16 replies to this topic

[Sug]

Has something like this happened to anyone else?

The last month or so I've been really trying to get my K/D to 2.00. Just something to do. So no more joke builds (9 flamers! 9 TAGs!) or Rambo tactics. Just serious playing.

It was working out well since, even after over a year of playing MWO, I was still getting placed in matches with new players. I was averaging 400-500 damage a match and at least 2 kills per match. 5 or 6 kills a match was not out of the ordinary.

So the last week or so, I've noticed that suddenly the other people in my matches are good.

Really good.

All of a sudden I'm struggling to get a single kill in a match and my damage is down to 100-200.

Now instead of both teams spreading out all over the map everyone is sticking together. And the average weight of the teams has become much heavier. I'm almost always the 'light' mech in my Hunchback.

The damage done by the players in my matches has also changed from 1 or 2 people on a team with 600+ damage and all the kills (with the rest of the team getting sub 150 damage) to everyone on the team getting around 200-300 damage with lots of assists and the kills spread out evenly.

Wins and losses have stayed pretty much 50/50. The first day or so I didn't really think much of all this but it's been over a week and my games are still going like this.

I'm not complaining or anything (though I had to completely change my playstyle), just wondering if something changed with the matchmaker or if I've finally gotten out of Elo hell.

Edited by Sug, 19 July 2013 - 08:21 AM.

[blacklp]

You have moved up into the upper elo bracket. You should also start to see less and less 8-0 stomps. You will also see your K/D start to get closer to 1:1.
You will also see A LOT more premade groups. If your not in a unit, you may want to think about joining one.
At the very least check out some of the TS3 channels and 4 man pug with randoms.
IMO this game is waaaaaay more fun the higher your elo goes.

Edited by blacklp, 19 July 2013 - 09:59 AM.

[Lugh]

You are never OUT of ELO hell. You are just in a more finely apportioned group for it...

[jper4]

i've had that feeling too, been winning a lot more often (about 50 matches to the good now- had trouble staying at 1.00 before) but have personally been less successful. oddly though more stomps than what i had been seeing previous weeks. though on the weight side i'm actually seeing lots more lights <cough> spiders<cough> now than i had before where it was all heavy/asaults + 1 light/medium. maybe i just left the "bracket" you joined?

as to the hell portion- well now that you've gotten better the matchmaker will have to find someone much more worse than before to balance the Elo out for your team

[Rugarou]

Tanar, on 19 July 2013 - 11:39 AM, said:

as to the hell portion- well now that you've gotten better the matchmaker will have to find someone much more worse than before to balance the Elo out for your team

This will happen mostly if you play outside primetime US. But yes it will happen more often.

OP: Congrats, you moved up into a new elo bracket.

[Bhael Fire]

I was enjoying balanced matches for months until the July 2nd patch. Before that, most matches were balanced skill-wise; Each player seemed to be about the same skill level. Matches ended closer to 8:4. For better or worse, it was balanced and felt challenging but not horrifying.

For the last month however, almost every match ends in 8:0 (or 8:1) and I keep getting teamed up with new/unskilled players in PUGs that drift around the map in different directions, ignoring base caps, and just generally being clueless noobs. My K/DR has since dropped significantly (hovering at 1.12 currently).

I'm not sure what the hell is going on, but I know for a fact I'm not getting balanced matches. Is this some invisible "behind the scenes" punishment I'm getting to lower my K/DR down to 1? lol

Edited by Bhael Fire, 19 July 2013 - 02:49 PM.

[Kinilan]

There are no brackets. There never has been. You don't play with groups of people in your range. You play on a team with a an Elo that averages out between all members to within a range of the other teams total.

[Homeless Bill]

I had the opposite experience when I picked up my first medium a couple months ago (during the height of the jumpsniper craze). No medium meant a default Elo standing. And it was a ******* shock. Gone were the 6+ 732s and 3Ds that inhabited every game, replaced by stock builds, odd builds, and bad builds.

I was averaging three to four kills and upwards of 500 damage per round in a Trebuchet with no efficiencies. My opponents were meat. My team mates were distractions. There was no blob or focus fire. There was only me and a lot of other people I shouldn't have been fighting.

It was a real eye-opener to see the fluffy game a lot of people are playing. It's no wonder that so many don't see PPCs as a problem.

[Sug]

Kinilan, on 19 July 2013 - 02:52 PM, said:

There are no brackets. There never has been. You don't play with groups of people in your range. You play on a team with a an Elo that averages out between all members to within a range of the other teams total.

I know there's no "brackets" per say but possibly I've moved further than one standard deviation away from the mean of the curve.

They really haven't told us anything about how the matchmaker works other than the formula for determining our Elo scores after a match and that we're matched according to our Elo scores.

[XX Sulla XX]

Quote

. So no more joke builds (9 flamers! 9 TAGs!) or Rambo tactics. Just serious playing.

Looks like your ELO was low for messing around. Now all of a sudden you have to place decent pilots so its harder

[Thimble]

Bhael Fire, on 19 July 2013 - 02:47 PM, said:

I was enjoying balanced matches for months until the July 2nd patch. Before that, most matches were balanced skill-wise; Each player seemed to be about the same skill level. Matches ended closer to 8:4. For better or worse, it was balanced and felt challenging but not horrifying.

For the last month however, almost every match ends in 8:0 (or 8:1) and I keep getting teamed up with new/unskilled players in PUGs that drift around the map in different directions, ignoring base caps, and just generally being clueless noobs. My K/DR has since dropped significantly (hovering at 1.12 currently).

I'm not sure what the hell is going on, but I know for a fact I'm not getting balanced matches. Is this some invisible "behind the scenes" punishment I'm getting to lower my K/DR down to 1? lol

It seems like fewer people are playing lately, resulting in more imbalanced matches. At least this is what I've been seeing. Also, NEVER play off peak hours as you are almost always going to see poor team balance then.

[Deathlike]

Homeless Bill, on 19 July 2013 - 03:32 PM, said:

I had the opposite experience when I picked up my first medium a couple months ago (during the height of the jumpsniper craze). No medium meant a default Elo standing. And it was a ******* shock. Gone were the 6+ 732s and 3Ds that inhabited every game, replaced by stock builds, odd builds, and bad builds.

I was averaging three to four kills and upwards of 500 damage per round in a Trebuchet with no efficiencies. My opponents were meat. My team mates were distractions. There was no blob or focus fire. There was only me and a lot of other people I shouldn't have been fighting.

It was a real eye-opener to see the fluffy game a lot of people are playing. It's no wonder that so many don't see PPCs as a problem.

I keep hearing this a lot from playing Mediums... and having played half of the mediums available (minus the HBK and TBT), I'm inclined to agree with the assessment.

It begs the question... is there some sort of magical ELO bracket that mediums exist in, only to sheltered from the rest of the upper level meta?

There has to be something rotten going on @ PGI.

[Angel of Annihilation]

Sug, on 19 July 2013 - 11:41 PM, said:

I know there's no "brackets" per say but possibly I've moved further than one standard deviation away from the mean of the curve.

They really haven't told us anything about how the matchmaker works other than the formula for determining our Elo scores after a match and that we're matched according to our Elo scores.

I think your on the right track with your theory.

To me it seems their are holes or deadzones that a player falls into and it plays holy hell with your ability to be competitive.

One of my theories for example is that once you reach a high enough ELO, they start offsetting your skill by giving you lots of scrubs on your team. I use Michael Jordan as an example.

You have 10 basketball playes out on a court for a pick up game. You have 4 players who have never played Basketball, don't know how to drible, pass or shoot, 5 players that play Varsity HS or low level college ball but aren't super stars and then you have Michael Jordan.

Now the MM has to pick teams so to offset how good MJ is compared to the others playing, it gives MJ the 4 player who have never played Basket Ball and expect him to carry the team. However no matter how good MJ is, he can't win by himself against 5 players that at the very least know how to pass the ball, dribble and shoot simply because he can't be everywhere at once.

That is what I think ELO does to us at times. There is some hole where we get dropped when we get better and reach a certain level.These holes can be spread out all throughout the ELO scores. When we reach this level, we get dropped into this hole and all hell breaks loose. I also think it only effects players right on some borderline of skill level.

Edited by Viktor Drake, 21 July 2013 - 03:56 PM.

[Cherry Darling]

Viktor Drake, on 21 July 2013 - 03:54 PM, said:

One of my theories for example is that once you reach a high enough ELO, they start offsetting your skill by giving you lots of scrubs on your team.

I think I may have hit that point. All my matches have been horrendously off-balance. I mean, I'm not sure what the devs are trying to accomplish but I do know that I rarely get balanced matches. Ever.

I think they really need to have a lobby so groups can play against other groups without messing up the solo players' games. Hopefully they will address it before they release the game because I think it's going to drive a lot of newer casual players away.

[Sug]

Nvm. Back to matches with people in trial mechs firing their LRMs at 50m asking what ECM is.

[Kanatta Jing]

The medium mech bracket does exist. It has competent medium pilots, bumbling assault pilots and light pilots that stop to line up their shots.

[Zeriniel]

Kanatta Jing, on 21 July 2013 - 08:28 PM, said:

The medium mech bracket does exist. It has competent medium pilots, bumbling assault pilots and light pilots that stop to line up their shots.

Sug, on 21 July 2013 - 08:15 PM, said:

Nvm. Back to matches with people in trial mechs firing their LRMs at 50m asking what ECM is.

It's so....sooooo painful to watch both of these. It's probably better there's no in game VOIP or I'd be yelling at people all the time.