Since the news dropped about locked heroes something was bothering me and it hit me this evening… Activision has a patent to manipulate matchmaking to encourage consumer spending.
Why is this relevant to OW2? Locked heroes. The state JQ was released in was insane, she still is the only pick in OWL and even post nerf was at a 56% unmirrored win rate. But the patent Activision has would take that to another level. Here is a direct quote from 1 iteration of it:
Match a more experience/marquee player against a junior… so (if we use JQ as an example) you’re in comp and your tank is a 3000sr player that owns JQ he could be matched up against a 2600sr player without JQ. Huge advantage in terms of the unmirrored win rate and skill level.
Now this is a patent that they themselves have submitted and had approved, this is not dooming or whatever. To make each hero appealing ofc they will release them OP. Would anyone go out of their way to buy a hero if it was trash? But, if that hero stomps the lobby I bet you’d consider it. How many of you when you first started playing got stomped by a god like player and considered playing their hero?
This is a major concern. It directly leads in to game balance and with Blizzard already saying it’s easier to tone down heroes than tone them up it doesn’t bode well. Each new hero will be OP and the meta and if you don’t fork out then you are hamstringing yourself.
It directly leads in to match making. Being matched up against more experienced/marquee players with access to the new OP hero to encourage you to part with your money.
Here is a link to the video I saw all those years ago that I remembered and it covers it pretty well:
Oh 1 interesting tidbit, the video I linked the guy in it is the voice actor for Enrico Pucci in the English dub of JoJo
why am i not surprized the every mechanism in the game is designed around selling skins. They probably buff you after getting a new skin to create association with buy and feel good just like they did with new and old triggers in the 80’s. You ever wonder why u need new things to feel happy. Its not cause you were born that or because its you nature…
I completely forgot that part, buffing after a purchase to positively reinforce your choice. Lose a game against a much better player with a locked hero, upon purchase you are then the marquee player getting easier matches for the first few hours to reward you for making that decision.
I can’t see Blizz divulging any info on their matchmaking system, they never have, so there will always be that possibility that this system will infact be in place as part of the way matchmaking is done.
I applaud you for that, I wish I could say I was the same… but 3 WP packs later and I am a little red faced
Systems like these though are never designed to entice/trap all, but they will definitely hook some. Whilst it might not be a hook you will bite the system will then negatively impact on your playing experience because you won’t purchase what the marquee player has.
There were a couple people waving this patent around back before any of this insanity was even a glimmer in blizzards eye and back then they were accusing Blizzard of manipulating MMR since it existed… but there was no motivation back then because there was no advantage to Blizzard to use it.
Rigged and the other messed up font guy who I think was the same person wasn’t right because they were losing their minds over 50/50 chance games. Not putting you in a game with someone with a cosmetic/character you might want which is what the patent is actually FOR.
Though it does beg the question if this eventuality was already planned back then.
Yeah, it was a joke. That dude was not all there, and didnt actually understand the patent he was so worried about in regards to the existing match making.
I’m not sure it was planned back then when it was originally being R&D’d, I think COD was the target game back then. Opinion only, 0 facts to back that up sorry.
I think that when the process to design OW2 started this system was bound to have come up in conversation at some point. It’s a major piece of R&D used to increase revenue and with the game being f2p they need to make sure you click that shiny “Buy Now” button as often as possible.
Tbh, they’d be a bit foolish to not at least talk about this system when they designed OW2 considering it’s a patent that they hold and the company would have spent a lot on researching.
