5 replies to this topic

[SidequestsYT]

Hello everyone. I have some experience with MWO, having played on another account years ago. Now I'm back, and playing again daily. One thing I never understood about MWO is the Pilot Skill Rating (PSR). All the information I've been able to find about it is outdated by between a few to several years. Can someone give me a current breakdown of how the PSR works in 2024? It seems like no matter how good or bad I think I did in a match, it's always a guessing game as to whether my PSR will go up, down, or stay the same. Ultimately, I play to have fun and the PSR is not something I focus on, but it would be nice to understand how it works. Thanks in advance to anyone who responds.

[martian]

Greetings!

There have been no significant changes in how PSR works for years. The last big change happened in mid-2020 when the entire PSR was reworked.

You can watch this fan video:


Imagine it as a list of 24 players, sorted according to their Match Score (the players of the victorious team get a small bonus) after the game. The upper 12 'Mechs get the green arrow, the lower half of the list gets the red arrow. The higher you are among the "green" 'Mechs, the higher is your PSR raise. The same is true for the "red" Mechs - in the negative sense, of course.

Thus, in one game some Match Score can be good enough to place you in the upper half of the list, and in the next game the same Match Score could place you in the lower half of the list.

[Void Angel]

It's a way of roughly dividing players based on their experience and effectiveness. Originally it was more of an experience meter, because certain mechanics created an upward trend in rating, but that was corrected quite a while ago, by now. The primary determinant is your match score, which is primarily determined by damage done. Your score is then compared to the average and adjusted for win/loss before your PSR adjustment (the arrow) is applied.

Matchmaking then uses PSR to assemble teams for Quickplay matches. By default, a match looks for players in the same PSR, but if there aren't enough people it will open the range to go +/- 1 tier. Thus, a Tier 5 can be matched with Tiers 5, 4, and 3 - while a Tier 2 will match with Tiers 3, 2, and 1. However, in extremely low traffic periods, emergency "valves" open and you can find opponents and teammates outside of that range - this is rare, though. Usually if you see people outside of their normal Tier range it's because they're grouped with higher or lower Tier friends.

[VeeOt Dragon]

for the most part its not something you need to any attention to. i honestly wouldn't even think about it. the PSR system as others have said is just for the purpose of matchmaking.

[CFC Conky]

Welcome back SidequestsYT,

While PSR may be mainly used for matchmaking, it can also give you a rough indication on your overall skill. For example, if you are stuck in a certain Tier, you might need to adjust your builds and/or play style I’d you wish to progress upwards. I’ve also found that when first moving to a higher Tier, my match performance suffers until I get used to the higher-skill players I am now encountering.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

[w0qj]

Hey SidequestsYT, a warm welcome to MWO!

===================================
Executive Summary:
Quick + dirty way to get a green PSR "up" arrow:
~Just do 500+ damage, and get 8+ Kill Assists. Voila!

(Actual Killing Blows count for very little to PSR).

- - - - - -
Anecdotal PSR observations for playing many QP games:

Winning Team PSR changes:

Anecdotal PSR observations: the bottom two players on the winning side gets a "red arrow" for PSR down, as a general rule of thumb.


Losing Team PSR changes:

Anecdotal PSR observations: the top two players (1st & 2nd) on the losing side gets a "green arrow" for PSR up.
Anecdotal PSR observations: the top 3rd player (3rd) on the losing side gets a "yellow arrow" for no PSR up or no PSR down).
Everyone else on the losing team gets a "red arrow" for PSR down.

Focus on your total damage dealt (aim for 300+ damage to start off with; the more the merrier), and Kill Assists (aim for 8+).
Killing Blows actually matter very little to your PSR rankings.
A well placed UAV would also help your match score.
This would also pad up your match score, thus giving you more CBills and XP!


It's very well documented that your PSR is determined by:

~How well you do in the overall 24-player ranking from both teams.

~How well you do in your 12-player team.

[Edit: deleted the PSR - UP/DOWN ==> martial beat me to it; he showed the same video!]

Edited by w0qj, 07 September 2024 - 04:22 PM.