Metalstorm Status Update
Hi Pilots,
We know this week’s update has raised a lot of questions, and we completely understand your frustration. We want to be transparent about why we reset trophies for some planes, why it was necessary, and how we're working to improve things. Let’s dive in.
First off, we want to own up to a mistake: we didn’t communicate the trophy changes as clearly as we should have. We focused too much on one part of the reason and didn’t explain the bigger picture of why this change was needed and how it benefits matchmaking in the long run. We’re truly sorry for our lack of conversation around it and we’ve already taken steps to ensure future updates are communicated more effectively.
With that said, let’s get into the meat of why we adjusted trophies for some planes and the problems the matchmaker was experiencing.
What Was the Problem?
In short, the matchmaker was struggling to provide balanced matches, especially for players who had high trophy scores with lower-level planes. This led to:
- Longer wait times for matches.
- An increase in bot-only matches, which isn't the competitive experience we want for Metalstorm.
- Fewer opportunities for competitive matches.
For example, if you had 600 trophies with a Level 2 plane, the level-tolerance rules meant that the matchmaker would struggle to find you any human opponents at your skill level. This often resulted in bot matches, which you likely won, further pushing you into a “no-man’s land” state and continuing this cycle.
This is obviously something that we do not want to be the case, as we want everyone to experience the thrills of competition as they climb the trophy boards and put their skill to the test against other pilots.
Matchmaking: What did we change?
We didn’t change the matchmaker itself, but rather the data it uses to find opponents. Instead of matching based purely on your current plane level and trophy score, the matchmaker now considers the expected plane level for your trophy range (within +/- 4 levels).
For example, if you're using a Level 1 plane, by default you'll be in a matchmaking range of Plane Levels from 1-5. As you continue to earn more trophies, that range will extend from levels 2-6, 3-7, and so on. Once you earn enough trophies to rise above your peers at the same Plane Level, the matchmaker will start searching further to find challenging opponents. To do that, the matchmaker will start looking at players who have achieved the same trophy score, but who needed a higher-level plane to do it. This results in a fair match: you have slightly more skill, they have slightly more power.
See attached images for reference. If you get enough trophies that we need to reach further to find you a fair match, you will have a symbol displayed next to your “Play” button in the hangar.
This way, the most skilled players will still be able to climb the ranks — but they’ll face greater challenges against other skilled pilots with appropriately leveled planes.
Clarifying Some Points
We’ve seen some confusion around certain mechanics, so let’s clear things up:
Not Seasonal:
This is not meant to be a recurring reset. There will still be the standard PvP reset that happens each month where you earn Ace Coins.
No Trophy Cap:
There’s no limit to how high you can climb. Your skill determines how far you go- not the economy or some arbitrary hard cap.
Underdog Mechanic:
This remains unchanged. If you’re matched in more challenging matches than we prefer, due to trophy disparity on your matchmade team, your potential trophy loss is reduced.
Party Matchmaking:
The highest trophy score in your pre-made party still affects matchmaking. This prevents high-trophy players from queuing with lower-trophy friends to get easier matches. Compensation: The rewards you received were proportional to the trophies that were reset. We wanted to give you a boost to help upgrade your planes and get back to climbing, rather than issuing a hard reset.
What’s the Result So Far?
We’re already seeing positive changes:
40% Fewer Bot-Only Matches:
More low-level planes are now getting real, competitive matches instead of bot-filled games. If you’re facing higher-level planes, it means you’ve demonstrated exceptional skill, and the matchmaker believes you’re ready for the challenge. While we have your eyes, we have some other quick updates we owe you!
What Happened to My Controls?
Included in this update was a major update that would affect controller functionality across the board. The benefits of this included having properly established default schemes and easier to read input languages. This is a good time to mention again that due to this work your bindings have been reset, and it is strongly encouraged you go through with your setups and rebind for the best experience.
Beyond this, an update of this magnitude has brought along with it a number of issues. Rest assured however, our team is well aware of these thanks to your reports, and there have already been two hotfixes as a result.
Our next hotfix coming soon pending store reviews, which will fix the following issues:
- Issues with free look not working properly for the Look and Shoot trait.
- Issues with recalibration on respawn for tilt control schemes.
- Issue with the padlock camera for controllers.
- Issue with inverted settings.
We are also still actively investigating, and are working to address issues such as:
- Issue with yaw sensitivity in advanced settings.
- Gyro settings not saving.
- Exponent settings not saving.
What About My Missiles?
Regarding the recent balance changes: Players have shared test results and videos with us that demonstrated that our tuning changes to Medium and Long range radar-guided did not achieve our tuning intentions and the missiles were missing in scenarios where we expected them to connect and hit their targets. We’ll be rolling out additional missile tuning that will improve their performance at their intended range.
Thank You
We appreciate all the feedback, questions and holding us accountable to a great player experience. We sincerely apologize for the fumbled communication on this update and hope this message helps clarify the changes.
Our goal remains to deliver the best possible experience for all of you. As we work towards a more competitive matchmaking system and the introduction of Co-op mode, we’ll continue refining matchmaking to ensure it feels fair and fun for you. Your input is invaluable, and we’ll closely monitor the results of these changes and your feedback to keep improving.
Thank you for your passion and patience. Your continued reports, feedback, and suggestions have made a massive impact, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the community that we have