46 replies to this topic

[jonfett]

First some background. I originally joined in 2011, but never played a match until Fall of 2015. I immediately started in Tier 4, and my PSR was set at 75%. I majorly sucked at first, so my PSR dropped and dropped to the point of almost putting me in Tier 5. But I never got to try the Underhive. I kept at it until I started getting better and my PSR started going up more then it went down.

Then, all of a sudden I hit Tier 3, and I immediately noticed the PUG matches were much different. I keep getting steamrolled within the first few minutes when using the same tactics I used in Tier 4. So, I obviously need to do moar to get gooder.

At the same time, I play MWO as a casual player. I don't do CW, only PUG, because I know I'm not good enough, and I don't want to go hard core yet.

So, what do I do? Just keep playing, sticking w/ the team, and contributing as best I can?

[Kensaisama]

Sandbag.

[Roadkill]

Kensaisama, on 08 February 2016 - 09:07 AM, said:

Sandbag.

Surprisingly, that's actually kinda difficult. You have to really suck in order to move down, so to sandbag you'd basically have to not play, and do it a LOT, and that'd be a violation of the CoC.

[MeiSooHaityu]

jonfett, on 08 February 2016 - 09:03 AM, said:

So, what do I do? Just keep playing, sticking w/ the team, and contributing as best I can?

Yeah, pretty much.

I was in a similar boat. After the tier system launched I was at the end of tier 4 as well. When I went to tier 3, I did notice a change in competition. It was harder at first, but over time I adjusted. At first I had to take more meta styled mechs to get the results I wanted. Slowly I started playing other mechs and found I was still doing ok. Before I knew it, tier 3 wasn't that bad anymore.

Now I'm about 75~80% through tier 3 and coming up on tier 2 fairly quickly. It will be more adjusting and more struggling at first, but I have confidence I will adapt like I did in tier 3.

You just need to stick in there and try your best, and you will adjust, adapt, and improve. Remember, you won't improve unless you play people better than yourself. To get better, you need a challenge to overcome.

[MrMadguy]

No. PSR is way too biased towards increasing. PSR can't be dropped on win and can be dropped only a little bit on loss. Your average match score should be lower then 100 in order to drop. You are expected to stabilize at 175 match score, which is extremely low. So, I guess, you are doomed to have terrible matches forever, like me. I'm in same boat. I was placed at 50% Tier 3 due to "statistics of recently played matches" (I was in ELO Hell - constant losses and stomps), I'm having extremely terrible matches and still can't drop even a little bit. I'm casual player and assumed, that I can play solo at least via pug queue.

But no. PSR is way too W/L dependent and W/L - is nothing, but a number, for solo player in pug queue. Winning and losing - are completely random in pug queue - nothing depends on you. But according to Paul this is done to encourage team play. WHAT TEAM PLAY? In pug queue??? I don't play CW. I don't play group queue. Leave your "team play" crap for this two. Can I find a place for myself at least somewhere in this game? I want my PSR rating to represent my REAL SKILL AND PERFORMANCE - not ephemeral W/L. Tier 3 Hell - deal with it or quit, till PSR won't be fixed.

And don't tell me, that something depends on me - that I should adapt or improve. About an hour ago a had a match. I really regret now, that I haven't made a screenshot of it. During this match I realized, why my good matches happen so rarely. I had a long queue time, so, I guess, dump valves to Tier 5 were opened. In this match two players on my team dealt 900dmg and one player on other team dealt 1k dmg. I earned 3 kills, 300k CB, dealt 900dmg and my match score was around 600. All other players were complete noobs - 2 last players on my team were doing nothing, except constantly overheating.

So, nothing depends on me - everything depends on matchmaker only. It's responsible for putting me into right teams against right enemies. And if I works terribly - there nothing I can do to deal with it some way. Just because the opposite to having decent match, when you put with/against complete noobs - is true too. When you put with/against too skilled players - you will suck, no matter what. As simple, as that, sorry.

Your matches should be even worse, then this one:

Edited by MrMadguy, 08 February 2016 - 10:25 AM.

[0bsidion]

Roadkill, on 08 February 2016 - 09:10 AM, said:

Surprisingly, that's actually kinda difficult. You have to really suck in order to move down, so to sandbag you'd basically have to not play, and do it a LOT, and that'd be a violation of the CoC.

You can play and still lose PSR, sadly though the with the bar at 100 pts for wins you pretty much have to get yourself killed really early on to ensure a drop in rating. I find it is really easy to do in light mechs even when I'm actually trying to contribute.

[Lightfoot]

When I was between tier 4 and 3 I only dropped back to tier 4 once. So no.

[MechWarrior5152251]

Make a new account....give me your old stuff... Or everytime you are winning kill all your teamates, that should get you back to tier 4 in 50-60 matches....

Edited by MechWarrior5152251, 08 February 2016 - 10:36 AM.

[MrMadguy]

And don't even try to "adapt" or "improve'! DON'T!!! Don't listen to those, who suggest it! It's just pointless, cuz PSR will adjust your team/enemies in order to insure, that your average match score will ALWAYS be around 175. You may see example of such a match above. Do you really want to always have such a matches FOREVER? No?

[Exard3k]

I had the same experience as you when I hit Tier 3. I almost quit MWO because matches were not fun anymore. Over time I adapted to new playstyle and got better skill in general to the point where I now perform very good in tier 3.

I'm now at the edge between Tier 3 and Tier 2. Who knows what Tier 2 will bring?

And no, you can't ever go down in Tiers with the present PSR system...too much green arrows and fewer red arrows.

Edited by Exard3k, 08 February 2016 - 10:47 AM.

[MeiSooHaityu]

MrMadguy, on 08 February 2016 - 10:37 AM, said:

And don't even try to "adapt" or "improve'! DON'T!!! Don't listen to those, who suggest it! It's just pointless, cuz PSR will adjust your team/enemies in order to insure, that your average match score will ALWAYS be around 175. You may see example of such a match above. Do you really want to always have such a matches FOREVER? No?

[Felicitatem Parco]

You are facing "stiffer competition" but at the same time your teammates are also including better players. You're just now beginning to play with the most experienced players snce you draw opponents/teammates from up-to Tier 1.

When you were in Tier 4 you played with/against Tier 2-5 players. Now you are playing with Tier 1-5 players. However, any single game will only have players from a three Tier window... So for the first time you are occasionally dropping in matches comprised of Tier 1-3 players, and you "represent" the least experienced players in the entire match in those cases.

My advice: Just have fun and try to be effective while having fun. "Fun Mechs" are way more fun in competitive matches, i think, because the fear of death is much greater.... You have to act like a single hit will kill you, or a single missed shot will leave you open to deadly return fire... Be afraid. Be very afraid.


It's more fun that way.

Edited by Prosperity Park, 08 February 2016 - 10:48 AM.

[MrMadguy]

Exard3k, on 08 February 2016 - 10:39 AM, said:

I had the same experience as you when I hit Tier 3. I almost quit MWO because matches were not fun anymore. Over time I adapted to new playstyle and got better skill in general to the point where I now perform very good in tier 3.

I'm now at the edge between Tier 3 and Tier 2. Who knows what Tier 2 will bring?

And no, you can't ever go down in Tiers with the present PSR system...too much green arrows and fewer red arrows.

This is pointless. Why? In order to have good matches - you should always be well above average. But being well above average means your PSR will increase pretty fast. And you can't always be above average - not everybody can reach 100% Tier 1 cap. You will stop some day - stop at 175 average match score. And don't even hope, that it will never happen with you. It happened with me 1.5 years ago. And it will happen with everybody, except some tiny % of top players. It's just a matter of time. You are doomed to suck, sorry. Deal with it.

Edited by MrMadguy, 08 February 2016 - 12:04 PM.

[El Bandito]

MrMadguy, on 08 February 2016 - 12:03 PM, said:

This is pointless. Why? In order to have good matches - you should always be well above average. But being well above average means your PSR will increase pretty fast. And you can't always be above average - not everybody can reach 100% Tier 1 cap. You will stop some day - stop at 175 average match score. And don't even hope, that it will never happen with you. It happened with me 1.5 years ago. And it will happen with everybody, except some tiny % of top players. It's just a matter of time. You are doomed to suck, sorry. Deal with it.

There is so much wrong in this post. Disregard his rambling, if one wishes to keep a level head.

[Roadkill]

MrMadguy, on 08 February 2016 - 09:15 AM, said:

PSR can't be dropped on win and can be dropped only a little bit on loss.

Actually the only thing it can't do in a loss is "drop a little bit." The possibilies in a loss are:

0-100: drop the max
100-250: drop a moderate amount
250-400: no change
400+: go up a little bit

In a win those change to:

0-100: no change
100-250: go up a little bit
250-400: go up a moderate amount
400+: go up the max

So while it is true that things are skewed toward raising your PSR, that is only true if you're scoring 250+ on average. Below 250 your PSR is actually dropping (assuming a 50/50 WLR) because you're "dropping a moderate amount" in a loss and only "going up a little bit" in a win.

It isn't as cut and dried as people make it out to be. It is true that there's an element of "XP bar" in it, but there's also an element of skill because you do have to be able to score 250+ regularly for your PSR to go up. Of course, that's really not that hard, so for most people the bar will behave more like an XP bar than a skill bar.

[Dingo Battler]

Continue playing, and trying to adapt to the meta I guess. Its good to progress in skill, and face new challenges. You can play a lot more aggressively in tier 4, as there is less punishment for exposing yourself in bad locations.

Tier 3, you need to start keeping an eye on the map constantly, to see where the deathball is heading, plus, you need to start thinking about all the best positions in the map to shoot for your given loadout. If you enjoy tactics and thinking, its just an extention of that.

Also, you probably want to meta-up. Obviously, TBR, BJDs, QKDs, HSH, ACH, etc. are all good mechs, but you can go as low as tier 3 on metamechs. I drive around in a KGC and NVA, and its only very slightly worse than TBR. Boating is sort of essential, and you have to start boating weapons.

If you want to play very casually, or try out bad builds, not boat, etc. create an alt.

[Chados]

I beg to differ...you can drop on a win, or at one time it was possible. I did it. In an Urbie. Got one-shotted by a dual-gauss Dire Wolf packing a TC and max modules from the top of Mount Tryhard from his max range. First shot of the match and poof, down. I didn't even know he was there. Match score of zero. Red arrow even though my team won. This was back in October, tho. Don't know if it still would be the same.

[shopsmart]

I am in this boat too. Hit tier 3 two weeks ago. Fun factor is starting to bottom out for me. Seems like I am getting popped all the time. I soared through tier 4. I won't join a unit because 60% of the time due to noise..... tv on in the background, kid running around, can't hear comms, and cant get mic to work in game. This is my time to just kick back and enjoy playing for fun sake and not in a competitive manor.

If I die, I alt tab out and watch youtube or hit the reloading press till I know the match is over. Lots of people asking me to join a unit and I have to explain my situation. I will probably slowly climb up as the tier 3 bar is filling up, but wish there were a more of a way to seperate such things. Don't play CW.

[cazidin]

Change your tactics and/or loadouts. I recommend Metamechs or MechSpecs for a written guide or Kanajashi on Youtube for a video tutorial. Every player has the potential to be great. Just keep at it and you will see a noticeable improvement. GL!

[1Grimbane]

i spent months trying to drop back into tier 4 now i'm further into 3 than ever . it is actually hard to sandbag short of running and suiciding each and every match even then you might notice a raise in psr lol