Annual thread where I SMH at matchmaking

[Guest]

Ok, so I post probably once a year about my horrid experience with the GW2 matchmaker. Past seasons have usually found me going on 10-15 game losing streaks, and most matches (even the ones I win) are 200+ point stompouts that really aren't much fun. It kinda got to the point where I didn't even bother screenshotting my misery any more. Last season, though, I got a break - I only had short losing streaks, ended up with about a 50/50 win/loss, and I'd say more than 50% of my matches were at least somewhat competitive (<150 pt win or loss) which was a mindblowing first. I thought ANet had finally figured this thing out....

... Then this season.

Let's start with the "Placement Matches." Do they even do anything? Last season I won 7/10 of them and was placed mid-gold. (which is where I typically place/end up). This season I lost 7/10 of them... and was placed mid-gold. Which, since I always end up playing in that zone, sounds like it should be fine, except for that detail of those seasons where I just lose and lose and lose.

My first four placement matches I didn't record the game results, because it took me awhile to realize just how bad this season was shaping up to be. But since then here's the results of my games (losses bold):

500 - 68 (placement)500 - 241 (placement)500 - 381 (placement)283 - 501 (placement)330 - 503 (placement)164 - 500 (not counted, teammate abandoned)207 - 502 (final placement)174 - 501333 - 500548 - 149414 - 500286 - 501189 - 501500 - 428500 - 398502 - 273220 - 500173 - 500270 - 500501 - 345500 - 169

If you're counting, that's a 5-16 record. It's drastically worse than any cumulative W/L record I've ever had. Beyond that, only 4 of those matches had scores within the range of what I consider "somewhat competitive". One of those only reached that point because of a last-second Foefire lord kill for us that had no possibility of effecting a win. I'm playing meta builds that I have plenty of practice with, updated since the sigil/rune rework. I didn't become a drastically worse player. So what gives?

As I've said in previous posts, I can only come to two realistic conclusions. Either:

1. I don't belong in the tier I'm placed. But if that's the case, why am I always placed there? And shouldn't I eventually stabilize to a place where the matches are competitive and I see more of a 50/50 win/loss? Or,

2. There's something very wrong with the way matchmaking works.

I think the small player pool must have something to do with it, because I frequently end up with/against the same players over and over again. Today I ended up teamed with the same pair of players three out of four games. After the first two absolute crushings I knew what was in store the third game, and sure enough the match delivered a beatdown. Can't the game tell "hey I put these guys together twice and they got rolled, maybe switch things up"?

Anyway, again, I don't mind losing per se. It's the nonstop no fun "can't-this-be-over-I-wish-we-could-forfeit" matches that are the worst. Even being on the winning side of one of those isn't fun in any other way than relief I'm not losing again. I don't know what the fix is but I can't believe I'm the only one experiencing this and I'm sure this kind of experience is a huge part of the drain of players away from the game mode (or lack of interest for players who try it).

[losingcontrol.1084]

The PvP population is so low and you can't have a balanced matchmaking.

Now because you lost 16 matches and won only 5 the matchmaking is broken, but if you win 16 and lose 5 the matchmaker is completely fine?

[Guest]

1. That's never happened to me, but

2. I explicitly stated that the losing was not the main issue, but the non-competitive games. Losing that much only exacerbates it because of course it's worse when you have bad games AND you're on the losing side of them.

[bbop.9706]

@losingcontrol.1084 said:The PvP population is so low and you can't have a balanced matchmaking.

Now because you lost 16 matches and won only 5 the matchmaking is broken, but if you win 16 and lose 5 the matchmaker is completely fine?

Yes matchmaking is bad but i disagree that its because pvp pop is so low. I rarely run into the same players in Gold 3/Plat 1 so how can that equal a low player base?

I had an 8 game losing streak the night before last and dropped to G2. It was depressing and you obviously blame everyone else around you... but solo Q is frustrating because theres a limit to what you can control apart from relog a class that can help counter the opposite comp. So get good on nore than 1 class...

last night a guildie asked me to duo Q. He played thief and i played mesmer. We were able to carry our teams to 10 straight wins against comps that many would be GG at before the start, and with not much extra effort that a bit of communication in team chat.

Dont blame match making for your woes OP. Look at your involvement. I honestly don't know what people expect if they don't approach matches strategically and get stomped by a team that do have a strategy and cooperate.

There is no such thing as non-competetive in a competetive game mode. Competition is what you make it, not the match maker.

Lastly, what would you like from a match making system in an ideal world? What would be fair? A mirror match evertime would put me off pvp entirely. The issue you are having probably has more to do with class balance, coupled with your apparent unadaptability (no offence intended).

[losingcontrol.1084]

@bbop.9706 said:

@losingcontrol.1084 said:The PvP population is so low and you can't have a balanced matchmaking.

Now because you lost 16 matches and won only 5 the matchmaking is broken, but if you win 16 and lose 5 the matchmaker is completely fine?

Yes matchmaking is bad but i disagree that its because pvp pop is so low. I rarely run into the same players in Gold 3/Plat 1 so how can that equal a low player base?

I had an 8 game losing streak the night before last and dropped to G2. It was depressing and you obviously blame everyone else around you... but solo Q is frustrating because theres a limit to what you can control apart from relog a class that can help counter the opposite comp. So get good on nore than 1 class...

last night a guildie asked me to duo Q. He played thief and i played mesmer. We were able to carry our teams to 10 straight wins against comps that many would be GG at before the start, and with not much extra effort that a bit of communication in team chat.

Dont blame match making for your woes OP. Look at your involvement. I honestly don't know what people expect if they don't approach matches strategically and get stomped by a team that do have a strategy and cooperate.

There is no such thing as non-competetive in a competetive game mode. Competition is what you make it, not the match maker.

Lastly, what would you like from a match making system in an ideal world? What would be fair? A mirror match evertime would put me off pvp entirely. The issue you are having probably has more to do with class balance, coupled with your apparent unadaptability (no offence intended).

I lost 9 out of 10 placement games (bronze league) and then few games aftergot matched with Stronlo Beastmaster and other merciless and ruthless legends, I don't see that high population if I get matched with probably above plat players... but okay...

[bbop.9706]

Probably at the start of the season when everyone is rushing for ranks. Those legendary players were probably doing their placement games hence random matchups. Just a guess but seems likely. I bet you never see those players now?

[mortrialus.3062]

@losingcontrol.1084 said:The PvP population is so low and you can't have a balanced matchmaking.

Now because you lost 16 matches and won only 5 the matchmaking is broken, but if you win 16 and lose 5 the matchmaker is completely fine?

Yep. The solution to matchmaking is to lie to your friends about the matchmaking to get your friends into PvP so the populations grows.

[Ziggityzog.7389]

Just do what most people do now and not click the ranked button. It's just a cesspool of salty players, pve reward hunting afk players, the botters and hackers then finally your basement trolls who match manipulate.

It's best to just play unranked if you aren't here for rewards and just want to pvp. The community is much better. It's not as if you have a chance of getting top 20 unless you get a friend or a few to do some win trading with. It's ok there is no punishment at all for wintrading as shown by the previous 7 seasons.

[Tiah.3091]

@"Kunzaito.8169" said:As I've said in previous posts, I can only come to two realistic conclusions. Either:

1. I don't belong in the tier I'm placed. But if that's the case, why am I always placed there? And shouldn't I eventually stabilize to a place where the matches are competitive and I see more of a 50/50 win/loss? Or,

2. There's something very wrong with the way matchmaking works.

The matchmaker does only one thing: it attempts to match you against the opponents of the similar skill.And, as it appears, it's doing it rather well.

What it doesn't do: it doesn't guarantee, that every match you'll play ends as 495-500.It just can't realistically account for situations, when after the first wipe on mid point someone decides "fuck that, my team sucks, we lost this match". And then this someon starts playin sloppy or even semi-afk.

Pretty much, "ya'll faggots, and I'm d'Artagnan"

And that, my friend, actually happens every 2nd game.You do not lose, because your team is ACTUALLY bad, but because some pussy on your team IMAGINED it's bad (and he's better than anyone here). And gave up, as a result.

[Farkon.2170]

https://i.redd.it/1xxq2trg4jz11.pngWent 16-4 as a Mirage and made it to plat. Yet, as a Reaper Main I'm struggling to even keep in gold. You have to play the OP and broken classes to get higher in the ranking. It's as simple as that, otherwise you'll go 0-16 like I previously did. If you can play a op class you can carry a shit team to victory since anyone can win if you wipe out the enemy team multiple times with 20 stacks of confusion and torment.

[Tiah.3091]

@"Farkon.2170" said:https://i.redd.it/1xxq2trg4jz11.pngWent 16-4 as a Mirage and made it to plat. Yet, as a Reaper Main I'm struggling to even keep in gold. You have to play the OP and broken classes to get higher in the ranking. It's as simple as that, otherwise you'll go 0-16 like I previously did. If you can play a op class you can carry a kitten team to victory since anyone can win if you wipe out the enemy team multiple times with 20 stacks of confusion and torment.

Care to show us how it's done, and play 100 more games with "OP mirage"?Because I would bet my left testicle, that it was just a lucky strike. And after 50-100 games you will return to your standard silver.

[Exedore.6320]

@Tiah.3091 said:

@"Farkon.2170" said:

https://i.redd.it/1xxq2trg4jz11.png

Went 16-4 as a Mirage and made it to plat. Yet, as a Reaper Main I'm struggling to even keep in gold. You have to play the OP and broken classes to get higher in the ranking. It's as simple as that, otherwise you'll go 0-16 like I previously did. If you can play a op class you can carry a kitten team to victory since anyone can win if you wipe out the enemy team multiple times with 20 stacks of confusion and torment.

Care to show us how it's done, and play 100 more games with "OP mirage"?Because I would bet my left kitten, that it was just a lucky strike. And after 50-100 games you will return to your standard silver.

I believe it.

Reaper requires team coordination and lots of decision making about when and where to engage. Mirage has a far lower skill floor, is a lot more forgiving of mistakes, and fills a role which doesn't need as much team support.

[ReaverKane.7598]

@bbop.9706 said:

@"losingcontrol.1084" said:The PvP population is so low and you can't have a balanced matchmaking.

Now because you lost 16 matches and won only 5 the matchmaking is broken, but if you win 16 and lose 5 the matchmaker is completely fine?

Yes matchmaking is bad but i disagree that its because pvp pop is so low. I rarely run into the same players in Gold 3/Plat 1 so how can that equal a low player base?

LOL this statement is funny beyond belief... I mean OP complaining about the matchmaker from a sample of 16 games is bad. He's not wrong, but 16 matches isn't enough to conclude anything...But this? This is beyond funny!! First what do you think a low population is? 10 guys? There's dozens of matches going at any given time, with several others being queued. The fact that you don't see the same people all the time means nothing. The only thing it proves is how small your understanding of what you're talking about is.

I had an 8 game losing streak the night before last and dropped to G2. It was depressing and you obviously blame everyone else around you... but solo Q is frustrating because theres a limit to what you can control apart from relog a class that can help counter the opposite comp. So get good on nore than 1 class...

True, which is why the game mode has taken a worse dive after they removed teams from the ranked queue.

last night a guildie asked me to duo Q. He played thief and i played mesmer. We were able to carry our teams to 10 straight wins against comps that many would be GG at before the start, and with not much extra effort that a bit of communication in team chat.

The fact that you won a lot in a duo queue with two of the "more OP" classes in sPvP proves little to nothing. Like i said previously 10-20 matches isn't a big enough sample to prove anything.

Dont blame match making for your woes OP. Look at your involvement. I honestly don't know what people expect if they don't approach matches strategically and get stomped by a team that do have a strategy and cooperate.

There is no such thing as non-competetive in a competetive game mode. Competition is what you make it, not the match maker.

Well... IF you're matched with 4 other guys that can't play for their lives you can't be strategic at all... Which is why it sux that you can't have teams. Also the fact that at any given time teams can have anything from platinum to bronze players doesn't help it.

Lastly, what would you like from a match making system in an ideal world? What would be fair? A mirror match evertime would put me off pvp entirely. The issue you are having probably has more to do with class balance, coupled with your apparent unadaptability (no offence intended).

The system is working pretty well for what it's worth. It does try to make close to mirror matches with decent equivalent teams, but it can't work properly because there's not enough players in the queue at one given time for it to make a proper selection, so it needs to start making second passes, and third passes, and the more passes it makes, the less balanced the matchmaking will be.I mean, look at other competitive players, and you see rules like "Bronzes can't team up with Gold or above", or can't team up over one rank above or below your current rank. Stuff like that. In here, because there's not enough players at all times to queue evenly, you get the issues that are current.Also, bear in mind that experiences will vary depending on what time-zone and server cluster (EU/NA) you're playing at. So saying OP is wrong because you experienced something different at one time, is being a bit much.

But honestly, no one here in this thread as said anything significant that hasn't been said before, and no one has presented a preponderance of evidence that can be considered useful. Finally, nothing you say will be news to the devs, they have way more data than any one player can collect to monitor the effectiveness of the match maker.

Now the scary part is that, despite the abundance of people saying that matches are terrible, there's nothing really being done about it. Which means that either all those players are "wrong", or the dev team is happy with the state of the game regardless of them being "right" or not.

Me, personally, i've given up on sPvP entirely.

[Farkon.2170]

@Tiah.3091 said:

@"Farkon.2170" said:

https://i.redd.it/1xxq2trg4jz11.png

Went 16-4 as a Mirage and made it to plat. Yet, as a Reaper Main I'm struggling to even keep in gold. You have to play the OP and broken classes to get higher in the ranking. It's as simple as that, otherwise you'll go 0-16 like I previously did. If you can play a op class you can carry a kitten team to victory since anyone can win if you wipe out the enemy team multiple times with 20 stacks of confusion and torment.

Care to show us how it's done, and play 100 more games with "OP mirage"?Because I would bet my left kitten, that it was just a lucky strike. And after 50-100 games you will return to your standard silver.

Once I hit plat I retired Mirage I'm playing for fun now, I can give you a small example of a montage I'm thinking about making.

https://gyazo.com/3d2412da88a6bcb7194a6aaaad91355a