That's exactly what it is, just because skill is used as a factor in win rate balancing (it's used as a factor in all matchmaking settings) doesn't mean it's entirely skill-based. SBMM is essentially 'ranked' playlists, where low levels only go up against low levels, and also goes for high level players. They never mix. https://www.bungie.net/en/News/Article/44422/7_Destiny-Hot-Fix---03082016 This update states that they've added changes as a continuation from January's updates which made connection quality top priority in core playlists across all playlists. Settings have changed since then to only make connection quality more strict.