I strongly believe that both the Daily Participation achievement (participate in 3 ranked matches for 15 days) and 1x/2x/3x Class (League “Insert Class”—Recruit) Wins achievements should be removed from ranked season achievements. Why?
1) The class wins achievement forces backpiece/shiny hunters and AP farmers into playing classes they cannot play at their level of true skill.
2) The daily participation achievement has created a pool of players who merely play 3 matches for the sake of 3 matches, and subsequently may not care for the outcome of the match.
3) Both reasons 1 and 2 then compound with one another alongside the additional lack of having an X # of class restriction per team in ranked. This in turn creates horribly balanced matches purely based on comp amongst other reasons.
Due to these reasons there now exists a player pool of inexperienced players, grinders, apathetic players, experienced players, skilled players, and trolls. For clarity and use later on, these different types of players will be labeled as a “player type”.
Your current match making system does a so-so job of addressing three of those groups, as the system was designed to appropriate skill as best it could. Those groups are obviously the inexperienced, experienced, and skilled players. The system however does little to address the remaining grinders, apathetic players, and trolls.
- Grinders are what I would refer to as AP hunters and or players merely in PvP for the backpiece, not for PvP itself. Any skill level could apply to these players, but their main objective is not the quality or competitiveness of a PvP match.
- Apathetic players are a result of the current match making system. Their skill range can include players of any skill level, but more than likely below average and average players. These players are fed up with the quality of matches and most likely log in daily for their ranked match participation to move forward in getting the backpiece; winning or losing these 3 matches is not a priority.
- Trolls are an unfortunate evil that will always exist within the system. I will state that the current system does very little to punish and or report these players.
Now that we’ve established the player pool and their motives, what does a general match look like around prime time/reset. *Note that these player types can exist at any MMR.
Team A: Thief, Scrapper, Scrapper, Scrapper, Druid
Team B: Tempest, Necro, Rev, Necro, Mesmer
In any match I’ve played with a similar class distribution (1 class heavily concentrated on one team, 3xnecro, 3x druid and so on…) the team with the class concentration will lose (within ruby/diamond/legendary). Now it is quite obvious that players on Team A could swap to adjust their comp, which they most certainly should, we also have the independent variable that is the “player type” effecting that choice.
On Team A, the 3 scrapper players could be trolls, varying skilled players, apathetic players, or grinders. In the case that they are grinders or an apathetic player, they’re more unlikely to switch and communicate with the team. This will generally result in a loss, most notably due to comp in this scenario. Again to these two player types winning is a secondary or third objective/motive to playing a match.
On top of being a grinder or apathetic player, one or all of these scrappers could be inexperienced or have very few matches in ranked; these players could have highly volatile MMR and be mis-matched due to unsettled MMR. Not having much experience or being unskilled, these players will likely not contribute to the team in a positive manner.
In this situation we’ve come to the conclusion that 3 of the 5 players on Team A are more than likely not going to positively contribute to a match. The 2 players left on Team A could be skilled or unskilled players. These players regardless of skill level are however focused on PvP as an objective; looking to improve, progress, play as a team, etc… . Unfortunately 3 of their teammates consist of a volatile player type, which can exist as a direct result of the two achievements I propose to remove.
Now, the match could be lost simply due to skill discrepancies between the teams, but there is an important thing to take away from all of this. When designing a skilled based PvP system, why would you introduce/keep variables such as these achievements that can heavily influence match quality when there are clearly issues with the base system that have been acknowledged?
These achievements directly effect and harm match quality, furthering volatility in the game mode and community. I see matches like this on a daily basis, and ALWAYS during prime time/reset. These are generally the only matches I lose as players refuse to work as a team and even bother to communicate. The second myself, my brother, or any of my friends play during different times, comp and communication issues seem to disappear and closer, more competitive matches result. I know this is a subjective analysis, but I think my reasoning, example, and player experiences easily back up the fact that these achievements do nothing to help the current quality of
matches
As a final note I would like to suggest that for future PvP rewards, please think about the use of those items and possibly restricting them to PvP only. The ranked PvP system shouldn’t be about grinding out a backpiece, even if only a portion of the PvP population are only there for it.
