Role-based Match-Making is needed for 2/2/2 games
The matchmaker is extremely quick to make a match when you have a full 6-stack. This suggests that the matchmaker is simply matching via overall team SR/MMR. This is sufficient for OPEN QUEUE as any team member can switch to a role if problems are discovered, but is fundamentally flawed for role queue.
With the introduction of role queue, the matchmaker SHOULD be matching via ROLE SR, and ANY other method is fraught with peril and will feel stompy.
- The tank role gets an average SR of the two players.
- The DPS role gets an average SR of the two players.
- The support role gets an average SR of the two players.
The matchmaker then finds a match where no role is substantially outmatched by the other team. Platinum tanks should not be fighting Silver tanks.
With team matchmaking (versus role matchmaking) having a team wherein the tanks have a much lower SR/MMR than the opposing team, and the enemy team has tanks that have SR/MMR much higher than the opposing team is NOT A FAIR MATCH. This goes for any role, but for most of the ladder a tank role mismatch will be most noticeable so I used tanks for this example.
Player levels should be taken into account
- Note that this is time played, NOT rank.
A new, but gifted, player may be a formidable deathmatch player at a low level but they are NOT able to contribute to a team the way a much higher level player would. They simply DO NOT know about all the match-ups that happen, the specifics of maps, typical strategies played, etc in a TEAM based game.
Silver+ portrait players should be getting matched with Silver, Gold, Plat+ portraits. Bronze portraits should largely be getting matched together, and once the Silver portrait is obtained, the matchmaker will match any level that is Silver or up together.
- Smurfs/Alts: Low Level players that are performing significantly out of the average (60%+ win-rates / multiple 90th+ percentile stats) for players of bronze portraits over many games could be matched into Silver+ level matches.
Introduce a leavers queue
For players that leave a game, place them into a new queue with other players that have left games. The leavers queue matching will happen for 30 days, and the leaver will return to regular queue after 30 days of not leaving a match. Any episode of leaving will reset the clock.
A frequent complaint among the player base is the problems generated by leavers and how bad the match feels afterward. Players that DO NOT LEAVE matches are rewarded by getting teamed with other players that DO NOT LEAVE matches. Since leavers either feel it is okay to leave a match, or have persistent technical issues that cause them to leave, they should not have any issues being matched with like-minded or like-troubled individuals.
The standard fall backs still apply; If a match cannot be created under standard conditions in a reasonable amount of time, the matchmaker loosens its criteria or combines queues to make a match.