Guild Wars 2

Seems like a pipe dream… can’t be a simple fix…

Yea, I know. But what if…

Looking at ANET’s own description of how matchmaking works gave me an idea. As you read it think of each task as what it most likely is, a method call. If you go to www.guildwars2.com and click on the big PvP graphic you get sent to a Feb 18 post about it. Pay special attention to the bolded and underlined part in this quote:

“…matchmaking in PvP during season two will now be based primarily on your current division placement and a predetermined “pip range” that extends from that spot. We’ll search for other players that fall within your pip range (which can extend outside of your division depending on where you’re currently placed) and pair you up with teammates who have a similar skill level to your own. We’ll then find you opponents within that same pip range and pair them against you, regardless of their skill level.”

As you go on win/loss streaks I can’t imagine that your skill level wouldn’t change, it has to. So you get paired with people who are in the same boat, then get matched with another team in your same pip range but their skill level is never factored into the equation.

Could this be fixed by altering the number of similar players selected and then splitting them? Right now the system makes teams of 5 who have similar skill levels and then pairs them another group of 5 with any skill level… but what if the system instead made a team of 10 people with similar skill levels and then split them into two 5 man groups? Since the 10 individuals were chosen to have similar skill levels then the teams would have to have reasonably similar skill levels by design. IE:

• Now the system finds 5 people who are in your same pip range and skill level. Change that to 10. It should be a simple change to one line in one method.

• Instead of trying to use some complicated matching method to find another group within a similar pip range the system could simply split the already matched 10 people into two groups. The person with the best skill level going to red, the second best to blue, the third to red… etc.

• Queued groups would, of course, need to be handled as whole units. Their skill levels are already weighted when being matched against solo people so that would predetermine which team gets the group and which gets the solos with higher skills but this is already being done so there is no need to reinvent that wheel. Just assign the group to red team and then assign the higher skilled solos to the other team (as is already being done) and then divvy up the balance of the single queued people the same way as described above.

It’s a thought… Maybe one that could be easier to implement than rewriting the entire matchmaking system.

Maybe….

That’d basically just take us back to the season 1 system. Sure, that’s exactly what some players want, but it’d defeat the purpose of the current setup.

This is like S1, which was a flop and in no way represented skill. The current system is fine, it just needs to boost better players into higher divisions faster, or directly place them there based on the previous season.

Honestly, nothing needs to be rewritten, except the fact that new players start with an average MMR. They’ll get placed with actually average people and drag them down. This works fine for Unranked, where people need to learn, but it has no place in Ranked, which is basically a competition.

Sardath.8524:

This is like S1, which was a flop and in no way represented skill. The current system is fine, it just needs to boost better players into higher divisions faster, or directly place them there based on the previous season.

Honestly, nothing needs to be rewritten, except the fact that new players start with an average MMR. They’ll get placed with actually average people and drag them down. This works fine for Unranked, where people need to learn, but it has no place in Ranked, which is basically a competition.

They also need to implement division drops, and arguably remove the pip safeguards in the lower tiers (unless they only want ruby, diamond and legend to be competitive).

Ok, didn’t know that about S1, thanks.

I do have to admit, climbing the ladder would be extremely hard if you were always in even matches.

I think I’m beginning to see the way this system will work out, allowing everyone to settle in at their skill level as things go along. But that’s going to take a couple of weeks to settle out since not everyone is playing every day.

The fact that you can get matched into a fight that is hopeless is still frustrating as all… and having that happen again and again over a couple of weeks can’t be good for “noob retention” in PvP.

Ok, so there’s no easy fix…

Pakkazull.6894:

They also need to implement division drops, and arguably remove the pip safeguards in the lower tiers (unless they only want ruby, diamond and legend to be competitive).

This would be fair, but a lot of players will rage at this. There are low skilled/casual players who need a sense of progression and some average players who deserve a form of progression. After all, you have to cater to all the playerbase. I think it’s ok letting them have 3 divisions, and the higher skilled players the other 3.

Pakkazull.6894:

They also need to implement division drops, and arguably remove the pip safeguards in the lower tiers (unless they only want ruby, diamond and legend to be competitive).

I completely agree on that. Right now reaching ruby only means that you’ve played a lot. Think about scenario where a player soloqueues and is getting (by luck) carried by his teammate to a win. He goes up in the division but skillwise he shouldn’t belong there. Usually with a loss he should be brought back to his tier or should be kept in his division. right now this is not happening.

Another Problem: People farming pips on stronghold. I think most will agree that playing stronghold is basically just playing pve. Pushing doorbreakers and killing lord.

I’ve seen a lot of players which basically use this gamemode to farm pips. by this they are in a high division.

As soon as they enter conquest mode they are in lets say ruby aswell. but skillwise they might not be. This might lead to a loss for the team.
Being able to loose divisions might solve this problem.

Voluptus.3509:

Ok, didn’t know that about S1, thanks.

I do have to admit, climbing the ladder would be extremely hard if you were always in even matches.

I think I’m beginning to see the way this system will work out, allowing everyone to settle in at their skill level as things go along. But that’s going to take a couple of weeks to settle out since not everyone is playing every day.

The fact that you can get matched into a fight that is hopeless is still frustrating as all… and having that happen again and again over a couple of weeks can’t be good for “noob retention” in PvP.

Ok, so there’s no easy fix…

The problem is, people may never settle in at their appropriate level because you can’t drop divisions. If someone somehow were to be boosted into a division above their skill level, they’ll never be able to de-rank, not to mention that all the safeguards in the lowest three divisions make them practically useless for matchmaking.

Sardath.8524:

Pakkazull.6894:

They also need to implement division drops, and arguably remove the pip safeguards in the lower tiers (unless they only want ruby, diamond and legend to be competitive).

This would be fair, but a lot of players will rage at this. There are low skilled/casual players who need a sense of progression and some average players who deserve a form of progression. After all, you have to cater to all the playerbase. I think it’s ok letting them have 3 divisions, and the higher skilled players the other 3.

Actually the system is quite fine the way it is right now. A player wanting to get the legendary backpack will need to get to ruby in all four seasons, thats why the safeguards are all there up until ruby. Once ruby, the safeguards drop drastically (yea personally I think it would be cool if diamond-legendary safeguards were removed but you cannot have everything).

I think that is what anet intended though, legendary prestige to be the real “competition” for the true PvP players. And it could be, takes about 2-3 weeks to reach legendary, which maybe is a bit much? will have to see by the end of the season how people felt.

I don’t show up in a tennis court to challenge Serena. I leave it to her and go to a side court while enjoying the same game in slightly different fashion. GW2 needs to do the same.

Pool high kitten aka Pool 1 – People who reached diamond tier 4 and above should be kept in the same pool of players next season and will never be matched against or with other pool of players. Will these diamond heroes smurf with alt account just to display how hypocritical they are? Or just to help their buddies? Or just to make some money (if that’s possible)? Sure. But, that will be quite a few.

Pool GW2 carebears aka Pool 2 – people who have more than 500 matches played and are rank 80 will be in pool 2 and they will be placed in amber.

I will go even further and have a pre-season to decide tier placement in amber. In pre-seaon, every 10 wins will earn a league pip and every 30th win will position the player to the next tier. That mean John with 30 wins will start at amber tier 2 while Joe with 0 wins/did not participate will start at Amber tier 1. Max benefit from wins in preseason will be limited to 120. Players with 120 wins will be placed in t4 of Amber.

Pool wannabe kitten aka Pool 3 – People who have less than 500 matches played and are not rank 80 yet should be in another pool. These people must qualify by playing in pre-season and register 50 wins to be placed in Amber tier 0. After being placed in Amber tier 0, these players can improve their tier placement within Amber like Pool 2 players by winning more matches in pre-season.

What is the purpose of the current setup? I don’t find the matches at all competitive most are stomps. PvP population appears to be diminishing. Top level players are complaining about long queue’s or alting and exploiting the lower divisions,

Just what purpose does the current setup serve?

The more games I played, the more competitive they became. I would now say that the quality of games is equal to season 1 at least, and I’m enjoying the system.

My big problem with it is the start. They shouldn’t expect people to have to play multiple unfun games (500-57, 500-39, 500-80) to get to the point where the system works. I had win streaks at times that forced me to log out of boredom, as they were complete steamrolls. For next season they need to do something to change how the season starts. Some people have suggested things, and I’ll leave it to them. But early season was a bad joke. 1/10 games was enjoyable. Now I get many games 490-500, 476-500. Much more balanced matches. The steamrolls have become 180-500, or 230-500, which are much more fun to play when both teams can at least leave spawn.

Would someone explain my why I am being matched with … well evidently first timers … against people that are primo legends. Match me with other leggy champs versus other leggy champs and I’ll shut up.

That’s the only issue i have with teh matchmaking. Many people say i have to carry. I have no issues at all beating the living kitten out of primo legends on my own. But things quickly change when my team willingly walks into traps/marks/wells, don’t dodge, don’t cleave, don’t stop and rush toward mid in 3vs1 situation or lose a 2vs1 situation.

Even if I’m bad I’d never do the aforementioned.

Why am I being matched with idiots that do?

Nobody can carry a team that’s wiped most of the time. I can only get the top score for the team in such event. Even in loss I get tons of rank points for being top player. But that rank means kitten when i lose my pips all the time thanks to incapable teams.

More and more I am starting to understand why most PvP guilds require minimum of 750 games in ranked before a guild application is reviewed even….

tl;dr – Why am I so far down in the MMR hell to get such teammates? I literally blew up through amber and emerald with no loss and the first tier in sapphire I started getting baddies as teammates. I actually had almost 60% winrate in ranked before teh season. Now I’m sitting at 54% and am currently winning over 50% of my games but that’s only because I started playing premades. In soloQ i still get matched with absolute idiots

Sardath.8524:

Pakkazull.6894:

They also need to implement division drops, and arguably remove the pip safeguards in the lower tiers (unless they only want ruby, diamond and legend to be competitive).

This would be fair, but a lot of players will rage at this. There are low skilled/casual players who need a sense of progression and some average players who deserve a form of progression. After all, you have to cater to all the playerbase. I think it’s ok letting them have 3 divisions, and the higher skilled players the other 3.

No you don’ have to cater to them this is suppsed to be competitve pvp. Why can’t they do unranked if they just want to play casually and do dailies. You can go up in rank and get reward track advancement in UNRANKED. You absolutely don’t have to cater to them. Why can’t there be unranked for the most casual and the competitive people get there leagues. This can’t be all things for all people. It’s either 100% skill based or its not. This was sold to us as competitive leagues where your placement would be a reflection of skill. If people don’t want that no one is forcing anybody to play it and there is other pvp. No one side doesn’t have to give in (the most competitive people) when it was sold to us as COMPETITIVE and SKILL BASED.