Epic is working on GoW 2 matchmaking issues, suggest possible quick solutions
Submitted by Oculus on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 12:58pm.
As posted on Epic's forums:
http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=637410
Hi all,
We're aware that some folks are experiencing longer-than-ideal wait times while using the skill-based Public matchmaking in Gears 2 multiplayer. We're working on some solutions but it's a complicated issue as there isn't any one problem; it's a combination of factors. Clearly, scale is one of them as we've had millions of successful matches played online so far, however a small percentage of players are having issues, which is unacceptable. We're working closely with Microsoft to address the matchmaking issues, I promise you that it is our #1 priority, and we hope to have an update soon.
In the meantime, I would like to suggest some workarounds:
If you're experiencing long delays (longer than 2 minutes) or you're seeing your matchmaking search restarting over and over again, please try a different playlist as that indicates a possible population issue with the currently selected one.
The problem seems to be heightened for parties of 1 and parties of 4 so please try to invite at least one friend into your party before matchmaking. And of course the fastest way to play is to have a full 5 person party before looking for a match since you won't have to find any teammates beforehand. Fortunately our new "What's Up" feature makes finding Friends who're playing Gears 2 online easier.
Also, after a match, if you'd like to continue to play with the 9 people you just played with, simply press Y to look at the previous match stats and press X to invite them all to your party so you can continue to play in a Private match if they accept. Private matches, while not arbitrated, gives you the flexibility to set exactly which map and mode you want to play along with customizing other aspects of the game.
And as always, please ensure that your router is set correctly so that your NAT is considered "Open" by Xbox LIVE as "Moderate" and "Strict" NATs make Xbox LIVE matchmaking more difficult. There are many guides available online to walk you through the process of correctly configuring your router for Xbox LIVE so I won't go into the specific details here.
Also, in case you're curious, a few interesting facts about Gears 2 multiplayer so far:
* Almost 3 million multiplayer matches (excluding Private) have been played.
* Almost 1 million screenshot photos have been uploaded to gearsofwar.com
* The most popular multiplayer mode is Horde.
* The most popular multiplayer map across all modes is River.
* The most lethal weapon is the Gnasher shotgun with almost 29% of all kills.
Again, I apologize for any issues you may be having and I hope the above workarounds give you a better experience until we are able to correct the issues we're seeing.
Thanks,
Rod.
__________________
Senior Producer
Gears of War 2
Oh, and horde mode rocks your face!!
Good to hear they are addressing the problem...my GoW2 wait times have been ridiculous...oh and thats with "5 man parties."
I still need to finish out that game of Horde I was playing with a few other THXers. I believe we went to level 27?
Once we succumbed to the fact of sticky grenades and power weapons, we actually had some GG's last night in GoW 2 with Sparda, JDogg, RedDuke, Malachi... Won quite a few matches.
Matchmaking was working blazing fast with all 5 of us. Faster than H3's matchmaking actually.
I said it in another post, long matchmaking times aren't show stopper. Just look at H3. Terrible load times for maps. The wait between games is redonkulous. It was a huge change from H2. But gamers still played H3 by the millions.
If the gameplay is good enough then gamers won't mind the wait. If the gameplay does not meet your expectations, then other games in your library might be more attractive.
It is encouraging to see that you guys has ggs. Perhaps there's a learning curve that we are going to have to accept. I mean, some of us really detested H2 when it was released. But, we ended up playing the heck out of it. Of course, part of that was due to the fact that no other live game was widely adopted by THX. But GoW2 is. So, maybe in time GoW2 will be a regular social THX game. However, I think we are going to need some more position PR for that to happen.
A decent game becomes a good game when you have a group to play with. I hate halo 2 but I have a good time lanning/live with players you know. I remember playing every night with Killer D back when we lived at Sesame Street, having a blast. I actually beat the single player in Halo 2 about 6 months ago I would say, a feat of strength I might add!
I feel the same way about Halo 3 but I had fun playing it the first time at the last lan and I will pick it up shortly to play online in the future. 7 more days!
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