Guild Wars 2

Almost everyday now a new topic comes up asking for way to ban or report AFK players, but what really needs to be done is finding a way to prevent them in the first place.
These achievments and rewards were created to bring new players into the game and make PvP queues shorter with a larger player pool, but this pip system with the matchmaker has created a very negative environment.
Sitting in the lobby waiting for games is filled with endless conversations of people stuck in this division or that, cursing the system or how many hours they’ve wasted trying to climb to the next division. People are playing PvP for all of the wrong reasons and it’s become unfun and exhausting. People AFK to get that match done so they can get into the next to either win or lose to get into the next and so on until they achieve what they need. It feels more like a job than a game. Many of these people will never return.
I feel that if these pips and divisions were removed and the matchmaker repaired or removed things would improve immediately. Using long term goals like number of matches won, kills per class, caps or heals per match would keep people in the game longer and whether they won or lost the game they would still be working toward their desired goal, they wouldn’t feel the need to AFK to get that match done to get into the next to desperately try to get the next pip or tier done.
And you could still have some kind of ranking system with rewards exclusive to the highest achievers. All I want is PvP to be fun again. As it stands I don’t think I could stomach another season of this PvP.

If they remove division system noone will play pvp at all. If you want get rid off afk players (i am one of them) make normal solo queue, and make system like in first season, when i had reasons to play even when i know i will lose. When i am losing now (and i know i will lose no matter what) i have no reasons to play.

What you are failing to realize is while the system does not award you pips for keeping the match close, it is still factored into the rating system. The more matches you toss because you lost the first fight, or someone didn’t switch to ele the worse your future matches are going to be.

Dumat.1479:

If they remove division system noone will play pvp at all. If you want get rid off afk players (i am one of them) make normal solo queue, and make system like in first season, when i had reasons to play even when i know i will lose. When i am losing now (and i know i will lose no matter what) i have no reasons to play.

Faux Play.6104:

What you are failing to realize is while the system does not award you pips for keeping the match close, it is still factored into the rating system. The more matches you toss because you lost the first fight, or someone didn’t switch to ele the worse your future matches are going to be.

Dumat.1479:

If they remove division system noone will play pvp at all. If you want get rid off afk players (i am one of them) make normal solo queue, and make system like in first season, when i had reasons to play even when i know i will lose. When i am losing now (and i know i will lose no matter what) i have no reasons to play.

I think you dont understand what i am talking about. MMR system doesnt care what was the score when you lost or won the game. Yes, the amount of points you will get for your mmr will depend on your chances to win/lose (you will get less if you are the favorite), but it doesnt matter, what the scroe will be. And in season 1 we had a pip system who cared about what was the score and your chances to win/lose the game. You could even get a point when you lost the game, if the score was ok.

The problem is everyone thinks they are an expert on the rating system yet there is no feedback in game on what is going on behind the curtain.

This is from anet’s wiki on how matchmaking is done. It looks at more than just MMR.

The first phase, called filtering, gathers players based on their current MMR and Ladder Points. The primary purpose of this phase is to both reduce the number of players being considered for a match, and to ensure that the match is appropriate given each player’s skill level. Over time, padding is added to your player rating and ladder points. While this may decrease match quality, it helps ensure that outliers still receive matches.

The second phase of the algorithm is the scoring phase. During this phase each player is scored against every other player being considered for matchmaking. The metrics used during this phase include: rating, rank, party size, profession, ladder position, and dishonor. With each metric the system is looking for players that are as close as possible to the average of those already selected. The system also attempts to keep the number of duplicate professions to a minimum.

Dumat.1479:

Faux Play.6104:

What you are failing to realize is while the system does not award you pips for keeping the match close, it is still factored into the rating system. The more matches you toss because you lost the first fight, or someone didn’t switch to ele the worse your future matches are going to be.

Dumat.1479:

If they remove division system noone will play pvp at all. If you want get rid off afk players (i am one of them) make normal solo queue, and make system like in first season, when i had reasons to play even when i know i will lose. When i am losing now (and i know i will lose no matter what) i have no reasons to play.

I think you dont understand what i am talking about. MMR system doesnt care what was the score when you lost or won the game. Yes, the amount of points you will get for your mmr will depend on your chances to win/lose (you will get less if you are the favorite), but it doesnt matter, what the scroe will be. And in season 1 we had a pip system who cared about what was the score and your chances to win/lose the game. You could even get a point when you lost the game, if the score was ok.

Faux Play.6104:

The problem is everyone thinks they are an expert on the rating system yet there is no feedback in game on what is going on behind the curtain.

This is from anet’s wiki on how matchmaking is done. It looks at more than just MMR.

The first phase, called filtering, gathers players based on their current MMR and Ladder Points. The primary purpose of this phase is to both reduce the number of players being considered for a match, and to ensure that the match is appropriate given each player’s skill level. Over time, padding is added to your player rating and ladder points. While this may decrease match quality, it helps ensure that outliers still receive matches.

The second phase of the algorithm is the scoring phase. During this phase each player is scored against every other player being considered for matchmaking. The metrics used during this phase include: rating, rank, party size, profession, ladder position, and dishonor. With each metric the system is looking for players that are as close as possible to the average of those already selected. The system also attempts to keep the number of duplicate professions to a minimum.

Dumat.1479:

Faux Play.6104:

What you are failing to realize is while the system does not award you pips for keeping the match close, it is still factored into the rating system. The more matches you toss because you lost the first fight, or someone didn’t switch to ele the worse your future matches are going to be.

Dumat.1479:

If they remove division system noone will play pvp at all. If you want get rid off afk players (i am one of them) make normal solo queue, and make system like in first season, when i had reasons to play even when i know i will lose. When i am losing now (and i know i will lose no matter what) i have no reasons to play.

I think you dont understand what i am talking about. MMR system doesnt care what was the score when you lost or won the game. Yes, the amount of points you will get for your mmr will depend on your chances to win/lose (you will get less if you are the favorite), but it doesnt matter, what the scroe will be. And in season 1 we had a pip system who cared about what was the score and your chances to win/lose the game. You could even get a point when you lost the game, if the score was ok.

All i can say to this this “expert” wiki info is “LOL”

Faux Play.6104:

The problem is everyone thinks they are an expert on the rating system yet there is no feedback in game on what is going on behind the curtain.

This is from anet’s wiki on how matchmaking is done. It looks at more than just MMR.

The first phase, called filtering, gathers players based on their current MMR and Ladder Points. The primary purpose of this phase is to both reduce the number of players being considered for a match, and to ensure that the match is appropriate given each player’s skill level. Over time, padding is added to your player rating and ladder points. While this may decrease match quality, it helps ensure that outliers still receive matches.

The second phase of the algorithm is the scoring phase. During this phase each player is scored against every other player being considered for matchmaking. The metrics used during this phase include: rating, rank, party size, profession, ladder position, and dishonor. With each metric the system is looking for players that are as close as possible to the average of those already selected. The system also attempts to keep the number of duplicate professions to a minimum.

Dumat.1479:

Faux Play.6104:

What you are failing to realize is while the system does not award you pips for keeping the match close, it is still factored into the rating system. The more matches you toss because you lost the first fight, or someone didn’t switch to ele the worse your future matches are going to be.

Dumat.1479:

If they remove division system noone will play pvp at all. If you want get rid off afk players (i am one of them) make normal solo queue, and make system like in first season, when i had reasons to play even when i know i will lose. When i am losing now (and i know i will lose no matter what) i have no reasons to play.

I think you dont understand what i am talking about. MMR system doesnt care what was the score when you lost or won the game. Yes, the amount of points you will get for your mmr will depend on your chances to win/lose (you will get less if you are the favorite), but it doesnt matter, what the scroe will be. And in season 1 we had a pip system who cared about what was the score and your chances to win/lose the game. You could even get a point when you lost the game, if the score was ok.

Quoting that does nothing for anyone. I’m not going to side with the AFKers but nobody can disagree that season 3 matchmaking is pure garbage, whether you’re on the winning or losing end of win streaks or loss streaks.

I don’t think it is garbage. The math behind the system works. The issue is with the community playing the game. What I’m trying to point out is:

1. Match quality and queue times go hand in hand. If you want close matches you will have to wait longer.
2. A segment of the population won’t play hard for a whole match. There is no matchmaking system that can provide good matches when you have people that may or may not play once they get loaded into the match.
3. Grouping people of similar skill level on a team will increase queue time. It is possible to create even matches by grouping elite players with average and below average players, but there was significant backlash after season one that elite players were being paired with very inexperienced players which created poor match quality.
4. Regardless of what Anet does there will be crybabies out in force.

FauxPlay, you are quoting unrelated data.

Matchprediction and therefore the ladder arent used in season3.

In a certain pip range players with similar MMR are taken and put into a group of 5, then they get matched against a team of 5 of similar mmr +/- a certain amount.

MMR is calculated using Glicko2.

Matchprediction isnt used anymore.

And to be perfectly honest, reading and experiencing things like in attachment, dont make me want to come back for more. Id rather play Overwatch then this crap.

You are quoting an article that was a simplification of the algorithm. Yes it looks in a 15 pip range to find players at a similar level to make a team. If you look at the wiki article it breaks it down in to more detail how the decisions are made.

It is really pointless having us argue about it when we don’t have access to the source code. I would like to think the devs can keep their wiki current because that level of detail can not be crowd sourced. If not shame on them. If you look at the updates on the wiki pages they are after season 2 started which has pretty much the same algorithm as season 3.

Here is another wiki article that speaks about the match making and it also states ladder position is used:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Structured_PvP
Primary article: PvP Matchmaking Algorithm
The PvP matchmaking algorithm is the Glicko2 matchmaking rating (MMR) and helps match players with other players with similar skill levels.
The metrics used during matchmaking include: rating, rank, party size, profession, ladder position, and dishonor.

The devs should really clear this up and either fix their wiki or state that it is accurate. In my opinion having the key parameters that determine matchmaking hidden behind the curtain so you can’t see how they are affected by your play creates a huge amount of confusion, frustration, and speculation. If they are going to continue to do that then they need to do a better job of advertising how the system works and correcting misinformation posted on their forums.

Yasi.9065:

FauxPlay, you are quoting unrelated data.

Matchprediction and therefore the ladder arent used in season3.

In a certain pip range players with similar MMR are taken and put into a group of 5, then they get matched against a team of 5 of similar mmr +/- a certain amount.

MMR is calculated using Glicko2.

Matchprediction isnt used anymore.

And to be perfectly honest, reading and experiencing things like in attachment, dont make me want to come back for more. Id rather play Overwatch then this crap.

Faux Play.6104:

(…)
In my opinion having the key parameters that determine matchmaking hidden behind the curtain so you can’t see how they are affected by your play creates a huge amount of confusion, frustration, and speculation. If they are going to continue to do that then they need to do a better job of advertising how the system works and correcting misinformation posted on their forums.

We might not agree on everything, but this… so much this. The information I have is pieced together from posts here, on reddit and on the wiki over the last 2 years, ever since I started playing pvp mainly.

Ill never understand why Anet makes such a secret out of mmr.

Yasi.9065:

Faux Play.6104:

(…)
In my opinion having the key parameters that determine matchmaking hidden behind the curtain so you can’t see how they are affected by your play creates a huge amount of confusion, frustration, and speculation. If they are going to continue to do that then they need to do a better job of advertising how the system works and correcting misinformation posted on their forums.

Ill never understand why Anet makes such a secret out of mmr.

It’s a heavy handed way to make sure people don’t hate on eachother, RQ, and afk by knowing the MMR of those they’re playing with.

Hold on a minute….