Other Rift: matching based on average FS of top 20 fighters creates unfair matches and can be abused

[Mornedil]

Here's the problem:
Someone who has spread out their leveling over lots of fighters will get matched against people with unbeatable boss nodes 2-3 times as strong.

Someone could neglect to raise their top 15-20 fighters and leave them at a low FS to gain an overall FS advantage in later nodes, which matter way more than those early ones (unless you're diamond+ maybe).

I can take myself as an example. I am currently level 59, and I have still not received a single Diamond fighter, natural or evolved.
What this means is that my top fighter is at around 9k FS, but my average FS is still high because I have had to raise lots of different fighters since I can't raise my best ones anymore.

In rift matchmaking, this means I am being matched agaisnt people who have 20k FS diamond fighters.
My boss node is at 34k FS, and I am being matched against people with 60k FS boss nodes, and with their other 3v3 nodes being as strong as my boss.
Sure, the people with those 60k boss nodes I'm being matched against have a couple fighters in the early nodes with really low FS, but that is completely irrelevant to the difficulty of the match, as they dont have a harder time with my early nodes than I have with theirs.


To fix this, please consider one or more of the following:

- only taking top 10 fighters into account

- having the top fighters have a greater "weight" when deciding the "matchmaking score" of a player.
For example: SCORE = T×W + A, where T is the total FS of the top 3 fighters, and A is the total FS of the top 4-20 fighters. W is a multiplier of how much the top 3 fighters will affect it, like the number 4 for example.
That way, the very top fighters will affect matchmaking more than the rest even tho they matter too, without completely changing the matchmaking system or making it more difficult to find a match

 

[ZeoW]

Good suggestion.

I would also like to add, I think people should only be matched with other people within the same category. It's not fair for those that match against Diamond-tier players just because they have a strong base even though they are silver. It's difficult for them to climb up to the tier they should be.

For Silvers that should be Diamond tiers, they'll have to be matches against other Silver players. It might not be fair for the other player so I suggest to use the total FS formula as part of the point system. If the difference is too large, the winning Silver should get a lot more points so that they'll be catapulted into the tier they should be in a few matches. This would keep unfair matches to the minimum.

To prevent someone from going on a winning spree for a week, the cutoff system needs to change, at least for the lower tiers up until Silver. I suggest having a cutoff based on points instead of percentage.

Gold tiers are where people start having Diamonds so perhaps taking account the number of Diamond fighters in this tier should be considered, at least for Gold 4 till Gold 3.

I feel like tweeks need to be made separately for each tier, instead of having a one-for-all solution.

 

[ZeoW]

Elaborating on changing the point system for lower tiers:

They should automatically be 'bumped up' when they reach X points and not allowed to go back to their previous tier if they lose. Again, just until Silver 1 or Gold 4.

 

[Dusty00]

While your suggestions may help those around your level and collection strength, it may not work for other tiers of rift.

Matchmaking “should” work okay “IF” we have enough players in this game. The problem is that there are only around 4,000 players and everyone is so all over the place in terms of collection strengths due to RNG and how long it takes to progress in this game.

Rift is meant to be end game content, yet it takes way too long and too much investment to get there. Perhaps an alternative is to ban Diamond characters for Silver ranks and below.

 

[ZeoW]

Yes, I agree that this might not work for other tiers. As I've said, I believe each tier needs their own separate 'tweek' to make it fair. I was mostly speaking for the tiers below Gold.

The Silver tier, for example, should be for players who are investing on getting multiple Gold variants. Catalysts should not be their concern.

The Gold tier can be split into two: Gold 3-4 are for players that has just started to get end game material, whether it be Catalysts or their first Diamond. Gold 1-2 should be for players with a few top tier fighters and Catalysts, getting ready for Diamond.

Diamond tier should be for the best of the best so I think it's alright as it is. But then again, I have yet to reach Diamond so I wouldn't know.

EDIT: Also, I feel like Catalysts should be given as part of the weekly rewards now, at least for Gold and above.