Advanced Warfare In Depth: Skill Based Matchmaking (What SBMM actually does!)

PLEASE READ THE DESCRIPTION FOR MORE INFO:

Afterwards, I was able to make a scatter graph of several different variables. If you have the free time, I would highly encourage you to try this experiment yourself and see if you are able to repeat my results. If so, then are making science happen!

I could not do this alone. I would like thank my assistants who were diligent in helping me compile data:

I currently do not plan to make the RAW spreadsheet public but may release the summary pages if it is something you are interested in.

STANDARD LINKS:

I capture console gameplay with The Elgato HD60 because it's the most professional device on the market for 1080p 60fps console capture.

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[LilGamr]

Driftor please wreck Michael Condrey in the interview

[WingsofRedemption]

I'm rolling right around 2.7 K/D and all I get is 1 bar Sweaty Try hard lobbies. I was a 4.7 K/D player in ghost and consistently got good connection. It doesnt matter since advanced warfare is a terrible game even without sbmm

[MrMangoKilIer]

Skill-Based Matchmaking needs to removed from Advanced Warfare.

[louiswillems]

But I play on pc, so it just matches me with the other 7 people that are online

[brunor]

20 minutes, that's pretty huge. Let's uncover the truth about SBMM!
Thanks Drift0r for all the analysis :)

[Coz]

Drift0r you forgot to include "This video was sponsored by Michael Condrey at sledgehammer games"

[TheRollingLaxx]

This is just so much better than what TmarTn put out. 

[LONEWOLFSB]

What you have to remember Drift0r is that lots of 1.4-1.5kd players on AW had 2+kds on other CoDs, so they are NOT 'average' players, they are most likely very good players. You need to factor in that the SBMM in AW brings everyone's kds closer to 1.

[Fjolltzu]

SBmm is killing the game ! LITTERALY KILLING IT ! 

[BigBird]

I'm so impressed by how extensive your case study was! Kudos, Driftor

[xBlodSMeaRx]

Top quality vid Driftor. Suprisingly I actually understood everything that was talked about :)

From my understanding it sounds like I'm in the worst group for SBMM. My K/D is high enough that I'm constantly fed to the 1.5+ K/D group, but not low enough that I get fed easy kills from <1.0K/D players. Long story short if you're really good you're just going to get better, if you're really bad you have opportunity to get better, and if your floating around 1.0-1.4 chances are your K/D will slowly decline like mine. Started off with a 1.56 and now I'm nearly scrub status with a 1.19 K/D

I cri evrytiem.

[foundmemo]

This is why you're my favorite COD YouTuber. This is the most effort I've ever seen in a COD AW video!

[unlimitedvelocity]

Drift0r, this is my first time asking for help, but please, i'm a PC AW player, so is much more people, i dont know if u already know, but, u cant find a game AT ALL  if you live out side of america or europe, literally only TDM and moshpit only find games, no infected, no domination, no nothing, only way to find a game is tdm or moshpit playlists and it is still really slow to find games, i payed for this game to suffer of not being able to play, please do something, idk what, but please maybe u could spread the word and help us, i had all my previous cod games on ps3, but i wanted to play AW with my pc for better graphics, i cant buy a next gen console, cant afford it, so please maybe make a vid calling for SledgeHammer to do something, feel me pls, i cant play anything, i really want to play exo-zombies when it comes out, but i cant with this "thing" blocking matchmaking, i wrote all of this, please dont let me down, feel us pc player, thanks man, anyone who is a pc player pls like this so he can see, help.

[Z_LTries]

That was a really great in-depth explanation on how the matchmaking system in CoD works. Thank you for taking time out of your day to make this very informative video for the people!

[geordiemutt]

Ghosts did not have SBMM to this degree. No way. My KD in Ghosts was > 2 and I did not have to sweat in every lobby.

COD AW Im 1.7 and the connections...my god the distant connections was a disgrace. I stopped playing as did my clan. We could not get low PING lobbies. SBMM might work on dedicated servers if you have a high enough player base. AW does not.

SH killed AW, is there a decent player base left anymore ?

[hemicj]

Best in depth yet. Thanks for crunching the numbers and grinding thru the info. Your videos are super informative and well put together. Thanks to everyone who helped.

[tommys.]

Drift0r is only half correct.. As well as matching with a range of similar KD's the game also looks at recent match performance. I do not know exactly what the algorithm is, however i can tell you without a shadow of doubt that you will get placed in easier lobbies every single time you go a few matches with a low kd. I assume this is designed for those who are attempting challenges or attachment unlocks so that to ease some frustration, but it could also just be there so that players can play more 'how they want' at that specific time.. Say you want to run around with a pistol and you have a 1.5kd, you are going to get wrecked to the point where it's not fun, but this system would allow you to do it over the course of a few games. I'm pretty sure Drift0r left this out due to the negative effects it could have on games,  but to anyone that wants to try this for themselves, please feel free..

[Rondez]

Hey man, great work. Glad I could help gather data for you to put this together, the community definitely needs to be educated on this subject.

[bingbung]

So at first the tryhards bitched about death streaks, THE ONLY BALANCE SYSTEM IN THE GAME, so the devs took em out...

Then the weaklings complain, and we have SBMM.

Honestly, I would rather have death streaks than skill based match making.

[aty]

Bravo Drift0r! Great In-Depth video. Loved the data and whole set-up of this quest to find out more about SBMM.