So, I’m here to offer my thoughts on the current league system in GW2. I’d like to preface this by saying that I very much like the idea of leagues, a ladder that you climb up by winning games and fall by losing games, with certain rewards attached. I would also like to mention that my knowledge of the MMR system is far from perfect, and as such I apologize for any misinformation this post may contain.
Now, the whole point of a ladder-style league is that you’re attempting to win more often than you lose. Simple and sensible enough- if you win consistently you’ll travel up in the league to compete against better players until you reach some sort of stable equilibrium. This is fine, it encourages improvement and makes higher ranks a sign of prestige.
MMR, as I understand it, attempts to create 50/50 winrates whenever possible. The game will put you into matches intended for you to win or to lose to maintain that approximately 50% winrate. It knows who’s likely to win the match prior to ever starting it. This is also fine, it ensures that matches should for the most part be fair and keep things from getting too frustrating for the typically unlucky.
The problem comes from combining these two systems that function, it seems to me, in opposite manners to each other. The people I’m playing against in the middle of Emerald aren’t any better than the people I was playing against in Amber, and if I should reach Sapphire I’d expect that my opponents would not be much better there either. The game will always attempt to pair me with people of approximately equal experience and talent.
Instead what ends up happening is that people advance based on two factors: being able to form an organized group (which I acknowledge may have been the intent of the current system, but that doesn’t make it any easier on those of us accustomed to queuing solo) or fortune. Victory will typically go to those who are coordinated or lucky enough to fall into the most effective composition. A bunch of random roaming DPS/bruisers is very rarely going to beat a team with two dedicated bunkers and a set of equally capable bruisers backing them, whether the latter team was deliberately assembled or just lucky.
My request to you, A-net, is that you reconsider this system for future leagues. The current system creates little more than a grind and a game of dice for those playing solo. Maybe it will settle out somewhat as people spread more thoroughly through the leagues, and it’ll be easier for players of sufficient experience to push through the lower tiers, but as it is the current ranked system is neither fun nor rewarding for me. I mean to keep at it, but that’s only because I’m monumentally thick skulled, and I’m afraid more sensible players may be leaving entirely.