Is it a good thing to tell matchmakers how many are queuing?

I see that in v1.4.0 it tells you how many others are queuing. I'm not sure this a good thing. It's like if you want to join a custom game, you avoid the empty ones and pick whichever looks closest to full.

Now when I see that there are 1-3 people queuing it puts me off. Fact is I pretty much always get a game by the second countdown, often by the first, but I think it creates an impression that you'll be waiting for ages. And if people cancel then eventually it will take ages.

I think people will assume that no one is searching anyway if they can't get a game. That is what I used to see in aeolus where people new to ladder would have trouble getting games, they just assumed ladder had 0 people searching. I think it's better overall for the system to let players be informed. If people see 1 or 2 others in queue, they'll know that if they ready up, then there's a good chance of one or two others searching so the queue will jump up to 4.

I am used to waiting 20 mins for a game but if I saw 5 people in the queue id join straight away

I think it should only show how many people are searching within a certain rating range (for example the people that you can match with).

I always prefer showing information over having the user play guessing games.

I find it very helpful that it is shown.

But there is something to be said for hiding the information until you enter the queue. It should be a really minor inconvenience.

100% need to know that info. After awhile you learn the "peak times" anyways.

And Blodir nailed it: do not hide info from the players.

most players come to FAF in order to play and the moment you see 0 guys in a queue it's not worth it to just sit there and waste god knows how much time till you get more people in and eventually a game,this info is pretty much vital if you are willing to get a proper time management.

@Resistance my point is though that if nobody's queuing, maybe nobody will start to queue?

There has been no discernible impact, good or bad, since the introduction of queue times/showing people who is in queue.