PvP Pet Battling Questions

Terless-moon-guard · July 3, 2019, 9:51am

Hi I’ve tried to find information but it’s surprisingly hard to find the answers to some of these. I’d like to know if anyone either knows the answers, or how to find said answers.

“Matches you against a player of similar skill…” What does this mean? Like, is it win/loss ratio? Win count?
I understand that a team of 25 pets won’t face off against someone with a level 25, a level 5, and a level 2 pet team. But aside from “similar level”, what does it mean for matching against a “player of similar skill”?
Does location matter? If I were to que in Thunder Bluff, would I have higher chances of fighting someone in Thunder Bluff? Or is this also inconsequential?
Does player level matter? I get the feeling that it does not, that a level 10 pet battler can face off against someone at 120 since these are pet battles and not affected by gear or ilvl.
Do player relations matter? Is there any effect on likelihood of being matched with someone who’s creamed you 100x, a stranger, someone on bnet friends, a guild mate, etc?

I think that’s all the questions I have, and I would appreciate any answers! Or even a pointer in the right direction! ^^

Creeks-frostmourne · July 3, 2019, 12:09pm

We don’t know. Blizz is not transparent on how they’ve built “battlegroups”, how they match people etc. It’s irritating.
Don’t think so.
Player level or gear doesn’t matter. You can actually level alts by doing Pet PvP.
Don’t think so.

Probably the main factor that will affect your Pet PvP queue is which “battlegroup” you’re arbitrarily lumped into, and how active it is. But its out of your control.

Anyone please correct me if I’m wrong anywhere.

Hruin-aggramar · July 3, 2019, 4:08pm

Pretty much what Creeks said. We don’t know the answer to the first question. The other 3 don’t matter. The only thing that matters is your battlegroup. This is basically what people are referring to when they use the term “Meta”.

I have characters scattered over 7 or 8 realms. It’s obvious that some of them are connected. I’m pretty sure that some of the RP realms are connected. But I don’t think there are a dozen battlegroups. I think it’s more like 3 or 4.

If you are running into the same player over and over, you can change realms to try and dodge them. Or vary time of day. But it’s not like there are a dozen different metas.

Creeks-frostmourne · July 3, 2019, 10:51pm

I’ve tried a few times swapping realms and I queue into exactly the same people

Tank-jaedenar · July 4, 2019, 12:27pm

In Discodoggy’s latest video (#232), he claims (and I have zero reasons to doubt his findings) that upon purchasing a server transfer, his meta was subsequently altered.
There could be some merit here.
You can server hop all day and run into player X ten times in-a-row, but how often do we actually go thru the process transferring servers? I’d estimate rarely.
Now, was it his main that he moved? I’m not sure. Some people have claimed that the server you created your very first character on is what ultimately determines your battlegroup.
Personally, I’m not buying that hypothesis.
Anyway, I thought this news was interesting and wanted to share.

Discodoggy-cenarion-circle · July 4, 2019, 7:12pm

It was my first character that was transferred, and this is the second time that I transferred it (Terenas -> Cenarion Circle -> Stormrage).

I have a question for a few players that might help decide if transferring really changed my meta. I am using the past few months as a time frame for these questions since I have been battling a lot since February.

Sorria/Allegre/Felicidade: did you just start battling again on Tuesday after a long break? If so, then that would explain why I started running into you a lot and the transfer was just a coincidence. However, if you are an avid battler who has been battling regularly over the past few months then it would mean my transfer did indeed change my battlegroup, since I had not run into you recently.

The same goes for V Merkel and the BFB/TCS (can’t remember their names). I’ve been running into you, too, since my transfer. Have you been playing regularly over the past few months? Or did you just start again on Tuesday?

Same question for a Royal Peachick named Tom. Since Tuesday I’ve run into you quite a bit. I think you also have a Twilight named Isuck.

And how about a Wicked Soul named Ahboo? I was facing you quite a bit before my transfer, but since then I haven’t seen you once.

How about Brawler? I wasn’t facing you much before the transfer, but I do know we were still on the same group (I recently ran into you using a Twilight Whelpling/ Junkheap Roach/ Void Jelly team). Since Tuesday I haven’t seen you at all.

Now to make things even more complicated, all of these names seem familiar (Sorria, V Merkel, Tom) but just not from the recent past. Which means I could have been on their battlegroup before, or they could have been on a long break and started playing again, at the time that coincided with my transfer.

The only facts I really have are the players that I have / have not been battling lately, the rest is all speculation, so please nobody misunderstand me to be stating that I am certain my transfer changed my battlegroup. It’s just a theory that I have no proof of, and I am just a susceptible to confirmation bias as the next guy.

My theory has always been that battlegroups are not static, they change every now and then. This comes from my experience of facing certain players a lot in my battlegroup, then all of the sudden not facing them. For example, Rhonstifor (an avid PvPer who’s been off the scene for a few years now) were on the same group, but then we weren’t. Similarly, and more recently, Llenoca and I used to be on the same group, but now I don’t think we are anymore (maybe he can confirm).

Whether or not these battlegroup changes do indeed happen, and if they are caused by server transfers or other factors we may never know. There are always alternative explanations, such as players taking breaks from battling then returning later.

Discodoggy-stormrage · July 7, 2019, 7:20pm

Hmm, I guess none of those people read the forums, or they don’t want to be known.

Anyways, it’s both of fun and frustrating being on a “tryhard” meta as some people call them. It’s all imp/TCS teams with a smattering of Hermit Crabs and then some Dreadful Breath teams thrown in to make life even more unbearable.

I haven’t joined the dark side myself yet, meaning I haven’t gone to my competitive teams to counter these competitive teams, as it’s more fun to come up with interesting counters instead. But frankly, some of the people are pretty good so they can figure out my counters after I get some wins in the bank. For example, my Muck Slug and Felspider were ripping up imps for a while, but now people have those teams figured out.

I was curious to see how bad I’m getting my butt kicked. Isn’t there an addon that tracks how you do against certain teams and pets? When it came out I didn’t really have a need for it, but now I’m interested in my current record and my current performance against certain pets and teams.

Thanks.

Edit: found it mentioned on one of Tank’s posts. PetBattleLogKeeper