I wonder if the match maker tries to maximize time played

Multiplayer Discussion
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I have this system that I have explained in the past that if I lose I just stop playing; basically if I have a win streak I may just keep going in the same day but if I lose even once I may stop playing entirely unless I feel like the loss was too marginal etc; this theoretically shouldn’t give an enormous MMR and enormously harder opponents for just 1 or 2 wins.

However something weird I noticed is that for most days of the month right after 1 or 2 wins I start getting very easy to lose-to opponents; it’s as if the system tries to maximize the time I play; win streaks of more than 4 wins do happen but they are suspiciously rare.

But I could be wrong, and it may just be plain old selfishness playing tricks on us and making us feel “rigged!”.

If the system has something like that it might be off at legend because most “quitting for the month” most probably happens either at entry legend or d5.

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In the scenario you described, the main culprit is the fact that by playing that way you never warm up properly

Cognitive straining requires warm up just like physical straining does. You need to play a few games (some less, some more) just to get the feel for your deck and remember how to play each matchup individually. While warming up, winrate of a good, viable meta deck can fall to 48-50%.

And then, just like someone flipped a switch from Off to On, you start winning. You suddenly know all the plays and answers, when to risk/greed and when to play safe, and your winrate skyrockets to 55-60-70%, depending on your current and average rank.

At least that’s how it works for me. Playing 10-15 games per day for me is worse than not playing at all. Literally. Because I actually DO spend some mental energy, but for nothing, so the game becomes frustrating and boring, whereas if I haven’t played in months, or years, at least I feel very interested and focused on every game (because I miss it, and because I have catching up to do).

So yeah, I think it’s your method. It’s just not compatible with ranking up.

P.S. And you know it’s true, considering that not a day goes by without you pointing out that the ranked system in HS rewards people who play a lot of games. It’s true.

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It’s a valid argument but doesn’t apply well here, because I’m very aware when I do mistakes; e.g. this morning I thought I was a big shot and I lost the first game because I tried to be cautious against a pipsi paladin with an aggro deck myself; it was very silly because an aggro deck should never take its time (the pipsi didn’t even have a taunt and I could kill it with 1-damage from face lol…).

I’m not describing something that I find “rigged and unfair” though but closer to something “rigged AND FAIR”; it’s like the system keeps it fair but at the same time without many win streaks; I could be wrong though because I don’t trust my selfishness thinking “rigged” on its own as a knee jerk reaction without much proof.

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And how are they supposed to rig games in your favor, or against it, if they don’t know what (mis)plays you’re going to do? It’s literally impossible.

Anyway, the point of my last post was that your method which you expected will be more successful for you, is by default a less successful one. You need to play more, especially when you’re aware of your mistakes.

If you just did that one mistake, and it cost you a game, you probably won’t repeat it so soon again. So play more, more and more, is the recommendation, if you can.

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The idea would be matching the archetype with unfavorable archetypes or even rigging the draws. It’s programmatically not impossible to have in the game because the input only has to be something resembling the database of hsguru on archetype matchup stats and card draw stats.

Again I don’t think it’s happening for certain; if I were to bet I’d say no because tilting is also very common; but as long as the code is a black box I’m not believing anyone easily unless it’s a trusted developer of the same game.

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The thing is, the game “rigs” itself that way, with players realizing which decks are played the most and targetting them.

You know how samples work in statistics. You know it’s not smart to change decks after every game. So don’t do it. Instead, pull up the data for your rank and server today, and tech against the most played decks, and just keep playing until you have a big enough sample, and it should be positive.

It’s really that easy, most of the time.

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I can’t play too many ranked games myself. Partly is because I don’t want to spend the time and I don’t have the time and partly because I won’t even perform.

If I play more than 3-4 short games in a go I start getting foggy; part is being tired and part is psychology; I feel like I waste my day after a point.

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Well, I can’t help you with this, it’s to do with your genetics, attitudes and even upbringing

It does feel weird to me, though, that you don’t consider all this typing on the forum ABOUT the game a waste of time, while at the same time you consider PLAYING that same game a waste of time xD

I can’t understand that xD I can just assume it’s a product of strict, conservative upbringing which kept teaching you that playing games is a waste of time.

Well, if that’s true, I might be able to help you. I, too, felt guilty conscience while playing games instead of doing something productive (studying, working, hanging out). But then I grew up and realized everyone needs some “off” time, to wind down and fill themselves with dopamine. Sometimes that means watching TV/movies, sometimes it means playing games, sometimes it means something else.

But having fun and keeping your braincells working definitely isn’t a waste of time from my point of view. It’s quite important. So important, in fact, that I will sacrifice sleep for it and still be productive on my work, because the game playing filled me with more dopamine than 4-5-6 hours of sleep ever could.

I do, however, understand that not everyone can do this. Some people need more than 8 hours of sleep because their organisms is more physically oriented than mentally (they waste more energy with physical activity than mental), so they literally need it.

It looks like you might be one of those “physical” types. Are you going to the gym or doing some sports?

EDIT: I have another question for you, but it’s a long shot and I prolly shouldn’t ask it as I’m not a doctor, but I’ll do it anyway. This part of your reply:

reminds me of my best friend’s issues (brain fog, tiring easily, prefers physical over mental), and he has Hashimoto diagnosis (autoimmune thyroid disorder).

Do you also happen to have some thyroid diagnosis? It could explain the brain fog and tiring quickly.

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Not necessarily. I find RESEARCHING about the game also interesting; for me it’s fun to find ways to play as little as possible and still rank as much as possible within that limited time; e.g. I was proud to go to legend while I was trying to stop playing on the 1st loss of the day.

That is not clearly conservative disdain to gaming since I still spend time on it (just not always directly on matches) and I literally don’t want to play that much on my own without feeling I’m forced by psychological problems.

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I understand. Well, good luck then