Did I manage to understand matchmaking?

Competitive Discussion
1

I am doing the qualifiers and get around 1400-1500sr, after that i gradually drop untill 800-700. and I find myself in an weird loop of matchmaking. Right now at 1100 sr(got the game 2 months ago fyi)

Anyway, this is my loop(right now my main is hog):

First game usually just one game → Matchmaking at ~800 SR, I carry the game, crushing it with ease. I get around 20-25 SR for the win.

Next game or games, i counted a max of 4 → 1200 -1400 SR, sometimes i win sometimes i loose usually i win around 10-15 and loose 20 to 35 sr

Sometimes does not matter win or loose but next game, i counted max of 2 → 1400 to 1800 SR, most of the time i loose and i loose around 25 to 35 SR

After i loose the game the loop resets, usually no matter how much I win when the loop starts again I am in deficit of 30 to 50 SR so i constantly drop down in sr. In 5 loops I had games with 2 golds and alot of high silvers almost all those games were lost, usually is either up to 3 high silvers (but most of the time 2) or 1 gold.

You could say, yeah but others are the same right, like the other team has one 1100 sr too, well yes but wouldnt this be a fight between higher skilled players, while the lowest are crushed or boosted?

Basically what i understand from this is like the dificulty rises gradually untill i cannot take it anymore, in theory this should help me get better in practice when I loose the games my SR drops so much untill I enter the darkages of OW… I mean under 1k SR it’s the 4chan of OW…

Did anyone else noticed this loop in matchmaking? I imagine it scales the same up to GM, resets the match SR whenever there is a loosing streak or a peak SR in a lost match .
I would love to hear more on this…

2 Likes
2

TLDR version of what you need:

-pbsr under diamond - this affects the amount of sr you gain or lose - will depend on how well you play if you win and gain less sr than normal goooooood chance you got carried and are playing out of your competency
-you win some games
-you lose some games
-match maker is NOT rigged
-work on your mechanics and game sense
-the climb doesnt happen over night

good luck with the battles!

5 Likes
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Match maker arranges matcha based on variables we only guess at.

The patents indicate trying to pair people that not often paired together. But people claim since Jeff Kaplan and Scott Mercer are on the patents it doesn’t mean it actually it’s in the game Jeff Kaplan and Scott Mercer actually made.

Ultimately you have to die less and kill more.

1 Like
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I understand your take, offc i have to play more learn more. I just expirienced this loop like clockwork. It’s an observation of an pattern that repeats very well, not an excuse for my hard grind, and I think with more data it can be cracked.

I know that I have to solo carry my ae out of bronze untill somwhere in high gold, and yes kills and higher damage as i see wins the game.

5

for a long time I’d get up to my career high and drop back down to bronze, only recently did I break the cycle.

Now I’m afraid to play dps cause I feel there might be a loss streak waiting for me.

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6

If the pattern is really that persistent, then it’s almost certainly mostly a mindset issue. There’s usually no built-in reason that you should be getting streaks, although below 1000SR or so, or in off peak hours, being avoided-as-teammate by just a handful of people who are better than you could seriously hurt your chances because there’s not that many people you can match with. Similarly, judicious use of your avoids on currently logged in players who are deranking, drunk, or otherwise effectively or actually throwing can noticeably increase your chances.

More likely, however, is that you are simply winning more when you’re in a positive mindset and losing more when you’re in a negative mindset. If you believe you are in a winning streak or a losing streak, it can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

2 Likes
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Playing with gold and high silver while being 1100 sr is a mindset? My observation is strictly on the median SR of the team I encounter and the outcome of the next SR median if I win or loose. Pure observational data, numbers, nothing subjective. And yes when the players dont have public stats I take time to ask them personally the SR.

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Oh, I thought you were talking about your win and loss streaks. No, whether you match with a team below, above, or at your SR is just random. You will play with and against a lot of low golds and high silvers because of duos trying to get an advantage.

1 Like
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I noticed there is a pattern in the median SR of the matchmaking based on loose or win i have, being that the SR median of the team grows up to a limit of 1800, as I win, when i loose one or 2 games in a row and everything resets again.

1 Like
10

Hmmmm, your MMR (your “real SR” that is tracked internally and used for matchmaking) does move faster than your displayed SR, so a few wins or losses in a row could make a larger difference in who you match with than your displayed SR would lead you to believe. If you imagine that every win or loss is roughly 75SR that might be closer to where you match.

If you get a mix of wins and losses with no extended streaks your SR and MMR should quickly become nearly equal. I would not expect this to be noticeable above the usual randomness of team formation until you were on a streak of 5 or more in the same direction. I’d also expect it to take as many losses to neutralize the effect of a win streak completely and vice versa.

Kaawumba has done a pretty good job of explaining it all, along with an absolutely comprehensive list of references to everything the devs have told us about how matchmaking works.

1 Like
11

the first game of the day is usually actually fair as they want to hook you into playing. so if you actually deserve to be higher its an easy win.
you can exploit this and rank up to whatever your true skill level is by just playing 1 comp game a day. only problem is it takes time.

2 Likes
12

Now I reached 2100sr with a tank, the loop is still there exactly the same. Right now from what I learned, yes there is a mindset, (not necesarily positive or negative), it is more on how aggresive you play and when(timing is quite important) BUT the sr pattern is still there.

If you win too much or too steep(like rolling the game) my mmr jumps so high that I had plat games while being high silver OR i am matchmaked with a smurf or a player with a similar jump in MMR(honestly this system is great for highlighting smurfs).

So besides grinding and watching guides, testing and improving mechanics what else got me in gold? Intentionally playing mediocre, at least from 1400sr to 2100sr playing mediocre in the right moments set my games with less jump in mmr and avoided smurfs or keeping the dificulty hill not so steep. Play enough to be as good as the team and not be a hardcarry, control the map where you can so the flanks are busy running insteat of shooting and DONT DIE, these things keeps the SR and MMR level of the other matchmaked players smaller and by not dying too much and having one silver/gold medal IF you loose you will loose wayyyy less SR. Most of the times when I won I won more than I loose.

Also playing many heroes is great, understanding what i’m fighting against is very nice.
Overall my gold tanks are between 20 and 40hrs of gameplay.

Second thing i discovered hardstuck can be a thing, humorously my heal dropped to 800sr in the last season, this season with all the qualifier matches won I was put in 750sr, and slowly grind it up to 1200-1300. No matter how you win the games in qualifiers last season will ultimately decide your starting sr, there is a bias in the game that will not reset the MMR/SR with each season. On a new account my heal goes to 1400sr from qualifiers.

Once in gold, for me at least, I feel I’m playing what I learned in guides, untill there the whole competitive game is worst than quick play, solo carry and keeping a low profile in silver(not hard carrying) is something I find usefull to rise in ranking.