I don't know if this is for Brink or another game, but either way, it could help them in the future! Please vote and post your ideas. Here is the link: http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/showthread.php/30815-Community-Question-Matchmaking

Nice find. I personally prefer the skill rating based matchmaking, it seemed to work well in Gears of War 2. 99% of the time the matches were even, and when I had off days Id be bumped down in rank and have to claw my way back up. Was a lot of fun, but the only drawback is that the fear of being demoted with a loss can lead to some pointless nerd rage.

Bare minimum they need to have the number of players / team taken care of. I really dont understand why this is a problem, seems simple enough to include and since in freeplay they dont put you on the side that you selected by default when making your character Im surprised this is such as issue. The number of players on a team are more important that player skill levels.

On a side note I think that they should also only allow team switching between maps, and only from the team with more people to the one with less.

I never cared for skill-based ratings... I would RATHER have mixed rating and prioritize based on game activity. I basically ONLY like playing Security (can't justify why, really), so I always switch to security. I also wish, though, that the game gave you the option to pick your side when joining in a game. It should be one of those options listed when searching for a game "Security/Resistance/Either".
I think we should be allowed to switch teams just ONCE if we're not given that option, otherwise we have to wait until the match is over.
There are countless reasons someone would want to switch teams in-game without it being "I wanna be on the winning team." you know?

Thats very true, I think that a lot of these issues could be solved even without the addition of a lobby in the traditional sense simply by allowing friends to group up and enter the matchmaking process together. If they included a way to select what side you wanted to be on as well and had matchmaking set up to put you in games that needed people from your faction then it would be perfect. Granted the more restrictive the matchmaking is the less likely you would be to be grouped with other people with a smaller population.
As it is having to join and then send out mass invites is a nightmare, especially if people of lower rank are the ones inviting you.

This would pretty much eliminate the need for teamswitching during the match in my opinion. Id rather have to exit out and regroup with friends than have the ability to switch midmatch to join them.

That's yet another thing I don't like... There should DEFINITELY be an "any rank" game mode. In a game like this, where leveling ONLY opens up new abilities, I see no point in splitting your community with rankings. It makes no sense what so ever.
If I'm a Level 1/rank 1, let me join up in a game of Level 24/Rank 5... I don't care. My personal skill, and hopefully with the teamwork of my allies, I'll be just as helpful to the cause. The leveling only affects my ability to buff (not so much with the medic) and set-up... If they added in something that restricts damage or whatever (as in, a rank 1 deals less damage to a rank 5, but receives more) it'd make sense... But that, too, is idiotic... So why limit it at all? If I'm skillful enough to roll with them, let me.
And reward me for doing so, damn it! XD

I wouldn't mind a pre-search "lobby" (for lack of better terms) to either make a new game or find one with your group of friends. I don't like traditional lobbies (search for game, land in a lobby), but I would love a matchmaking lobby. As well, the ability to look at on-going games and pick and choose at my leisure would be nice too... Kind of how L4D2 does it.
I also wish they'd forbid anyone from JOINING a game with less than 2 minutes of play left. I HATE that.

I agree I wouldnt mind going against rank5s with a new character. If it was a problem for you you could always do campaign to hit lvl 5 to at least get some of the universal abilities.

The matchmaking problems that I see that could have been easily avoided in my opinion are
1) How hard it is to group up with friends
2)The ratio of game modes to number of players
3)The fact that voice chat is disabled in freeplay (not really matchmaking but hurts the pug experience)

The first one made a lot of my buds quit pretty early on bc they didnt feel like playing alone or putting in the effort to join up
The second one I feel made a lot of people quit bc they couldnt find matches with other humans. They not only split the player base with this but the time spent making these modes (most of which go unplayed from my experience) could have been spent elsewhere.
I still cant see their logic for disabling VOIP as default. Whats wrong with a mute button? This goes against the teambased nature of the game. I feel like a lot of people would have been less frustrated if they could chat without having to set up fireteams every match. I know that it would make it more enjoyable for me to play with randoms if they could even just hear me without responding. Being able to say "hey we should try this route over here" or "hey Ive got the package, cause a distraction now..." with randoms would help more than hurt.

Agree.
Agree.
Agree.

Granted, after using their Fireteam system a bit more, I've grown to appreciate it for what it is, despite how minimal it actually is... It's still a pain in the neck for newer players to really get the hang off and requires a few extra steps than necessary.
I hate how many redundant and utterly pointless modes there are... They could definitely have done MUCH better and rather then giving us different standards of Freeplay, could have simply gave us "custom" and "standard."
I HATE THAT. I HAVE to join a Fireteam or Party to get VOIP... Moronic. If I don't wanna talk, I unplug my headset... But I almost always want to hear what my party is saying, you know? It's a TEAM game, you can't justify that.

I think they could have taken A LOT of queues from other team-based games... Left 4 Dead, TF2, etc... Those are the only two that come to mind.