It’s the end of another PvP season full of temper tantrums, screaming, crying, and general bad times for a lot of people, and all I can say is: Stop. Why do you care so much? None of it means anything.
Who am I to tell you this? Just a regular (now casual) PvPer who completed the achievement for crossing division thresholds in Season 2, which means, yes, I reached Legendary division (over 95% solo-queue), even though I am nowhere near what one would consider a “legend” at PvP in this game. (In fact, the only reason I competed this season was because I didn’t buy the doodads when I was supposed to do it, and so I didn’t get credit for half the achievements in S1/2 — ultimately just to have the option open to build a backpiece I probably won’t bother to make.)
What are you after? Prestige? Reward? You’re willing to become this upset for virtual prizes?
The purpose of the sPvP Seasons is twofold:
- First, to generate interest in competitive PvP, to draw more viewers to the Twitch showings of the Pro-League matches and increase revenue.
- Second, to perhaps induce people to form teams, to broaden the talent base from which to select participants in the Pro-League matches, generating more interest and viewers and increasing revenue.
Don’t forget that this whole thing was cooked up by the Marketing Department.
Yes, the matchmaking system is pretty bad, because the matchmaking system cannot determine individual skill in an automated team match, simply based on win/loss and the awarding of pips in broad, color-coded classifications. A large portion of the populace is lumped around the heart of the bell curve, within a couple standard deviations of the mean, and it’s going to throw everybody, above and below, into the same pool.
Why do you fret about your division? Do you care what other people think of you? Sure, it was nice to get that little black badge and run around for a few weeks, but I, and everybody else who PvP’ed, knew that it didn’t really mean I was good, just that I played enough, especially as it’s possible to grind to legend with a losing record — and I’m not just talking about stockpiling losses at the bottom of a division.
It’s a matter of the extra pips for streaks.
Let’s say you win 5 in a row. The third, fourth, and fifth victories will award 2 pips apiece, for a total of 8.
You can then lose the next 7 games and still be +1.
You win 5 more in a row. Every win except the second one will give 2 pips, for a total of 9.
You lose the next 8.
Over these 25 games, you have gone 10-15 (a 40% win rate) and are at +2 pips. It’s a hell of a way to get there, but the point is you can fail more than you succeed and still reach the top.
Do you really care about a Legendary-quality back item? If you PvP, it doesn’t carry any prestige, because everyone knows you can just grind for it. Whatever sense of accomplishment you gain will consequently be fleeting.
If you PvE, you can either a) get the fractal one, or b) get any other ascended one because you need at most two sets of stats for PvE.
If you WvW, you might have call for several different stat sets, but this is a back item: the lowest stat budgeted equipment piece in the game. You know it barely matters.
So, why do you become agitated? Why do you post about the awful matchmaking, your lousy teammates (your inability to recognize your own shortcomings), the imbalance, the unfairness, etc.? Why do you throw fits, throw matches, afk, curse out strangers from the safety of the Internet? Are the losses wasting your time? You’re playing a video game; the time was already wasted.
Relax. It doesn’t matter. If you’re not having fun, don’t play the game. If you can’t have fun unless you’re winning, you shouldn’t be playing games.