So I am curious. It seems I am always getting matched with players with 0 games played in the last year or longer. Should there be some sort of decay or something? If you have not touched the game in years, how are you to be expected to play at the rank you used to be?
There is decay actually. Their account will be at a lower rank than when they left. Except if they’re Bronze 5.
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Rank Decay already exists, if they are in your matches after not playing for a year or longer, they were at a higher rank when they quit.
Rank Decay was first introduced 2 years ago, in Season 3.
If you don’t play for a long time and stay unplaced, decay will hit you too, though for diamond +'s.
Storm League’s rank decay will also affect unplaced players if their MMR is equal to Diamond League level or above.
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ok and what if you never played ranked before in your life?
It used to use your QM mmr instead, but I don’t know if that still applies. Otherwise, it would be up to their placement.
Wow no wonder no oneplays this game. qm to decide rank skill. Gross.
Actually, that was only if you had placed, than stopped playing for a very long time. But if you have never touched SL, then you have to do your placement games.
It’s better than absolutely nothing.
Forcing every returning player to go through the climb from the floor would cause random bad matchups, simply decided by who has (more) returning players. See: smurfing.
It’s unlikely to have an inflated QM rating, I did regularly run away a little, but I wasn’t ever rated much above my SL record, if even. (Matchmaking is another thing, sometimes math dictates I was considered Master but my actual rating at that point was likely Gold, maybe low Platinum.)
The main problem with SL match quality isn’t rating but player flexibility. I could rant for an hour but in a nutshell, over the years I’ve lost my ability to flex and I seem to experience the same thing about others. My own performance fluctuates between low Bronze and mid-Plat per match, depending on hero and the support I get. As I’m overflexing, my rating is deflated, which also leads to tilt and additional volatility.
As far as my behavioral observation goes, I’m just very typical. Roaming tanks picking XP and taking camps, healer fooling around, assassin trying but not achieving.
The last 2-4 weeks I had the same across all game modes, you’d think after some losses it’d get easier, but virtually all matches have been a stomp one way or another, one side displaying skill and the other just fooling around. Not new or returning players.
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I started lower gold after my placements and i quickly climbed to mid plat and yet people who havent played in over a year with -0 rank history and a lifetime win rate lower than mine are being matched higher than I was?
I dont know about this better than nothing system.