With Update 2.4 we will add new matchmaking brackets to Hunt. Today we want to explain how they will work, and get into the details of our plans for future matchmaking improvements.

The New Brackets

Currently we have two matchmaking brackets. These brackets split players into two groups, based on their rank. The split was made between players ranked from 1 to 33 and players ranked from 34 to the max.

This approach to matchmaking is very basic and is not doing an adequate job of putting players of comparable skill level together. In order to address the current situation, we've been testing additional tweaks and changes that can improve the matchmaking short term —and with it the entire game—experience for everybody.

The first change will be the addition of a third matchmaking bracket. So now players will be grouped from ranks 1 to 33 (with overflow to 50), ranks 34 to 66 (with overflow to 80), and ranks 67 to the max.

More Changes to Come

The issue with the bracket ranking is that it tends to favor activity over skill. So a player who plays Hunt a lot may end up with the same Bloodline rank as a player who is very, very skilled. Because the bracketed matchmaking system uses Bloodline ranks to group players, it can result in players with hugely disparate skill levels being put together in one match. And that's not ideal.

Our goal is to group players based on skill levels, and so we will be adding two additional criteria to the matchmaking system to get us closer to that goal. The new matchmaking system will include two additional criteria for the matchmaking system. The first is what we are calling a “player versus player" rating (more on this in a minute) and the second is lifetime bounties collected.

The first criteria will assign players a ranking using a calculation similar to the ELO rating system used to rank chess players. In the case of Hunt, a player's “player versus player" ranking will take into account how many Hunters you've killed and how the Hunters you killed were ranked, as well as the rank of any Hunters who have killed you. This rank is likely to vary widely at first, but will stabilize the more games of Hunt you play.

As for the bounty criteria, we figure that, even if a less skilled player has managed to extract with a lot of bounties, those successes equal cash equal an equipment advantage that makes pitting them against more experienced players fair. While the bounty criteria isn't as important as the player versus player criteria—and will be weighted slightly less—it still plays a role in general player performance.

As usual, we look forward to hearing your feedback on the subject on the Hunt feedback page or follow us on Discord, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Steam.

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