The playerbase will recover, give it time

General Discussion
1

Absolutely, under no circumstance, should Blizzard ever focus on improving queue times for matchmaking over prioritizing quality matches. This is the first time in the game’s history I’ve actually felt comfortable practicing heroes that I was never really good at.

It turns out, I’m actually pretty good on some of these heroes I’ve just been unwilling to play them in a sub optimal environment because it’s frustrating.

Over time, this game’s playerbase WILL recover once people see that Quick Match actually feels really good to play.

Are there still quirks with it? Yes, eventually, those will need to be addressed, but as of right now, Quick Match is now properly the real learning environment it’s meant to be.

In addition, with enough time, QM stomper one tricks will fall back down in MMR where they belong, and some of the better more oppressive players who are actually mechanically skilled will rise and games will be even less frustrating than they are currently.

The “Queue Time Improvements” rolled out around the For Azeroth patch were one of the worst things to ever happen to this game. We don’t need a repeat of that, this game cannot sustain another grave mistake like that.

If queue times are too long for your tastes, try learning a new role and playing a hero that is in high demand such as a healer or tank.

If you’re upset because you can no longer one trick Butcher, Valeera, or Tracer in QM, well, deal with it.

This is probably the first patch where I can safely say that matchmaking is actually working correctly. Give it time, and the bad players will fall, and the good players will rise.

Again, under absolutely NO circumstances should Blizzard EVER prioritize queue times over match quality. Ever.

56 Likes
2

From the new QM compositions I still can quickly join in a game in 3 - 4 minutes so the change was really good.

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3

This change has not drastically affected my queue times either, at least not in a noticeable way.

I would rather wait 3 minutes for a really great match where I enjoy the next 20-30 minutes than wait 30 seconds to be in a 15 minute stomp where I’ll be miserable.

This change, even while still flawed, is one of the best things to happen to Quick Match.

13 Likes
4

Yes this so much.

I got to the point I would no longer put myself through those horrible matches and would just leave and just had perma leaver status.

5 min wait > 25 min nail on chalk board game

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5

I won’t leave matches, but it got to the point where I would only play one match a day and log out frustrated and disgusted.

After this change, I have never been so addicted to playing HOTS. I actually look forward to going home and playing. This is something I have not experienced with this game in several years.

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6

Firstly, the game needs a very good Overwatch cross-promotion to attract lost and new players, because obviously, the other franchises couldn’t do jack all year.

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7

Perfectly fine with waiting an extra minute or two for a high quality match. The matches are incredibly better other than when you get players that don’t know what objectives are, but that’s beyond the MM.

1 Like
8

Exactly, that’s an issue that has been long masked by composition issues and unfortunately it’s rearing it’s ugly head. However, MMR is fluid and is designed to course correct. People just need to give it time to allow it to filter people correctly up or down in MMR.

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9

Seconded

Padding…
(11,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)

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10

I play generally east coast USA late night like 10 PM to as late as 4 AM if i have absolutely nothing to do the next day. My que times tend to be estimated anywhere from 60 seconds to 120 seconds and the estimates (mostly) hold true.

When i do get a chance to play in the afternoon, however, the que times can be nearly instant. Under 30 seconds for sure.

I agree that the changes are worth any additional wait time they may incur. But i don’t think the game is in any way dying. Those que times are pretty darn solid any way you cut it.

And if i wait like 30 seconds after a match before re-queing, i tend not to get the same set of players to boot.

7 Likes
11

Nothing matters until they stop pairing potatoes with good players.

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12

Giving time for MMR to course correct for 3 years and counting.

Just coming off a bad loss streak with support. I don’t know whether it’s simply that support has 1% effect, but for the last 2-3 days I’ve been paired with nothing but bad players (feeding). Not all of them, just 2 each match.

The only other explanation I have for this is simply the forced 50% winrate theory. Checking my logs it seems I had mostly fair wins and now have all unfair losses.

Enjoyed the 3 matches on Johanna, though. Much better with having a support.
(Uninstalled again regardless.)

4 Likes
13

I dunno man. Played some hl last night and most of the grandmasters in my games just… I dunno. How they get there with ~40% winrate???

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14

MMR is just a number associated with the algorithm it’s generated from. If the algorithm is poorly written, then the MMR is going to be off.

For example, if you want to compute the area of a rectangle and you use the formula 2L+2W, you don’t blame the result and say that it’s wrong, you say you used the incorrect formula which should have been LW.

There is no such thing as a “forced” winrate. What it means is the MMR of the players you’ve been paired with was incorrectly assessed and it’s human nature to assume there’s a nefarious pattern to it.

The MMR value associated to your account is only as good as the environment it’s derived from.

2 Likes
15

Absolutely, under no circumstance, should Blizzard ever focus on improving queue times for matchmaking over prioritizing quality matches.

What if I am waiting 5-10 minutes for a quick match game (regardless of Hero choice) and that game is always very low quality (a complete stomp one way or another, usually full of people who have accounts under level 100, and up to 3 supports on a single team)?

I would rather just get thrown into ANY game as fast as possible, since the quality of matches literally could not be any lower for me.

1 Like
16

So what you’re saying is the system is completely useless.

17

Then that means one of two things.

  1. The code is poorly optimized and or poorly designed
  2. The playerbase is too low to sustain an efficient matchmaker in the first place.

Which is exactly what lead to the mess we’re in currently. Blizzard listened to the people who wanted fast queues and it cost us quality in what was already a decently working matchmaker at the time.

Had Blizzard implemented something like they did this week back then, the playerbase would not have hemorrhaged and queue times would have remained unaffected.

Lastly, while queue times for me are SLIGHTLY longer than they are now, they’re nowhere near the level people are claiming which leads me to think it’s just rampant hyperbole.

What I’m saying is you need to give it time for the new matchmaker to generate a new valid MMR value for all accounts, that isn’t something that just happens overnight regardless of what they do.

The approach they have used this time is the correct one, and will result in a correct assessment or very close to correct assessment of skill level.

3 Likes
18

Did you miss the part where someone pointed out that we’re still waiting for players to move to their proper spot in the tiers after several years?

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19

Did you miss the part where I reminded them that an MMR value is only as good as the environment it’s produced in?

The more fair the matches are from the gate in terms of compositions, the more skill is an influential factor in the system’s matchmaker, and as a net result, the more accurate the number that’s intended to represent your skill (MMR) is.

The game needs time to course correct, there are countless players still in the system who either abused QM one tricks or simply just stagnated due to wildness in comps affecting their ability to influence match outcomes.

7 Likes
20

Waiting to course correct is a non-solution. People will trickle in and out of the system at all times and will always be in need of course correction matches. That’s a failed game. The MMR Decay was a request and it was implemented at the highest points on the system impacting NONE of the majority of the players.

1 Like