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[TheRulesLawyer]

So how should match making work in MWO? We know a couple things
-Pilots will have levels
-Mechs will have levels
-In the TT we have BV to rank mech performance.
-12vs12 play. Maybe as low as 8 vs 8

I thinking that players need to have some sort of a skill ranking system. Many people are familiar with the ELO system. Its a ranking system original developed for chess that changes your rank based on the statistically likelyhood of an outcome. For example if two equally ranked players compete, the likelyhood of either winning is 50%. However the system assume the the winner is slightly better and will give them a slight rank increase and the loser a small decrease. If the players are far apart in rank, their ranks change a lot with an upset victory, or very very little with a defeat (as a defeat was predicted anyways) For single player systems its generally a very good system. In multiplayer systems its a little less reliable, but still better than what devs tend to come up with on their own. (BF3 for example has my skill rank wildly fluctuating every night)

So I'm thinking that players get an ELO rank per mech class. No rank will be allowed less than say 80% of their highest rank. That way players can't jump in a class they normally don't play and get horribly mismatched games.

In order of perference I'd like to see the match maker grab groups
-equal ELO. You get less games with obvious star players or "that ***** who lost you the game"
-diverse classes. Try and get some of each type of mech.
-equal BV. Modified by ELO similar to the TT rules for modifying BV by pilot.
-similar levels of pilots/mechs
-equal numbers. I don't mind +/- 1 mech as long as its balanced.

There have to be two ways to handle this- one for single players and one for groups

Single players are simple you throw them them in order of preference and act as filler between groups.

Groups are a bit harder.
The are like on comms. They have a chance to choose mechs that work well together and likely have been working together for awhile.

1) Groups should match against other groups ideally
2) There should be some sort of modifier for groups to increase their BV.
3) ELO used to match should be the mean of the players in the group.


Open to suggestions. The only things I feel strongly about are there should be some sort of skill rating for the player and it should the the primary matching tool. Playing with players outside your skill is frustrating for both sides.

[Phades]

Dlardrageth, on 21 December 2011 - 11:14 AM, said:

Many more variables, I'd expect. Like one for the classical ELO rating, another for the Mech-specific one of your pilot, yet another for "unit performance" one. (The latter meaning you might be somewhat penalized for having an exceptionally well working lance, but hey, more challenging that way!) Plus "X" others I cannot imagine right now. Now throw all that together and try to get a 12 vs. 12 setup done. So adding up all this individual variables to a set "rating" (modified if you try to join with a whole lance of 4 Mechs) and trying to get 2 balanced teams for a match from that. And the whole thing of course with 2 sets of varaibles, being based 60% on the Mech piloted and 40% on the pilot (I think 60/40 would be a good ratio, only so much a really good pilot can do to overcome unfavourable odds.)

Might take the matchmaker a bit, but I'd rather have it balanced than silly and wait a minute or three, instead of only 10 seconds.

Would need to be player based on mission, chassis load out, BV tiers, who they played with, their merc outfit, and performance variables within each game (can't simply be based off win/loss or kills as that would skew the figures as well).

Good thoughts though.
(Note cross post)