6v6 Matchmaking hacks in NHL 25

[l-Furyan-l]

Starting a new topic so this doesn't just get buried in the general chat.

Okay, so what are the best matchmaking hacks people have found for EASHL 6v6 in NHL 25 thus far? EA taking their sweet time fixing the matchmaking mess they've created, so listening to any and all advice if anyone has figured out a workaround. We legit couldn't get a playable game for 45 minutes yesterday, just non-ECL teams we'd never heard of from like... Slovenia. Just a brutal way to spend an hour supposedly committed to gaming.

Enough is enough, send help plz.

• First of all, is anyone having success in finding 6v6 games quickly or consistently?
• We doing Crossplay: Enabled or Disabled?
• We doing Allow or Don't Allow on the Drop-In player option?
• Any "designated searchers" on your teams having more success? 
• When not finding games, are we rebooting the 6's lobby?
• Or are we rebooting the game entirely ( = "Close Application")?
• Are people just doing privately setup BO3s or BO5s?
• Are people using a set password to search Private games within a limited pool of teams?
• If so, what general codes are we using for those Private games (there seems to be a few different ones out there)?

 

[imosi]

• First of all, is anyone having success in finding 6v6 games quickly or consistently?
  Sometimes we find games very quickly and sometimes we have to search for quite some time.  I don't know if its about luck or what...or the positions of the stars and the moon? Who knows...(Maybe EA does). 
   
• We doing Crossplay: Enabled or Disabled?
  From our experience it doesn't really matter.
   
• Any "designated searchers" on your teams having more success? 
  Haven't paid attention, but sometimes when I am the room leader we move to some weird vortex and we are not able to find an opponent. When we switch the room leader without resetting the dressing room it instantly finds a game? This is strange, I have all my ports opened from the router etc. 
   
• Are people just doing privately setup BO3s or BO5s?
  We try to ask different teams to play Bo3's if we don't find any decent opponent... But it is a bit of "työmaa" aka construction site try to arrange these games..
   
• If so, what general codes are we using for those Private games (there seems to be a few different ones out there)?
  Maybe we could think of some NEW unique passwords for the same level opponents, for an example: nhlgamerLITE would be for core-lite,  nhlgamerPRO for top lite/pro qualiteams and pro teams etc. 
  
  If anyone has a good idea about the password thing, please enlighten us!
  
  The few different ones we have right now doesn't seem to work as some teams are not using them correctly at all.

 

[Janikka]

We seem to be getting a bunch of non-ECL teams too. A lot of teams from Central Europe. Finding another ECL Pro team is very difficult, so I support the idea of common passwords for the time being.

[Kenu]

1) First of all, thanks @l-Furyan-l for raising this topic. Any and all confirmed feedback that we can provide EA with as soon as possible will be beneficial for troubleshooting any problems.
 

2) Based on what I've read, the passworded private games have had some issues as well, so I urge as many teams as possible to try out some private games tonight to make sure it works as intended. We can of course test that with generic community passwords, but ideally please also agree with an opponent to play a private game and see if the system works correctly.

From what I heard, it may take up to a couple minutes to find a private game with the correct password, so be sure to give the search some time if it doesn't immediately work. Also make sure you both turn grudge match off, as different settings there could hinder you from finding games.
 

3) Finally, on the subject of community passwords, perhaps we could use:

• ECLElite - Elite + Pro teams that might be playing in (possible) the Elite qualifier
• ECLPro - Pro + Teams looking to qualify for Pro
• ECLLite - ECL Lite + Core Teams
• ECLNeo - Beginner level teams

We could of course add one more for Core, but I feel like the level of Core can be pretty high, so I would urge Core teams to try and match up with Lite.

[Mikka]

We actually had a Grudge Match happen tonight even with both teams having the setting turned off 

[zMikkeez]

Most people arrange games on our draft channel, so I recommend using it if you're having trouble finding games. Those passwords that Kenu has set up are also a good option! If you have any questions about the draft channel, contact me.

[l-Furyan-l]

Small update to this:

Something we've been having a little bit of success with lately is something @imosi mentioned: switching the room leader. And doing so quite quickly.

We've set a cap of around 45 seconds to cycle through room leaders. If the first guy searching doesn't find a team within 45 seconds, we switch to the next player. We also change one of the Allow Drop-In Skater/Goalie option to Yes every time we do this. It's probably just placebo and not necessary, but the idea is to force the matchmaking engine to recognize two things: 1, a new player is now room leader and 2, the search parameters have been re-set.

Anyway, next player searches for a maximum of 45 seconds and if no game found, we shift to the next (change one of the drop-in options to Yes, one to No), etc.

We've been doing this the last two nights and we usually find a game on the 2nd or 3rd search. Mind you, it's not always matchups we want, but on average we seem to be at least FINDING teams quicker. 

[Kenu]

16 hours ago, Mikka said:

We actually had a Grudge Match happen tonight even with both teams having the setting turned off 

Is it possible to get a recording of this, or was someone streaming? If possible to get a recording from both sides, showing the search settings and that the Grudge Match still triggers, that would be very helpful to send over to the dev team.

[Mikka]

3 hours ago, Kenu said:

Is it possible to get a recording of this, or was someone streaming? If possible to get a recording from both sides, showing the search settings and that the Grudge Match still triggers, that would be very helpful to send over to the dev team.

I don’t have a recording at this point, but it has happened multiple times now. First game goes as it should, no grudge, but the 2nd game in a row against the same opponent is a grudge match without anyone having touched the settings in between.

[MartindalexC]

1 hour ago, Mikka said:

I don’t have a recording at this point, but it has happened multiple times now. First game goes as it should, no grudge, but the 2nd game in a row against the same opponent is a grudge match without anyone having touched the settings in between.

The settings do have a weird tendency to actually lie so it may be worth refreshing the settings in between games just to make sure they haven't defaulted to grudge matches being on then. 

[Mikka]

On 10/15/2024 at 7:40 PM, MartindalexC said:

The settings do have a weird tendency to actually lie so it may be worth refreshing the settings in between games just to make sure they haven't defaulted to grudge matches being on then. 

I would've guessed that this would work - still haven't tested it outright

but...

we loaded into a private game vs an opponent we hadn't played a single time this year (grudge off, didn't result in a grudge match) --> game either froze or crashed for everyone before puck drop --> (so everyone booted the game) --> new search, grudge still off --> Grudge Match^TM --> 👍

After the game we went straight into a new one against the same opponents (no dr boot or game boot or anything), and what do you know, another grudge match.

 

Oh, and after which, we started searching with ECLPro (=changed password), grudge still off, got the same opponents again, aaaaand

GRUDGE MATCH^TM