Queue the rigged match making crew in 3… 2… 1…
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It’s a valid argument.
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I’ll give you the benefit of doubt that “some” people would not be in the ranks they were if smurfs and hackers didn’t exist but at the end of the day, the ladder works by some people being better than other people.
For YOU to go up in SR, someone else has to go down. Am I wrong? Because if I am, then we’re not talking about a competitive ladder but rather a time/achievement based system…
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In that case, it would work like any other rank system.
You earn rank by taking it.
Compared to the convoluted, deliberately obfuscated, and hopelessly confusing rank system Overwatch has - I’d say it’s an improvement.
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more like cue the shills, who i wouldn’t be surprised if they were just ai chatbots. same users every thread bleeting same responses, what do they care if someone complains, its a feedback forum, weird and pathological imo to stalk every thread looking to shill and defend the game.
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Incorrect. As per the thread you relied on:
Your hidden MMR skill rating is your own. But you’ll never see it. You’ll never know how it’s computed, where you actually stand, and how it is used for/against you. The SR gains/losses you see will be the byproducts of a rigged/handicapped system. You can still climb the ranks but realize there is active rigging and handicapping built-in.
How MMR works exactly is speculation. But we know that, by definition, it is an implement of hard-rigging and handicapping. Nothing can change the physics of it’s existence.
MMR is blatant rigging and handicapping.
See for example the basic definitions:
Look, we get it. They don’t like hearing it. It’s bad press - like your esports are a total sham kind of press. But the truth hurts, and needs to be said.
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Stop the handicap #2021
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Tbh i still don’t see how fair matches based on your performance is handicapping.
It’s literally trying to match you properly so you can improve, y’know like any competitive ladder works.
That would just make it harder for those who would be lower MMR to slowly climb up. I think the system is pretty fair as is.
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The other competitive ladders have resets, placements, and seasons that matter. They don’t have tons of hidden rigging or team handicapping.
You progress up/down in rank, un-molested, based on your short-term ability to win (e.g. per season). The rungs are instantaneous reward, payoff, feedback. They are the only criteria you’re assessed on, and actually reflect your ability by % players (pdf).
This ladder is a total sham in comparison. It has no integrity, and is based on rigging. Please don’t compare it.
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You can think that, but you would be wrong from the standpoint of ranking systems design 101.
You don’t write IQ tests to fail and and practice and learn and retry and fight your hardest and have your output score handicapped with point differentials.
You write IQ tests to get your result and cash-out.
That’s what a fair ranking system is supposed to do. Find your correct rank by scoring you by rank and rank alone. It’s merit-based, not handicapped or rigged for “fairness” - a fake notion based around the idea that close/engagement matches are somehow “fair”.
You could let that slide for unranked play, but it’s certifiably unfair in a competitive system who’s final end-all-be-all is a ranked output.
This game has had a fake esports sham going for years (just like WWE) because of this rigging.
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play style might not change but your consistency will change game to game. Then keep in mind a player’s peak SR isn’t their default play level and you have 12 players in game.
So stuff can get real strange, real fast.
but that’s about all that’s going on… The learning curve of this game isn’t a line going up at a set angle. It’s like get a little better, fix some issues, get worse as you learn, then get better again.
but don’t buy into the tinfoil hat stuff about fixed match making or other things of that nature. The review code system pretty much proved all that stuff to be false. As player constantly play just like you expect their given tier to play, good or bad.
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I don’t know why you would come into the thread and post misinformation, nobody ever said lose streaks were “forced”.
You should actually read the thread that you linked to.
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Its your team that gets handicapped. Hidden MMR estimates your skill. In order to create matches where both teams have a 50% chance of winning mmr will match players to create a mean skill level per team. Thus, if your MMR rises, the matchmaker often time will need to find some players of a lower MMR to balance the match and create a 50/50 chance for both teams to win. This is what players are describing as handicapping.
In all other games teams are matched with an sr range to make two team of a similar sr. They do not estimate your skill in any way other than sr based on win losses(or very rarely based on an enemy players rating whom you kill). In order to climb must consistently outpace MMR expectations on a per game basis. Leading theorists Believe that MMR is on a per rank basis and that once your mmr gets high enough matches wont continue to get harder within your rank once you hit the cap.
On the forums you’ll notice that this style of match making is intensely debating amongst players on whether this type of match making is good or bad, although judging from the numerous negative threads on the competitive forums its hard to fathom that the people for this type of match making outweigh those against.
I’d Heartily invite @jeffkaplan or @scottmercer correct me if im wrong on any point here.
After seeing the complete lies at the beginning of the topic I was already ready to start writing up basically the same thing. Handicapped matchmaking does not equate to balanced matchmaking as when you handicap matches enough it’ll mean that your team has to rely on your opponents to make big enough mistakes that it’ll turn the tides of the game while your team makes non which in practise means that you might as well stay in spawn for those games and speedrun through them as they’re unwinnable “losers queue” matches
Besides the fact that the matches are rigger/handicapped, what baffles me the most is the fact that they’ve kept the system like this for such a long time. Don’t they realize that this massive flaw in the matchmaking system is literally what’s killing the game? The massive inconsistency in team averages is probably the biggest reason why players end up quitting the game and aren’t able to take it seriously, even outshining flaws like subjective hero balancing and oppressive metas like double barriers being a thing. Surely right now there’s merit to the system through lower queue times, but when you consider that those queue times were caused by the same system, just tuned a bit more down, they should’ve gotten rid off it a long time ago. It’s what killed HOTS entirely and if players weren’t as passionate about OW just like they weren’t about HOTS, the game would’ve died year or two ago already
This system is not sustainable even when we get a playerbase boost in OW2. If handicapped matchmaking is not dismantled and thrown into the garbage by the time OW2 comes out and SR/MMR systems are unified so that we have transparent matchmaking values that instantly show the tides of the matches, OW2 is going to die at a very quick pace and degenerate into players working themselves around the system through alt accounts very quickly after it’s release
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So which team is handicapped then?
No it doesnt.
Speculation, not supported by evidence.
Well yes, but I would say its expectation, not speculation. If you have certain MMR, you are expected to do more to climb which is logical.
Number of players complaining on forum doest make anything true even remotely. Just saying as number of people who believe something to be true, doesnt make it true.
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we are handicapped by the terrible match making you have created. placing level 25 players in gold, to start with is ridiculous. stop making excuses and rework your awful system. read the writing on the “literal” wall here
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Why do you as an official Tech Support for Blizzard weigh in on this? Do you have any proof of your positive claims about matchmaking? I sincerely doubt you’ve been given any special insight into the runnings of the matchmaker and it’s quirks.
Yes it is. We’re talking MMR here though, wich is an entire different beast.
To the OP:
It’s possible your MMR put you into a different “Tier” of matches in your SR range and so matches got more difficult without warning, leading to string of losses before the system corrected again.
It’s also possible that you’re being fed moronic teammates to “balance” your above average skill. Or harder enemies.
Handicapping:
The matchmaker tries to create 50% win chance matches. In a so-called competitive mode.
The implications of this is that if you’re better or worse in skill than the average of your SR the matchmaker creates matches that are either easier than average or harder than average for you to achieve this 50%.
Let’s say, skill-wise, you’re 500 SR better than the average of your actual SR. The natural win chance of any match you are given should be above 50%, let’s say 70% (dropping off as you apporach your natural SR).
Instead you are given a handicap of -20% winchance by the matchmaker either by getting worse teammates, equal teammates and equal enemies or average teammates but 1-2 equal enemies.
“Balance” 
You will still rank up if you’re better but this handicapping can make it take longer and be severely more annoying. Esp. in low gold wich frankly is the pit of hell match quality-wise.
MMR handicaping is an affront to any notion of fairness and competitive spirit of this game. Welcome to Quickplay pluss…
That said your drop in rank could just be “random” too: bad days, bit triggered etc etc
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Except it’s not when there is a thrower or a smurf in your team. It’s not your sr if 1 person is ruining the game on purpose, you try your hardest and play well and earn -25sr because of it
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If you arent smart enough to understand this, you shouldnt even enter the conversation. Willful ignorance isnt a good look, neither is playing the fool.
It has to in order to balance teams for 50% chance for either team to win. Thats math. Again willful ignorance and playing the fool isnt a good look.
The theories were based on something the dev team said. Im not gonna gonna trudge through the forums to find it. Its other peoples stuff.
If ranks and skill levels were uniform this would make sense. Instead the matchmaker will either pull someone in to match you or sandbag you with low mmr teammates or both.
Honestly, do you think comp forums would be flooded with people complaining if the majority of the player base was happy? No, it wouldnt be, and you should know since you and your alt are in literally every thread on the forums trying to argue and silence anyone who doesnt like matchmaking.
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It’s not really fair as it lets people float if they play irregularly.
Which is super annoying to those stuck with them as teammates. When it is clear to EVERYONE in the match that they belong 500+SR lower than where they are, but they don’t play enough to drop, and they don’t lose 100% of their game due to the “fair match” handicapping system that is used in this game.
I’m not really sure how they can fix this. The matchmaker clearly knows they don’t belong, and tries to rig the match in a way to make it competitive. But because of that they don’t drop fast enough to stop ruining games.
I think on these “rigged game” discussions, the defenders focus to much on the conspiracy theory players vs the reality of the incredibly large “casual” comp player base. When combined with multiple alt accounts , smurfs, throwers, paid booster duos and trios. Really , destroy the competitive integrity of the game.