Mixed feelings about the matchmaker

So back in Ins 2014, I used to champion for the inclusion of a matchmaking system but now that it is here, I have some mixed feelings about it.

Firstly, it doesn't seem to be able to create very balanced games with these player amounts. One side might have 4 random novices with one side running an experienced 4-stack. In that situation, your contribution to the game is going to be minimal. The point of matchmaking in games is to have games with roughly 50% to win for both teams. On community servers, we could do balancing ourselves based on the statistics of the players' on those servers and it actually worked pretty well.

Secondly, I now realize that what kept me playing Insurgency 2014 for as many hours as I did (~500, which is a lot for me) was in part the server communities. I knew the regulars on some servers and it was fun to play with them. Now we do have integration with steam so I can e.g. friend up with people and invite them to the same team, but I find that this doesn't really give a similar community experience as the community servers did.

Thirdly, on low hours, the matchmaker doesn't seem to be able to find a game very quickly. It took me over 30 minutes to get a game today. Granted, the process involved one game being cancelled with 9/10 joining, but still.

On the flipside, it's great you can in theory on the high hours get good, balanced games, and that you can stack with your friends and chat away in over e.g. Discord while playing.

All in all, I am undecided if the matchmaking has actually been an improvement over vanilla Insurgency. What are others' thoughts on this?

I agree with the overall message. Im new to the game but I am not new to the matchmaking process as well as the traditional Lobby system.

I highly prefer lobbies. I understand that many people are casual and don't care about competitive play but I personally find true competitive gaming impossible without a Lobby system.