Matchmaking - Can it be improved? If so, how?

[Herr_Reitz]

Aside from the long-standing argument that RNG "rigs" matches - set it aside, that's not part of this discussion - what I am wondering about is the quality slash fun of matches. 

 

So many matches these days appear to be steam-rollers... one side dominates from the start. You can see the affect of RNG when your rounds are on-target yet do no hits, no pens, nothing. The targeted red ship returns fire. You watch its rounds arc through 3D space in amazement as they take a good 10K out of you. So there's one question indirectly related to the question, which is how much does RNG affect each match?

 

The main question I have for you though is really this:

 

What can WoWS/WG do to increase the "fun factor" of every WoWS match?

 

Myself, I like good fights that seem to be evenly matched.... you get a ship ahead, they come back, go a ship ahead, it teeter-totters for a bit then for one or the other side it comes together for a win. I think the affect of RNG is there to prevent (as much as is undetectable) the possibility of a draw. But this isn't about what I think - it's what you guys think. 

 

tia

[ARandomClaymore]

IMO, simple: 1-Tier spread.

I personally would be willing to wait longer in MM in-game que if that were to be instituted.

At that point I wouldn't care if I ended up bottom tier in a 1-Tier spread from that point forward. However, ending up bottom Tier in in a 2-Tier spread in the majority of the Random matches I play, simply takes any fun out of the game for me.

Again, simply my opinion.

[MidnightShamalan]

i honestly don't think there is a way to get the type of battles you want consistently.

 

when a team loses a ship, it loses guns, torpedoes, etc. whatever that ship had is now removed from that team. the other team now has an edge in firepower. this causes them to take another ship. and another. you see where i'm going.

 

it really doesn't matter how well the teams are balanced. as soon as one team starts to dominate, it's going to continue that way unless something significant happens. i'm not saying it's impossible to come back form what seems like a sure loss. i'm just saying, that's just the way the cookie crumbles for the most part. and i don't think there's anything that can be done about it.

[Shadowrigger1]

As long as this game is populated by a higher percentage of bad players than good,  there really is no way the MM can sort out the trash from the good,   Skill based MM will kill itself as the good players keep going and those that have been carried most of the time get pushed back down into the less skilled matches.

[anonym_CSdztHGM3fXS]

I think a +1/-1 should be the default choice. What I would like to see if being able to choose to accept +2 battles. For accepting being two tiers below other opponents you would get a bonus to credits and xp, maybe twenty percent? The stipulation is that the battle must have  at least one third of the opponents at +2 to you.  You should also be able to select bastion or not

[InfiniteAmount]

Get rid of the 2-Tier spread, maybe except for T8 and above.

 

[IronWolfV]

Aside from the long-standing argument that RNG "rigs" matches - set it aside, that's not part of this discussion - what I am wondering about is the quality slash fun of matches. 

 

So many matches these days appear to be steam-rollers... one side dominates from the start. You can see the affect of RNG when your rounds are on-target yet do no hits, no pens, nothing. The targeted red ship returns fire. You watch its rounds arc through 3D space in amazement as they take a good 10K out of you. So there's one question indirectly related to the question, which is how much does RNG affect each match?

 

The main question I have for you though is really this:

 

What can WoWS/WG do to increase the "fun factor" of every WoWS match?

 

Myself, I like good fights that seem to be evenly matched.... you get a ship ahead, they come back, go a ship ahead, it teeter-totters for a bit then for one or the other side it comes together for a win. I think the affect of RNG is there to prevent (as much as is undetectable) the possibility of a draw. But this isn't about what I think - it's what you guys think. 

 

tia

There's nothing you can do, you can't go to 1 tier difference, you can't go to same tier. Steam rolls will happen for the simple fact of the way the game is fundamentally set up. Period END.

IMO, simple: 1-Tier spread.

I personally would be willing to wait longer in MM in-game que if that were to be instituted.

At that point I wouldn't care if I ended up bottom tier in a 1-Tier spread from that point forward. However, ending up bottom Tier in in a 2-Tier spread in the majority of the Random matches I play, simply takes any fun out of the game for me.

Again, simply my opinion.

Won't do jack. Steamrolls will still happen. Changing MM to 1 tier spread(and get ready for a wave of nerfs all the way around).  

 

 

Guys, changing MM WILL NOT SOLVE ANYTHING.

[gurudennis]

To star with, a skill-based MM for carriers is absolutely required if WG insists on keeping their influence on the match at its current level. There's nothing more discouraging than having a 40%-er strike Lexington on your team versus an enemy unicum Shokaku at 70+% win rate. You know the game is over before you load in.

[Herr_Reitz]

To star with, a skill-based MM for carriers is absolutely required if WG insists on keeping their influence on the match at its current level. There's nothing more discouraging than having a 40%-er strike Lexington on your team versus an enemy unicum Shokaku at 70+% win rate. You know the game is over before you load in.

 

Well I dont follow the stats... but you can usually tell in the first minute of game play what's about to happen. :-) 

[Sabot_100]

Aside from making the teams evenly balanced by tiers (something that has gotten much better over time) it seems the MM could make some attempt to balance out the uber players a bit when assigning who goes to which team. Player win rate would be a stat that could be used. Unicum Divisions would still break the system as there may not be enough other unicums in the queue to balance things out.

 

How about giving a bottom tier ship (in a 3-tier spread match) a xp/credit bonus for whatever they manage to do. Say a 1.1 to 1.5 multiplier. Might take a little bit of the sting from being a punching bag for most of the match.

[epojokke]

IMO, simple: 1-Tier spread.

I personally would be willing to wait longer in MM in-game que if that were to be instituted.

At that point I wouldn't care if I ended up bottom tier in a 1-Tier spread from that point forward. However, ending up bottom Tier in in a 2-Tier spread in the majority of the Random matches I play, simply takes any fun out of the game for me.

Again, simply my opinion.

 

I agree with this. I hate being bottom tier in my Atlanta because everybody, maybe minus some destroyers, can fire 4+ km longer than me, meanign that I tend to do poorly unless I can hide behind an island the entire game.

However, maybe we should exclude tiers 9-10 from this.

[Herr_Reitz]

I see some reputable Ideas ^tm here! Keep em coming... food for thought at the least... I sort of like the idea of comping some of the low tiers who get shoved two tiers higher. Could encourage more folks to play lower tiers, at least for a bit... 

[LHA3_BelleauWood]

 

 

There's nothing you can do, you can't go to 1 tier difference, you can't go to same tier. Steam rolls will happen for the simple fact of the way the game is fundamentally set up. Period END.

Won't do jack. Steamrolls will still happen. Changing MM to 1 tier spread(and get ready for a wave of nerfs all the way around).

 

 

Guys, changing MM WILL NOT SOLVE ANYTHING.

 

 

Why not? Your answer is too vague. Apparently a lot of players want a 1 tier spread. Steamrolls are happening now but under a 1 tier spread I don't believe it will be near as often as it is happening under a 2 tier spread. I don't believe the game was ever meant to be one-sided.

 

[Chrifister]

Agree there are some good ideas here.

 

-Should be no preferential MM for any tier. Examples are current tier IV and V MM. Why does tier IV mostly get down tiered and tier V get up tiered? Makes the tier IV grind easy and the tier V grind almost unbearable.

 

-Should be an option to select between 1 and 2 tier spreads. I'd personally leave it at 2 especially if the below point was implemented.

 

-Lower tier ships should get a credit and XP bonus for being low tier with an increased bonus if it's a 2 tier spread.

 

-Player stats should be taken into account although I personally don't believe win rate is an effective indication of skill. Maybe average damage for their chosen ship versus server average damage?

 

-CVs definitely have to be balanced better because too many games are decided by unicum vs potato CV captains. I get that each CV nation has its own flavor but this makes it impossible to balance them because they are not equal, not even considering loadouts.

[Skpstr]

i honestly don't think there is a way to get the type of battles you want consistently.

 

when a team loses a ship, it loses guns, torpedoes, etc. whatever that ship had is now removed from that team. the other team now has an edge in firepower. this causes them to take another ship. and another. you see where i'm going.

 

it really doesn't matter how well the teams are balanced. as soon as one team starts to dominate, it's going to continue that way unless something significant happens. i'm not saying it's impossible to come back form what seems like a sure loss. i'm just saying, that's just the way the cookie crumbles for the most part. and i don't think there's anything that can be done about it.

 

Agreed. Take a hypothetical situation. Team A and B are equally facing off in the middle of the map, firing back and forth without any real effect. Team A has a 2 on 1 on the west side, Team B has a 2 on 1 on the east side. The single ship in the west side is a cruiser, and gets sunk fast. The single ship on the east side is a sturdy BB, and isn't sinking anytime soon. Now the 2 extra ships from Team A can weigh in and make a lopsided skirmish.

 

Basically, it's all about positioning. Steamrolls have almost everything to with who goes where, and pretty much nothing to do with MM.

[gurudennis]

IMO, simple: 1-Tier spread.

I personally would be willing to wait longer in MM in-game que if that were to be instituted.

At that point I wouldn't care if I ended up bottom tier in a 1-Tier spread from that point forward. However, ending up bottom Tier in in a 2-Tier spread in the majority of the Random matches I play, simply takes any fun out of the game for me.

Again, simply my opinion.

 

Wargaming "examined" the proposal and concluded that it's not necessary at this time. I'm almost directly quoting from a Q&A.

 

Translation from corporate WG to English: we want your free XP money so we're not making grinds any easier. Frustration sells. Sorry, luv.

[IronWolfV]

 

 

 

 

Why not? Your answer is too vague. Apparently a lot of players want a 1 tier spread. Steamrolls are happening now but under a 1 tier spread I don't believe it will be near as often as it is happening under a 2 tier spread. I don't believe the game was ever meant to be one-sided.

 

 

Because it doesn't matter the spread, it's simply the nature of the game. Cause ranked did same tier and what happens? First time that gets the advantage and drives it home and it's a steamroll. Steam rolls are the NORMAL thing to happen, not the oddity.

 

If you've seen highly competitive play in tanks(which is basically the same format in ships) you'll see it doesn't matter if it's 12-15 people randomly thrown together or 12-15 people specifically chosen by a clan. First team that makes the first big mistake is usually the team that's the one legged man in the butt kicking contest.

[BossmanSlim]

If server population >= 8000, match making = +/- 1 tier, else +/- 2 tiers

[SandraSmiles]

Yesterday's priority focused on finally take the full blown plunge into random with a green 3 point Seagal captain. With the help of my team mates, I managed to enjoy the random outing and surprisingly had tremendous luck in achieving krakens and 12 point co skills for Seagal- as he will be reassigned to Pensacola/Indianapolis!

 

The MM put me up against the high tiers about 80% of the time.  And frankly, I was amazed at the scrub play styles of the Tier 89-10 player base.  I've seen far more high tier team performance in coop vs random...I mean far more!

 

[Taichunger]

MM Is working really fairly now. The only change I want to see is +/- 1 tier up to T8. For T8-10 2 tiers is ok. This could easily be implemented during peak hours. WG should at least experiment with it. I would be happy to wait longer if I could play my Murmansk again...

 

 

[Herr_Reitz]

MM Is working really fairly now. The only change I want to see is +/- 1 tier up to T8. For T8-10 2 tiers is ok. This could easily be implemented during peak hours. WG should at least experiment with it. I would be happy to wait longer if I could play my Murmansk again...

 

 

 

I can see that... and they would certainly have the data to determine if such an adjustment would prove effective. 

[Cpt_RickSchwifty]

There are two things that should be done before any changes are made to incorporate peoples stats, or max tier.

 

They need to balance DDs based on gun boat torpedo boat better. Im tired of seeing one team with 3 Fubukis and a Mahan vs 3 gun boats and a hatsuhara.

 

They need to balance the consumables - smokes, radar, defensive fire. All to often I see one team with ALL the radar, 3 or 4 ships on one team have radar, the enemy team has none.

 

 

Those things Really need to be done before anything else. I don't feel the pain of the current tier system but I could see how that could be a major complaint for some people, but honestly I feel MM does a pretty good job as it is except for those two things. 

[Sothron]

I would pay them to go to a 1 tier spread. I would happily wait in any queue to have matches where I'm not screwed simply by being two tiers behind everyone else in a match.