Guild Wars 2

This is not a rage post. This is a 100% objective and constructive criticism post.

Under the previous iteration of leaderboards (before Dec 2), I could always tell there was a solid algorithm behind the matchmaking system. Games were close and I could very distinctly see my progress as I got better. There was a very distinct corrolary between skill and elo. There were a couple ways to game the system (ie. Abusing the bad decay system or just paying off the enemy team), but I’m large it was a very reliable skill ladder. The only people that complained about that system were people in really high elo (top 50~) that were clearly getting matched against people in much lower elo. And of course people in “elo hell” that were convinced they were so much better than their teammates and they deserved to be higher on the ladder.

During this just-passed preseason, we all saw people that weren’t even top 1k in the last leaderboard, quickly make their way to the front page just by spamming games. So, in a system were the virtual skill ladder is climbed by just playing more than others, there is no actual matchmaking. I repeatedly saw myself get matched with and against people that had absolutely no clue how the game worked, or even how their classes worked, but they had a similar number of games played, relative to me.

It very quickly became clear that no matter how many games I’d won, I wasn’t being placed with and against people of similar skill. I was quite simply being placed in a group of 10 players whose only common factor was games played.

Under this system rank points mean absolutely nothing. When you are awarding rank points indiscriminately, except for dishonor cases, and maybe deducting a fraction of a fraction of a point on a loss, it’s very easy to see this matchmaking will almost never actually match equally skilled players.

So if I can’t control who I’m being matched against by my win ratio or my skill, what I can do is control the people that I get matched with by just inviting them to my party. Either way, I’m not going to be watched against people anywhere close to my skill level and the games will be boring. So I’d rather secure the easy W rather than play the new Russian roulette of a system that is currently in place.

That being said, I think rather than reinventing the wheel, you should look at your old system and fix it’s flaws (which were very few).

Sadly the population is just still very small. But the game is definitely much better now. The biggest help would be to actually get people to play this game. But the problem is how?

I really doubt the population is getting much bigger after Arenanet has just taken the playground people use to learn and get known (solo que) out of the game. Sure, some PvE boiz get free wins now by queing 5man, but their interest is gonna pass. The game is old enough for that to be a certainty.
If you’re a returning player or just new to PvP and want to get better and have no one with the same mentality to play with, you’re kittened.
The reason solo ladders in Dota or League are so interesting is because it gives a chance for new people to play with/against the pros and learn how to play or, if they already know how to play, get known.

Not gonna happen with this game turning into premadeville.

All they need to do is set the matcher to be strict about only putting 5 solos against another 5 solos, each team with a similar average MMR…and an adjustment if there is a wide spread in the MMRs

That’s the old matcher. And allow people to set how long THEY are willing to wait for a match.

I actually have to say, I had some good games today (maybe because I won most of them this time around).

Won 3 out of 4, the game I lost was due to other team having a lord kill, was pretty great match overall.

As you can also see none of those matches were like yesterday (losing by 250+ points). The games were really close, except for that 4 warrior and 1 necro on one team, we stomped them.

Also, you notice they are all solo’ers, so I don’t know what yall talking about facing premades. Yall must be really high up that leaderboard to be facing them or something. Its expected you face premades higher up leaderboard you go.

I usually don’t complain a lot, however I decided to try out my first couple of matches since the patch. As a solo player, I played the same premade (top spots even) four times in a row out of five games. This is an instant turn off for me personally.

I’ll keep playing because five games isn’t enough to justify the system yet. However, if this trend continues, I’m done with pvp, at least from a solo perspective.

I agree with this, unfortunately. I don’t like 5 man roflstomping people but since the new patch solo queuing has forced me up against super pugs and premades while I was paired with new players. I don’t even understand how that happens at the moment and I’ve only played a few games so I’ll give it some more time but I’m likely to only queue as a team again and get stupidly high win ratios. It still seems to swing hugely both ways but we’ll see.

Benjamin.8237:

I agree with this, unfortunately. I don’t like 5 man roflstomping people but since the new patch solo queuing has forced me up against super pugs and premades while I was paired with new players. I don’t even understand how that happens at the moment and I’ve only played a few games so I’ll give it some more time but I’m likely to only queue as a team again and get stupidly high win ratios. It still seems to swing hugely both ways but we’ll see.

Really?

I just que’d solo not too long ago, another good game.

You have any screenshots to share with community of those super pugs going against new players?

I know a lot of people so I can tell if they new players or veterans.

I haven’t got any games against a premade yet, maybe I’m just on a lucky streak right now. Some people do like to exaggerate when they explain there things, that’s why you need proof to back up your claim. Easy to show proof, all you do is hit printscreen button and BAM!

This is my game from 10 mins ago. Pretty legit game, we up they up we up and we win. That deviation of the score is pretty good too, less than 50.

uberkingkong.8041:

Benjamin.8237:

I agree with this, unfortunately. I don’t like 5 man roflstomping people but since the new patch solo queuing has forced me up against super pugs and premades while I was paired with new players. I don’t even understand how that happens at the moment and I’ve only played a few games so I’ll give it some more time but I’m likely to only queue as a team again and get stupidly high win ratios. It still seems to swing hugely both ways but we’ll see.

Really?

I just que’d solo not too long ago, another good game.

You have any screenshots to share with community of those super pugs going against new players?

I know a lot of people so I can tell if they new players or veterans.

I haven’t got any games against a premade yet, maybe I’m just on a lucky streak right now. Some people do like to exaggerate when they explain there things, that’s why you need proof to back up your claim. Easy to show proof, all you do is hit printscreen button and BAM!

This is my game from 10 mins ago. Pretty legit game, we up they up we up and we win. That deviation of the score is pretty good too, less than 50.

I could provide proof with a screenshot but I haven’t got any at the moment. I’m currently not playing ranked at the moment as my losses exceeded my wins and I’m not happy if it’s not 60% win rate so I’m going to wait until I get 5 players. But I’m not new.

Benjamin.8237:

uberkingkong.8041:

Benjamin.8237:

I agree with this, unfortunately. I don’t like 5 man roflstomping people but since the new patch solo queuing has forced me up against super pugs and premades while I was paired with new players. I don’t even understand how that happens at the moment and I’ve only played a few games so I’ll give it some more time but I’m likely to only queue as a team again and get stupidly high win ratios. It still seems to swing hugely both ways but we’ll see.

Really?

I just que’d solo not too long ago, another good game.

You have any screenshots to share with community of those super pugs going against new players?

I know a lot of people so I can tell if they new players or veterans.

I haven’t got any games against a premade yet, maybe I’m just on a lucky streak right now. Some people do like to exaggerate when they explain there things, that’s why you need proof to back up your claim. Easy to show proof, all you do is hit printscreen button and BAM!

This is my game from 10 mins ago. Pretty legit game, we up they up we up and we win. That deviation of the score is pretty good too, less than 50.

I could provide proof with a screenshot but I haven’t got any at the moment. I’m currently not playing ranked at the moment as my losses exceeded my wins and I’m not happy if it’s not 60% win rate so I’m going to wait until I get 5 players. But I’m not new.

Well I don’t play unranked games. What problem probably is, is like I been telling everyone those that play unranked are prepping for big tournaments like esl, so expect to get wooped and unfair games.

I’ve been playing ranked games and they look great… So far. 6 games and all of them felt like everyone was solo que’ed and decent skill level.

Sorry if you just want to play for fun and not be ranked.
They removed the most fun thing to do in PvP which was hotjoins.
Back when it was 8v8, that’s how I got into PvP, I loved playing it, I didn’t care about winning, all I cared about was having fun. And if people like being in 6v6 type battles or putting themselves into 1v6 battles good for them. If people just like to avoid zerg and backcap good for them. They had fun.
Apparently a group of people eliminated that fun, they want all games to be competitive, no fun, play to win only.

That’s why I don’t even look at hotjoin or unranked anymore. I’ll just play unranked if ranked dies out. Like for awhile it had 40 min que’s, nobody got time for that bullkitten (this was 12/8/14 when there was no leaderboard so everyone went unranked).

uberkingkong.8041:

Sorry if you just want to play for fun and not be ranked.

No I want to play ranked, but at the moment it is unbearable to do so unless I can have a win more than I lose. Pre december 2nd patch the leaderboards were pretty bad, but I was still consistently moving about in them because I felt I played well and during the week leading up to december 16th I played with my team and fluctated around the 200 position. Right now though ranked is a bit wobbly so I’ll wait a bit then try and fix my mmr or something by playing with teams.

Benjamin.8237:

it is unbearable to do so unless I can have a win more than I lose.

this is funny and horrifying

insanemaniac.2456:

Benjamin.8237:

it is unbearable to do so unless I can have a win more than I lose.

this is funny and horrifying

Tell me about it hahahah.

Benjamin.8237:

insanemaniac.2456:

Benjamin.8237:

it is unbearable to do so unless I can have a win more than I lose.

this is funny and horrifying

Tell me about it hahahah.

i think you should edit your expectations to winning 50%, since thats what matchmaking tries for

Still getting good games. Don’t see problem with matchmaking.
See this close game?
Pretty much all my games been like this post patch except for game where I had one leaver and we still won.

As a solo player all I seem to come up against in this new system is teams ( even the same team in 2 separate matches). I just get trounced really bad most of the time. There is no fun or fairness when organized teams are playing against disorganized solo players. After playing for about six months I’ve played my last game today. All the fun has gone.

A lot of solo players don’t care about the leaderboards. We solo queue into ranked queue just so that we do not need to play the 3 horrible maps. It would be nice to actually have good matches along the way. Just saw another 500-75 or something. Such fun.