The People confusing times, simple way to look at it is think about the time it used to start before the changes, it is now roughly the same start time as the old matchmaking, but spread over a fixed 4 hours, so roughly 6-10pm GMT starts for everyone
@DNA3000
Thanks. I interpreted it as: 4 hours match making and then 20 hours of placement. Therefore wars start up to 24 hours after match making starts
It looks like I stupidly added 24 hours to the end of the match making window and not the start. Thanks.
Still, this means the earliest they can start is 11pm. Not ideal either really but I'm honestly past the point of caring now. Maybe I still misunderstand it. Why can't they find a way to allow us to pick start times? That would be so much better.
Still, this means the earliest they can start is 11pm. Not ideal either really but I'm honestly past the point of caring now. Maybe I still misunderstand it. Why can't they find a way to allow us to pick start times? That would be so much better.
You want it all @QuantumBob lol
Yes 7pm would be the earliest time 11pm the latest. Just hope your higher up the table for earlier start
Still, this means the earliest they can start is 11pm. Not ideal either really but I'm honestly past the point of caring now. Maybe I still misunderstand it. Why can't they find a way to allow us to pick start times? That would be so much better.
I see the new times for enlistment and match making. I see attack phase will start no earlier than 11am PST. Does this mean that all attack phases will start at 11am PST??? Before it was too much of a server issue to launch wars at the same time. Just trying to understand when attack phase starts each war....
@Doomsfist79
No. It is my (probably incorrect) understanding that match making starts at 3 pm PST and last 4 hours. Then we have 20 hours to place at the end of that window. Therefore wars start 24 hours after the start of the match making window. Hence, 3pm PST the following day. That's 11pm GMT.
@Venom787 It is. I thought that but I believe wars start at the beginning of the matchmaking window. 11pm GMT.
3pm PST (11 pm GMT) matchmaking starts. This last 4 hours and we do nothing. They just find suitable matches in that window. At the end of that window we have 20 hours to place defense. Then war begins. Essentially 24 hours after the beginning of the match making window and therefore 11 pm GMT......I think....haha
Why fixed times? It is just stupid. A game played world wide, it was very good to all start at the time we want. We did start at the same time as aq. No problems, and now we only have problems! This sucks
Still, this means the earliest they can start is 11pm. Not ideal either really but I'm honestly past the point of caring now. Maybe I still misunderstand it. Why can't they find a way to allow us to pick start times? That would be so much better.
This comes down to a pretty simple principle that not everyone understands about alliance war match making. Under the old system, you would only match against other alliances seeking match at the same time. The good news is that this implied both you and your opponent kinda wanted to start wars at the same time, so you were good matches not just in terms of being similar in strength (ignoring match making glitches) but you were also good matches in terms of wanting to fight the war on the same schedule.
The problem is that choosing *when* you match implicitly chooses *who* you match. In other words, if my alliance wanted to start wars at 1pm Pacific and your alliance wanted to start wars at 3pm Pacific, we would likely never face each other. If we are tier 6 alliances, this isn't usually a big deal because there are at least dozens of other alliances of similar rating matching at those times. We are never going to face each other, but we still won't really know who we are facing out of all those possibilities.
But at the higher tiers, those numbers thin out fast. It was possible for alliances to deliberately choose to start matching at different times to avoid each other permanently. Consider: #1 and #2 could avoid each other throughout the entire season and never have to fight each other. This is a huge competitive advantage in terms of earning points. Neither of them has to face the alliance most likely to be able to beat them.
Under the old system, choosing "when" also chooses "who." The new system has to take away the choice of "when" to remove the possibility of manipulating the "who."
There are complex ways to try to put the choice back in, but none of them can really completely fix the problem. For example, the game can allow alliances to set a "preferred" start time, but that can only work if both alliances happen to pick a similar time. If they prefer radically different times, the game has to either pick one or try to split the difference which could make both alliances unhappy. And this requires different scheduling of the wars to allow for the variable times.
Since I'm not able to comment on Miike's announcement today about the delay in AW season and the change to Enlist & Matchmaking times, I'll comment here and hope that they see it...
With this new adjustment, will Defensive Placement be 20 hours or 24 hours once we're matched? If it is kept at 20 hours, that means Attack could still start as early as 11:00AM PST. I think most would prefer 24 hours for placement once matched.
As many have written, these new times still don't help with alliances who have chosen the best time to start Matchmaking based on all of the life schedules in the alliance.
@Doomsfist79
No. It is my (probably incorrect) understanding that match making starts at 3 pm PST and last 4 hours. Then we have 20 hours to place at the end of that window. Therefore wars start 24 hours after the start of the match making window. Hence, 3pm PST the following day. That's 11pm GMT.
Not quite. When the game servers find a match, those two alliances IMMEDIATELY start their war with defense placement. That means while the servers are looking for matches between 3pm and 7pm Pacific, the very first match will start defense placing at 3pm, NOT 7pm. Their attack phase will start at 11am the next day. All other alliances will start at some time after 3pm, with their attack phases starting at some time after 11am. Kabam is asserting that all alliances will find a match (barring some outage or issue) by 7pm. That means defense placement can start anywhere between 3pm and 7pm, and attack phases can start anywhere between 11am and 3pm Pacific.
Matchmaking starts every cycle at 3pm Pacific. But alliances will be starting wars at different times based on when they find a match. What is certain is that from the moment you alliance finds a match, Defense Placement is *always* twenty hours from that moment (which will be some time ON OR AFTER 3pm Pacific), and Attack Phase is *always* twenty four hours long starting from end of defense placement phase.
@DNA3000 . Thank you again. Never considered how easy it could have been to manipulate match ups in the old system for those teams right at the top where tiers consist of only a handful of alliances. Out of interest, as you seem to have a good handle on how this operates, what do you feel would be the ideal solution? Also, what about tanking? If the goal to ensure fairer matches and more competitive wars then doesn't tanking in the off season defeat the point of all this? I personally would like to see war rating "locked in" in-between seasons.
@DNA3000 . Thank you again. Never considered how easy it could have been to manipulate match ups in the old system for those teams right at the top where tiers consist of only a handful of alliances. Out of interest, as you seem to have a good handle on how this operates, what do you feel would be the ideal solution? Also, what about tanking? If the goal to ensure fairer matches and more competitive wars then doesn't tanking in the off season defeat the point of all this? I personally would like to see war rating "locked in" in-between seasons.
It’s not complicated. Wars will be 11 am to 3 pm pacific time. The earliest wars will be exactly the same as the earliest wars used to start and all wars will start within the next 4 hours
Great for Americans. Congrats. You got back what you always had; easy ‘single boost’ wars. Europeans got the same sub par deal they were used to. So all good, I guess. Unless we’re vampires, that means having to boost multiple times. Kudos to the US players though. You were heard.
Comments
What time were you starting your wars? This set up should work out decently for EU players.
Thanks. I interpreted it as: 4 hours match making and then 20 hours of placement. Therefore wars start up to 24 hours after match making starts
It looks like I stupidly added 24 hours to the end of the match making window and not the start. Thanks.
You want it all @QuantumBob lol
Yes 7pm would be the earliest time 11pm the latest. Just hope your higher up the table for earlier start
You mean 11AM?
No. It is my (probably incorrect) understanding that match making starts at 3 pm PST and last 4 hours. Then we have 20 hours to place at the end of that window. Therefore wars start 24 hours after the start of the match making window. Hence, 3pm PST the following day. That's 11pm GMT.
Attack will start no earlier that 11am PST and it’s a 4 hour slot. That converts to 7pm-11pm gmt.
depends the time of year for me because in Spring/Summer UK moves to GMT+1so there is a period when its just 7 which is quite soon.
3pm PST (11 pm GMT) matchmaking starts. This last 4 hours and we do nothing. They just find suitable matches in that window. At the end of that window we have 20 hours to place defense. Then war begins. Essentially 24 hours after the beginning of the match making window and therefore 11 pm GMT......I think....haha
So there’s still a 4-hour window of a random time attack phase will start each war. That’s one of the key issues that wasn’t fixed in this update....
This comes down to a pretty simple principle that not everyone understands about alliance war match making. Under the old system, you would only match against other alliances seeking match at the same time. The good news is that this implied both you and your opponent kinda wanted to start wars at the same time, so you were good matches not just in terms of being similar in strength (ignoring match making glitches) but you were also good matches in terms of wanting to fight the war on the same schedule.
The problem is that choosing *when* you match implicitly chooses *who* you match. In other words, if my alliance wanted to start wars at 1pm Pacific and your alliance wanted to start wars at 3pm Pacific, we would likely never face each other. If we are tier 6 alliances, this isn't usually a big deal because there are at least dozens of other alliances of similar rating matching at those times. We are never going to face each other, but we still won't really know who we are facing out of all those possibilities.
But at the higher tiers, those numbers thin out fast. It was possible for alliances to deliberately choose to start matching at different times to avoid each other permanently. Consider: #1 and #2 could avoid each other throughout the entire season and never have to fight each other. This is a huge competitive advantage in terms of earning points. Neither of them has to face the alliance most likely to be able to beat them.
Under the old system, choosing "when" also chooses "who." The new system has to take away the choice of "when" to remove the possibility of manipulating the "who."
There are complex ways to try to put the choice back in, but none of them can really completely fix the problem. For example, the game can allow alliances to set a "preferred" start time, but that can only work if both alliances happen to pick a similar time. If they prefer radically different times, the game has to either pick one or try to split the difference which could make both alliances unhappy. And this requires different scheduling of the wars to allow for the variable times.
With this new adjustment, will Defensive Placement be 20 hours or 24 hours once we're matched? If it is kept at 20 hours, that means Attack could still start as early as 11:00AM PST. I think most would prefer 24 hours for placement once matched.
As many have written, these new times still don't help with alliances who have chosen the best time to start Matchmaking based on all of the life schedules in the alliance.
Not quite. When the game servers find a match, those two alliances IMMEDIATELY start their war with defense placement. That means while the servers are looking for matches between 3pm and 7pm Pacific, the very first match will start defense placing at 3pm, NOT 7pm. Their attack phase will start at 11am the next day. All other alliances will start at some time after 3pm, with their attack phases starting at some time after 11am. Kabam is asserting that all alliances will find a match (barring some outage or issue) by 7pm. That means defense placement can start anywhere between 3pm and 7pm, and attack phases can start anywhere between 11am and 3pm Pacific.
Matchmaking starts every cycle at 3pm Pacific. But alliances will be starting wars at different times based on when they find a match. What is certain is that from the moment you alliance finds a match, Defense Placement is *always* twenty hours from that moment (which will be some time ON OR AFTER 3pm Pacific), and Attack Phase is *always* twenty four hours long starting from end of defense placement phase.
Something like this: https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/741678/#Comment_741678
starts wont be the late, thats just the fixed window, in the three wars this past week, we were matched within 20 minutes of matchmaking starting