As I infiltrated the monster-filled Monolith of Greed, I was excited to finally defeat my first proper boss Deviant after the lackluster tutorial boss. Pressing F in front of the glowing red Rift Beacon inside the building should’ve effortlessly thrown me into a battle-ready group for this big fight. After all, being able to quickly gather up players is important for raid missions as my friends have no interest in this game. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that getting together with strangers through Once Human matchmaking system is harder than farming Acid.
Where in the Irradiated World Are My Raid Teammates?
After twiddling my thumbs for around 10 minutes, I matched and joined another player’s Queue for the Ravenous Hunter. But I left them behind after spending 2 minutes and 40 seconds watching the Your Team screen while the quest has yet to start. I thought I’d have better luck with the next group.
Big mistake.
In my next attempt, I waited more than 30 minutes to be matched with other Mayflies. Then again, much later, I had to wait for another 30 minutes until I was forced to solo the Securement Silo Sigma. But that’s a story for another time.
Despite Teaming Up being a cross-world/cross-instance system, it still feels like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It’s practically impossible to get a full 4-man team for a Rift raid.
Worst of all, there is a “group browser” in the All Queues tab but the objectives are all set to default. Are these people gathering groups for Hard or Pro bosses? Are they waiting for their friends to fill in the ranks? Am I strong enough and should I try to join them? I wouldn’t know because they’re all listed as “Target Dungeon: N/A” and my join requests are left untouched anyway. It’s a shame because it should’ve been quick and easy; the game even broadcasts any new looking-for-groups in the global chat.
This experience gave me a huge whiplash, particularly after The First Descendant‘s recent huge launch. It takes only seconds to group up with strangers in various missions or Void Intercepts. The same goes for many online games like Destiny, The Division, and Phantasy Star Online 2. No fuss, no muss.
I have to add that I’m no stranger to games without matchmaking; I did play MMOs like Ragnarok Online and RF Online back then. But the feature has become somewhat mandatory in multiplayer games, giving busy — or introverted — players a convenient way to tackle tough content together.
While on paper, Once Human matchmaking has all the bells and whistles, the experience left more to be desired. Netease has provided a system, but for some reason, players don’t get matched with each other. Meanwhile, outside of players asking for gameplay and public events tips in the World channel, the community is weirdly unresponsive.
Yes, you got that right. If, by some miracle, someone accepted your Queue request, it’s like showing up to a party invitation in a library. You can see people there but everyone zips their mouth shut. The host and other members completely ignored my questions in the Team chat channel. “What are we fighting against?” “Are we waiting for someone?” “When can we start?” No response.
Even when no one sets up their room’s description or talks in Monster Hunter World, I still know I’m going to have a good time. Hosts keep posting quests or we do impromptu round robins– the mission turn-overs are always fast. Not so much with the matchmaking in Once Human.
As a last resort, I finally decided to beg for help in the World chat. Again, matchmaking should’ve been a godsend for people like me since I’m not the talkative type. Sure, we’ll answer and help you if you ask, but never expect us to start a conversation. Having to ask for help in the chatroom is not something I’d ever consider doing especially against early game boss.
I typed in, “Can anyone help me out with the Hunter boss?” while the Rift Beacon spun and glowed, as if to mock my effort. 1 minute, nothing. 2 minutes, still nothing. Finally, after 2 and a half minutes, a kind stranger replied and was ready to offer a helping hand. Turns out, ditching the Once Human matchmaking system is the best way to find a partner in the game.
Truth be told, I was contemplating waiting for two other Mayflies to hop in. But at this point, I’ve waited for more than 40 minutes just trying to tackle my first boss fight with fellow players. After fumbling the ready button — not sure why the leader have to confirm they’re ready twice — we went on our merry ways toward the Rift Space.
Funny enough, it took much, much less time to actually beat the Ravenous Hunter than attempting to assemble a team to fight it. The samaritan pulls out a Heavy Weapon and eats 1/5 of its health in one shot while I’m still spinning the boss’ minigun. After the brief encounter with the gooey monstrosity, I wrote, “Thanks a bunch. It’s already 3 AM here, I just want to sleep.”
“No prob,” they replied and we parted ways through the magical raid dungeon door. As I was about to open the menu and quit the game, I saw a Target Dungeon: N/A notification in the chat. But I decided I had enough of trying to play with other people for today.
