4v4 TMM Map List WIP - Community Feedback Welcome

Matchmaker Team Update for TMM

Intro

As the 4v4 TMM is around the corner, the matchmaker team has been putting together a list of maps that will be used for the initial setup.

Now, keep in mind this tracker is not anywhere near completion and was put together and is undergoing testing to get at least some initial pools going right away. I can safely say that in current the matchmaker team is ready so once the feature IS released there will be no delay.

For reference, here is the update from BlackYPS on the up-and-coming release.

See the current list here:

4v4 TMM Map List

What is left to do?

As you can see in the spreadsheet, there is a number of maps with comments and concerns. I am personally reaching out to authors and working with the Creative council to blanket update some maps to "- FAF versions" if the author's are no longer with the community, such as Thrawn13_ (Author of Stairways to Heaven).

In addition, we will be adding more maps - suggestions welcome - so there is plenty of content. Again, as it stands now there are enough maps to keep the TMM pools varied and interesting for at least a few months.

Community Feedback

If you think a map should make it into the pool, please post it up in the #matchmaker-submissions channel in the main FAF discord under the Mappers group:

Feel free to leave comments about the current work-in-progress map list here!

In order to see the channel you need to have the mapper role - you can select that in #role-selection.

@morax The 4v4 matchmaker is getting closer and closer, can't wait

Regarding the maps, I'd heavily advice against putting highly played, specialized maps like setons in the matchmaker pool.

As a mostly competent, regular setoner, I can say with confidence that someone who has played a couple dozen rounds of setons is, effectively, many hundreds of rating better at setons, than someone who hasn't.

As a result, all setons games played using the matchmaker won't be decided by teamwork, skill or tactics, they will purely be decided by which team has more experienced setoners.

The team with less setoners on it won't even stand a chance, and that will be very obvious. Those games won't be fun, they'll just be 20 minutes of formality were one side gets mercilessly crushed.

I really think we want to avoid that.

That's true for all maps. And sentoners still need to adjust to having non sentoners on their teams which will impact what would be good ideas or not, and if they queue as pure sentoners they all need to adjust for the other X maps in the pool.

@ftxcommando To some extent that is true for all maps, yes. Setons suffers especially though, for a couple reasons:

• The roles are unique and specialized.
  There is only one player for each particular role (air, mid, each pond) and at least in the beginning they don't overlap much. If one of those lanes is a setoner vs non-setoner matchup, the entire lane will be lost before anyone has any chance to intervene.

• The spawns are far apart.
  In addition to the role specialization, this makes it hard to help a struggling ally out.

• Enemy interaction is often low in the early game.
  As a result, setons is much more build order dependent than many other maps, hugely rewarding those with knowledge of those BOs.
  The prime example is of course the air slot, which regularly doesn't see any enemy interaction at all until minute 10+.

While some, or even all, of the above is true for multiple other maps too, the most damning point of all is this one:

• Setons has a high player count.
  Setons actually gets played enough that even "normal" 1k and below rated players often have this setons experience that hugely sets them apart from their evenly ranked peers.

Without the last point, I'd agree with you ftx.

I mean, if I want to grind a couple dozen hours of sandbox for a similarly specialized, low interaction map, I will achieve a similar level of skill advancement there as I would on setons. As a result I would be super strong on that specific map, but who cares. It would just be one person.

The problem lies in the fact that a significant percentage of our playerbase already has such a level of skills on setons. That percentage is large enough that you can expect to have at least one setoner in most match-made setons game

The result would be similar to, or maybe worse than, if the matchmaking algorithm just breaks whenever setons is chosen as a map, resulting in random +- 500 rating discrepencies between teams.

Note that this wont be that big of a problem for the >1.5k player population, as they'll mostly be able to adapt to 'unfair' games like that. (Also most of them have played at least a couple rounds of setons)

It will a problem though for the ~1k player population, i.e. by far the largest part of our playerbase. A 1k player with a practiced setons BO is leagues above a 1k w/o one and the rest of the team won't be able to adapt to that. At least I wouldn't have been able to at those ranks.

I've played like 4 setons games and I did okay in them. You get like 10 mexes and a few tree groups, how hard is it.

For 1k it is hard to even not stall.

Me having like 5-10 games of experience on every non sentons 20x20 matters more for “inflating” my rating than dudes on sentons having 1000 games on 1 map in the pool, though. The first few games are always the most critical as they teach you what proper meta is and what is expected of you on the map.

Also, if the 1k has a practiced sentons BO but plays like a 1k on the rest of the pool, then he should increase in rating. Just as some 1v1 players are complete beasts at 20x20 heavy macro maps or very low resource 5x5s. Not including one of the most iconic 4v4 maps that basically set the standard for what a decent teamgame map should play as seems like a poor choice imo.

@thomashiatt Of course you did okay in them. You are >2k in both ladder and global. There is not a single map in faf that you'll do poorly on.

As mentioned above, you fall far outside of the demographic of players I worry about here.

@FtXCommando I seemingly phrased my arguments wrong.
My concerns are not about people getting an 'unfairly high rating', or whatever.

I couldn't care less about people's imaginary internet numbers, but even if you do, you are right in that players will get a roughly accurate rating over time. The math guarantees it.

Essentially I'm worried about players with a huge fluctuation in skill because it makes games bad to play. An exaggerated toy example:

Lets say you have someone that plays like a 1k player on all maps. The only exception being setons, on which they magically get replaced by tagada.

What's going to happen with this player? Well, they'll settle at a ranking of 1.2k or something, depending on the size of the map pool, by loosing slightly more on all non-setons map but in exchange winning every setons. The rating algorithm works.

So what's the problem then? Well, every match-made setons with them in the team is essentially over before it began. There is nothing a team of 1ks can do against a tagada, even if they know what they are up against.

Games wont be fun for either of the both sides. Smurf allegations will get thrown around, people will go to bed angry, children will cry, marriages will end, villages will burn to the ground, entire countries will fall.

Do you want this ftx? I sure don't

(Btw. I think there are good arguments for including setons in the pool eventually, just not yet.)

if you have a tagada with 3 noobs,he will eventually lose against an average squad in the long run in teamgames on setons if not on some vital spot like air o smth,not to mention that it can be just sammed up and then it's just over due to the resource advantage

Imo boys around 1k dont have any idea on how this game is played so why would they understand meta? All they have is whored bo. Im not even mentioning how well it can be executed. I am against setons because it will bring alot of drama into pure tmm. We kinda cant afford to have drama in 4v4 as we fucking did in 2v2 so that 4v4 would not be completely fucked.

The babyrage over 2v2 had nothing to do with maps but rather some dudes not understanding long term benefits because their points got nerfed. Also not sure how it can be considered fucked when it made 2v2s go from the most unpopular game size to about as popular as 1v1 when controlled for player count.

I don't understand the arguments about sentons because the pool that sentons will be in will be a pool that is essentially pure 20x20s that play like sentons. You're going to have selkie. You're going to have beetles. You're going to have Requisite. You're going to have Metir. You're going to have huge wonder. All of these maps involve dudes that if they collapse, the game runs the risk of being over. The only thing about sentons is that it has a more refined meta, but that has such a small impact on long term rating when it isn't guaranteed to be in every pool nor is it ever more than 1 map in the pool. Not to mention a lot of the dudes that really go hard on sentons pretty much never play anything but sentons so I doubt they would even use the matchmaker anyway.

Also, there is no 1k rated dude that plays like Tagada. The dude will have a more refined build that gets him ASF out quicker, but he is still a 1k that thinks having more ASF means he won his lane and doesn't help his navy with torps or actually abuse his air advantage.

To me it's the Open Palms or Badlands of 4v4 TMM, every old dude has 10,000 games on it and knows exactly where and when to send engies. So I lose my first couple games on it. I watch replays, I learn, and with every game being less and less efficient at making you better I eventually get to a "good enough" level just as how all new players can eventually catch up to old players.

@Rezy-Noob Yes, but it wont be tagada with 3 noobs vs 4 1,5ks. It will be tagada with 3 noobs vs 4 noobs, because he won't, and can't, be balanced correctly.

@ftxcommando said in 4v4 TMM Map List WIP - Community Feedback Welcome:

I don't understand the arguments about sentons because the pool that sentons will be in will be a pool that is essentially pure 20x20s that play like sentons. You're going to have selkie. You're going to have beetles. You're going to have Requisite. You're going to have Metir. You're going to have huge wonder. All of these maps involve dudes that if they collapse, the game runs the risk of being over.

The difference is that a significant amount of 1k players has whored BOs/strategies on setons. Those BOs/strategies exist for other maps too, but almost no 1k player knows them, so it doesn't matter.

The only thing about sentons is that it has a more refined meta, but that has such a small impact on long term rating

Yes! The problem is exactly that we only have one rating system, average long term rating, that can't accurately reflect someone being 1k on all maps, but 1.5k on setons.
Long term rating impact will be minimal. Games on setons will still be fucked though.

when it isn't guaranteed to be in every pool nor is it ever more than 1 map in the pool.

Yes, but I fear every time it will get played, it will be a shitfest.
Would you include another map that basically guarantees bad, unfun gameplay? No you wouldn't, so why would you accept that just cause the map is called setons?

Not to mention a lot of the dudes that really go hard on sentons pretty much never play anything but sentons so I doubt they would even use the matchmaker anyway.

So your solution for the health of the 4v4 matchmaker is to just hope that a large minority of players never plays it??

Also, there is no 1k rated dude that plays like Tagada.

Yes. It was an exaggerated example.

The dude will have a more refined build that gets him ASF out quicker, but he is still a 1k that thinks having more ASF means he won his lane and doesn't help his navy with torps or actually abuse his air advantage.

Maybe, but in that cause he isn't really underrated on setons, he just has a whored BO. There are lots of 1ks that have both a whored BO and know (roughly) how to use it.
The latter will just builds a couple strats and win the game against their min-13-first-asf opponent.

start a petition to ban tagada from 4v4,ez

but you are actually right,probably need a different equation for balancing 4v4s ngl

This argument can be applied to not including wonder or canis in a share until death 4v4, why is that any different?

I don't know how you have the conclusion that I don't want senton players to play the matchmaker. Including sentons is more likely to get them to play it than not including it. But if they're Foley equivalents I pretty much expect them to never play it until it's a 100% senton roll chance.

@rezy-noob said in 4v4 TMM Map List WIP - Community Feedback Welcome:

start a petition to ban tagada from 4v4,ez

It's all tagadas fault :sad_cowboy:

but you are actually right,probably need a different equation for balancing 4v4s ngl

I'd love that, but I don't think its feasable. "map specific rating" or whatever has been a discussion forever, or at least for the 2 years that I have been part of faf, and I don't think a reasonable implementation exists.

It's also not really a problem for any map but setons. Even the second worst offender, dual gap, is not nearly as bad: The spawns are close, the roles overlap and the map is inherently much more defensive.

Over the last year, I have played through the entire gamut of setons games, from 1k to now being almost 2k. Even at 2k, the difference between an experienced setoner vs someone less experienced is significant but its certainly not game-ending.

It's completely incomparable though to having a '1k' on mid that has a BO and walks mid immediately being up against another '1k' that just stands in his mid base and goes for the fac, 2pgen, 4mex opening before leisurely leaving his base at min 4.
In a game full of 1ks, game is just over at that point

You also haven't addressed anything about every other full share 20x20 being these giant spread out base navy/land hybrid gameplay maps. If you're great at selkie and metir how are you not going to translate that over to sentons? Because you sent your 4th engie rather than your 5th to the beach 3 mex expansion? This reads like you expect the rest of the pool to be gun spam 10x10 which is just not true with the full share/share until death divide implementation.

@ftxcommando said in 4v4 TMM Map List WIP - Community Feedback Welcome:

This argument can be applied to including wonder or canis in a share until death 4v4, why is that any different?

Closer spawns, much sooner enemy interaction, less unique/specialized roles. See above.

I don't know how you have the conclusion that I don't want senton players to play the matchmaker. Including sentons is more likely to get them to play it than not including it. But if they're Foley equivalents I pretty much expect them to never play it until it's a 100% senton roll chance.

You are correct in that setons players wont all just switch over from custom to 4v4, but in principle we do want to make the mode welcoming for everyone.
I fear a future where every setons player that queues into the 4v4 matchmaker makes the games worse for everyone.

You also haven't addressed anything about every other full share 20x20 being these giant spread out base navy/land hybrid gameplay maps. If you're great at selkie and metir how are you not going to translate that over to sentons? Because you sent your 4th engie rather than your 5th to the beach 3 mex expansion?

Of course it translates, but a much smaller number of "normal" players has whored BOs/strategies and dozens of games of experience on them.

Even at the 1k level, getting the island on rock, vs getting it stolen comes down to a difference of, at most, 20 seconds at min 4. And not only that, 1k players actually know the BOs to achieve that!

The difference between someone going for a normal BO on mid, vs someone that leaves the base right after the first fac is gigantic. At the one 1k level it's game ending.

Stuff like that wont happen regularly on any other 20x20 full share map, because basically no 1k player knows those maps as well as the aforementioned large minority of setoners knows setons

Less specialized roles? You can automatically lose wonder open if you have a mid player that knows you can rush 2nd air first bomber off of nothing but tree reclaim and hydro which can then kill a side player's early engies and allow your side player to scale twice as fast and crush sub min 8. Oh no the 1k that knows about that will now ruin the game.

Most close contact drops come down to the first minute, senton isn't special and plenty of maps have the gameplay (metir, requisite, battle for schmal).

There are also many 20x20s that have reclaim in mid (requisite, schmal, huge wonder, desert strike), senton isn't special.

I recognize that there is a large minority with lots of senton experience. I also recognize these guys are going to be better on a map pool built around maps that play like sentons. I don't see any sort of person that is 1000 at maps like selkie, metir, requisite, and lena river being somehow hugely shit at sentons. And if you can't apply your senton BOs to these other maps because your knowledge is that disgustingly singular then you're just a bad player that should have low rating. Really those senton players should be gaining rating in general with a full share 20x20 pool.