but I do think the time of day thing is more than just organic. Yes, the population increases significantly in the early evening, but I do believe the matchmaking system gets more strict right at 7pm each night, in order to capitalize on all the new players
7:23 I've been saying this for years. This right here killed CoD MP for me. Everyone calls you crazy and says you just blame your team. Even though nearly every match you are outscoring them sometimes all combined. It was my team holding me back the whole time. I couldn't stand it anymore. The guy with 2 kils and 24 deaths will not drag me down ever again.
The problem I've been noticing is something weird happening half way through certain matches especially hard point. My team will be dominating the hard points for the first half of a match. Then all of a sudden it gets extremely hard to get kills or hold a hard point and the other team will almost make a complete comeback. I think the game is messing with hit detection during mid game to make matches feel more competitive and close so one team doesn't feel completely destroyed.
I’m a PS4 player. I got so fed up with just getting absolutely railed in every match that it occurred to me to turn off crossplay. Immediately I noticed a day and night difference. The matches were so much more fun and I felt like I could compete.
Due to SBMM I can now predict when I need to log off for the day because the congealing and increasing sweat of my enemies between each lobby tells me I don't want to keep playing after a certain amount of matches
Xbox can also turn off crossplay. You just have to go into the console's setting itself to turn it off (under the 'communication and multi-player' settings). Not as elegant as an in-game specific toggle, but it's only a few seconds of menuing to turn it off or back on.
Is there any tangible evidence of a system that alters things during a match as well? Like something that causes you to do less damage in a match? I've seen a few people in the Steam discussions talk about this. And from my experience of MW2 (and other CoD's since MW19) im starting to think these rumours are correct... Having used certain top weapons in a match. Dominate with it and then suddenly it's as if the damage goes down and i can't get any kills.
I actually posted a comment very similar to yours before I read your comment. I notice this happening the most on hard point. My team will be absolutely dominating the other team for half of the game and then it feels like a flip of a switch and my team can no longer get kills or hold a hard points. The other team will almost make a complete comeback by the end of the match. I think they mess with the hit detection of the winning team so the game feels more competitive for both teams or something.
@@BretCahill That is part of the rumours on Steam as well. The other teams hit box apparently shrinks depending on how well you're doing or your team. I seem to have experienced this multiple times for AND against me. On people standing still (AFK) and moving. Using semi auto weapons i see it far more. Aim is directly on them, centre chest, but the shot goes right through without damage.
You know why SBMM is so extreme? We keep watching and sharing these youtubers obsessed with the best strats and weapons. It doesn't matter what game it is, it's the same thing.
I’ll have to try some of these out at some point. I really like playing CoD, played it since I was a little kid lol, but have recently been turned off by the matchmaking system used since MW2019. I quit that game and Cold War early due to frustration from it, and didn’t even bother buying Vanguard (good choice lmao) I had played during one of the free weekends and the limited playlist wasn’t fun with the maps… except for Shipment. My friends convinced me to buy this game despite my concerns, and I’ve been trying to personally take the game less serious and not play to do well. Been trying to get Orion. It’s been kinda fun at times, to my surprise, and I’ve really enjoyed seeing some cool weapons in the game, as well as weapons from past games. I missed the G3 Still, it gets frustrating. Even when you don’t do particularly well, it’ll force you against players who are better (skill issue I know) In the old games you could come across people who’d actually miss some shots on you. Now, it’s like everyone is allergic to missing During solo, the matchmaking was horrendous I only played Shipment and even just squading up with 1-2 of my friends would yield some better lobbies Even with all the chaos, I’ve hit a 1.2-ish K/D somehow And now that Shipment is gone, I’ve had no interest in playing. I’m not a fan of Shoot House, didn’t like it in MW2019, although I assume this is due to the matchmaking making the map not fun Not to mention the chaotic nature of Shipment can somewhat alleviate the horrible matchmaking But if some of these tips help, then maybe I’ll try my luck at some point. I really wanna enjoy this game. It has potential, and plus I wanna get my money’s worth. Sadly, I own the game on Steam and have friends with the game on Xbox, so I probably won’t be able to turn off crossplay. Only if I’m solo, but since I’m on PC, I feel like that wouldn’t end well. Could be wrong though. I really wish I could play at off-peak hours and play in less popular playlists. The new maps aren’t good imo and I just don’t have fun with them at all. Border Crossing has to be one of the worst maps ever made If I had that router, that’d be amazing My only option is to party up, really Sorry for long comment (essay)
One thing I've found is that if you rage quit when you're getting stomped, and don't open the game for a few hours, you'll often get much better lobbies when you return. So if you're having some amazing games, SBMM ramps up and all of a sudden you're 5 and 15, I just rage quit. The SBMM is optimized for engagement, so any negative signaling (you showing you're not going to play because the difficulty is too high) tells the algorithm that it should lower the difficulty on you. This works quite well actually. Generally this means I only continue playing when I'm having good games - as soon as the game quality goes to shit and I start losing a lot, I quit. Sounds kind of annoying, but honestly, that is what the system is set up for. Some players thrive when they're struggling, and will actually play longer when they are losing often. I make sure the algorithm knows that making the game harder for me does not lead to increased engagement.
This makes sense to me now. I've always felt like I've never had an issue with SBMM, I've been a COD player since COD4:MW and my skills have improved over the years, I find myself mostly breaking even most of the time and don't feel the sweat but over the last few years I only find myself playing during off peak hours, since my days off work are Tuesdays and Thursdays and that's when I get most of my games in, from morning to afternoon then in the evening I do other things and then usually play after midnight (EST) before going to bed.
Im not the best player and i feel like i can’t get better because of SBMM. I could relax when playing CoD back in the day. But not anymore since i have to sweat all of the time only to get more than 10 kills. And when i do play good and have fun then the game will put me into lobbies with the biggest sweats who get 30 plus kills and then get my Butt handed to me. It wouldn’t be a big problem if it didn’t happen all of the time.
The real way to stop SBMM and deal with tough players Switch to the "Smoke grenade ninja" class. Use a weapon with high mobility, then use Dead Silence as a field upgrade. Then equip 2 smoke grenades, and then also use the "Smoke airdrop" as your second field upgrade. As you die over and over from the sweats, just keep throwing those smokes. Eventually, you'll have 8-10 built up all at once, then you drop the airdrop. The sweats that are camping can't see anymore, and it forces them to move around
Wait im confused do you want more compepitive games or more steam roll games? When you say a "better" mix of games you mean more lower skilled players right?
I want more variety in public matches where you never know what you're going to get; some hard games, some easy ones, and everything in between. If I wanted constant competitive games, I'd play ranked play so I can at least see my skill rank and track improvement over time but that doesn't currently exist.
yeah, all this "I dont wanna be punished for playing good" is just a code for "I wanna stomp noobs for my videos". If you want to stomp, go play bots, dont ruin experience for new players.
@@justusnixx “don’t ruin experience for new players” what? 10 minute tdm games that go to the score limit because no one gets more then 15 kills? Bro, do you just have no memory of how cod used to be, everyone got stomped at one point no one complained. Why do people get so upset over stomping noobs these days. It was a regular thing pre mw19. Now everyone winges at the sight of someone killing a level 20
@@lRagingl I play this series since 2009. I don't care if you encounter noobs and stomp them naturally. But when you actively trying to avoid system that tries to find you opponents on par with you, you just acting like a spoiled lazy brat
@@lRagingl also, I dont see the hate for SBMM from the majority of players. But I do see A LOT of videos with negative feedback for SBMM from streamers, who doesnt really care for it, they just want easy lobbies for "impressive" montages. And its not just the COD series, you can see it in Destiny 2, etc, etc
I tried messing with my Netduma Router when Cold War came out and set it to regions with a low population which helped me get my first nukes back then with a ~ 2.7 kd and it worked just fine. Can confirm your tipps work! Thanks Ace!
Now that you mention it, I wonder if there’s legal precedent to sue the devs for their “engagement’ based matchmaking as gambling/exploitation for monetary gain . Doubt it but curious. Legislators don’t understand tech anyways
as a 1.0 kda player, I have had very little complaints with the matchmaking. It seems pretty good for your average gamer. I get some easy lobbies, some tough lobbies, and some average lobbies and i tend to be top 3 on my team in most games
Yes, the problem isn't that this isn't happening. The problem is that it's predictable. Oh, you just had 3 good games in a row with an average K/D of 2,5? Too bad! Time to face the elite CoD players. It's not organic. But then again, as Ace mentioned, SBMM benefits bad players, makes average players sometimes uncomfortable and completely sucks out the life essence of the above average player.
I am a 1.14 kda player which is basically the same and it's a completely different story for me. I really can't enjoy the game now because it has almost never given me fair lobbies. Most of my lobbies are rather sweaty and then I try my best (and I am not talking about getting top of the leaderboard, no) the game gives me even more sweaty lobbies. Sometimes game give me "easy" lobbies where I can make 30+ kills (with kd 2-2.5), but only for 1-2 games. And then again... Is it some kind of a joke? I am getting tired by the game and not enjoying it, and it is very sad, because I dont think it's bad( Dont get me wrong, I dont want only bot lobbies for myself, it's not fair, it's not balanced, it's not interesting at the end of the day. I just want some kind of consistency and fairness. Nobody likes this system. As the Ace said, it's just a manipulative system to make you feel that they want you feel about the game. I miss so much fair equal game without only sweats or rookies in the lobby. I almost never get it now(
@@openday93 I'm confused... isn't 1.14 kd a fair experience? You're not negative.. and you said yourself that the 2.5 was when they put you against "rookies" for a minute, and you didn't like that either... so what *do* you want? Precisely 1.8? 1.9? Sounds like even more controlled? Or do you want it so random that you go from 100 kills 0 deaths in one match to 0 kills 100 deaths the next? If you're averaging 1.14 with occasional 2.5 then it sounds like a great experience to me.
@@DerekMoore82 you didn’t understand me at all. What you wrote above is exactly that I do not want at all. This is the main problem. I almost do not have fair lobbies with my k/d at 1.1-1.2 which is almost equal kills/deaths. Most of the lobbies I got either sweats and negative kd for me or sometimes easy lobbies where I am at the top of the leaderboard with kd 2 or 3. Mostly because of this easy games I got my ~1.1kd. But I don’t want this. Play several games sucking hard and then 1-2 easy games just to improve my kd, and then again pro lobbies. That’s just not right and it’s not fair at all for everyone. I want something between, mixed lobbies with average players. That’s all. I understand even without sbmm I won’t be getting such lobbies every time, but at least they pop up several times a day)
Just due to previous year's testing, I don't actually find SBMM that bad now that I'm above the average skill level. If I recall correctly, the average enemy skill level when I'm above a 1.2 k/d starts ramping significantly downwards. Instead of having a 1 k/d and being paired with other 1 k/d players, once I'm at a 1.4 I'm with 1.22 on average. Once I'm at 1.8 I'm with 1.26 on average. Hopefully that makes sense. Lobbies will definitely be more sweaty but people forget that a 1 k/d isn't always just a bad player... they might have god aim but horrible positioning. That said, knowing I'm above the average enemy k/d curve is good enough for me.
FYI, I am a solo player 99% of the time. When I played with you Ace on twitch, I instantly noticed you and my other teammates were stealing all the kills lol. I had to switch my playstyle a bit to actually get into some action before you all rush straight ahead winning all your gunfights. The pacing was pretty different but I was still having fun and called in a chopper one match on Taraq with you guys the other day.
Before I tried reverse boosting ( I know scummy, but wanted to have some fun) I had a 2.8kd and holy Jesus the game was hard. Lobbies were full of people weapon switch spamming, drop shotting with cdl skins and cdl loadouts. It was so difficult to use anything that wasn’t meta guns.
Unfortunately, KD means shitall now :/ Can be an absolute bot playing vs bots and maintain a 1KD, or be a sweat lord playing CDL pros and still maintain around a 1kd, honestly if your kd isnt significantly low (below ~0.6) or significantly high (over ~1.8) there is no way at all of telling how good a player is (the reason I put a range above 1 is because playstyle within that skill level will influence kd, and I can damn guarentee KD is not the only stat activision use to put you in a skill bracket, and the reason I say 1.8 instead of 1.4 is because you tend to have a "lot" of players with insanely high KDs like 3-4, whereas even the worse players hover around a 0.2-0.3 kd). I.e. Once you are over a ~2kd, yes the SBMM strength stops increasing for the most part (unless you have some next level KD like a 6+ I found with warzone 1 anyways but thats just personal feeling), elsewise, there is legit no way of telling your skill level. And even then, when you add in people you are queueing with, or the different player populations/lobby sizes with other playlists and warzone, the whole thing gets insane. Honestly, activision has done a great job of eliminating a skill gap, I genuinely dont think I could have done better if I tried short of giving everyone aimbot and walls xD
Hey Ace, I'm Curious what Deadzone do you use for your Analog sticks? I try to play on 0.2 on PS5 controller I'm better with it I feel like I'm more on point and accurate but at the cost of slight stick drift even on a brand new PS5 controller. I just would like to know what you personally would think is a better deadzone to really use?
Let me be more specific. The average skill level of a player in 2023 is probably at least double that of what it was in 2009. You’re just not gonna run into many people that don’t know how to play
@@bradenmchenry995 Definitely I should, but that’s the general sentiment around the sbmm. If you’re a pro or play competitively this doesn’t affect you. I, with a 1.2 k/d ratio, want to have fun after coming back from work not get frustrated.
most of your issues with SBMM don't affect 90% of the playerbase, almost everyone is around a 1.0 k/d which means the lobbies don't tend to vary much anyways and we always have people to connect to so ping is never an issue for the majority, unless you live in an internet desert
The reason everyone's KD is the same is because of SBMM. When your KD should start going up, it will put you against players that are doing better and balance you back out, and for the better player that's when the game is helping their KD because lately they've been getting shit on by better players than them, and the cycle continues.
I only play mornings and early afternoon and let me tell you it's a huge help, I refuse to touch the game after 3pm and weekends are a big no go. I'm not the greatest player, I have a 1.2 K/D in MWII but if I play later in the day or not weekends I'm playing some absolute demons, when I play early on weekdays I typically get 3-4 easier games and then a couple tougher games. Another thing that helps is the camo grind, there's some guns that are just killers of your K/D and when you're grinding those guns you'll find that after a few games you'll start to get the easier lobbies, you just have to be willing to suffer through those tough games
I remember going 43 to 12 on a TDM the other day. I said to myself, "Sbmm is going is gonna hit me so hard." Low and behold, the next 2-3 games, I'm getting my butt whooped by a team of my skill level, and horrible teammates of my own.
I found a great way to mitigate it too. I uninstalled the game and started playing something fun. Weird how all my shots count now. Not seeing any “aimbot” killcams either.
I like sbmm because it keeps me out of streamers and demon lobbies. Anyone who doesn’t like it, really doesn’t understand how it’s helping you play and keep playing
@@lRagingl until you get put with pro players and go 1-53. No matter how good you are, they are better. This prevents that unless you are in their level
Hey Ace. Thank you as always for your work! I saw a post from EARS where he went into either shoot house or shipment, (works with both), then select the Pick a party option, then select the play style and move that off of competitive to casual. Does this take out the SBMM?
I noticed the thing with more people in the party. When we are 4 people that are above average, the 2 remaining are getting destroyed completely. When we are 5 or 6, which rarely happens, we are a good mix and everyone is fine more or less
Hello Ace!!! Love your content!!! Been following your channel a long time, and I really enjoy the content. It has been very helpful over the years. I have a question for you maybe you can help. I’m playing MW2 on the ps4 and I’ve run into a situation with the in game chat. I haven’t been able to use my mic when in game. I’ve gone over all the settings my headset works just fine I even test the mic in audio settings and it shows it’s working, but when I’m in a game I try talking to the lobby and it doesn’t work. I’ve tried about everything settings, reinstalling the game. Nothing has worked so far. Do you have any idea how to solve this. I can only talk to friends through the ps4 party chat, but not the In game chat.
Halo 5 had a great ranked system. Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Onyx, and Champion. And you could definitely feel the difference as you leveled up. I miss that game
is there a way to do Geo-Filtering PC side? here in Australia we have NBN now and the only NBN routers are the ones ISPs provide so no fancy routers for us. i doubt it will make a difference since the CoD WM2 22 Australia region is gone we got merged in to Asia region (supper sarcastic "YAY") but its worth a try.
We reached a point in CoD that we have to search videos like this to have fun
I dunno what you got out of this, the video didnt really say anything that wouldnt be intuitive. Waste of 15 mins to say the least, couldve summed it all up in a sentence.
@@meltedjax3619 well, I just got recommended this video at that time and got me thinking about the state of the game, I have left CoD and now I think CoD is dead or at least the new one
@Anderchu2008 now I know why yt streamers are king on warzone
this might be just a pipe dream but I honestly hope that when Ranked comes out they'll either remove SBMM or heavily tone it down. I'm sick of getting stuck in lobbies with like 100+ ms of ping constantly just cause I do well
I played a match late at night/early morning, i found it almost instantly was full of noobs, I got a nuke easy. Then after I couldn’t find another match ping would go up to 100+ trying to find sweats. Had to get off because I couldn’t find a match anymore
Ranked will not change anything and they will not remove SBMM, the same was with Cold War and Vanguard.
pipe dream indeed
@@calmarfps I'm just hoping they maybe could with how strong the negative reaction has been for 3+ years towards SBMM
Yup, it's a dream.
I’m so happy to hear that I’m not crazy when the gaming experience differs from weekend vs weekdays...it’s a much better experience for me during weekdays and a bloodbath while playing on a Saturday evening. Thanks Ace!
Exactly!!!
Bruh, Wednesdays seem to hit completely different.
It's the case with all online games. People don't work or are at the university on weekends or after 6 pm on weekdays. Outside of those times periodes you'll generally just find kids or people who don't have any pressure (in terms of time ) to play, so less tryhards.
It's literally always been like that wdym. Most people play on weekends and Fridays. I always avoid playing on the weekend and find something else to do until Monday.
Thankfully I often work weekends so I have weekdays available to play when it's easier
As a solo player that is fairly skilled the amount of validation this man ace is giving me is life. I really like playing GW and invasion and I definitely get the worst players on my team with the game expecting me to carry. It's not fun after a while. Now I just hop on during the weekdays get a couple of AC130's then hop off for that week. it's funny cuz the matchmaking system is designed to "keep me playing" but it does the exact opposite now.
its doing its job. Its meant to weed out the players who arent dedicating infinite time to the game and constantly seeing things to buy from the shop
Same. If I get a couple of crappy lobbies I just turn it off. There's no incentive (or point) to put in time knowing that I'm being manipulated.
Because that's designed to keep the AVERAGE PLAYER hooked not specifically you. The average player doesn't even know a manipulative matchmaking system exists in the first place
Funny thing is SBMM wasn’t in GW in mw19 which is why I loved it. I basically only played gw and snd
It’s meant to keep the average player (95% of the game’s population) hooked, rather than the 5% of pubstompers and pros. It must work pretty well in that case if they’ve kept it that long. I remember one of my friends talking about Cold War when it was first out and how much fun he was having with it, and I asked him about SBMM and if it was ruining the game for him (for reference, he’s around a 0.7-0.8kd and I’m a 1.8-2kd) and he told me, “who gives a shit about that? You’re probably one of the tryhard guys that it protects against” so yeah lol, it’s probably great for 95% of people but not the 5% of sweats like us haha
How to beat SBMM:
Step 1: Don't play the game
Step 2: Enjoy!!
Average Balkaner W
Stopped buying cod when mw2019 came out. I had a feeling that they would all in on sbmm.
been doing this im just sad i even payed for this praying that it wont be as bad as it was in mw2019 but i guess thats what i get...
This is the real answer. COD simply doesn't deserve anyone's hard earned money
@@cxngo8124 same
Yea you know sbmm is getting bad when we have to find ways/loop holes around it, that should be a sign to the developers to not put it in the game
I don’t see them taking it out tho. Maybe they’ll tune it down but it won’t go away. They want the players with negative K/Ds to keep playing their game.
Yeah unfortunately nowadays in the gaming industry. The customer is just never right.
You know that the players suck when they have to beat SBMM in a game made for bots
People who watch Xclusive Ace on a daily basis like us are exactly the kind of players the developers want to keep away from noobs, most of them don’t even know about SBMM
@@Thunderlord_Tozn I stopped playing because of sbmm, and if the next cod will have sbmm I wont buy it.
The EOMM is pretty much the only reason I’ve stepped away from MWII. After a while all the matches feel artificial and gamified which is far more draining than a more natural approach like ping based match making.
I’ve always said that the whole EOMM thing felt like scrolling on TikTok/reels because it’s essentially the same algorithm. After a while you feel absolutely drained.
never used Tik Tok but I'm definitely not going to now.
EOMM doesn't make sense even for bad players. Our squads avg. k/d is somewhere around 0.9 and still in warzone we have played against WSOW participants or with people on my team who play the game for the 2nd time ever but we are in the sweat lobby ( Caldera ). This is just WTF ! Game is punishing you for wanting to play it. I have found that playing less gets you better lobbies..How can a game when you have been doing bad decide you to put in a 1.26 k/d lobby @ peak time in WZ for example? It's just mind-blowing.
Just the fact that someone who played the game for 2 years and got 26 WINS and in the same time was in the TOP22% of the WHOLE player base speaks volumes. I'm not surprised that player count has been dropping hard.
There's literally nothing to play for.
You're being manipulated constantly. They bait and switch you by giving 1-2 easier game to start a night, to make you think it'll be fun and you'll do well, then they give you matches with all the no life loser sweats who bought skins and blueprints to make you think you need to buy them too in order to compete. And you will get those until you open up the wallet. F off, Activision
@@kingart23actually bad players, between 0,7 to 0.9 are used us fodder
I appreciate the transparency Ace! I've always suspected SBMM would punish you in solos, by teaming you up with lower skill players. I've found after a good run of 3-4 games, I find myself on a team where I'm top of the board and no other player on my team posted a positive KD.
Yeah it's uses decent players to carry losing teams. Happens to me too problem is even if I get a 10kd my team will lose.
That's my biggest issue, I don't mind a challenge with playing equal level players, but WHY DO I GET MATCH WITH DOG SHIT TEAMMATES. Like it's always my team that will drag me down in those lobbies, it's frustrating
@@BetaBreaking they do this because you're a high skilled outlier, and in order for them to give you everyone the same skill as you they would have to increase sbmm, which would exponentially increase wait times to where you wouldnt be able to find a match. If they team balance you with lower skill players then you can still find a quick match where every team has an even chance of winning (50-50), as every games matchmaking system tries to do that
@@BetaBreaking I feel your pain.
@@hydb801 man thanks for the explanation. Sucks that it ends up being a 1v6 most of the time 😭😔
I just want a true public walk on experience. Some people might be better, and some might be worse. I feel like in current state I’m playing against only good players. I struggle to have a positive K/D and it’s no fun when everyone is so freaking good.
Then in that case... all the people who say the SBMM is manipulating players to keep coming back like a slot machine are wrong.
If it's supposed to be a cycle of hard games followed by easy games to lure you back, but all your matches are hard.. then the only thing I can think of is that they can't find anyone that's worse at the game than you are to keep you motivated. Which is doubtful because there's kids that play, so it's not likely to be the case. Or the SBMM *isn't* doing what people think it's doing.
My experience is different from what people describe as well. All of my games are average. I'm never dominating, and I'm never getting dominated. All of my matches feel average and well balanced. I wouldn't change a thing and am loving the experience. However, that's not the "hard and then easy" experience some describe, nor is it the "always hard" experience you describe.... who knows what the heck is going on?... 🤔
@@DerekMoore82 well, as I understand it there's a "protected" bracket for those severely under the average, I would assume if you're in that you only meet people of comparable skill.
That just means you are good and you need to learn to continue to improve. The end.
@@jongustavsson5874 Wouldn't it be funny if the majority of average players who are just playing normally are in average matches where everyone has around the same 1.0 k/d ratio and the experience is fair and good.
But then there are these bot lobbies comprised of people who are playing bad on purpose to reverse boost, and then really hard lobbies where the cheating wall hackers and aimbot users are, and so only those people who were trying to game the system were being punished by the yoyo effect of the SBMM trying to make sense of the scores that don't add up?
@@DerekMoore82 no I don’t reverse boost nor game the system and I get ass blasted by yo-yo lobbies constantly. It’s like 3 games playing in the CWL for millions of dollars, then 3 games against people who don’t have working thumbs, then the cycle repeats
The off-peak hours tip has mixed results for me. I definitely feel the lobbies are harder during weekends, but I also have an easier time when players are off of work and get on the game. This makes logical sense because it's just more likely for higher skilled players to be on during off-peak hours since they typically have more time played than the average player.
Yup, decided to play around 7am eastern and there was an enemy trio going 50+ kills in one of the normal lobbies(no small maps queue). Quickly decided MW2 was not the move for wakin' and bakin'
@@EgoCarry1 - Sometimes I'll play around 4-5am thinking the lobbies will be calm but then quickly realize that the squads that play all night are the only ones on the game 😂
@@EgoCarry1 I can only play this game while high.. shit stresses me out. Ranked mode is public matches. Just without any medals 🏅
I wonder if it helps to play on a moderate or even a strict NAT-Type. This willl significantly reduce the players you can connect to. Just not sure if it reduces your connection overall, cause that would suck again.
I think one of the biggest things we lost loosing ping based matchmaking is the social aspect to it.
It wasn't uncommon to recognize some names in your lobbies and see them In game often. Maybe you would chat with them and because it's ping based they might end up being close by you. Not a bad way to make a friend or two.
But ya good luck hearing about that happening again with engagement optimized matchmaking. It's great to have some community.
Totally agree
Yeah, there was a PSN friend I had that unfriended me cause we didn't play together anymore and literally the next day, we ended up in a team together back in MW3 and we subsequently became PSN friends again.
Totally agree. Back When I played IW and WW2, actually make friend a lot because I saw them like in every lobby when I play. Either they're on the enemy team. They still regconize me and later will team up with
Dedicated servers were king for meeting up with the same peeps to game. It was 1000x more fun then what we have today.
The guy Ive been matchin up with for weeks is toxic af
6:50 I think it also feeds into you first strategy of limiting the pool, when you have a full party it stop you from joining high level games that only need one more person for a full lobby.
How do you feel about the spawn system? I feel like I’ve never played a game where I’ve died from behind so goddamn much.
It's terrible but I've at least started to get a decent feel for them on most maps. I'd much rather have a more traditional spawn system
That’s every cod ever😂try using the paranoid perk that tells if an enemy is looking at you from behind
always from behind
😏
@@ryanlopez1050 No it isn't. If you think that then you don't understand how cod spawns work. These spawns are nothing like the spawns in any other cod.
I’ve resorted to playing just ground war not because I want to but I find there is more of a mixed player base. Quite sad as I love 6v6 but I don’t enjoy it in this game because half the time I feel like I’m playing in an esports final
More than half the time. Try every single match.😂
its crazy how much of a difference disabling cross play made, great video !
Man, I had so much fun with this game for the first month it was out. Skill level seemed even, I was averaging 1.3-1.5K/D on every gun I was leveling up(except the m16 and FTAC which I gave up on until DMZ came out). Nowadays if I’m not in peak physical and mental condition prior to sitting down to play, I just get clapped over and over. Like I have to warm up with an aim trainer for like 15 minutes minimum or my reflexes will just be too slow to do anything in 6v6. And when I am on point and twitchy AF, I’m still going like 1.1 K/D with my best load out. It’s basically ruined the gaming experience and I feel like I wasted 70$.
I agree with this so much
felt this...if ur really not about being a demon on a particular day, then its best not to hop on
@@hacimdoowlla2730 Been playing BF2042 since it dropped on game pass. It’s annoying sometimes when your team is getting dominated by vehicles, but overall it’s been more fun. Even the TDM mode seems like big step in the casual/enjoyable direction. I still pop on MW2 every once in a while when I’m feeling scrappy, but usually I only last about 4-5 matches before it puts me into the next tier sweatshop and crushes my fighting spirit.
6v6 is just full of kids on Adderall sweating their balls off with untouchable reaction time. I'm getting older now so my reaction time is naturally getting worse and I while I still do pretty good in most lobbies there's games where some kids just outplay me based on reaction time alone. With fast ttk and fast reaction time it feels like you die before you can even realize you're seeing someone on screen. If I'm feeling sluggish I don't even get on anymore because I already know what's going to happen.
I remember in mw3 you could look at the kd of each player in the lobby before the game started. It was usually a good mix of really good players and bad players. The games felt so much better back then and before.
BO2 you could see everyone’s KD in lobby before Match. Good times…..
It didn't occur to me that choosing only the less popular gamemodes (which I actually tend to prefer) would give me better lobbies. Looks like I'll double down on them
Shh that is the secret! I just found a decent unpopular mode i enjoy playing. Insanely good!
My friends and I play almost exclusively knock out, and it's been a great time 80% of the time
I mained HQ and Hardpoint in MW19 and mostly had good games. The spawns are so awful though, they're hardly fun to play even with decent enemies.
@TheXclusiveAce , one of your long time fans here. I just wanna say the thanks you've probably read a bazillion times, but thanks for being awesome! Keep up the fantastic work! I hope to see more of you and Drift0r collaborating in the future, as you guys are just both phenomenal human beings and beacons of hope in the CoD community! Also think I ran into you once in CoD WW2, was honored to have you fighting by my side!
Lower populated game modes is for sure the way to go for an old school COD matchmaking environment. It felt like I was playing against a lot of below average players, the enemy team would have maybe 1 or two players who would match up pretty evenly against me. Bounty felt great for this
10:50 That's nice to hear that even great players have tough matches or segments within a match
The fact that this has to be a video says everything
Thank you for your openness and honesty. This is why I subscribed to you and keep coming back to watch your videos.
By far the best playlist to get around SBMM is the third person playlists, they seem to not have SBMM or just never have enough players to actually match you up.
I completely forgot about third person playlist, great advice.
That's why that mode has been so fun, i was amazed at "how good i was" in this mode but it is just more fun.
Great honest video!! Love the recommendations here Ace! It is sort of like your constructive feedback towards Activision… but just to help the player base around against this decease with a positive mindset ;-) As you perfectly mentioned; EOMM is nothing different than a slotmachine trying to get you hooked!
Honestly the fact that we even have to try to come up with different ways to do this should be a sign to Activision. Fuckin hell
Thank you for been real with us.
Thanks for the video Ace and I appreciate the transparency! Hopefully this helps others try to take some of the manipulative factors of the game into their own hands.
Between SBMM and the hardcore mode (not the realism tier 1 system) being non-existent.. I haven't had much desire to play this game which is a bummer because I have always enjoyed CoD..
Still patiently waiting for an actual, true to it's history, hardcore mode to be released..
I went back to Modern Warfare 2019 while waiting for season 2. The game is significantly more fun and laid back because of what you said in this video. It's obviously still there, and it will match you with players who slide cancel every milisecond, but the SBMM isn't anywhere near as agressive as MWII is at the moment.
Just remembering when I played mw19, there was sbmm but it wasn't so bad as it is with mw2
EOMM is still there, just less players to pull from so EOMM effect is weaker.
Mw2019 multiplayer was horrible
@@snelly09yogaflame89 agreed lol
problem with mw19 is it sucks
Thanks for your hard work and tips, Ace! Also really appreciate your transparency.
You're totally right about the different gameplay depending on the daytime. At evenings and weekends there are also many squads playing and this can be very stressful and frustrating for a not squad player like me.
To answer the question near the end of the vid: I've only been limiting the player pool cuz I only enjoy TDM and KC anyways but it's nice to know that it helps with the matchmaking experience lol, great vid as always!
Disabling crossplay was the greatest tip you ever gave for this game. I started doing It when you mentioned it on another video at the start of the MW2 life-cycle. Thank you a lot for your hard work! Amazing content
yea fuck pc players
Xbox players can't lol
@@robotic-race Neither can PC players
@@robotic-race They only care about PlayStation
My ps5 wont let me turn it off? Any ideas?
I was starting to wonder why it seemed like I ALWAYS get paired with less skilled players...I swear about 75% of the games I play I'm in the top one or 2 of my team. Now it makes more sense why.
I kinda wish they would add a ranked mode with SBMM, and a casual mode without SBMM so that I could choose whether to have more chill games or to have more ranked/competitive play. Maybe the XP earned could be different between the two to balance it?
Thanks Ace. Barely play anymore but here to like and comment!!
I noticed the time-of-day thing back in CoD WW2, especially on that game's shipment 24-7 playlist.
Great tips that I’ll be using! Now is there a way to remove border crossing from the rotation??
Or any non shipment map tbh..
These are great tips, my dude will be looking into that router. One note you can also disable crossplay on Xbox by going through a set of menus under settings, you can find the video for that with a quick google. The only downside is this is for Multiplayer only you cant play, Spec-Ops, DMZ or Warzone with it enabled.
ACE! You nailed💯🎯this one bro! Great video! I bring my XBOX to work with me and I play throughout the day(off peak) and I’m loving it💪🏾
Not really part of this argument, but the studios all collectively removing the map vote that we all grew accustomed to reads a bit odd? Like don’t get me wrong, having 24/7 playlists for certain maps on rotation is a good quality of life change, especially if you just wanna hop in and get out as fast as possible. But the map vote added engagement to the lobbies before the game even starts! I remember multiple times having the vote piled against me, being the first to vote for the other map, and that map winning. It was a super cool thing that added variety to the game, but now you have to play what your matchmaking determines. Also, the fact that sometimes you get placed into a match you CANNOT back out of is ridiculous, especially for a triple A studio. Thanks Ace, keep up the amazing work!
One thing I hate is when I get in a bunch of sweaty lobbies where I keep losing then they put me in a bot lobby. It just makes me even more mad because it’s basically telling me I suck.
How do you know when you’re in a bot lobby?🤔
When I’m getting all my high streaks early in the game 😂
@@pokemonchampionred5958 also when you have time to react after turning corners instead of getting completely melted
@@markhackett8387 No bunny hopping every corner, prefiring, a team pinging you and rushing you, spammed grenades, drop shooting, team of taqs or spr.
If you have none of those you are in a normal lobby or bot.
I've been playing exclusively prisoner rescue. Not only is it a good game mode but just about every game feels about right skill wise.
It’s pretty sweaty imo but it is a great game mode. I actually like it a lot more than search, which used to be my go to
For some reasons Ground War is always very fun with a lot of different playstyles, from spawn camping snipers to people who rush objectives or people who play vehicles. And it's the closest feeling I got to the "no SBMM" feeling. Probably because it's a very niche gamemode.
thank you ace❤️
The fact that a video has to be made like this proves that the system is a terrible thing… like you have a fan saying don’t play at nights or at weekend. Well done activision :(
I had a moment of deep self-hatred and bought MWII last weekend. I put in a lot of time to get good at COD several years ago. On an older COD I can still go back and get anywhere from a 2 to a 5 KD in most lobbies. If I struggle there the worst it gets is a about a 1.2. In MWII every game is painful. How is this system meant to "keep me playing longer"? The result is exactly the opposite. I play about four matches and get fed up with bouncing between a .4 and a 1.4 KD and just shut it down and do something else. I hate what they've done to COD.
How big of a mile radius do you use on your netduma? I have issues finding games sometimes if I use a small radius
My tip is to back out as soon as you feel like you’re in a tough lobby.
Nah, you have to get piss poor stats in that match so they put you with less sweaty players.
Nah I swear they'll punish you harder for this
@@Nate0001 the beatings will continue until morale has improved
One huge tip that was missed is to play the Big Team modes exclusively when you want to chill and ONLY ever play 6v6 when you are ready to sweat hard. That becomes a pleasant mix after a while.
I would say stay in the lobby and start camping. The game will shit on you for the first half, then will allow you to draw even by the end of the match. Either way, you're taking the L. May as well keep your K/D intact
Good work. We should never stop complaining about SBMM/EOMM, no matter how much they ignore the topic.
I can't help but stare and admire that AK skin so crisp and clean using a nice shade of white with a perfect amount of black to accentuate the whole thing making the white stand out even better without drowning it out mmm love it.
Do you think not playing for a few days helps as well? Couple months back, I was only able to play once or twice a week and each time I played the lobbies were fine. It wasn’t until I started playing frequently again that my lobbies began to be sweaty back to back.
I’ve noticed this too. I never play on work days and when I get back on I get a decent few hours before it feels like cash tournaments every match
@@ryanjones2307 its like they’re trying to reel you back in with a few easy games to start lol
This is definitely a thing. It's in a lot of mobile games (Candy Crush! - stuck on a level for ages? Have a few days off, go back and the RNG will be your best friend).
disable crossplay is a HUGE difference done it for 3 years now. Also Ace... Playing at peak times is actually FAR better then playing while people are at work/school. when you are playing while people are at work you are more likely to find simular people who grind 24/7 who don't work or have education etc
This would be true for below average players since their odds of running into higher skill players increase but for skilled players, it's extremely obvious that off-peak hours tend to yield a better mix of lobbies. It's literally a night and day difference.
@@TheXclusiveAce yep, if I play during the day my lobbies are a sweat fest.
I don't know if someone mentioned it, but you can also disable crossplay on Xbox but you have to do it account-wide since there is no option for it in MWII's settings. Just a quick search will give you the steps on how to do it and just restart MWII and you'll then be playing with only Xbox players.
I agree. Great explanations as usual.
Personally for me the matchmaking isn't that bad the only problem is that every two or three games I get in lobbies where there's one or two people (usually enemy team) who drop 40-plus kills in tdm and everybody else in the lobby only has 10 or 15.
yeah it feels like it puts 1-2 good players on each team to balance the average players out
watch this be a priority for them to fix whilst they keep the game broken and without content
Broken and without content lmao
This video shouldn't even have to exist but, here we are. Thank you for the info, never even knew about those type of routers gonna check em out.
Excellent video, but I do think the time of day thing is more than just organic. Yes, the population increases significantly in the early evening, but I do believe the matchmaking system gets more strict right at 7pm each night, in order to capitalize on all the new players
7:23
I've been saying this for years. This right here killed CoD MP for me. Everyone calls you crazy and says you just blame your team. Even though nearly every match you are outscoring them sometimes all combined. It was my team holding me back the whole time. I couldn't stand it anymore. The guy with 2 kils and 24 deaths will not drag me down ever again.
The problem I've been noticing is something weird happening half way through certain matches especially hard point. My team will be dominating the hard points for the first half of a match. Then all of a sudden it gets extremely hard to get kills or hold a hard point and the other team will almost make a complete comeback. I think the game is messing with hit detection during mid game to make matches feel more competitive and close so one team doesn't feel completely destroyed.
cod players will say anything lmao
Or people are getting their perks and playing more effectively
@@DJ.1001 nah its like clockwork happened two games in a row exactly the same way last night.
@@rivermiller1973 lmao if you are not also a cod player what are you doing watching a video about cod and replying to comments
@@BretCahill no i play i was just saying that sounds stupid
I’m a PS4 player. I got so fed up with just getting absolutely railed in every match that it occurred to me to turn off crossplay. Immediately I noticed a day and night difference. The matches were so much more fun and I felt like I could compete.
Due to SBMM I can now predict when I need to log off for the day because the congealing and increasing sweat of my enemies between each lobby tells me I don't want to keep playing after a certain amount of matches
Xbox can also turn off crossplay. You just have to go into the console's setting itself to turn it off (under the 'communication and multi-player' settings).
Not as elegant as an in-game specific toggle, but it's only a few seconds of menuing to turn it off or back on.
Sssshhhh, don't increase the pool!
Is there any tangible evidence of a system that alters things during a match as well? Like something that causes you to do less damage in a match? I've seen a few people in the Steam discussions talk about this. And from my experience of MW2 (and other CoD's since MW19) im starting to think these rumours are correct... Having used certain top weapons in a match. Dominate with it and then suddenly it's as if the damage goes down and i can't get any kills.
no. no evidence of this
I actually posted a comment very similar to yours before I read your comment. I notice this happening the most on hard point. My team will be absolutely dominating the other team for half of the game and then it feels like a flip of a switch and my team can no longer get kills or hold a hard points. The other team will almost make a complete comeback by the end of the match. I think they mess with the hit detection of the winning team so the game feels more competitive for both teams or something.
@@BretCahill That is part of the rumours on Steam as well. The other teams hit box apparently shrinks depending on how well you're doing or your team. I seem to have experienced this multiple times for AND against me. On people standing still (AFK) and moving. Using semi auto weapons i see it far more. Aim is directly on them, centre chest, but the shot goes right through without damage.
You know why SBMM is so extreme? We keep watching and sharing these youtubers obsessed with the best strats and weapons. It doesn't matter what game it is, it's the same thing.
I’ll have to try some of these out at some point. I really like playing CoD, played it since I was a little kid lol, but have recently been turned off by the matchmaking system used since MW2019. I quit that game and Cold War early due to frustration from it, and didn’t even bother buying Vanguard (good choice lmao)
I had played during one of the free weekends and the limited playlist wasn’t fun with the maps… except for Shipment.
My friends convinced me to buy this game despite my concerns, and I’ve been trying to personally take the game less serious and not play to do well. Been trying to get Orion. It’s been kinda fun at times, to my surprise, and I’ve really enjoyed seeing some cool weapons in the game, as well as weapons from past games. I missed the G3
Still, it gets frustrating. Even when you don’t do particularly well, it’ll force you against players who are better (skill issue I know)
In the old games you could come across people who’d actually miss some shots on you. Now, it’s like everyone is allergic to missing
During solo, the matchmaking was horrendous
I only played Shipment and even just squading up with 1-2 of my friends would yield some better lobbies
Even with all the chaos, I’ve hit a 1.2-ish K/D somehow
And now that Shipment is gone, I’ve had no interest in playing. I’m not a fan of Shoot House, didn’t like it in MW2019, although I assume this is due to the matchmaking making the map not fun
Not to mention the chaotic nature of Shipment can somewhat alleviate the horrible matchmaking
But if some of these tips help, then maybe I’ll try my luck at some point. I really wanna enjoy this game. It has potential, and plus I wanna get my money’s worth.
Sadly, I own the game on Steam and have friends with the game on Xbox, so I probably won’t be able to turn off crossplay. Only if I’m solo, but since I’m on PC, I feel like that wouldn’t end well. Could be wrong though.
I really wish I could play at off-peak hours and play in less popular playlists. The new maps aren’t good imo and I just don’t have fun with them at all. Border Crossing has to be one of the worst maps ever made
If I had that router, that’d be amazing
My only option is to party up, really
Sorry for long comment (essay)
I don’t play the objective anymore in objective games and I think that helps as well.
curse you
yeah I used to be the first to jump on objectives but not anymore.
One thing I've found is that if you rage quit when you're getting stomped, and don't open the game for a few hours, you'll often get much better lobbies when you return. So if you're having some amazing games, SBMM ramps up and all of a sudden you're 5 and 15, I just rage quit. The SBMM is optimized for engagement, so any negative signaling (you showing you're not going to play because the difficulty is too high) tells the algorithm that it should lower the difficulty on you. This works quite well actually. Generally this means I only continue playing when I'm having good games - as soon as the game quality goes to shit and I start losing a lot, I quit. Sounds kind of annoying, but honestly, that is what the system is set up for. Some players thrive when they're struggling, and will actually play longer when they are losing often. I make sure the algorithm knows that making the game harder for me does not lead to increased engagement.
This is also my experience. Talk about gaming the gaming system!
This makes sense to me now. I've always felt like I've never had an issue with SBMM, I've been a COD player since COD4:MW and my skills have improved over the years, I find myself mostly breaking even most of the time and don't feel the sweat but over the last few years I only find myself playing during off peak hours, since my days off work are Tuesdays and Thursdays and that's when I get most of my games in, from morning to afternoon then in the evening I do other things and then usually play after midnight (EST) before going to bed.
Im not the best player and i feel like i can’t get better because of SBMM. I could relax when playing CoD back in the day. But not anymore since i have to sweat all of the time only to get more than 10 kills.
And when i do play good and have fun then the game will put me into lobbies with the biggest sweats who get 30 plus kills and then get my Butt handed to me. It wouldn’t be a big problem if it didn’t happen all of the time.
The real way to stop SBMM and deal with tough players
Switch to the "Smoke grenade ninja" class. Use a weapon with high mobility, then use Dead Silence as a field upgrade. Then equip 2 smoke grenades, and then also use the "Smoke airdrop" as your second field upgrade. As you die over and over from the sweats, just keep throwing those smokes. Eventually, you'll have 8-10 built up all at once, then you drop the airdrop. The sweats that are camping can't see anymore, and it forces them to move around
Wait im confused do you want more compepitive games or more steam roll games? When you say a "better" mix of games you mean more lower skilled players right?
I want more variety in public matches where you never know what you're going to get; some hard games, some easy ones, and everything in between. If I wanted constant competitive games, I'd play ranked play so I can at least see my skill rank and track improvement over time but that doesn't currently exist.
yeah, all this "I dont wanna be punished for playing good" is just a code for "I wanna stomp noobs for my videos". If you want to stomp, go play bots, dont ruin experience for new players.
@@justusnixx “don’t ruin experience for new players” what? 10 minute tdm games that go to the score limit because no one gets more then 15 kills? Bro, do you just have no memory of how cod used to be, everyone got stomped at one point no one complained. Why do people get so upset over stomping noobs these days. It was a regular thing pre mw19. Now everyone winges at the sight of someone killing a level 20
@@lRagingl I play this series since 2009. I don't care if you encounter noobs and stomp them naturally. But when you actively trying to avoid system that tries to find you opponents on par with you, you just acting like a spoiled lazy brat
@@lRagingl also, I dont see the hate for SBMM from the majority of players. But I do see A LOT of videos with negative feedback for SBMM from streamers, who doesnt really care for it, they just want easy lobbies for "impressive" montages. And its not just the COD series, you can see it in Destiny 2, etc, etc
I tried messing with my Netduma Router when Cold War came out and set it to regions with a low population which helped me get my first nukes back then with a ~ 2.7 kd and it worked just fine. Can confirm your tipps work! Thanks Ace!
The fact that this video was even made is a testament to why I quit playing (again)
Now that you mention it, I wonder if there’s legal precedent to sue the devs for their “engagement’ based matchmaking as gambling/exploitation for monetary gain . Doubt it but curious. Legislators don’t understand tech anyways
It's not an exploit when I just suck.
Lolol
Ace comes through in the clutch!
"MW is good! You just have to adapt!"
Ace: "And I took that personally"
as a 1.0 kda player, I have had very little complaints with the matchmaking. It seems pretty good for your average gamer. I get some easy lobbies, some tough lobbies, and some average lobbies and i tend to be top 3 on my team in most games
Yes, the problem isn't that this isn't happening. The problem is that it's predictable. Oh, you just had 3 good games in a row with an average K/D of 2,5? Too bad! Time to face the elite CoD players.
It's not organic.
But then again, as Ace mentioned, SBMM benefits bad players, makes average players sometimes uncomfortable and completely sucks out the life essence of the above average player.
You are exactly the player SBMM is designed for. it tries to keep everyone at 1KD
I am a 1.14 kda player which is basically the same and it's a completely different story for me. I really can't enjoy the game now because it has almost never given me fair lobbies. Most of my lobbies are rather sweaty and then I try my best (and I am not talking about getting top of the leaderboard, no) the game gives me even more sweaty lobbies. Sometimes game give me "easy" lobbies where I can make 30+ kills (with kd 2-2.5), but only for 1-2 games. And then again... Is it some kind of a joke? I am getting tired by the game and not enjoying it, and it is very sad, because I dont think it's bad(
Dont get me wrong, I dont want only bot lobbies for myself, it's not fair, it's not balanced, it's not interesting at the end of the day. I just want some kind of consistency and fairness. Nobody likes this system. As the Ace said, it's just a manipulative system to make you feel that they want you feel about the game.
I miss so much fair equal game without only sweats or rookies in the lobby. I almost never get it now(
@@openday93 I'm confused... isn't 1.14 kd a fair experience? You're not negative.. and you said yourself that the 2.5 was when they put you against "rookies" for a minute, and you didn't like that either... so what *do* you want? Precisely 1.8? 1.9? Sounds like even more controlled? Or do you want it so random that you go from 100 kills 0 deaths in one match to 0 kills 100 deaths the next? If you're averaging 1.14 with occasional 2.5 then it sounds like a great experience to me.
@@DerekMoore82 you didn’t understand me at all. What you wrote above is exactly that I do not want at all. This is the main problem. I almost do not have fair lobbies with my k/d at 1.1-1.2 which is almost equal kills/deaths. Most of the lobbies I got either sweats and negative kd for me or sometimes easy lobbies where I am at the top of the leaderboard with kd 2 or 3. Mostly because of this easy games I got my ~1.1kd. But I don’t want this. Play several games sucking hard and then 1-2 easy games just to improve my kd, and then again pro lobbies. That’s just not right and it’s not fair at all for everyone. I want something between, mixed lobbies with average players. That’s all. I understand even without sbmm I won’t be getting such lobbies every time, but at least they pop up several times a day)
Just due to previous year's testing, I don't actually find SBMM that bad now that I'm above the average skill level. If I recall correctly, the average enemy skill level when I'm above a 1.2 k/d starts ramping significantly downwards. Instead of having a 1 k/d and being paired with other 1 k/d players, once I'm at a 1.4 I'm with 1.22 on average. Once I'm at 1.8 I'm with 1.26 on average.
Hopefully that makes sense. Lobbies will definitely be more sweaty but people forget that a 1 k/d isn't always just a bad player... they might have god aim but horrible positioning. That said, knowing I'm above the average enemy k/d curve is good enough for me.
FYI, I am a solo player 99% of the time.
When I played with you Ace on twitch, I instantly noticed you and my other teammates were stealing all the kills lol. I had to switch my playstyle a bit to actually get into some action before you all rush straight ahead winning all your gunfights. The pacing was pretty different but I was still having fun and called in a chopper one match on Taraq with you guys the other day.
Before I tried reverse boosting ( I know scummy, but wanted to have some fun) I had a 2.8kd and holy Jesus the game was hard. Lobbies were full of people weapon switch spamming, drop shotting with cdl skins and cdl loadouts. It was so difficult to use anything that wasn’t meta guns.
Unfortunately, KD means shitall now :/ Can be an absolute bot playing vs bots and maintain a 1KD, or be a sweat lord playing CDL pros and still maintain around a 1kd, honestly if your kd isnt significantly low (below ~0.6) or significantly high (over ~1.8) there is no way at all of telling how good a player is (the reason I put a range above 1 is because playstyle within that skill level will influence kd, and I can damn guarentee KD is not the only stat activision use to put you in a skill bracket, and the reason I say 1.8 instead of 1.4 is because you tend to have a "lot" of players with insanely high KDs like 3-4, whereas even the worse players hover around a 0.2-0.3 kd). I.e. Once you are over a ~2kd, yes the SBMM strength stops increasing for the most part (unless you have some next level KD like a 6+ I found with warzone 1 anyways but thats just personal feeling), elsewise, there is legit no way of telling your skill level. And even then, when you add in people you are queueing with, or the different player populations/lobby sizes with other playlists and warzone, the whole thing gets insane. Honestly, activision has done a great job of eliminating a skill gap, I genuinely dont think I could have done better if I tried short of giving everyone aimbot and walls xD
@@regalgrit yeah agree with you 100% accuracy and score per minute are a bigger factor
This explains why I never had the lobby issues everyone else was having in MW2019. I was always playing realism
Hey Ace, I'm Curious what Deadzone do you use for your Analog sticks? I try to play on 0.2 on PS5 controller I'm better with it I feel like I'm more on point and accurate but at the cost of slight stick drift even on a brand new PS5 controller. I just would like to know what you personally would think is a better deadzone to really use?
Skill based match making doesn’t bother me regardless of who’s in my lobby I’m pretty much top the leader board every game. It’s a bit over blown
Let me be more specific. The average skill level of a player in 2023 is probably at least double that of what it was in 2009. You’re just not gonna run into many people that don’t know how to play
@@bradenmchenry995 So explain why I play a game and I feel like scump and then next five I get destroyed.
@@duplo93pc sounds like you should get better at the game
@@bradenmchenry995 sound like you dont know what you're talking about
@@bradenmchenry995 Definitely I should, but that’s the general sentiment around the sbmm. If you’re a pro or play competitively this doesn’t affect you. I, with a 1.2 k/d ratio, want to have fun after coming back from work not get frustrated.
most of your issues with SBMM don't affect 90% of the playerbase, almost everyone is around a 1.0 k/d which means the lobbies don't tend to vary much anyways and we always have people to connect to so ping is never an issue for the majority, unless you live in an internet desert
The reason everyone's KD is the same is because of SBMM. When your KD should start going up, it will put you against players that are doing better and balance you back out, and for the better player that's when the game is helping their KD because lately they've been getting shit on by better players than them, and the cycle continues.
I only play mornings and early afternoon and let me tell you it's a huge help, I refuse to touch the game after 3pm and weekends are a big no go.
I'm not the greatest player, I have a 1.2 K/D in MWII but if I play later in the day or not weekends I'm playing some absolute demons, when I play early on weekdays I typically get 3-4 easier games and then a couple tougher games.
Another thing that helps is the camo grind, there's some guns that are just killers of your K/D and when you're grinding those guns you'll find that after a few games you'll start to get the easier lobbies, you just have to be willing to suffer through those tough games
I remember going 43 to 12 on a TDM the other day. I said to myself, "Sbmm is going is gonna hit me so hard." Low and behold, the next 2-3 games, I'm getting my butt whooped by a team of my skill level, and horrible teammates of my own.
I found a great way to mitigate it too. I uninstalled the game and started playing something fun. Weird how all my shots count now. Not seeing any “aimbot” killcams either.
I like sbmm because it keeps me out of streamers and demon lobbies. Anyone who doesn’t like it, really doesn’t understand how it’s helping you play and keep playing
It doesn’t help me enjoy the game. Being good at the game removes any possibility of using off meta guns for fun/gameplays.
@@lRagingl until you get put with pro players and go 1-53. No matter how good you are, they are better. This prevents that unless you are in their level
@dennis of course you do, it’s built to protect noobs like you. For an average player & up its makes the experience unplayable
When you reach their level in skill you will understand why EOMM and/or SBMM sucks.
Also there is no reason to improve with SBMM in play. Why would you get better if you are going to get worse experience after that?
Hey Ace. Thank you as always for your work! I saw a post from EARS where he went into either shoot house or shipment, (works with both), then select the Pick a party option, then select the play style and move that off of competitive to casual. Does this take out the SBMM?
Great tips .. I e experienced most of what you covered
I noticed the thing with more people in the party. When we are 4 people that are above average, the 2 remaining are getting destroyed completely. When we are 5 or 6, which rarely happens, we are a good mix and everyone is fine more or less
Great video, I'm definitely of the same opinion.
Keep going!
Thanks for the info vid Ace
Signed,already exhausted
well said my friend. thats exactly how i feel when i play solo and it really sucks
Hello Ace!!! Love your content!!! Been following your channel a long time, and I really enjoy the content. It has been very helpful over the years. I have a question for you maybe you can help. I’m playing MW2 on the ps4 and I’ve run into a situation with the in game chat. I haven’t been able to use my mic when in game. I’ve gone over all the settings my headset works just fine I even test the mic in audio settings and it shows it’s working, but when I’m in a game I try talking to the lobby and it doesn’t work. I’ve tried about everything settings, reinstalling the game. Nothing has worked so far. Do you have any idea how to solve this. I can only talk to friends through the ps4 party chat, but not the In game chat.
Halo 5 had a great ranked system. Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Onyx, and Champion. And you could definitely feel the difference as you leveled up. I miss that game
is there a way to do Geo-Filtering PC side? here in Australia we have NBN now and the only NBN routers are the ones ISPs provide so no fancy routers for us. i doubt it will make a difference since the CoD WM2 22 Australia region is gone we got merged in to Asia region (supper sarcastic "YAY") but its worth a try.
You make it sound like I don’t play with people in my group who would be considered the worst players in the lobby 😂
Incoming bots getting mad about this💀
Oh my god ima need that ak class setup at the beginning of the video ,sheesh that thing was frying