... is anyone else really struggling since the latest patch came out?

For the last month or so I've been unable to kill anyone. It's like I've forgotten how to play. No matter what guns I try, I can't kill anyone in PvP anymore. I've got a dent in my desk from my fist to prove it.

I decided to look at Destiny Tracker to see if it's not just how I'm feeling. Turns out I'm not just feeling it. My k/d for the month of February was down two-tenths of a point, or 16% of what my average had been since I started the game. That's not insignificant.

I feel like my character must have a bobble-head doll sized head like you used to be able to get in NBA jam because I'm constantly dying from headshots. Seriously, I can't remember the last time someone body shot me with a sniper rifle. Did everyone in the goddam game figure out how to hit headshots recently except me?

I'm not trying to whine. I'm just looking for some solidarity. I've tried some other games. I can't find anything more interesting to play and I'm getting sick of this game and I need something to change before I break more furniture.

I had some great games of iron banner last week, then last night I ranged between 2 and 4 kdr in skirmish. I even went positive on my worst map (blind watch) Thats pretty unheard of for me.

I could be related to two things,

1 damage ref is giving me an advantage and you a handicap
2 the loosening of sbmm has put you against better players and me against worse ones.

Your second point is one I hadn't considered. There is the possibility I'm getting lumped into a game with significantly better players and now I'm the high man on the totem pole (Yes, I said that correctly; the low man on the totem pole was highest in rank/authority; Commonly misheld belief. Source: Stuff You Should Know).

According to the graph in guardian.gg, my W/L peaked around the first of January, then took a steep, steep dive, then slowly started climbing back up in late February. I've been playing other classes and class setups more in PVP, so I assumed it was part of learning the new ins and outs of different class/subclass/gear combos.

There is definitely some matchmaking going on. I occasionally play with an Aussie who's very highly skilled, up in the Diamond division rankings and visits the lighthouse every weekend. When I'm with him and his team, it's like my bullets are replaced with extra soft marshmallows and my melee is a nice pat on the back. I'll frequently go .5 k/d while he posts a 4-5. Then I turn around and play with guys in the US and start going on 10 kill streaks.

For a while there, I was definitely noticing lag more. Could've been the usual IB-lagfest, though.

When we play together it seems as if you have a low quality connection part of the time. I've seen you have yellow to red bar as well as green part of the time. I'm guessing that you are getting punished due to the damage referee.

Not sure if there is something you can do hardware wise to fix this? Are you playing over wifi? hardwired? do you have newer or older equipment?

I do play over WiFi. I could potentially get a really long ethernet cable and run through the entirety of my apartment to get to my Xbox. Other than that, my Xbox One is only a couple months old. Still has that new baby smell :)

Wifi could definitely be part of the issue. how old of a modem and router do you have?

I do play over WiFi. I could potentially get a really long ethernet cable and run through the entirety of my apartment to get to my Xbox. Other than that, my Xbox One is only a couple months old. Still has that new baby smell :)

You could also get a booster for the room your XBox is in. I'm thinking about doing that for my office. But Yeah, my Xbox is in the same room as my router but I still wire in because my Xbox really doesn't like Wifi.

Put the worst member of your fireteam (win/loss record, not k/d) as the leader. You'll be matched more often against teams that player can compete against (and that the rest of your team can murderize).

In other news, I've found that I'm still getting matched with absurd laggers from other countries on the regular (last night: Japan, south africa, australia, colombia, mexico). SBMM still exists and I do not believe they've relaxed it much at all. The occasional match with no lag is great (1 out of every 4 games-ish, it seems), but come on... Are there so few people playing this game that our only possible opponents are in different continents?

I do play over WiFi. I could potentially get a really long ethernet cable and run through the entirety of my apartment to get to my Xbox. Other than that, my Xbox One is only a couple months old. Still has that new baby smell :)

You mean vomit and dirty diapers?

(If you have carpet, you can tuck the cable in under the edge. If you don't, you can run it up the wall, then get those plastic cable guides from Home Depot and run it along the corner between the wall and the ceiling; it's not HORRIBLY noticeable up there. ;) )

Put the worst member of your fireteam (win/loss record, not k/d) as the leader. You'll be matched more often against teams that player can compete against (and that the rest of your team can murderize).

In other news, I've found that I'm still getting matched with absurd laggers from other countries on the regular (last night: Japan, south africa, australia, colombia, mexico). SBMM still exists and I do not believe they've relaxed it much at all. The occasional match with no lag is great (1 out of every 4 games-ish, it seems), but come on... Are there so few people playing this game that our only possible opponents are in different continents?

I am rarely matched with folks outside the US. I'm guessing that the system somehow believes you're in most of those places; it's possible your ISP does a weird job allocating IP addresses. (I've seen addresses that are in a block that's ostensibly in, say, Europe, but the actual physical location is Kansas.)

Put the worst member of your fireteam (win/loss record, not k/d) as the leader. You'll be matched more often against teams that player can compete against (and that the rest of your team can murderize).

In other news, I've found that I'm still getting matched with absurd laggers from other countries on the regular (last night: Japan, south africa, australia, colombia, mexico). SBMM still exists and I do not believe they've relaxed it much at all. The occasional match with no lag is great (1 out of every 4 games-ish, it seems), but come on... Are there so few people playing this game that our only possible opponents are in different continents?

I am rarely matched with folks outside the US. I'm guessing that the system somehow believes you're in most of those places; it's possible your ISP does a weird job allocating IP addresses. (I've seen addresses that are in a block that's ostensibly in, say, Europe, but the actual physical location is Kansas.)

I always assumed the game would match you based on your ping to other players.

Put the worst member of your fireteam (win/loss record, not k/d) as the leader. You'll be matched more often against teams that player can compete against (and that the rest of your team can murderize).

In other news, I've found that I'm still getting matched with absurd laggers from other countries on the regular (last night: Japan, south africa, australia, colombia, mexico). SBMM still exists and I do not believe they've relaxed it much at all. The occasional match with no lag is great (1 out of every 4 games-ish, it seems), but come on... Are there so few people playing this game that our only possible opponents are in different continents?

I am rarely matched with folks outside the US. I'm guessing that the system somehow believes you're in most of those places; it's possible your ISP does a weird job allocating IP addresses. (I've seen addresses that are in a block that's ostensibly in, say, Europe, but the actual physical location is Kansas.)

I always assumed the game would match you based on your ping to other players.

I have absolutely no idea how it works. I was just trying to come up with a reason why Kahzgul gets consistently matched with people in other countries, and I almost never do. Ping wouldn't explain it, because I certainly play with folks with lousy ping that's due to poor connections, not distance.

Put the worst member of your fireteam (win/loss record, not k/d) as the leader. You'll be matched more often against teams that player can compete against (and that the rest of your team can murderize).

In other news, I've found that I'm still getting matched with absurd laggers from other countries on the regular (last night: Japan, south africa, australia, colombia, mexico). SBMM still exists and I do not believe they've relaxed it much at all. The occasional match with no lag is great (1 out of every 4 games-ish, it seems), but come on... Are there so few people playing this game that our only possible opponents are in different continents?

I am rarely matched with folks outside the US. I'm guessing that the system somehow believes you're in most of those places; it's possible your ISP does a weird job allocating IP addresses. (I've seen addresses that are in a block that's ostensibly in, say, Europe, but the actual physical location is Kansas.)

I always assumed the game would match you based on your ping to other players.

I have absolutely no idea how it works. I was just trying to come up with a reason why Kahzgul gets consistently matched with people in other countries, and I almost never do. Ping wouldn't explain it, because I certainly play with folks with lousy ping that's due to poor connections, not distance.

That would totally explain his bizarre experiences online that none of us seem to share. Maybe he's not completely insane after all; if only there was a way to science this...

It seems timezone dependent. Battlefield especially seemed to drop me in lobbies with Brits/Frenchies while I sat in my bunker in Detroit. Halo would do that as well, it's hilarious to be called a noob in a french accent.

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It seems timezone dependent. Battlefield especially seemed to drop me in lobbies with Brits/Frenchies while I sat in my bunker in Detroit. Halo would do that as well, it's hilarious to be called a noob in a french accent.

Back during my MAVhole days in Battlefield 3, I once received a rant in French. The only thing I understood was "spawn camper"... So I proceeded to continue splattering him with my MAV.

Those were the days... Hon Hon Hon.

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Put the worst member of your fireteam (win/loss record, not k/d) as the leader. You'll be matched more often against teams that player can compete against (and that the rest of your team can murderize).

In other news, I've found that I'm still getting matched with absurd laggers from other countries on the regular (last night: Japan, south africa, australia, colombia, mexico). SBMM still exists and I do not believe they've relaxed it much at all. The occasional match with no lag is great (1 out of every 4 games-ish, it seems), but come on... Are there so few people playing this game that our only possible opponents are in different continents?

I am rarely matched with folks outside the US. I'm guessing that the system somehow believes you're in most of those places; it's possible your ISP does a weird job allocating IP addresses. (I've seen addresses that are in a block that's ostensibly in, say, Europe, but the actual physical location is Kansas.)

I always assumed the game would match you based on your ping to other players.

I have absolutely no idea how it works. I was just trying to come up with a reason why Kahzgul gets consistently matched with people in other countries, and I almost never do. Ping wouldn't explain it, because I certainly play with folks with lousy ping that's due to poor connections, not distance.

That would totally explain his bizarre experiences online that none of us seem to share. Maybe he's not completely insane after all; if only there was a way to science this...

Yeah, I'd figure it has more to do with my playtime than anything else (9:30 pm - 1 am, PST). Also I'm on PSN, which I firmly believe to be inferior to XBL.

The ISP issue seems unlikely since I've moved during this time and had a total of 3 different ISPs.

Last night my fireteam was me, on AT&T, my buddy from LA (I'm also in LA) on Comcast, and three friends from NorCal (ISPs unknown). Our connections to each other are always stellar, but it seems to only take one laggy guy to tank an entire game (thanks, token ring-esque netcode).

I can say that we chatted with the guys from Australia last night briefly after our elimination game and they said we were the best connection they had all night (which is also weird, because the connection was not good).

I do play over WiFi. I could potentially get a really long ethernet cable and run through the entirety of my apartment to get to my Xbox. Other than that, my Xbox One is only a couple months old. Still has that new baby smell :)

You mean vomit and dirty diapers?

(If you have carpet, you can tuck the cable in under the edge. If you don't, you can run it up the wall, then get those plastic cable guides from Home Depot and run it along the corner between the wall and the ceiling; it's not HORRIBLY noticeable up there. ;) )

Most ISPs will provide someone to install proper Ethernet ports wherever you like in your home for $30 a port or so (so $60 minimum between your router and Xbone). If you're renting, ask the landlord for permission first, but it's unlikely they'd say no to data upgrading their space.

I know, it costs money, but it's not as unsightly, nor is it a tripping hazard.

Yeah, I'd figure it has more to do with my playtime than anything else (9:30 pm - 1 am, PST). Also I'm on PSN, which I firmly believe to be inferior to XBL.

Hmm. I play at the same time (sometimes even later), but on XBL.

The ISP issue seems unlikely since I've moved during this time and had a total of 3 different ISPs.

Last night my fireteam was me, on AT&T, my buddy from LA (I'm also in LA) on Comcast, and three friends from NorCal (ISPs unknown). Our connections to each other are always stellar, but it seems to only take one laggy guy to tank an entire game (thanks, token ring-esque netcode).

I can say that we chatted with the guys from Australia last night briefly after our elimination game and they said we were the best connection they had all night (which is also weird, because the connection was not good).

You definitely have the most eclectic connections of anyone I know about. :)

...then who are the players who are killing you more? Did they get a different patch than you did?

I'm obviously aware that all people got the same patch but that doesn't mean that the patch affects all players the same. Let's look at this logically.

One of the points being brought up is that skill based match making has been reduced. This Week At Bungie today in fact said no where is skill favored over low latency. This means that all people are facing a slightly modified pool of players. If we imagine the skill level of Destiny players on a bell curve, prior to the change the bottom quarter would have mostly played with the bottom quarter just as the top quarter would have mostly played with the top quarter. By removing skill based match making, you flatten the curve (since it is irrelevant). This means that the top players are mathematically guaranteed to be playing more matches against weaker opponents than they were before. This also means that the bottom quarter are mathematically guaranteed to run into more players of a skill level higher than theres. Based on my stats, I'd guess that I am in the 50-75% range of the bell curve, and now rather than being the top of the middle 50%, I'm more likely to have a top quarter player in my game than before.

One of the other points is the damage referee. I am playing over Wifi and occasionally my signal isn't great. I hadn't considered the effect this was having on my game. I played a few games on my wife's Xbox One today (connected with an ethernet cable), on Clash (which doesn't have the new matchmaking) and at least had a few good games, though I played a small sample size with 2 horrible Gunsmith test guns, so it's not a fair comparison.

Yeah, I'd figure it has more to do with my playtime than anything else (9:30 pm - 1 am, PST). Also I'm on PSN, which I firmly believe to be inferior to XBL.

Hmm. I play at the same time (sometimes even later), but on XBL.

The ISP issue seems unlikely since I've moved during this time and had a total of 3 different ISPs.

Last night my fireteam was me, on AT&T, my buddy from LA (I'm also in LA) on Comcast, and three friends from NorCal (ISPs unknown). Our connections to each other are always stellar, but it seems to only take one laggy guy to tank an entire game (thanks, token ring-esque netcode).

I can say that we chatted with the guys from Australia last night briefly after our elimination game and they said we were the best connection they had all night (which is also weird, because the connection was not good).

You definitely have the most eclectic connections of anyone I know about. :)

Well, I don't usually complain about the games I play with good connections :) Also, I play a LOT of PvP. It's my primary activity by a wide margin. I ran Court of Oryx last night for the first time in months, I do patrol maybe twice a week for long enough to complete the "patrol X area" bounty of that day, and I've run the raid once in the last four months, I think, and that was literally just the Warpriest Challenge. I've never had issues with PvE lag that I can recall. All works stellar. The trick is that I PvP all the dang time and when you play 10-15 rounds in a night, you're liable to get a few bad eggs. Last night was really bad, with 5 of our 8 (I think it was 8) matches being horrid lag-fests (elimination gametype was brutal), but it's not usually so awful.

I really need to get around to uploading my "laggiest game ever" video so you guys can see the glory that is rockets sticking out of the ground like purple spikes.

http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/BeardFade/video/15386054#t=13

I literally have no rational explanation what happened.

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I always assumed the game would match you based on your ping to other players.

Yeah, but carrier NAT is also a thing, which can negatively impact ping. Never know where your traffic is getting routed through unless you use a command line.