I completely agree, skirmishes don't have to replace pantheon, they should just work as a matchmaking service that matches people. Players should choose certain parameters and then search for other players. Parameters should not be binding bu preferred, if there would not be a game available in certain time it should just create a game with the most common requirements.
What's the logic behind this?
Well, I am a new player to demigod, but I can not find any games except custom games, that takes time and could be avoided, also matching up isn't that great and could be done automatically. I think that in the greater scheme of things players could still play pantheon, but also choose not to participate for the sake of simplicity. As it is there is not enough players to divide them as they currently are.
I honestly love the game, truly. But it is a pvp game in essence and current situation is absolutely terrible. I don't think players should be forced to wait over 15 minutes on average for a game, where this time could be lessened, pantheon or no pantheon. Games are meant to be fun and this is NOT fun, even though the basic idea is great - it does not work in its current state.
Finally, I would like to bring friends into the game and skirmish searches should in my opinion include teams. Basically what I am saying is learn from the good old Warcraft 3 matchmaking. I think it would greatly improve things.
I think this is the most pressing issue of Demigod. A lively community would get livelier if one could just stay in touch easier, find games faster and have a all-in-one interaction screen, with chat, gamemaking, stats etc etc etc. I know that stats could be seen on the game site, but when there is data why not integrate it, it should do simple database searches and produce graphs. That's programming 101. The server infrastructure just needs a patch for the matchmaking solution above, and there is chat already integrated. Just package it differently, make it "all in one place". Currently, I don't much care whether I am dark or light besides being able to choose limited number of demigods, but when I could have a community in front of me in a nice package ... I can't imagine how cool that would be.
What do others think?