I think you misunderstood my meaning. Ofc a players rank is not an absolute measure of that players skills. Some get carried by premade smurfs, some hide and avoid fight and just puts alot of hours to reach a certain rank. I just used Diamond as an example to picture a player above average. Lets formulate it this way then: A player that fight and kills his ways to diamond, i.e never hides and plays strategically but always goes for every fight and get his majority of RPs from kill points, is for certain above average skilled compared to the whole player base.
And what I mean was that IF you actually are an above average skilled player, you WILL get worse teammates most of your casual games, but your enemy players will also be worse than you most of your games. I think the causal skill based matchmaking is quite non-existent which makes the average causal lobby reflect the overall player skill base distribution of the player base. This means that if you are below average to average skilled, then you will have a harder time in the matchmaking and therefore would benefit from a stricter SBMM and I think its actually those kind of players players who you see complain about the matchmaking (many of them not even realizing they are average or worse but think they are pros held back by their bad teammates). But if you are above average skilled, then you will also be above average skilled in the causal matchmaking and therefore benefits from NOT having a strict SBMM and therefore think that the current matchmaking is fine (like I do)
@BalladalidilaThe “average causal lobby reflect” as you call it applies to most of the lobbies but there are some outliers which definitely don’t fit that profile.
Let’s say I’ve been in 10 of those random lobbies but my performance was quite poor. Then I get into a lobby which is significantly easier than an average lobby. This is the type of lobby where I should perform really well and most of the time this is also the case. But afterwards the matchmaking system overcompensates and puts me in lobbies that mainly represent the top 5-10% of the playerbase. This is the type of lobby that is most definitely NOT an average or random lobby. And I remain there for +/- 5 games before I drop back to an average lobby.
There is no good reason (that I know of) to put me in those high tier lobbies for that amount of time other than being fed to top tier players. Not saying that I should never be in those kind of lobbies, but despite the fact that it’s not randomized it’s also not fair skill-wise. Anyway, that's just my opinion.
I totally agree that it sometimes feels exactly the way you describe, i.e that you sometimes are placed in a "bot lobby" as a consolation prize for having a couple of bad games in a row. But I think people in general should be a little bit cautious when drawing such conclusion about the matchmaking. How hard or easy a lobby "feels" like for one player can depend many variables that you are not in control over; which squads in the lobby gets eliminated early, which squads your squad runs into etc etc...
If you really want to investigate these kinds of matchmaking patterns, you should play multiple consecutive matches with exact the same behavior pattern, like ALWA YS drop at hottest, most crowded drop location etc..
But it strange though because I am NEVER placed in the so called "pred lobbies" that you are referring to. I can win 3-4 matches in a row and I see max 4-5 pred trails, 10-15 ish diamond trails in my matches
@Balladalidilathis might be your experience, but mine is a bit different.
I see myself as THE average player i case of performance,but i get way below average mates in above average lobbies most of the time. I dont mind being in challenging lobbies, but then gimme at least mates that can match half of my dmg output and have some tactic basics , can keep up with the pace and not lootmachines.
From personal experience i can say, this was way more balanced in the past, it began right about that time when the lobbies started to be not filled up properly, something i never experienced up until Season 8 and getting worse every season since.
And donated wins by sending me in lower tier lobbies isnt satisfying , havin 2-3K dmg while my mates still not able to get above 500, carrying them over the finish line feels like getting a medal for 4th place ... id rather loose matches with tryhards than win matches with bots.
I think both of us would benefit if Respawn implemented some transparency to the game (which this thread really is about). Because we are both just basing our opinion on what we experience. I think it would help and calm everyone if the game displayed stats like this after your squad is eliminated: This would take away all speculations and blaming on SBMM and it would also give some consolation for those who actually got killed by someone much better.
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