Good game, add a lobby system. A game like this being built entirely around matchmaking is a recipe for frustration. With this kind of game, it is absolutely necessary to be able to filter which kinds of people I'm joining up with. Because when you do find a group that actually clicks, and those people have mutually aligned objectives, the game is phenomenal. It's just that the other 80% of the time is a nightmare. I do not want to be forced into a random group of people of varying skill levels and goals. If somebody wants to go and complete a personal objective that is only marked on their map and nobody else's, they should be able to make a group specifically for that purpose instead of being lumped into the same massive pool as everybody else. I do not want to be matched with a duo that barely pays attention to the game while they suck each other off in a VC. I do not want to be matched with people who have no experience on a boss that relies heavily on being aware of it's mechanics and weaknesses in order to succeed.

This is why games like this usually include public lobby systems, not just matchmaking.

I get that none of these concepts are things that come naturally to FromSoft, with this being a major departure from the classic Souls-style online system, but they chose to enter this space. As much as I'm a massive fan of the unconventional online mechanics of past Souls games given their own context, it's going to take more than slapping in matchmaking and a rudimentary ping system to accommodate a shift in genre as major as this.

Good game, add a lobby system. A game like this being built entirely around matchmaking is a recipe for frustration. With this kind of game, it is absolutely necessary to be able to filter which kinds of people I'm joining up with. Because when you do find a group that actually clicks, and those people have mutually aligned objectives, the game is phenomenal. It's just that the other 80% of the time is a nightmare. I do not want to be forced into a random group of people of varying skill levels and goals. If somebody wants to go and complete a personal objective that is only marked on their map and nobody else's, they should be able to make a group specifically for that purpose instead of being lumped into the same massive pool as everybody else. I do not want to be matched with a duo that barely pays attention to the game while they suck each other off in a VC. I do not want to be matched with people who have no experience on a boss that relies heavily on being aware of it's mechanics and weaknesses in order to succeed. This is why games like this usually include public lobby systems, not just matchmaking. I get that none of these concepts are things that come naturally to FromSoft, with this being a major departure from the classic Souls-style online system, but they chose to enter this space. As much as I'm a massive fan of the unconventional online mechanics of past Souls games given their own context, it's going to take more than slapping in matchmaking and a rudimentary ping system to accommodate a shift in genre as major as this.