I was supposed to do this sooner, like a few weeks into the update, but I figured it was better if I get as much matches as possible before posting feedback. However, previews on twitter means that a new update is looming, so I better get on with this before it’s too late.
To give a bit of context, I have been camping in diamond 1 for the past 4-5 months, and I rift 14 times a week for the most part.
1.) From where I am, there have always been 2 major problems I have with rift matchmaking, both are related to collection strength factoring in the algorithms. The first is that it protected weaker players from stronger ones. While this is supposedly a good thing to provide “fairer” matches, it ended up backfiring in upper ranks, with weak collections making it to as high as the top 3 simply because they were able to dodge all the strongest players. 2 updates ago, this was addressed by eliminating collection strength in the top ranks. In just the first week, the top 3 players undoubtedly make a really good case as the 3 actual strongest in the server. It’s been more or less that way every week since.
2.) I did still note however, that below the top 10, diamond ranks still had a mix of players with weaker collections who manage to dodge stronger players. In the current patch, the threshold where matchmaking was purely rating-based was lowered even more to cover all of diamond ranks, and I can say after weeks of rifting that matchmaking has improved further. I am meeting more and more diamonds that i’ve never had the chance to rift before, which decreased the chances of me meeting random golds who happen to have high FS bases. This convinces me more than ever that the removal of collection strength eventually leads to a healthier matchmaking and a rift ranking that is more representative of actual player rankings.
3.) However, the second major problem that collection strength matchmaking has caused is on the other end of the spectrum. What of the players with lower ranks but high FS scores? Because matchmaking is still via collection strength at their rank, instead of having a fair shot at climbing, they are being thrown against players as high as diamond 1. What of the high level players who took a vacation, dropped all the way to rookie, and returned to the game wanting to climb again? Does this mean that this dude has to match with diamonds to get out of freaking rookie? And if not, can he even find players below diamond with a similar collection strength? If not, how will this person even find a match? I honestly feel like we fixed half of the issue in addressing the “overachievers” at high rank, but the “underachievers” at lower ranks is still a glaring issue that needs to be addressed.
4.) Now it’s very clear at this point that there are 2 main camps on the matchmaking conundrum. On one end, you have players in low ranks complaining that they’re sick of getting matched with dudes like 20 levels above them for free losses. It’s demoralizing, and it gives them less incentive to even try to rift. These are the ones who definitely have the most to gain from collection strength matchmaking, and the most to lose when it’s gone. On the other end, there’s people who are being oppressed by collection strength matchmaking, mostly OG players with high FS fighters who are either behind only on catalysts and move stats, who are way stronger than the people in their rank, but can’t even meet them to have a fair shot to fight their way out of there. It’s a classic rock and a hard place scenario and it sucks knowing that favoring either collection strength or pure rift rating is going to screw one side over no matter what.
5.) That said, I have an idea to satisfy both sides. What if we make it such that collection strength is added into +/- win loss point distribution instead of matchmaking, with minus ratios as low as zero? What happens will be something like this. In the event of a mismatch, the one “screwed over” loses nothing, and the stronger player still gets his points. Over time, the stronger players get the hell out of that rank fast, and weaker players will see less of them, without having to tank their rift ratings while it’s in the works. Then at the top of the ranks where collection strengths are closer to each other, they become unaffected and plus minus ratios stay purely by rift rating as always. This scenario gives players with high FS bases a less miserable time trying to climb, and at the same time weaker players get this huge pass of only losing points when they lose to someone with similar collection strength. I’m not exactly sure how feasible this is on the dev end, but if this became a reality then every rifter might actually get out of this happy.
To give a bit of context, I have been camping in diamond 1 for the past 4-5 months, and I rift 14 times a week for the most part.
1.) From where I am, there have always been 2 major problems I have with rift matchmaking, both are related to collection strength factoring in the algorithms. The first is that it protected weaker players from stronger ones. While this is supposedly a good thing to provide “fairer” matches, it ended up backfiring in upper ranks, with weak collections making it to as high as the top 3 simply because they were able to dodge all the strongest players. 2 updates ago, this was addressed by eliminating collection strength in the top ranks. In just the first week, the top 3 players undoubtedly make a really good case as the 3 actual strongest in the server. It’s been more or less that way every week since.
2.) I did still note however, that below the top 10, diamond ranks still had a mix of players with weaker collections who manage to dodge stronger players. In the current patch, the threshold where matchmaking was purely rating-based was lowered even more to cover all of diamond ranks, and I can say after weeks of rifting that matchmaking has improved further. I am meeting more and more diamonds that i’ve never had the chance to rift before, which decreased the chances of me meeting random golds who happen to have high FS bases. This convinces me more than ever that the removal of collection strength eventually leads to a healthier matchmaking and a rift ranking that is more representative of actual player rankings.
3.) However, the second major problem that collection strength matchmaking has caused is on the other end of the spectrum. What of the players with lower ranks but high FS scores? Because matchmaking is still via collection strength at their rank, instead of having a fair shot at climbing, they are being thrown against players as high as diamond 1. What of the high level players who took a vacation, dropped all the way to rookie, and returned to the game wanting to climb again? Does this mean that this dude has to match with diamonds to get out of freaking rookie? And if not, can he even find players below diamond with a similar collection strength? If not, how will this person even find a match? I honestly feel like we fixed half of the issue in addressing the “overachievers” at high rank, but the “underachievers” at lower ranks is still a glaring issue that needs to be addressed.
4.) Now it’s very clear at this point that there are 2 main camps on the matchmaking conundrum. On one end, you have players in low ranks complaining that they’re sick of getting matched with dudes like 20 levels above them for free losses. It’s demoralizing, and it gives them less incentive to even try to rift. These are the ones who definitely have the most to gain from collection strength matchmaking, and the most to lose when it’s gone. On the other end, there’s people who are being oppressed by collection strength matchmaking, mostly OG players with high FS fighters who are either behind only on catalysts and move stats, who are way stronger than the people in their rank, but can’t even meet them to have a fair shot to fight their way out of there. It’s a classic rock and a hard place scenario and it sucks knowing that favoring either collection strength or pure rift rating is going to screw one side over no matter what.
5.) That said, I have an idea to satisfy both sides. What if we make it such that collection strength is added into +/- win loss point distribution instead of matchmaking, with minus ratios as low as zero? What happens will be something like this. In the event of a mismatch, the one “screwed over” loses nothing, and the stronger player still gets his points. Over time, the stronger players get the hell out of that rank fast, and weaker players will see less of them, without having to tank their rift ratings while it’s in the works. Then at the top of the ranks where collection strengths are closer to each other, they become unaffected and plus minus ratios stay purely by rift rating as always. This scenario gives players with high FS bases a less miserable time trying to climb, and at the same time weaker players get this huge pass of only losing points when they lose to someone with similar collection strength. I’m not exactly sure how feasible this is on the dev end, but if this became a reality then every rifter might actually get out of this happy.
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