The game's matchmaker takes ages to fill up matches that are already underway

That's odd, I've never had to wait more than a couple minutes for players to fill whatever places were available in the pugs i've played, it's usually even faster, them joining during the loadscreen is the most usual in my experience. But this was usually in gold, because I never ready a non-full platinum lobby, it might make a difference, platinum population being smaller I guess. If this happens often, it'd be worth to report to the devs through the appropriate means (next stream maybe?).

Also this should be in the MP forum, perhaps some of the people in there have a better insight to offer.

It's because players like me are bailing out on this game faster then you guys can kiss BioWare's buttmud.

Well, he's Terminator, so he'll be back...

Odds are it's got a low player population (not surprising really). I've spent 10+ minutes waiting for lobby's to fill before even starting a game. There's various things to take into consideration however. Does bioware prioritize regional searching first? Do they search by playtime (nope), or there just could be a lack of players in the platinum difficulty being how most people don't like challenges these days and prefer the casual get in and out quick play. I'm still pretty confident it's a lack of player population though cause the multiplayer has never been a big hit like you'd see with actual shooters.

The matchmaker may have had multiple lobbies with open spots to fill - due to other groups also starting their games with slots open, players disconnecting, choosing to leave a match, etc.

It may have put people in your lobby who chose not to stay for whatever reason... or just sat there for a long time without readying up.

There have been quite a few times when I've started a match with some lobby slots open - sometimes the team is full by the time the map loads, sometimes people join in the first wave, sometimes it takes a few waves. The matchmaker function can't manufacture players to join you - all it can do is parse out and try to place people looking to join a game.

I don`t have any kind of sympathy for solo or duo starters.

I am sorry but that`s how I am.


Sometimes I start a game duo too... but I expect to finish it on our own.

Just got rid of my Andromeda copy for good today, and I'm a big Mass Effect fan. Game just rubs the wrong way... with teeth.

I have difficulty finding people to join my lobbies at all difficulty levels-I play all Apex missions. The problem is worst after about 1am East Coast, but I find problems mid-afternoons as well. I've soloed Bronze and Silver Apex missions because no one joined in. I assume the issue is just a low player base. This game really is on the brink. The only thing that could possibly save it is a large downloadable content expansion-which they seem loathe to do.

We got a full extraction even though we were only a duo until wave 5. It was tough but rewarding in the end. No sympathy needed, we had skill 

Although it would be nice if the game didn't take 20 mins to add people to our game.

Quite the opposite.  Like people are saying up above, the game is dead. When you bump into the same players 3-4 players everyday, there are only but so many reasons, and all of them, are either because the game is dead, or since your not playing with anyone new, will cause it to die even more.