Guild Wars 2

Hi,
Admittedly, I haven’t logged in since the patch but I was wondering if a cluey player or a developer could pop in and shed some light for me on the matchmaking system.

What is this invisible rating? Don’t get me wrong, I understand what it is, it’s a MMR that’s hidden from the players and is used to pair players up of similar skill levels in matches. What I mean is, what is an advantage of an invisible rating and how do I, as a player, even know it is working as intended?

I’ve played a fair few games at a competitive level, and all of them have had a visible ELO or GLICKO rating system. As far as I understand MMR, even GW1 had a visible rating system. What is the advantage of an invisible system? Does close matches mean that the rating system is working? Does a match blow out mean that either the team fell apart or maybe the rating of each player had a higher gap then intended due to a lower pool of players?

I know that wow arena had a ranking and a MMR in the background, that didn’t necessarily match up. You could win 10 straight matches, and your ranking was 1500 or so but your MMR Might be near 2k due to the teams you were beating etc.

So my final question, do I have to keep track of my win/loss by myself to gauge whether my invisible MMR will be rising or falling? Or do I rely on the fact that if I hover around 50-60% win ratio then my rating is indeed in full effect and I am being matched with equally skilled players?

And lastly but not least, what is a single disadvantage to a visible rating system that I can see go up and down post every match? If you, arena net, have decided on an invisible MMR, what was it that you didn’t like about a visible rating similar to the one that was apparently in GW1? What exactly was the cons of visible and the pros of hidden?

I’m just a bit baffled and unless I get an answer that makes an iota of sense, I don’t see why I should log in and do any tournaments if there isn’t a visual indicator of skill/rating progression.

Not a rage post, just seeking some clarification.

Only advantage of an invisible rating system:
Anet doesn’t have to show and admit that their rating system atm sux and it will probably still take 1-2 months until it is 100% finished and then they will hopefully make it visible.^^