Feature Highlight: Introducing Squad Finder

[p]Hey Time Travelers,
[/p][p]As we keep acting on your feedback and rolling out new improvements, we want to give you a heads up on a meaningful change to matchmaking in Out of Time.
[/p][p]Quick Play (and location/difficulty specific queues) are being replaced by a new system called Squad Finder.[/p][p][/p][p]Its goal is simple: help you find the right squad at the right difficulty.
[/p][h2]Why the Change?[/h2][p]Quick Play is very good at one thing: getting players into runs fast. But that speed came with some tradeoffs:[/p]

• [p]Squads with… let’s call them “creative” power level gaps[/p]
• [p]Difficulty preferences aren’t respected strongly enough - we didn’t even ask![/p]
• [p]With individual location/difficulty queues, we spread players out too much, which made it harder to consistently match players together so players would frequently end up in runs solo[/p]

[p][/p][p]What we’ve heard is pretty clear.[/p][p]Players are fine with randomness in location. They’re not fine with randomness in difficulty. We missed the mark on matchmaking, and Squad Finder is built to fix that.
[/p][h2]What’s Different?[/h2][p][/p][h3][/h3][p]You now queue by difficulty, not by zone. You’ll choose one of the following:[/p]

• [p]All Available (allows players to match in any difficulty they’ve unlocked)[/p]
• [p]Normal[/p]
• [p]Hard[/p]
• [p]Shattered 1 - 5[/p]
• [p]Shattered 6 - 10[/p]
• [p]Shattered 11 - 20[/p]

[p]You can select one option at a time, and matchmaking will only pair you with players looking for the same difficulty.
[/p][h3]No More Auto-Launching[/h3][p]Once matchmaking finds players:[/p]

• [p]Everyone stays in town[/p]
• [p]You get a notification when the squad is formed[/p]
• [p]One player becomes the Squad Leader[/p]
• [p]The Squad Leader chooses where the squad goes next[/p]

[p]No surprise launches. No accidental runs.[/p][p]You decide when and where to jump.
[/p][h3][/h3][p]The World Map will now make it clearer for your whole group:[/p]

• [p]Which zones are unlocked[/p]
• [p]Whether everyone can enter at the selected difficulty[/p]

[p]No more guessing before you select a location or difficulty.[/p][p][/p][h2]What About New Players?[/h2][p][/p][p]New players won’t see Squad Finder right away.[/p]

• [p]First runs are directed into Private Games to acclimate new players to a full run. [/p]
• [p]After completing their first run, Squad Finder is introduced through the tutorial[/p]

[p]This gives new Time Travelers a chance to learn the basics before jumping into matchmaking.
[/p][h2]What’s Next?[/h2][p]
This is phase one.[/p][p]This is a foundational change aimed at improving match quality based directly on your feedback. As always, we’ll be watching how it performs in the wild and adjusting as needed.[/p][p][/p][p]Let us know how Squad Finder feels once it’s live.[/p][p]We’ll see you out there![/p][p]– The Out of Time Team[/p][p]
[/p]