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Matchmaking Updates
by DeeJ

The Crucible, along with every aspect of Destiny, is a subject of constant analysis at Bungie.

Our designers and engineers are always exploring measures that can be taken to improve the Player-versus-Player combat experience for everyone. Their goal has always been to cultivate an arena in which every Guardian can find quality matches against worthy opponents with good connections. It’s also good if you don’t have to spend an eternity in orbit while the matchmaking engine works behind the scenes.

When we shipped Destiny: The Taken King, we delivered a new system to better enable us to evaluate Guardians as combatants. In the months that followed, we’ve been making adjustments to find the right balance between skill and connectivity. In light of recent feedback from the community, it’s very clear that we have more work to do. As that work progresses, I'd also like to pledge that you'll be more included in that process.

The next step on that front begins with this Iron Banner.

Lord Saladin's battle for the Spark will feature new matchmaking settings that will assign more emphasis to connection quality. These changes will be made in an effort to reduce lag. There will still be some consideration given to matching you with worthy adversaries, but that's a thing we’ve done since Destiny first shipped.

Iron Banner Rift goes live Tuesday, Jan 26th, 10AM PST.
New Matchmaking goes live Wednesday, Jan 27th, 10AM PST.

The 24-hour gap will provide us with two sets of data to compare and scrutinize - all part of the plan. If you play Iron Banner after the deployment, we’ll want to know what you have to say. Sound off in the #Feedback forum about your results. Post a link to a completed game and tell us all about your experience.

As always, we'll be monitoring the state of the Crucible for stability and improvement. If all goes well, we intend to deploy the new matchmaking settings to more Crucible playlists over time. And, in keeping with this trend, we'll be sure to let you know.

This is the continuation of a conversation in which you influence the development of Destiny.

Stay tuned for updates.

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On Wednesday of this week, we deployed some new Matchmaking settings to the Iron Banner playlist in Destiny. Since then, we’ve been listening to your feedback and crunching the numbers. We're ready to deliver updates on what we've learned and the fresh action we're taking to enhance the state of play in the Crucible.

Your results may vary (gotta love the Internet), but we’re hearing and seeing some good things: Lag is on the decline. Match-ups are still close enough to provide the level of challenge demanded by the Iron Lords. Matchmaking time between games is less than a minute, on average. By many accounts, we’ve taken a step in the right direction, but there is always more room for improvement.

The dev team at Bungie has deployed another new set of matchmaking settings. For the time being, they are exclusive to Iron Banner. Once again, our goals are to further reduce lag.

Please be advised that your field of opponents may demonstrate a wider range of skill, still within the boundaries of a good game. Matchmaking may also take slightly longer – all in the interest of delivering a quality match with a good connection. We’ll continue to monitor the conversation and keep an eye on the data.

These changes are live right now. Suit up in your Iron Banner gear, jump into the fight, and tell us all about your experience. Tomorrow, check back for more commentary on the potential for future changes to the Crucible in the Bungie Weekly Update (published one day late to get out of the way of progress).

Game on!

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