Bungie’s Mark Noseworthy has explained why Destiny 2 matchmaking has not been considered for the highly anticipated sci-fi shooter, with the upcoming sequel instead supporting a new feature known as Guided Games to bring players together.
Speaking during an interview with GameRant, Noseworthy, who serves as Project Lead on Destiny 2, said that matchmaking was deemed “incompatible” with the core gameplay experience, although acknowledged that fans have been clamouring for the feature to be implemented since the original Destiny.
“We’ve been pretty consistent that matchmaking is just incompatible for us. The type of community we want to have, the friendly, welcoming space we want Destiny to be. Because matchmaking takes anonymous people and puts them together and says, ‘Please behave.’ And then these really competitive activities we have say, ‘Please be good. Please communicate. Please coordinate. Please be fair to other players,’” he said.
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“And you can do that when you have social groups that exist, but it doesn’t work when we put you with a random player or someone else. So matchmaking is fine for pickup-and-play PvP or strikes where you can’t really suck at this strike if you run forward and shoot everything. You don’t need to talk. And that’s great for certain modes, but when you are playing Trials of Osiris, you need to talk. When you are playing the raid – people have roles, there is coordination.”
Noseworthy touched base on the new Guided Games feature, which does more than just pair up random players for a match:
“That’s why we think something like guided games, which is going to take solo players and allow them to look at the clans that have opened themselves up to single players for a session of Trials, a Nightfall, or a raid and pick, ‘Hey y’know this group seems a lot like me. They said they are really into playing with Hunters and they all like shotguns, and they are open to noobs. Well, I’m a noob, I’ll play with these guys.’ Whereas someone else might say, ‘I’m an elite player but I don’t have any friends, but these guys are about kicking ass and taking names in the Crucible. That feels like a group I could play PvP with for 20 minutes and see what’s up.” And the fact that there is this agency on the seeker’s part, and the fact that they join a group that has an identity – has a motto and a banner, and social norms and customs in how they operate with people. Putting them together is fundamentally different, socially, than matching up with random players.”
Destiny 2 is due out on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 8, 2017, with a PC release due some time after. The sequel will make a number of changes to the formula, including an overhauled Crucible experience that will focus on 4v4 battles, plus an expanded sandbox environment that includes new side quests dubbed Adventures. The game takes place following the events of Rise of Iron and picks up in the aftermath of an attack by The Red Legion, a deadly Cabal-led unit that has left the Tower in ruins and scattered the local Guardian population.
Stay tuned for more Destiny 2 news at PSU as it breaks.