1
First we need to understand the average player population spread across all Tiers. This is roughly a bell curve although moving new players into Tier5 will skew it slightly. What this means is that most players will be at the middle in Tier3. This becomes important when considering the wait times for matches.
Currently (as far as we know) MWO is using a three tier spread for matchmaking. But let's look at all the possible tier spreads for a 5 Tier system.
One tier spread:
5
4
3
2
1
In this system only players that are in the same Tier are matched against each other. This would potentially produce the most balanced matches but would also rely in unrealistically high population at all times to be feasible.
Two tier spread:
5-4
4-3
3-2
2-1
This system is more friendly towards lower populations compared to one tier spread and would in practice result in three "buckets" for the matchmaker. That is Tiers 5-4 playing against each other in one bucket. Tier 3 in one bucket. And Tiers 2-1 in the last one. This is because of the bell curve nature of the population. Most players will be in Tier3 and the matchmaker needs all the Tier 4 players to create matches for T5 players and similarly all the Tier 2 players to generate matches for T1 players. This system was tested very briefly and the end result was that wait times for Tier3 remained reasonable but especially Tier1 players found increased wait times. It is difficult to say if the population has spread across the tiers enough to make a two tier spread viable again. Of course if the overall population remains low then that may not make enough of a difference.
Three tier spread (what we presumably have in place):
5-4-3
4-3-2
3-2-1
This system is practical for the low population since the matchmaker has to deal with only two "buckets". Tiers 5-3 and Tiers 3-1. In this system Tier 5 will never see Tier 2 or 1 players.
Four tier spread:
5-4-3-2
4-3-2-1
This is the largest spread one can have without completely eliminating the tiers from the matchmaker. It only ensures that Tier 5 players will never be in the same match with T1 players.
Finally the matchmaker has release valves which will increase the tier spread if enough time passes without finding a match. This means that it may still be possible to see T5 players in T1 matches if the population is low enough.
I hope this helps to clear up some confusion on how the tiers are matched against eachother in-game. Feel free to comment and point out flaws
Edited by selfish shellfish, 15 December 2020 - 02:29 PM.
