Halo: MCC removes playlists as matchmaking woes continue
343 Industries trimmed the number of active playlists in Halo: The Master Chief Collection in a bid to ease the ongoing matchmaking issues. Executive Producer Dan Ayoub said the temporary culling of four playlists, leaving the game with six, will lower the wait time for matches. However, 343 Industries admits the change "will not solve all matchmaking issues," and the studio is "investigating" server-side fixes and content updates to address the troubled multiplayer over the coming week.
Meanwhile, the Xbox One compilation is due to receive a title update this morning that should fix some of the scoring and stat-based errors. However, matchmaking-wise it'll only feature a "minor fix" for team skill matching.
The four playlists that went offline yesterday are Team Hardcore, Rumble Pit, Halo 4, and SWAT Rotational. Not forgetting 343 delayed the dedicated Halo: CE playlist earlier in the week to reconfigure it following player feedback. The updated list now features six options: Team Halo 2 - Anniversary, Halo Championship Series, Team Slayer, Big Team Battle, Halo 2 Classic and Halo 3.
In a post on Halo Waypoint, Ayoub personally apologized for the situation and reiterated 343 is working around the clock to resolve the multiplayer issues.
"Players have expressed frustration at poor matchmaking times, or bad experiences in general," Ayoub said. "This is something we are working 24/7 to isolate and fix. Since launch, we have done a number of daily server-side tweaks to improve this experience and our data indicates these adjustments have helped considerably, but the state is still far from where it needs to be."
Additionally, 343 advised players to not wait longer than four minutes to get into a match, and instead return to the lobby and restart the search. Going by the numbers, 343 said, the majority of matches are successfully entered after two to four minutes of waiting.
As our Halo: MCC review noted, matchmaking has been problematic since the game launched earlier this week. In the review, which went live on Tuesday, Joystiq's Richard Mitchell described trying to connect to a match as being "a complete crapshoot."
[Image: Microsoft]
