DICE just confirmed news that very much aggravated the gaming community. Apparently, Star Wars: Battlefront will not support a server browser. It will instead use a “skill-based” matchmaking system. This initial confirmation happened on the Star Wars Battlefront subreddit by EA community manager Sledgehammer70.
@BSanbizzle Star Wars Battlefront will not offer a server browser, but will utilize a new skill based matchmaking system.
— EAStarWars (@EAStarWars) September 1, 2015
An additional tweet on EA’s Twitter on September 1 drove the bad news for many players further home. To most players, servers are a critically important aspect of the entire gaming experience. Servers are used as filters and players base the servers they join on ping, map, number of players, game modes, and last but most definitely not the least, the presence of their friends.
Star Wars: Battlefront will not resemble the Battlefield series in this way and this revelation was met with much disappointment, a report from Eurogamer observes. For instance, in Battlefield 4, everything from player count to map rotation could be controlled.
However, there might be some good news to this. The Star Wars brand might bring into the fold new players who will benefit from the matchmaking. Additionally, there is no official word yet on how exactly the matchmaking system will even work.
The Twitter replies of EA range from, “We have not revealed the specifics of how matchmaking system will work just yet,” to “We’ll definitely pass the [negative] feedback along. We are monitoring the feeling of the community as a whole.”
One fan, @sirjaden92, even got this reply to his complaint, “Luckily, Patrick, we'll be giving you the beta in early October. Hang with us, and check that out. Give us that chance.” Based on these replies, it would seem that all hope is not yet lost.
The matchmaking system may have some merit to it especially with concerns to playing with friends. But until more news comes out, Star Wars and EA fans will have to sit tight until the beta version comes out this October.
