Well what makes you so sure they were "real" level 13 and 24 players? A truly real level 13 player has only played this game a couple of hours and dont even know how every weapon works. I find it quite unikely he would team up with a "real" lvl 24, which is someone with only 2-4 evenings of gaming, to play arena. Most likely Smurfs.
And besides; its very possible that someone will have gold MMR match in their placement matches. From the patch notes:
"When you first play Ranked Arenas, you start in placement matches. Your performance over these 10 matches will determine your initial MMR and your starting rank. MMR variance is wider initially, so these first 10 matches might be stomp-or-get-stomped until your MMR settles more."
So again; without knowing exactly how the ranked system works, I would guess that the main goal of t he placement match is trying to determine where approx. the player should start, and to do this, they probably test him at difference MMR levels depending how well or badly he performs at each level.
This is also from the patch notes which explains the relation between your hidden MMR, which the matches are based on, and you visible rank:
"So, as an example: If you find yourself ranked Silver, but you’ve been consistently playing at a Platinum level, our system will go ahead and start matching you against other players with Platinum-level MMRs. If you win these matches, you’ll get a lot more Arenas Points (AP), which will make your visible rank catch up to Platinum quicker. If you lose these matches, likewise, you’ll lose fewer AP, and your MMR will invisibly drop until you’re matched more evenly."
They were both brand new players, we had a real discussion about it and it's very clear when neither even knew how to close the Weapon Selection Screen before the match started. One would think, if they were on SMURF accounts, they would at least close the WEAPON SELECTION MENU and before the time ran out and started at the blue see threw wall vs starting at their spawn location only after the match started. Only did they know after I told them. No one is trying to hide the fact that they are a SMURF by pretending they don't know how or that they can close the WEAPON SELECTION SCREEN.
I love how the example shows if you are Silver level playing with Platinum level. It seems to me they should give an example as to why if you are GOLD level and your Teammates are brand new, how does that change your MMR. I find it ironic they give an example of the type of players you will face but not an example of how your own team is decided. Again the example states, "our system will go ahead and start matching you against other players." Matching you Against.
Says nothing about how your own team is selected.
Well it does say that. How you are being matched and how your team is selected is based on the same principles. For instance; if you play at a Gold2 MMR level and also happen to have the visible rank Gold2 and you get teammates or enemies that show "silver3" as visible rank, then they are selected for that match because they are playing better than the average silver3 player thus the system give them chance to go up against, what the system determines to be "more similar skilled opponents". If these silver 3 players cant handle it, then the system knows they should remain in silver and if they continue to do well, then the system can keep matching them against tougher and tougher opponents until their settles on their "peak" Rank and MMR.
But whatever. It seems like you just come up with another "BUT WHAT ABOUT THIS" every time I try to explain something. MMR based matchmaking is what all games with one winner and one loser use, team-based or not. CSGO, LoL, Dota, Overwatch, Rainbow six siege etc etc and it works. Just give it some time. If too many of the active arena player base have tot few matches under their belt, the MMR is very far from have settled in, which may be the case for a weird matchmaking in the beginning of area ranked.
I realize how MMR and HIDDEN MMR works. Again, Rocket League was the same in that aspect. Only Rocket League did a much better job of actually placing you with the right team and the right teammates. My point is and always was, the players I get teamed up with now that I am GOLD 4 do not have the same EXPERIENCE in RANKED ARENAS that a GOLD 4 player would have. Therefore, even if the players were matched in SKILL they would not be matched in EXPERIENCE in RANKED ARENAS. And if HIDDEN MMR comes only from playing RANKED ARENA then clearly the HIDDEN MMR does not work right.
And there it was. It gave me brand new players and new arena players until it took me back down to Silver again. Tell me how the HIDDEN MMR works so well again? Not a single EXPERIENCED Ranked ARENA TM ever since I was I win away from GOLD 3. Not 1! For that reason, I will not be playing this game again. I won't play BG as that's no better. Just another thing they can't get right! I fully believe the MMR is the best way to place people, IF AND ONLY IF IT ACTUALLY WORKS RIGHT! But it CLEARLY does not! PRE MADE TEAMS are the only way to go, if you really want your rank to reflect your own skill. But that takes the solo or single player out of the equation unless that player wants to be frustrated every match KNOWING the TEAM placement is a joke. But again, should we be surprised at this point? I THINK NOT!! UNINSTALLED after 9 months of playing! No longer worth it to me as the game is not designed for the SINGLE OR SOLO player!
I honestly think there's even SBMM in the rank lobbies. You cant tell me on the NY server i should be replaying the same people over and over. I truly believe that a diamond/master/pred will suffer the same issue as pubs solo queuing... the expectation that you'll carry your team to victory. I find myself against a lot of 3 stack diamond+ teams climbing or hard core smurfing. Very rarely is it a legit random and or 3 stack team that will be hard stuck at the current rank. I really think sbmm lives inside rank making the experience for solo queing past diamond3 so hard.
I've continued to play Ranked Arenas just to see. Once I got 1 win away from Gold 3 I started getting brand new players. Like real BRAND NEW PLAYERS on my team. Again we all start somewhere and I get that! But I was not getting this until I was at that RANK. I lost then, over and over and over until I was 2 more losses away from SILVER 2. That's when I stopped getting all the brand new APEX players on my team. I was still getting a few, but not like I was on the way back down the ranks. I managed to finally get back to GOLD 4. And my very first game in GOLD 4 I got yet again, 2 BRAND NEW PLAYERS. a level 16 and a level 19! Both on real accounts. Not smurf accounts. I lost about 4 games and was now back in Silver 4 for the 3rd time. After I lost these games, I started to get a few more experienced players again. I have managed to make it back into GOLD 4 and NOW, I'm getting a mix of both new players and a somewhat experienced player! Every game is a struggle though, for GOLD 4! That's crazy to me. As I stated before, It's nearly impossible to rank up without a pre made team, if you are forced to play with MUCH LESS experienced players once you hit GOLD 4! That's the issue with this way of whatever MMR! There are tiers that will always be locked into being TEAMED with players that just don't have the GAME EXPERIENCE! So unless one is good enough to carry the teams long enough to get past this tier, sadly one will find themselves stuck at this rank for a long time while there (WHATEVER MMR) just bounces around. If this MMR is based off other factors like (GAMES PLAYED) or an AVERAGE of ANYTHING, imagine how long it would take to work yourself out of this (TIER). I would say, MONTHS. Only then to have it all reset while you try to do it again!
I guess what I'm trying to say is, for all random team placement type games, there almost needs to be some sort of secondary MMR factored in. Something that takes into consideration, ALTUAL time played. This secondary type MMR would not have to last forever. It would only have to last until a certain time so to say. This would stop the MORE EXPERIENCED player from being TEAMED UP with PLAYERS that have only played for a few weeks or so. If there is not some way of sorting that out, then solo q'ing will always be way more difficult than it really is.
Ranked br as stand it stands is horrible playing solo. there is no incentive for team work
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