The developers of Destiny 2 made an interesting revelation in their regular This Week at Bungie blog post this past week, admitting that over half of the PvP matches are basically decided before a single shot has even been fired and that skill-based matchmaking is on the way to address the problem.

The changes to matchmaking will include the introduction of "loose SBMM" which will be introduced when Season 18 starts on the 23rd of August but is just the start of a longer project to give matchmaking in the game a much-needed overhaul. For those not aware, SBMM stands for Skills Based Match-Making and means that players will be more likely to be paired with others of their skill level, rather than being outgunned from the get-go.

SBMM is not without its detractors, though. While useful for new and inexperienced players, life can be tough at the top when facing extremely difficult competition and can make multiplayer games much more stressful for the top % of players, resulting in an ultra-competitive atmosphere.

According to Bungie though, it's needed; "In Control, the skill disparities on a team can be stark—over 50% of matches have a skill disparity of 900 or more between best and worst player, which is so significant that the outcome is already known before a single shot is fired." Bungie explains that this internal stat means that "once you get to a difference of 600 there is basically zero chance for the lower-skilled player to ever win a 1v1 conflict."

Weirdly, Destiny 2 used to have a version of SBMM, but it was disabled due to similar controversy as mentioned above. There's also the problem of the game's peer-to-peer architecture meaning that focusing matchups on skill rather than, for example, ping, results in more lag and teleporting issues.

That's where the keyword "loose" comes in. According to Bungie, it will be a softer version of SBMM, which will focus on connection quality too. "Our initial version of loose SBMM for the Control playlist is going to work a little differently. It starts with wider acceptable skill variance, and then expands very slowly on both acceptable skill and connection quality at the same time." 

That being said, expect some fallout when this feature goes live. Destiny 2 players are a passionate crowd, and I expect there'll be a mixed response to this - but that being said - if you're struggling to get a foothold in PvP, this might just be the solution.