Guild Wars 2

Or punished.

The “streak” system is the absolutely WRONG way to go with this. In my experience as a solo-queue last year, I almost never had a streak that would result in a bonus pip. Added up, the vast majority of my matches ended up being win 2, lose 1, win 3, lose 1, win 2, lose 2, etc. By the end of the season, I was getting far more wins than losses, but the losses were still situations where the match-up was just a bad one, and nothing I did would have changed that. I might pick up an extra pip here or there, but at the rate I was doing last season I’d be unlikely to gain more than a handful of bonus pips from either win or loss streaks.

Players should not be rewarded or punished for streaks because lost matches are almost always entirely outside of any individual players’ hands. They are the result of the team they were randomly matched with just being a bad team relative to the other team, and the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Players should not be punished for this by having their “streak” broken and missing out on bonus pips.

You’re applying old matchmaking with a new streak mechanic, not taking into account that decent players will breeze through early divisions on streaks with the new PIP based matchmaking.

The less time that strong players linger in low divisions, the better, streaks will place players where they should be, faster, initially.

Chaith is correct with how the new win streaks will work.

The bonus pips from breaking a losing streak are different though. In that case, the bonus pips don’t actually serve a matchmaking purpose, but an emotional one. It feels bad to lose streakily, and players feeling bad will stop playing. Giving a pip bonus to break the streak not only encourages players to keep going, but gives them a nice little endorphin shot at the end in the form of an extra pip to raise their morale.

it sounds like matchmaking is changing too much for any complaints to be valid yet. wait and see.

Fay.2357:

Chaith is correct with how the new win streaks will work.

The bonus pips from breaking a losing streak are different though. In that case, the bonus pips don’t actually serve a matchmaking purpose, but an emotional one. It feels bad to lose streakily, and players feeling bad will stop playing. Giving a pip bonus to break the streak not only encourages players to keep going, but gives them a nice little endorphin shot at the end in the form of an extra pip to raise their morale.

Breaking a loss streak doesnt award a extra pip every win after your third consecutive win awards one extra pip

…..well personally i have 10+ win streak on soloq…more then once..so i like the change..ha..ha..

daggerhands.9634:

Fay.2357:

Chaith is correct with how the new win streaks will work.

The bonus pips from breaking a losing streak are different though. In that case, the bonus pips don’t actually serve a matchmaking purpose, but an emotional one. It feels bad to lose streakily, and players feeling bad will stop playing. Giving a pip bonus to break the streak not only encourages players to keep going, but gives them a nice little endorphin shot at the end in the form of an extra pip to raise their morale.

Breaking a loss streak doesnt award a extra pip every win after your third consecutive win awards one extra pip

You’re wrong. Go read the blog post again, slower this time.

You’re applying old matchmaking with a new streak mechanic, not taking into account that decent players will breeze through early divisions on streaks with the new PIP based matchmaking.

The new matchmaking system may be even worse. After all, if it’s trying to present “fair” match-ups each time, then how can an individual player expect to win more than half his matches, much less consecutively?

The bonus pips from breaking a losing streak are different though. In that case, the bonus pips don’t actually serve a matchmaking purpose, but an emotional one. It feels bad to lose streakily, and players feeling bad will stop playing. Giving a pip bonus to break the streak not only encourages players to keep going, but gives them a nice little endorphin shot at the end in the form of an extra pip to raise their morale.

Yeah, but it does nothing to solve the real problem, losing in the first place. I mean, if you tend to lose two win one, repeat, then you’ll see no benefit from the streakbreaker bonus pip, but you’ll still feel pretty lousy about your play experience. And if you get into the situation I had at the end of s1, where I switched from Guardian to Necro and racked up twelve losses in a row with zero victories on that class, then there’s no bonus pip coming there.

it sounds like matchmaking is changing too much for any complaints to be valid yet. wait and see.

And I don’t think it’s possible for there to be a matchmaking system under which the points I raised would not remain valid.

Any system in which some players are getting win streaks, it would be impossible for their opponents to also be getting win streaks at the same time. At least half the players will not be benefiting from this system most of the time, and I doubt very many solo queuers will benefit significantly from it, mostly just the pre-made teams that are already doing well. That’s the main issue, it’s a system that gives bonus rewards to the people who are already doing very well for themselves, since they’re already winning multiple matches, rather than helping to even things out for the players who are not doing as well.

Ohoni.6057:

That’s the main issue, it’s a system that gives bonus rewards to the people who are already doing very well for themselves, since they’re already winning multiple matches, rather than helping to even things out for the players who are not doing as well.

That’s completely intentional. It isn’t meant to be easier to grind, it is meant to put you in your proper place fast.
Given all your previous posts you’ll likely complain more because you want the rewards, I don’t necessarily disagree with making the rewards more available but this is meant as a raking system.

If you continually lose 2 then win 1 or lose 12 in a row, then you’re an outlier that is clearly in a position far above their skill level. This sort of situation isn’t a matchmaking issue, it’s a personal skill problem. If you’re in a league where you can lose pips, you’ll eventually drop down and fight people of equal skill. If you’re in a league where you can’t lose pips…you’re just going to have to either wait until all the better players have progressed to a higher division, or learn to play better and become a better player yourself.

What you are saying makes no sense. People should absolutely be rewarded for a win streak, not because others cant achieve it, but because they can. As for the punishment part, there isnt any really, they just lose their streak and have to regain it. If you stop to think about it, and like Chaith said already, if good players are getting win streaks, then that means they will no longer be playing in lower divisions thus leaving said divisions with a better matchmaking experience. If you are having trouble reaching a win streak, well, form/join a team, get on ts, and practice together. Nothing is stopping you.

I swear lol this looks like a republican fear mongering tactic. No offense, I just couldnt help but notice the similarities.

Ohoni.6057:

You’re applying old matchmaking with a new streak mechanic, not taking into account that decent players will breeze through early divisions on streaks with the new PIP based matchmaking.

The new matchmaking system may be even worse. After all, if it’s trying to present “fair” match-ups each time, then how can an individual player expect to win more than half his matches, much less consecutively?

The new matchmaking won’t try to create “fair” matches anymore.

The system will use your league position to select which players you are matched with and against.
However, your MMR (which is the most accurate “skill” measure the system can get) will only be used to choose your allies. The enemy team will be created around another random MMR value, based on availability on that league position, which could be way higher or lower than yours.

At the very beginning of the new season, for example, with everybody being in amber division, a solo player with high MMR will be teamed with other skilled players against teams statiscally far worse than them.
These players will count the majority of their games as victories, gaining a lot of bonus pips through streaks and rapidly advancing through divisions.

The main purpose of the streaks (which will happen, A LOT) is to acelerate the speed at which more skilled players progress through the league system, so less skilled players met faster the situation in which they can have fair matches and eventually become the top dogs of their division and advance too.

With the new system, if you ever face the situation where you’re at 50% win rate, it can only mean two things:
1) You’re in a transient state in which you’re at the average MMR of your league position. Over time, the highest MMR players on that position will advance and be replaced with players that you already left behind who shouldn’t be hard to beat (unless you advance through grind, which can be specially true for the lower divisions where you can’t lose tiers or even pips). Eventually, you’ll have an above average MMR for that position and start to win more than you lose.
2) The MMR spread over divisions is completed and the majority of players (except those who played too little, or those at the very top or low end of the MMR spectrum) will face winrates around 50%.
This state will probably be caused by skilled but not PvP dedicated players reaching legendary status and losing interest. These players probably won’t aim to climb through legendary N tiers but still appear to complete their dailies, and will eventually create some kind of bottleneck at legendary division (and high diamond tiers).
It’s not extremely different from the first situation, just a much slower transient which could easily create hard division caps for some MMR tiers by the end of the season.

Win Streaks are good if you play in a team.

As a pug? No.

Even if we talk about skill level, I still get those matches (even now) People with Primordial Legend titles who play like noobs.

If you solo q, no matter how good you are, you will get matches or 1-2 persons in your team who will either go far every time and die every single time too.

So what if you are skilled but your teammates are….

So it clearly works in your disadvantage. Just because as a solo quer, you can never control the other people in your team, yes you can team chat but guess what there are those people who take advices negatively then proceed to throw the game.

• As long there is no exact way to tell MMR, you will get teammates that absolutely have no idea what they are doing. Yes Chaith, You and I both know (With the High MMR you have) you still get those people when you que.

Well Atleast we get the losing streak being broken by 1 extra pip, but I just think it’s time to address or show our MMR. I am so sick of matches that are easily winnable yet you get those people in your team that seem so oblivious to pvp mechanics.

StickerHappy.8052:

Win Streaks are good if you play in a team.

As a pug? No.

Even if we talk about skill level, I still get those matches (even now) People with Primordial Legend titles who play like noobs.

If you solo q, no matter how good you are, you will get matches or 1-2 persons in your team who will either go far every time and die every single time too.

So what if you are skilled but your teammates are….

So it clearly works in your disadvantage. Just because as a solo quer, you can never control the other people in your team, yes you can team chat but guess what there are those people who take advices negatively then proceed to throw the game.

• As long there is no exact way to tell MMR, you will get teammates that absolutely have no idea what they are doing. Yes Chaith, You and I both know (With the High MMR you have) you still get those people when you que.

Well Atleast we get the losing streak being broken by 1 extra pip, but I just think it’s time to address or show our MMR. I am so sick of matches that are easily winnable yet you get those people in your team that seem so oblivious to pvp mechanics.

Primoridal legend indicates nothing but the player reaching legendary division during season one ON HIS OWN “MMR BRACKET”.
The matchmaking won’t use MMR to balance matches anymore. If you’re in the high-end of the MMR spectrum, you will be teamed with other high MMR players and matched against another team on the same league position but with a completely unrelated MMR rating.
Basically, the clueless legendary (probably lower MMR) you used to get in your team for MMR balance purposes will be now on the opposing team and you will get one of the decent ones you used to play against.
Well, most likely you won’t be at the same division that the clueless legendary anymore.

StickerHappy.8052:

Win Streaks are good if you play in a team.

As a pug? No.

Even if we talk about skill level, I still get those matches (even now) People with Primordial Legend titles who play like noobs.

If you solo q, no matter how good you are, you will get matches or 1-2 persons in your team who will either go far every time and die every single time too.

So what if you are skilled but your teammates are….

So it clearly works in your disadvantage. Just because as a solo quer, you can never control the other people in your team, yes you can team chat but guess what there are those people who take advices negatively then proceed to throw the game.

• As long there is no exact way to tell MMR, you will get teammates that absolutely have no idea what they are doing. Yes Chaith, You and I both know (With the High MMR you have) you still get those people when you que.

Well Atleast we get the losing streak being broken by 1 extra pip, but I just think it’s time to address or show our MMR. I am so sick of matches that are easily winnable yet you get those people in your team that seem so oblivious to pvp mechanics.

I mean, last league as a purely solo player I had a win streak of 15 or so matches in a row. Twice. It only got me halfway through the next division, and that seemed sorta wrong.

Chaith.8256:

You’re applying old matchmaking with a new streak mechanic, not taking into account that decent players will breeze through early divisions on streaks with the new PIP based matchmaking.

The less time that strong players linger in low divisions, the better, streaks will place players where they should be, faster, initially.

What about the decent duo and solo queuers who will still be subjected to facing full teams, except now those teams won’t be some ez mark PvE guild, they’ll be a team of similarly skilled players with a designed comp, roles, and communication.

These streaks will punish solo queuers. Decent or otherwise.

That’s completely intentional. It isn’t meant to be easier to grind, it is meant to put you in your proper place fast.

But my point is that it fails at this. All it does is benefit teams that are already good at climbing the ranks. Someone who is in a pre-made team and is reasonably good does not deserve to climb the ranks faster than someone who is equally good but solo queues, and yet they will, because they will tend to get much more win streaks, while the solo queuer will inevitably be matched with idiots every few rounds, and lose a hopeless match as a result.

If you continually lose 2 then win 1 or lose 12 in a row, then you’re an outlier that is clearly in a position far above their skill level. This sort of situation isn’t a matchmaking issue, it’s a personal skill problem.

No, it’s really not. When I was losing a lot of matches as a Necro, I might not have been the best Necro in the world, but it’s impossible that I could have been SO bad that I was dragging down my entire team twelve matches in a row. I mean, I was in Sapphire, and had a pretty solid win ratio as a Guard before that, and as a Ranger after. My point is, in solo queue you often end up in a match-up that is just not going to win and it’s impossible to carry the entire team, regardless of personal skill. You’re only one player in 5, even if the other team is fairly bad you can’t hold two points yourself.

Again, if this were a 1v1 game, or a battle royale, then sure, win or lose on your own merits and be held accountable for the outcomes, but it’s not. It’s 5 v 5 and each player can only be accountable for 20% of their team’s performance. If a player is assigned a team that can’t carry the remaining 80%, then they should not be penalized for that. I have gotten some very good match-ups in solo queue, and have been grateful for them, but then my very next match-up can be a bunch of idiots where I’m 1v3ing mid and they can’t even keep either of the other two points locked down. Nothing much I can do there.

Ohoni.6057:

If you continually lose 2 then win 1 or lose 12 in a row, then you’re an outlier that is clearly in a position far above their skill level. This sort of situation isn’t a matchmaking issue, it’s a personal skill problem.

No, it’s really not. When I was losing a lot of matches as a Necro, I might not have been the best Necro in the world, but it’s impossible that I could have been SO bad that I was dragging down my entire team twelve matches in a row. I mean, I was in Sapphire, and had a pretty solid win ratio as a Guard before that, and as a Ranger after. My point is, in solo queue you often end up in a match-up that is just not going to win and it’s impossible to carry the entire team, regardless of personal skill. You’re only one player in 5, even if the other team is fairly bad you can’t hold two points yourself.

Yeah, you’re just fooling yourself. You lost 12 times in a row. There’s only 1 thing common to all 12 of those matches: you were on the losing side. It’s not rocket science to draw the conclusion that you were personally the driving force behind that 12 loss streak.

I personally feel like the changes for season 2 are a very big step in the right direction!

Season 1 had its good and bad features but ultimately it really spoiled us with pips that we did not deserve (atleast not always!).

1. winstreaks being rewarded is a good thing and in some way, shape or form is in almost EVERY matchmaking system in good games.

The idea behind this is the following: If you can manage to win 3+ games in a row, then maybe you are the reason for these wins? You are playing under your league and the game will help you to go up faster towards where you belong. Now obviously you can luck out 3 wins as well, it won’t be a common thing but its possible for sure. then gz you got a bonus pip, chances are that if it was just a fluke that this wont actually happen very often.

2. Full premades vs non premades.

People have to understand that GW2 simply does not have the population to support exclusive 5v5 ranked. It will result in 20+ min queues and it will break the game more than it will fix it.

Other than that did you know that many premades most likely haven’t even played together very much, some don’t even use voice comm, and basically just play together because they are friends or guildies or whatever reason?
These premades do not have any more chance to win than the soloQ players they might be against, unless they are actually just better players in which case they should win because they earn it?

The only premades that cause problems for soloQ’s are semi pro teams or ESL teams who have played together for a while already, and yes this can be frustrating but you really dont meet teams like this very often.

3. Trying in a lost game will no longer have any use unless you can turn it around completely and win the game.

This is the change that scares me the most, and wanna know why?
Because while i think its a good change (losing 300-500 is still losing people, you should not be rewarded for getting a few points, you win or you lose!), people however will take this as a reason to give up as soon as the enemy gets ahead slightly.

Lets make one thing clear, ‘afking’ because the game is ‘lost’ is ony a legit reason when the enemy team has 400+ points and you have <100. AND EVEN THEN YOU COULD TRY (I’ve won games like this).

Every single person who afks a game at 50-200 because they think its lost should be banned from ranked for a certain amount of time.

So ultimately while i think this is a good change, it will depend on the community to make the best of it

TL;DR Good changes that will create a better ranked environment than season 1 was. But the pvp community has to show what its worth and not give up the second you fall behind. Most could do this in season 1, keep doing it in season 2 please.

GL & hope to see ya’ll in ranked in a week

Yeah, you’re just fooling yourself. You lost 12 times in a row. There’s only 1 thing common to all 12 of those matches: you were on the losing side. It’s not rocket science to draw the conclusion that you were personally the driving force behind that 12 loss streak.

And I’m saying that’s impossible. A single player just cannot make that big a difference in a match, even if all they do is charge into the fray and die constantly. One bad player might be able to drag down a couple of games, but random chance alone would indicate that a decent team would luck out a win here or there. I mean, hell, I was able to win a match on my Dragon Hunter the other day without a Medallion on, because they’d patched away the one I’d been using and I hadn’t realized. I was barely holding my own in 1v1s, but my rando team still managed a match win.

And I didn’t do that badly, most of those matches I was at least being somewhat effective, capturing and holding down points while the other players had opportunity to do other stuff. I think you’re just being pointlessly mean to insist that it was entirely my fault when if you have any experience at all in PvP you know how impossible that is.

These premades do not have any more chance to win than the soloQ players they might be against, unless they are actually just better players in which case they should win because they earn it?

Even a little premeditation makes a huge difference. There was another player I occasionally duoed with over the course of the season and we had a much higher win-rate together than solo. There was also one night where in my first match we did very well, so the team decided to stick together for the night and won every subsequent match. There are just too many odds in play that can result in a team breakdown with randos, the fewer randos, the fewer things can go wrong, even if the pre-built team isn’t especially well balanced or skilled.

Every single person who afks a game at 50-200 because they think its lost should be banned from ranked for a certain amount of time.

I tend to play hard until the end through instinct (outside of Dragon Ball), but ultimately it’s not worth the effort, since if the enemy gets a massive lead early on, recovering is very unlikely, especially if you don’t have a good plan (ie you have no idea what your team’s capabilities are because you just met them). Most maps don’t have any decent method of overturning the score either, even things like the Temple “flip all the points” effect is no good if you can’t then hold them all afterwards. There’s little to feel good about spending five minutes fighting a battle that you know is lost, only to discover that you were right.

Ohoni.6057:

And I’m saying that’s impossible. A single player just cannot make that big a difference in a match, even if all they do is charge into the fray and die constantly. One bad player might be able to drag down a couple of games, but random chance alone would indicate that a decent team would luck out a win here or there.

It’s almost comical how badly you’re fooling yourself. You even say it in your own words “random chance alone would indicate that a decent team would luck out a win here or there”.

Yeah. That’s the point. Losing 12 games in a row is nearly impossible given even odds and random matchups. Obviously, something tipped the balance. Since you’re the only constant in all 12 of those games, obviously you are what tipped the balance, making you personally responsible for the bulk of those losses.

There’s being pointlessly mean, and then there’s being brutally honest. You lost 12 games in a row. This is not normal. This is not matchmaking’s fault. This is your fault.

It’s almost comical how badly you’re fooling yourself. You even say it in your own words “random chance alone would indicate that a decent team would luck out a win here or there”.

Yeah. That’s the point. Losing 12 games in a row is nearly impossible given even odds and random matchups. Obviously, something tipped the balance. Since you’re the only constant in all 12 of those games, obviously you are what tipped the balance, making you personally responsible for the bulk of those losses.

And that’s my point, “Losing 12 games in a row is nearly impossible given even odds and random matchups,” even IF one of the players involved is consistently bad, so the only possible solution to that scenario is that it was NOT presenting “even odds.” For whatever reason I was being consistently served some combination of weak teammates and/or stronger opponents, resulting in universally lopsided battles. Why does this concept seem so difficult for you to understand?

I mean seriously, if I’d lost 8 out of 12 I might be right there with you, “wow, I was really doing bad out there and it really tipped the odds against my team,” but 0-12, many of them not even close, even ones where my personal achievements were not that terrible, I’m sorry, I don’t see how any one person could be responsible for that, no matter how awful that one player might be. I mean, a player should be able to deliberately attempt to kitten over his team ever single match and STILL win at least one out of any twelve games, just by virtue of the fact that there’s only so much a single bad player can do to mess up a good team’s efforts. I mean, teams win 4v5 match-ups from time to time.

I had tons of 5+ winning streaks and I think it’s a good thing, cuz it allows better and more consistent players to climb the ranks more quickly.

Stop whining.

Ohoni.6057:

It’s almost comical how badly you’re fooling yourself. You even say it in your own words “random chance alone would indicate that a decent team would luck out a win here or there”.

Yeah. That’s the point. Losing 12 games in a row is nearly impossible given even odds and random matchups. Obviously, something tipped the balance. Since you’re the only constant in all 12 of those games, obviously you are what tipped the balance, making you personally responsible for the bulk of those losses.

And that’s my point, “Losing 12 games in a row is nearly impossible given even odds and random matchups,” even IF one of the players involved is consistently bad, so the only possible solution to that scenario is that it was NOT presenting “even odds.” For whatever reason I was being consistently served some combination of weak teammates and/or stronger opponents, resulting in universally lopsided battles. Why does this concept seem so difficult for you to understand?

I mean seriously, if I’d lost 8 out of 12 I might be right there with you, “wow, I was really doing bad out there and it really tipped the odds against my team,” but 0-12, many of them not even close, even ones where my personal achievements were not that terrible, I’m sorry, I don’t see how any one person could be responsible for that, no matter how awful that one player might be. I mean, a player should be able to deliberately attempt to kitten over his team ever single match and STILL win at least one out of any twelve games, just by virtue of the fact that there’s only so much a single bad player can do to mess up a good team’s efforts. I mean, teams win 4v5 match-ups from time to time.

Maybe you were just so bad or toxic that you tilted your teams and they underperformed? Just throwing a suggestion, not saying you were.

Stand The Wall.6987:

What you are saying makes no sense. People should absolutely be rewarded for a win streak, not because others cant achieve it, but because they can. As for the punishment part, there isnt any really, they just lose their streak and have to regain it. If you stop to think about it, and like Chaith said already, if good players are getting win streaks, then that means they will no longer be playing in lower divisions thus leaving said divisions with a better matchmaking experience. If you are having trouble reaching a win streak, well, form/join a team, get on ts, and practice together. Nothing is stopping you.

I swear lol this looks like a republican fear mongering tactic. No offense, I just couldnt help but notice the similarities.

Yeah Democrats never do this. Republicans want to put black people in chains and voter ID laws are a form of pole tax just to give you a couple of the worst memes floated by you honest Democrats. Most serious people understand that no political party is wholly good or bad because they are made up of millions of people and there isn’t a political trick both sides haven’t used since day one to motivate voters. No apology coming from me because Im not a weasel progressive like you that bad mouths people and then tries to apologise for it. No apology from me you are a tool.

brannigan.9831:

Stand The Wall.6987:

What you are saying makes no sense. People should absolutely be rewarded for a win streak, not because others cant achieve it, but because they can. As for the punishment part, there isnt any really, they just lose their streak and have to regain it. If you stop to think about it, and like Chaith said already, if good players are getting win streaks, then that means they will no longer be playing in lower divisions thus leaving said divisions with a better matchmaking experience. If you are having trouble reaching a win streak, well, form/join a team, get on ts, and practice together. Nothing is stopping you.

I swear lol this looks like a Kurzicks fear mongering tactic. No offense, I just couldnt help but notice the similarities.

Yeah Luxons never do this. Kurzicks want to put asuran, norn, charr, sylvari people in chains and voter ID laws are a form of pole tax just to give you a couple of the worst memes floated by you honest Luxons. Most serious people understand that no political party is wholly good or bad because they are made up of millions of people and there isn’t a political trick both sides haven’t used since day one to motivate voters. No apology coming from me because Im not a weasel progressive like you that bad mouths people and then tries to apologise for it. No apology from me you are a tool.

i fixed it, now it makes sense to me. at 1st i was lik ‘wutttt?’ but now i get it.

hackks.3687:

Chaith.8256:

You’re applying old matchmaking with a new streak mechanic, not taking into account that decent players will breeze through early divisions on streaks with the new PIP based matchmaking.

The less time that strong players linger in low divisions, the better, streaks will place players where they should be, faster, initially.

What about the decent duo and solo queuers who will still be subjected to facing full teams, except now those teams won’t be some ez mark PvE guild, they’ll be a team of similarly skilled players with a designed comp, roles, and communication.

These streaks will punish solo queuers. Decent or otherwise.

You may want to read other threads. A pug team won’t face a premade of 4 or 5 anymore.

So this thread is really about getting bad team mates and how hard life is as a solo q’r.

Stand The Wall.6987:

So this thread is really about getting bad team mates and how hard life is as a solo q’r. Heard this a million times before. If you dont want to team up with randoms that could be bad, JOIN A TEAM. Seriously. What. Is. The. Big. Deal.

Life Happens.

StickerHappy.8052:

Stand The Wall.6987:

So this thread is really about getting bad team mates and how hard life is as a solo q’r. Heard this a million times before. If you dont want to team up with randoms that could be bad, JOIN A TEAM. Seriously. What. Is. The. Big. Deal.

Life Happens.

The big deal is that some people have jobs that aren’t 9-5.(Don’t agree with OP, but just wanted to point this out)

You may want to read other threads. A pug team won’t face a premade of 4 or 5 anymore.

It sounds like they won’t face 5-man teams anymore, but I think 4-man are still on the table, or at least 3 or 2-man teams, and those can make a significant difference over a true pug.