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Explaining how the matchmaking works
Of course this is not a definitive explanation of how the MM works and should not be considered as 100% factual but it’s a compilation of experiences and quotes from developers. They’ll never reveal ...
- @Cheese9Man
Matchmaking remains the topic of most interest to me. Like others, I have conducted tests and data pulls using a multitude of accounts (ranging from high to low ELO). Even though I’m conducting hundreds of test matches, my sample sizes are relatively small (in comparison to how big the community is). So ultimately I consider my findings “suggestive” and not solid proof. All of my tests were for non-ranked. I am confident in the following:
-Queuing with a full squad tends to put you in lobbies that are mostly full squad teams.
-Playing with friends will place you against opponents based on your highest skilled teammate. So a Masters-level teammate with two new players will be dropped into a lobby of other high ELO players. This is bad and deters people from playing with friends.
-Matchmaking is using values such as KD, average damage per game, placement, and possibly accuracy to construct lobbies.
-Matchmaking will look at your performance over your last games and drop you into lower difficulty lobbies. But there is a caveat here. If you have a lot of data on your account (my main has 61,000 kills), this effect takes FAR FAR longer. I can lose 150-200 consecutive games (with little to no damage) and not get dropped into easier lobbies. However, on several occasions I noticed that losing many matches with low performance results in me getting another high ELO player as a teammate— sometimes two, as the game pairs me with two pre-made players. This suggests that the game is acknowledging your struggle and trying to adjust for it by giving you strong teammates. Conversely, I feel like my teammates are noticeably worse after winning a match. More attention needs to be spent exploring this.
-Matchmaking prioritizes fast matching in BR ONLY. It will make high ELO players wait in Arenas and LTMs like Winter Express. I ran a test last summer that saw me waiting an average of 7 minutes for an Arenas game over 100 games. And because the system is being very strict with who I play with, this often resulted in games that weren’t the most fluid to play (lag was noticeable).
-It’s entirely possible (and in my opinion likely) that the SBMM is dialed up or down intentionally around key times, to make the experience slightly better for the largest player group (casual players). The reason for this is to increase the likelihood that these players make purchases.
