I'm at least as guilty as anyone for complaining about regular matchmaking.  I've pointed out problems and possible solutions all over the place.  For some reason, I've stepped back over the last two days and realized something.  We are still running with what is by and large the same match making system that we had when the game was released.  Certainally the same for the last three years that I've been playing.  However, the game itself has changed drastically durring that time.  

In the last three years, we've added mods, had one massive reballance and several minor ones, created the gear hub, and added so many legendary mechs and weapons that I hesitate to give the number (although I'm fairly certian it's 100+ if all grades of each weapon are counted).  Three years ago, the difference between the begining player, mid-game player, and end game player was there, but not nearly as massive as it is now.  You still saw a lot of variety in the game.  No one had full legendary hangers in mid-game (there weren't enough legendaries for that anyway!).  The Squad Power system worked because while there were way's to manipulate it, there were ways to out play those people and still compete.

Now we have tons of legendaries, squads with nothing but legendaries under 5000 SP (even all the way down at 3500 SP too).  We have game changing, Tier IX legendaries that can be bought with 2 or 3 stars and compete against beginners who are trying to win with Lancer, Paragon, and Slingshot.  People are being paired against others using 16 energy weapons when the best they have access to are 8's.  While a pair of 8's can theoretically do the same damage, does it really compair to a weapon that can do it all in a single shot?

And still, we are using the same basic matchmaking system we were using before all of this.  I'm certain there might have been some tweeks to it along the way, but what it needs is a true overhaul.  The answer isn't the Hanger Showdown version.  That system is basically broken right out of the box with only relying on mech stars for match making.  Its not balanced.  If it wasn't for the rewards, I wouldn't even give it the time of day.  We need something that recognizes how much the game has changed.  Realizes that Tier IX mechs shouldn't go against Tier 5 mechs or that someone who has mods should be going against someone without them.  The game has gotten more complex and we need a matchmaking system that can handle that complexity.  

This is only another attempt to get you to realize that matchmaking is critical to the game.  It is the difference between this game being enjoyable and not.  Matchmaking, not the cool mechs and weapons and extras, is what will tell us if the game will be around in another 3-4 years.  The game added goodies too fast and didn't adapt THE CORE SYSTEM (matchmaking) along with it.  Without good matchmaking, the game is just a bunch of cool looking art assets.