Quick Match is probably not as popular as you think it is

General Discussion
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Quick Match us the most popular game mode, more popular than any other mode. That must mean that the majority of players who play hots must be quick match players right? So Blizzard ought to focus on this mode, right? right?

Well, no, not so fast. It is popular but probably not as popular for the reasons you might think.

  1. Quick match is the default mode that new players are forced to grind for a while before they can play any draft mode. “New Players” however, can and often is a euphemism for smurfs. Some of whom probably don’t want to play QM, but they’re forced to anyway.

  2. Quick Match is the default punishment mode. Did you disconnect during a draft? Did you dodge a bad draft? Welp, you’re forced to grind quick match for a while as punishment. If you are a ranked player and get silenced you can only play UR or QM.

  3. New hero introduced to the game and everyone wants to try that hero out withput trying to draft? Well you have to go to QM to guarantee that you get to play that hero, especially if you want to grind out level 5 to play that hero in ranked.

  4. Want to learn a new hero that you just bought for gold? Maybe try a new build that you’ve been theorycrafting? Well, QM is the place for that, because you sure as heck don’t want (or can’t) do that in ranked and there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to draft that hero.

  5. Got an event going on and several heroes close to leveling up? Play them in QM real quick and get that chest.

Conclusion, yes QM is the most popular mode - but this does not mean that the majority of players are strictly QM players.

There’s a ton of overlap between player groups and all of us play QM at some point even if we might not consider ourselves QM players.

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I mean if you want to be strict about the definition, AI is the most popular mode, is it not?

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My counter speculation to OP is that storm league is an advanced AI mode.

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Yes because even when “new players” were actually new players and not smurfs…

If your first impression of a game is a crap show why would you stick around?

Your right. I’m sure there are many who are not only “strictly QM players”, however, since everyone except AI and Brawlers have to play QM at some point and reoccurringly, it kinda makes sense to put some effort into improving it.

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Interesting observation, but do you have a suggestion for a better system? Would you like unranked draft to be the only non ranked pvp mode, and where new players go? Do you believe the punishment system or ranked requirements should be changed? Or do you want QM to be improved? Or is this thread only to encourage community unity, in so much as we are all QM players to some degree?

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I am not arguing that QM should not be improved at all. My argument is that QM isn’t as popular as the numbers suggest that it is.

There are only two times that the game’s popularity spiked, on release and after 2.0 - both times the game’s popularity fizzled out pretty quickly.

Was it because of quick match? Maybe in part, but I suspect that the majority of players didn’t stick around because ranked mode has been a joke since it’s inception.

While QM might be the default mode, Ranked is the premier mode.

A new player that only decides to play QM and nothing else probably isn’t going to stick around anyway.

Good questions.

I think that quick match has it’s place and should stay. It should be improved, however, it is important to remember that the clown fiesta is what allows us to pick whatever hero we want and find matches quickly.

I liked the 1 tank, healer, dps rule they added before and hopefully it can be added back at some point.

I don’t like that Blizzard makes new players grind QM before being able to play any draft modes. There are more than enough heroes now that I think that Blizzard should give new players 16 default heroes of varying roles and allow them to play draft right away if they want.

I think that ranked requirements are fine, I think that being banned from ranked for being silenced is fine, I don’t like players being forced to grind QM for draft dodging though. I would prefer some other punishment or maybe some kind of incentive rather than QM punishment.

I made this thread basically in response to a common argument I’ve been seeing that seems to imply that the majority of players are strictly QM players and therefore blizzard should focus on improving it as the premier mode.

While I think that it should be improved, it’s important to keep in mind realistic expectations for improvement and to understand that QM probably isn’t as popular as the numbers suggest and therefore shouldn’t be focused on as the premier mode.

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QM-like modes are always the most popular in MOBAs. The vast majority don’t play regularly enough to care about ranked, they’ll just pop in for a few matches and come back whenever.

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It is popular enough to get match under 3 minutes vs other modes, at least for SEA server.

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I was a new player once and I stuck around just for QM.

Your idea of a “premier” mode is a mode where you’re told what to play and pigeon holed into roles you don’t want to play, interesting…

Not sure about you but my time is valuable so when I set aside time for entertainment, i want to be entertained. Being told what I can and can’t play is not entertaining.

I’m sure many others feel the same as me and the bullet points you listed refer to temporary circumstances that are not temporally lengthy enough to result in such a low populace playing draft.

TL;DR

People value their time so the premier mode will always be the mode that offers them the largest array of options for entertainment because that mode has the highest probability of covering their wants. Does QM have its problems? Sure.

Are there people who forego choice for competition and bragging rights? Of course, but I wouldn’t say that their numbers would warrant the label, “premier”.

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HoTS doesn’t have a premier mode

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False.

False again.

Both given that you have a false premise, AND being popular does not mean a mode needs or should get the most support.
So, no.

I’m getting ready to lol, or rather, chuckle internally.

I mean. You need a whopping two heroes unlocked that are not on F2P rotation to play I ranked…
But yes, new players are funneled into QM and versus AI because learning the maps is important.

Uh. I mean. I dunno what to do but laugh at this “logic”.

You could easily farm AI to get account to level 50 faster than playing QM. If these smurfs want to avoid QM they can.

And also it takes like 4000 gold (well, you get a free hero to start still iirc, so 2000 gold) to get into unranked draft…

You understand leaver penalty can also be removed by brawl?

Which, tbh, is where friends and on the rare occasion I leave/am disconnnected is what I do.

Or brawl?

Seriously, this is a positive, not a negative.
There are sadly the small percentage of “false positives” but for 95, and probably closer to 97-99%, it is deserved.

Especially disconnects without reconnecting.

Go play versus AI?

Do you even play the game? You don’t need heroes to be level 5 to play in ranked…

Go play versus AI or QM or Unranked?

Versus AI is there…
And unless it is a hotly contested/popular hero you’ve very likely to be able to get them in unranked draft.

Or play versus AI—even faster, guaranteed win…

False…

I mean, you’re getting to the right end point. But through incorrect assumptions.

I mean, are you even a HotS player? Your knowledge on ranked is months, if not over a year old…

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Look, the idea of drafting is not that you have to play what others tell you. That just sounds like you are not competent enough to play draft modes. The point is that You have to figure out by yourself which Hero you should play in each match and that includes all roles. Why do you think your random team mates know it better which hero you should play?
The main argument of yours is that you either don’t know how to play draft modes or that you can’t deal well with other players using chat?

QM is quite a bit of gambling and a lot of heroes (especially niche heroes) have not the best chances of getting into a favorable matchup. QM can be fun of course and this game needs a mode where you can have your guaranteed hero pick but this game is designed around the draft mode for the sake of balance. I get it, new players and some sort of casual role players really want to play a specific hero more so than playing in a more balanced/competitive environment. If it’s fun anyway then why care about balance?^^

A competent HOTS player in my opinion doesn’t really care which hero he’s playing in his next match because he already played all heroes plenty of times. Why would there be an urge to play as one specific hero again on the cost of a balanced match when that hero has been played already hundreds of times?
Draft is for players who want to play HOTS without any specific hero in mind and are competent enough to play every role because they have a very big and diverse hero roster. Obviously not everyone can get to that level of competence and if some sort of social incompetence comes on top of that (feeling dominated by toxic trash talkers) then it’s quite understandable that not everyone likes draft modes.
At some point, QM clown-fiesta isn’t the form of entertainment players seek.

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I didn’t say it was impossible.

No, my idea of a premier mode is a mode that blizzard literally built an entire competitive scene around. The game mode that was heavily revamped in 2.0. The game mode(s) that gives you exclusive rewards for playing every season. This game was made for drafting and to be competitive.

Are you told to play this mode? No, but you’re definitely incentivized to play it.

I like playing a variety of heroes/roles and I love drafting. You don’t and that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with being QM player, that’s not what this thread is about.

Do you think that Blizzard should spend the majority of it’s effort to improving QM as it’s premier mode? If so, why?

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Personally i think QM works as intended. It’s common that people want to improve things but quite often they make things worse because they don’t fully understand what’s going on (we already had plenty of examples for this). It’s easy to cry out for improvements aka complain about something without offering any solution. It’s like we already have the solution to most QM compliants → draft mode :smiley:

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As its premier mode no. Team league is/was the premeir mode and finding ways to legitmize 5 man teams as meaningful is where most of the effort should be spent imo. Its been a long time since i played WoW, but something similar to that arena setup where you picked your team mates and registered a team name, while having the option of being part of multiple teams seems like a good starting point for that.

There are 3 changes to QM that come to mind as succesful on all aspects.

  1. Lane presence patch - keeping certain heros from being on the same team becuase they were literally incapable of providing pressure on 3 lane maps (prevent teams like chogall, nova, morales, abathur). Didnt increase que times, made better (more fair) matches.

  2. Warrior/support matching - if one team has a warrior and/or support the other team gets a matching role. While not perfect (muradin vs rexxar, tassadar vs anyone), it also increased match quality without destroying que times. Note: this is not forcing a warrior and support into every game, only if a warrior/support was chosen to be in that game, the opposing team would get one as well.

  3. Varian is a warrior - prevented griefers and boosters from getting an unfair advantage by bypassing the warrior rule with varian (he initially was considered an assassin and this was abused).

There is still some low hanging fruit out there like not loading a match with bots in it from the start, and allowing the match to be conceded if your left with a bot for more than 5 (?)min. I know its slightly more complicated, but if we get away from this idea that every match made is sacred and infallable no matter what…

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Look, not everyone agrees with strategy, even in GM tiers of play where I’ve seen posts. Therefore, draft ideas will differ. That just sounds like you are incompetent enough to play in draft modes.

See above, different doesn’t necessarily mean better. That makes you sound unintelligent.

The main argument is that I don’t like dealing with whiners when my goal is to be entertained. Get your butt back to school and work on that reading comprehension.

Ok, this really tells me that you know nothing of drafting. In every drafting situation, there will be a meta. Should we simply just balance around a handful of heroes at any given time? If so, you really should not make games.

No, that’s a competitive player. A competent player just plays well. There’s a distinction that you seem to be missing and it’s really sad.

Clueless. You’re missing yet another distinction. At the end of the day, HotS is a game whose purpose is to entertain. People have different entertainment goals in mind when they decide to divulge their time.

Some people are masochists and like to deal with whiners.

At the end of the day, ideally,people want to play what they want to play in a balanced environment. Since your reading comprehension is abysmal, I’ve gone ahead and bolded an operative word to compensate for your lack of comprehension.

That’s why there’s a lot of QM complaints about balancing and yet, those people still remain in QM.

Sure, every game has a competitive scene so people have something to aspire to but that doesn’t mean that the game is built around it.

For instance, WoW was built for competitive PvE but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a competitive PvP sector.

Based on their direction in other games, it seems like they’re moving in a direction that attracts a wide array of people to keep the largest amount of people drawn in.

For instance, in WoW, a lot of classes are homogenized and gear is acquired much easier than in the past to attract a larger pool of players. That creates a less competitive environment in gearing, allowing players to focus on one less thing and instead, work on their skill alone.

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Haha so offended xD Can you explain how that makes me “sound” incompetent to play draft modes?^^

Obviously people can have different opinions on what’s a good pick, no matter what MMR they have. That’s why players discuss during the draft. In the end it is still your personal responsibility and decision to pick a hero.

Are you telling me that you feel pigeon holed and told what to pick because other players think differently - not even necessarily better?.

Why do you don’t like dealing with whiners when your goal is to be entertained?
Aren’t those whiners another form of entertaining? It’s probably less entertaining when they whine about you and you can’t deal with it well. Like how much you got offended/triggered by my fist post?^^
How come players end up whining so often in your drafts?
You kind of just approved my assumptions.

So whiners really are that hard to deal with for you?
Why can’t you just ignore them?^^

Ideally players want to play in a balanced environment - correct.
Why do people complain about QM balance and refuse to play draft modes?
They don’t understand how balancing works and complaining is easier than learning to deal with some whiners.

Do you assume that your wording and phrasing is so on top that everyone who asks you questions has reading comprehension problems? Or is that just because you can’t deal well with whiners like me?^^

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True, but this game is - this isn’t up for debate. It’s a fact, whether you want to acknowledge it or not.

That doesn’t answer my question. The question is should Blizzard spend the majority of it’s effort to improving QM as it’s premier mode? If so, why?

I’m not interested in speculation based on what Blizzard is doing with their other games. I’m asking you what direction you think Blizzard ought to take in regards to this game’s improvement.

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I was mirroring your response and therefore, mocking you. You seem to be unable to grasp the full scope of what I’m saying in all of your responses.

I feel pigeon holed because players don’t necessarily have to tell me what to pick. If I’m last pick and we have no healer, guess I have to play healer, right? That’s being pigeon holed into a role and does not necessarily mean that I’m explicitly told to pick a healer.

What if I didn’t want to play healer? What if I communicated that I did not but my draft team decided to pick what they wanted instead? Now I’m playing a role I didn’t want to play for the sake of creating a competent composition.

That’s not fun in my book.

I dislike cleaning my dishes after I cook but that does not mean it’s hard.

Again, you’re just unintelligent.

Yes, I can ignore them but if I have the options of:

A) Ignoring them
B) Playing a mode where whining about draft picks is nonexistent

Then yes, I’m going to choose B every time lol. I have zero desire to hear a grown man whining like a petulant child. It’s pathetic.

Sure, there’s whining in QM but the whining in QM is also present in draft but draft has an additional opportunity for whining to occur that QM does not.

They aren’t, see above.

Who said they were whining about me? When 2 people are standing in a bush, arguing with each other instead of playing the game until one of them decides to afk in the base, that’s not entertaining.

How is this hard for you to grasp? lol

I didn’t get offended by your post and assuming so is dumb.

You approached my post as if you had some sort of insight that my mind could not grasp. Well, that was just so dumb that I basically mocked you in all of my responses.

Check out my responses to FoxBlade. They were much more civil because he approached me as such. I just reciprocate the tone that people use to communicate with me.

Because it’s a competitive environment and people would rather lose when their poor decision making was the major contributor rather than losing because someone else’s poor decision jeopardized the game.

Additionally, tensions are higher because there’s more at stake. Even in unranked, no one wants to sit in draft queue for that length of time and then lose.

It’s a no brainer.

Pretty sure I haven’t since everything you’ve said thus far is just dumb and not well fleshed out.

I look at how people respond to what I’ve written. If you approach me with a response that only addresses a small portion of what I’ve written (see below) rather than the whole thing, then yes, you have reading comprehension problems.

I bolded even more of my original post since you seem to be struggling.

As you can see, I already answered this question and now you’re asking me a question that I’ve already addressed =====> Reading comprehension issues.

I don’t think you’re a whiner but I do think you’re dumb.

I’m sorry, but no. Online games are ever evolving which is why there’s patches.

‘This isn’t up for debate’.

Personally, I don’t think there should be a ‘premier’ mode. I also don’t think that QM needs too much work either. QM suffers from the same thing draft suffers and that’s matchmaking. MMR issues exist regardless of which mode you play so fixing that would fix both modes and not just one.

2 birds, one stone.

Next, all they would need to do is stop the ‘expanded search’ thing or at least give you an option to opt into it if you want to get into a game quicker and that’s about it.

Without the expanded search, you should at least get equal role compositions and then it would be fine.

Aside from the aforementioned suggestions, i’d suggest making every hero viable on their own. We have too many heroes and many of them are niche heroes. I feel like the game is suffering from a niche bloat because with as many heroes as we have, there’s going to be niche overlap which will invalidate one of those heroes. Especially when you consider the direction in removing specialists and the laning changes which only further reduce the number of niches that can be filled.

I think things most changes that have been implemented due to ‘unfun’ were a death sentence because the game began to lose it’s unique properties. Laning changes, specialists, stealth, etc were the gears that began to dull the game’s unique edges.

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I agree, but so what?

That doesn’t change the fact that the premier mode for hots is ranked and that drafting is how the game is meant to be played.

No patch has changed this and it’s doubtful that any will.

I think that this is a fair point. So how would you go about fixing the MMR issues?

This is a lot easier said than done, balancing is extremely difficult and adding more and more heroes to the roster makes it that much more difficult.

If there was an easy way to just make every hero viable on their own, I think that the balance team would have done that ages ago.

It’s not easy and may not even be possible, especially given that several heroes have to compete for their role in a composition and certain heroes will be inevitably better or worse than others in their role, creating tiers.

I agree with you about the last laning changes, though. I dislike unlimited ammo and catapults and passive XP from buildings. It’s made the solo-lane really boring to play and made former specialists worse.