28 replies to this topic

[BIOHAZARD]

Either this game became really popular recently, and the amount of new players has skyrocketed, or whatever is the mechanism for distributing players among teams got broken terribly.

I am tier 1, and this game is just unplayable anymore. I remember, not that long ago, matches were more or less even. These past few days it was beyond bad. One horrible, horrible, 12-to-1 stomp after another. People are so bad at this game, that I don't even have words. And it goes both way, its not just my team. You either win by seal-clubbing, or you get basically butchered. The game is not fun, anymore. What happened?

If this is matchmaking, PGI please do something or I will quit MWO. I am serious.

I recommend reviewing the algorithms. Tiers obviously do not work.

Perhaps, something along the lines of (KMDD + Solo Kills)/ Own Deaths ratio? It has to be something representing real skills. Kills can be stolen, assists mean completely nothing.

I am really more than happy to wait a few minutes longer for a match, just as long it is a bit of fun.

[El Bandito]

Event also brings out the worst in pugs. As for ranking system, it just needs 20/20/20/20/20% separation of population, based on Solo-Q WLR/match amount. For Group-Q, take account of the average unit WLR/match amount.

Edited by El Bandito, 06 November 2017 - 09:33 PM.

[SFC174]

El Bandito, on 06 November 2017 - 04:34 PM, said:

Event also brings out the worst in pugs. As for ranking system, it just needs 20/20/20/20/20% separation of population, based on Solo-Q WLR/match amount. For Group-Q, take account of the average unit WLR.

I think the event may indeed have something to do with it. People who normally don't play a lot are grinding loot bags for a free mech. My W/L and KDR are the lower this season than they have been in at least 6-8 months (was averaging 1.2 w/l and 1.5 kdr last few seasons in solo, I'm at 0.75 and 1.1 right now!). I'm just getting huge streaks of games with people who can't do 200, even 100 dmg. 4-6-8 guys in a match falling into this category. I've taken to playing assaults and meta heavies only as I can carry best in those, but even then, the matchmaking hurts.

[Brain Cancer]

Event brings out lots of players.

Game automatically drags all but the worst of the worst into T2-T1 range because MUH PSR SYSTEM.

Trainwrecks result.

[Scout Derek]

Monday's are the worst day to play MWO.

[Xmith]

Another post complaining about a losing team. Not only that, they seem to think everyone on the team is bad except themselves. You may also be part of the reason for the loss. Keep in mind OP, as a T1 player (supposedly), you should not be playing against new players. Another thing, I have had matches that I don't care to admit with damage under 100.

Stomps in MWO is the nature of the beast. There is no way to avoid them. They will happen. It's best to try to deal with this fact.

[SFC174]

Xmith, on 06 November 2017 - 06:21 PM, said:

Another post complaining about a losing team. Not only that, they seem to think everyone on the team is bad except themselves. You may also be part of the reason for the loss. Keep in mind OP, as a T1 player (supposedly), you should not be playing against new players. Another thing, I have had matches that I don't care to admit with damage under 100.

Stomps in MWO is the nature of the beast. There is no way to avoid them. They will happen. It's best to try to deal with this fact.

The matchmaker still includes all level of players at various times. Fact of life. Plus, we all know that Tier1 is not a measure of skill, well, at least not solely. It's also an experience bar with a very low threshold required to advance. The event is probably bringing out lots of long time players who play very little on average, but have been playing long enough to migrate into Tier1/2.

The problem comes (at least from my experience, and it sounds like the OP's as well) when you seem to get stuck with match after match of players that simply don't contribute much. If you're an "average" player and you're consistently finishing in the top3 of your losing team because the rest have a hard time breaking 200 dmg, one starts to look to the matchmaker as a contributor to the problem.

We all have our crappy games, no doubt, but sometimes you just get a bad run of teams from the MM.....

[mouser42]

I'm tier 8-1/2 going on 9 when solo pugs suck just goup drop till you find some good players who are fun and stick with them. It may not work for some but that's not my problem. Nope my problem is getting to tier 13 well one day, I'll just have to work harder.

[Samedi Wretch]

I have to say I saw some really bad play today, like half the team chasing a light to the edge of the map in canyon network. Then they marched back to the center at the bottom of one of the canyons only to (SURPRISE!) get blasted from 270° of elevated fire. How do people get to T1 without learning that this is a game of position?

I doubt this is a reflection of matchmaker being any worse than at any other time, but it should probably get re-tuned. I think a tiered system is a good idea but insufficient on it's own, especially when it's biased upwards. There should be a separate ELO ranking within each tier. That should help balance the wide variance of talent in T1.

[The Amazing Atomic Spaniel]

El Bandito, on 06 November 2017 - 04:34 PM, said:

Event also brings out the worst in pugs. As for ranking system, it just needs 20/20/20/20/20% separation of population, based on Solo-Q WLR/match amount. For Group-Q, take account of the average unit WLR/match amount.

I wonder why they haven't done something so simple?

[El Bandito]

The Amazing Atomic Spaniel, on 06 November 2017 - 11:33 PM, said:

I wonder why they haven't done something so simple?

That particular question is what I ask about PGI everyday, on many issues.

[Vellron2005]

Personally, it seems to me that the quality of players has greatly diminished.. but not in the way of player skill being inferior, but in the way of player toxicity being off the charts.

I don't mind getting stomped. I don't mind stomping others. But please.. please.. cut out the toxicity.

The other day, I had in my team a newer player who was using LRMs.. And I myself was using them as well..

And some toxic players actually started persuading others to not hold locks or even ever press the R button, just to stick it to their LRM boats..

How toxic, petty and lame is that?

If you think your LRM boat (who makes your targets softer and your kills easier) is a liability, how much of a liability will they be when they disconnect out of the match because they refuse playing with such toxic people?

You know what the newbie wrote at the end of the match?

Something along the lines of "I don't want to play this game anymore"

So HOW do you guys expect the MM to make you good, balanced matches when you a-holes are so toxic that you're driving players away?

I was soooo close to disco-ing out myself...

Next time, I probably will..

No game is worth that much aggravation and toxicity.

Edited by Vellron2005, 07 November 2017 - 12:16 AM.

[Gwahlur]

It's really been complete doodoo lately, I don't really feel like logging in anymore.

[Paigan]

VooDoo Doll, on 06 November 2017 - 12:20 PM, said:

[...]
I remember, not that long ago, matches were more or less even. These past few days it was beyond bad. One horrible, horrible, 12-to-1 stomp after another.
[...]

I see people writing this exact same statment (with slightly different phrasing) for 2 years now.
NOONE EVER came up with an actual significant statistic of 100 or better 1000 matches to rule out occasional streaks.
Because this is not about truth. It's just an emotionally spat out statement to make oneself feel better.

It has nothing to do with the game. It's a psychological effect.
Similar to the weather forecast: if they are right, noone remembers, because we expect them to be right. If they are wrong, we fuss about it and remember that. Hence the overall memory is: "weather forecast is always wrong."

The situation here is:
There are stomps and there are close games. Always have been. Always will be.
So you get stomped. Maybe 2-3 times in a row. You get angry. You want to blame someone. "Just bad luck" is no acceptable answer for you. Someone MUST be responsbible for your anger. The team mates change randomly. There is no PGI official manually selecting combatants who could be blamed. So it's the game. Of course it's the game. Who else could it be? You yourself are of course totally out of the question and bad luck is no satisfying answer. Someone or something must be blamed for having ruined your day. So your subconscious tries to find logical explanations. Depending on emotional intensity and ... say ... intellectual performance, the logic behind them is only more or less sound. A very simple logic is the good old "everything used to be better". So you primarily remember the close, fun games and ignore the stomps of the past to prove your point. You can't go objectively about the matter because that would make you end up at "just bad luck" and you don't want that (all subconsciously, of course). So your result to prove a non-existing point to make you feel better is: there were less stomps in the past and more today. Game's fault.

The actual truth is:
Stomps happen. Close games happen. In the past and now.
The rest is in your head. Try to understand that.

If you think you do have an actual point beyond that, collect data of 1000 matches in the past and 1000 matches today and compare their "stomp ratio". Would be interesting to see it.

Edited by Paigan, 07 November 2017 - 01:06 AM.

[El Bandito]

Paigan, on 07 November 2017 - 01:04 AM, said:

The actual truth is:
Stomps happen. Close games happen. In the past and now.
The rest is in your head. Try to understand that.

Not to mention that a lot of 12-2 matches were actually far closer than one thinks; the winning side simply rotated their wounded more effectively.

[Nema Nabojiv]

VooDoo Doll, on 06 November 2017 - 12:20 PM, said:

I remember, not that long ago, matches were more or less even. These past few days it was beyond bad. One horrible, horrible, 12-to-1 stomp after another. People are so bad at this game, that I don't even have words. And it goes both way, its not just my team. You either win by seal-clubbing, or you get basically butchered. The game is not fun, anymore. What happened?

It was mostly stomps since 12v12 so nothing changed it that regard.
The MM and the players and the event are not to blame here because event or not, changed MM or not, the stomps were the common thing before MM and events.

[Bud Crue]

The existing gradual but clearly visible trend of a declining player base over time has consequences (go find Taro's long term leader board charts and its readily apparent). A MM that can no longer build teams of folks of ~ equivalent skill (tier based or otherwise) is one of those consequences.

As folks of your, mine, the bottom of the barrel's, and top of the heap's level of play slowly leave, it makes it more likely at any given time that rather than being matched with ONLY players of about your skill, you will be matched with players of your, mine, the bottom of the barrel's and the top of the heap's level of play. Only question becomes which will be predominant in a given match. As a result, more and more often you will play unbalanced matches. Which of course leads to a cycle of folks getting fed up and leaving, which makes the over all problem of declining population and the MM's inability to cope with it worse, which makes more people leave the game...which leads to PGI's brilliant plan of reintroducing 8v8 so as to buy some time.

[Asym]

El Bandito, on 06 November 2017 - 11:48 PM, said:

That particular question is what I ask about PGI everyday, on many issues.

El: if it ain't broken, don't fix it..... It's that simple. Follow the money, especially in a narrow niche market.... Their sales are just fine and you know that by their "lack of change." Status Quo = gar-un-teed and stable profit. M = P: marginal equals pass....
Otherwise, PGI would be externally doing "something" to re-align their market as several other gaming corporations are doing actively (Blizzard as an example again today is reacting and aggressivly attacking their issues w/i their market.)

Edited by Asym, 07 November 2017 - 07:20 AM.

[Athom83]

As said before, with out respawns the matches that end heavily onesidded (12-1 for example) are generally the balanced ones.

[Davegt27]

on a good note player numbers are up

http://steamcharts.com/app/342200