Q&A Matchmaking - Anti-Cheat

Would not be the first time they put out statements that contradict themselves, happend in the past and will happen in the future.
Its a typical politicians talk around the bush, not to spill the beans whats actually happening ...  

I readily admit that brief, single paragraph answers don't always explain points to satisfaction, but I read every question and, at least to me, every response made perfect sense.

I think one of the things they're saying here is that for a good portion of any given season a player's visible rank may be significantly lower than their skill, and below the rank they will eventually achieve over time. They just haven't finished climbing the ladder yet. Which is why they absolutely cannot match based strictly on visible rank. I don't know where it is they start last season's predators, but I've certainly played matches where it seemed like they let those preds reset to rookie. No legit rookie player should be matched against high-tier players just because those high-tier players haven't maxed out their grind yet. Does that make sense?

Ranked IS a time grind, not a skill grind. Period. They can claim all day long that they're looking into that, but they won't change it because their primary objective is to keep you playing, not to give you an accurate rank in a single afternoon.

The part about matching players of seemingly dissimilar skill onto the same squad... it's true. They do this and they always have. And their answer was 100% correct. Skill in this game can be defined in many different ways, or as an amalgam of many different skills or abilities or experience. Play style deltas are HUGE in this game. If you're the player that watches a couple of aggressive and cheating streamers and genuinely believes that that's how you should play the game, how you HAVE to play the game, then you will have this experience a lot: you think your squadmates are idiots because they don't have your back, won't drop into your chosen dumpster fire, won't rotate with you, whatever the symptom. Maybe they're new to the game. Or maybe they have a radically different philosophy on how to play the game, where to go, when to push, when NOT to push, etc. It doesn't mean they don't know what they're doing. It means they have no faith in whatever it is that YOU are doing. And there is no way for the matchmaker to know these things about players. Hence solo-queue squads of players who are completely disconnected from each other and who consequently give the impression of not understanding the game. Often times they understand it all too well - they're just not playing the same game. That's how much latitude there is in your approach to Battle Royale.

Don't know if any of these perspectives make any sense, but I agree with 100% that all of this is worthy of discussion.

"And their answer was 100% correct."
best joke ever, are you a respawn shill or just funny ?
A Fuse that cant deal more than 35 dmg  in 15 minutes of high platin ranked play is just bad and has not the skill he should have at that rank.
Playstyle has nothing to do with that ... 
And that happens quite often to me, i posted a lot of screenshots that paint a clear picture.
Always one guy in my team that cant keep up, the statement teams are assembled by same skill is simply false.
After thousands of Matches i can def say who has a higher/lower/same skill than me, you simply can feel it, even when the playstyles dont align and you die bcs of such reasons (hotdrops, chokepoint fights, greedy playstyle ect.).
When teammates dont know how to use their legend, its def smb with a lower skill.
Only bcs your Matchmaker in Pubs now works to your satisfaction, doesnt mean it works for everyone especially in a competitive ranked game.

I'm not sure anyone said teams are assembled "by the same skill." The target is that everyone be in the same ballpark. And no, even that standard is often not quite met. I've said forever and a day that solo queue squads are often one experienced player, one somewhat experienced player, and one inexperienced player. But the developer was still not wrong to point out that play style differences matter. Match goals matter. And honestly, I don't believe that it's uncommon at all to get a random squad where even the weakest player may be respectable, but where that player just isn't in the mood for his squadmates' aggression or Respawn's shady matchmaking. And the net result can be the appearance of a player who, as you said, "can't keep up." To be even more honest, I can tell you from my own experience that I'm ALWAYS the most experienced player on my squad, and I can also tell you that I get tired of Respawn's "strong, less strong, weak" squad make up. And that often causes ME to be the player who is holding back, and who gives the impression of being weak. I'm not weak. I'm just unwilling.

Where I'm headed with all of this is that there can be a lot going on with players that can give the impression that we all get where teams are grossly mis-matched, but that those players are often not at all what they seem. I know I'm not. Much to the consternation of my teammates.

Where you are 100% right is that it doesn't really matter why a team is mismatched. It just sucks. But there is only so much the matchmaker can do. Is it doing everything that it can do? No, I don't think it is. But I'm starting to think, especially with the changes this season, that it's doing far more than it ever did in the past.

Nevertheless, I will take this opportunity to say what I've been saying for six years: This game needs to scrap the "fast match at any cost" primary goal that it has always had. It also needs to move "skill" farther down the list of match criteria. The primary matching parameter absolutely should be play style as self-reported by players when queried by the matchmaker. They need to be asking us a lot of questions about how we play, what our match goals are, and what it is we expect out of teammates. And it needs to allow us to update that data at the beginning of every session if we so choose. Only speaking for myself here, but I would gladly have two completely inexperienced teammates IF I had some idea that they were in the match for the same reasons that I am and shared the same outlook as me as to how to achieve goals.

By wording it " Squad matchmaking looks at closest skill to fill out your squad. " Respawn is again using typical Politician speak which everybody will understand as "near same skill" and not as "miles apart". And the excuse "playstyle" might be true for some matches (i know when playstyle was the issue) , but the majority of matches is just getting teammates not the same "shoesize" ... and that def feels like being set up to fail on purpose !

And regarding to ". And that often causes ME to be the player who is holding back, and who gives the impression of being weak. I'm not weak. I'm just unwilling." 
You wouldnt do only 35 dmg with Fuse in 15 minutes of platinum ranked play, bcs you wouldnt be the "unwilling one" in my team, since i normally dont opt for stupid unwinnable fights at chokepoints, wont get greedy for loot/kills when the 3 ring is seconds away, ect.

Matchmaking is broken!! I would not believe much of that. I played since week one, stopped about two years ago and started back playing about 6 weeks ago. first day it put me in with level 1-10 players and then right into pred lobbies and in that player distribution chart, the grey area of the cart is pinned to the right side of the chart. I am a decent player but by no means on the level of the best players in the game. Its the same people over and over too. 
I had never played ranked till this season and seems the only way to get into lobbies that are with players of my level. 

That's right. After the changes they made in s24, matchmaking is even worse. This matchmaking favors 3stack masters/preds who get easy targets for their games. Every day the same nicknames, the same lineups - TTV, LIVE, TIKTOK etc. 50, 80, 100 thousand kills, best badges, movement on cfg + 0 recoil. This is "chilling" on pubs currently.

And just to be clear - you never get teammates like that on your team.

I play with the same 100 players over and over, and yes I get the same teammates over and over and they are the same people i am fighting against over and over too. I get paired with top level fighters but that does not help. We get wins and stuff but they will have all the kills and most of the damage and this server has the most cheaters so double head shot after landing over and over happens a lot. Game was good but now BROKEN! 

I have the same on trios. I lose matches after landing for several hours in a row, and the game still places me at the very end on the right side of the graph. I play with the same nicknames every day and every day thereafter. But I won't anymore. EA and Respawn ruined this game in terms of balance, matchmaking and situations with cheaters, where they lost the fight a long time ago.

Today I uninstalled the game, but before I did that I had a game (duo with random) where my companion was an AI bot, and then a level 1 cheater killed me. The next game killed me top1 sparrow PC on cronus zen/xim, because he had no recoil.

This game died and today I finally saw what was going on here. It's a shame - I spent a few years here, but unfortunately there are definitely more cheaters than a few years ago when I started.

RIP my 5000 hours in this game. :)

Another yada yada yada from Respawn to people who on the other hand have too low IQ to understand that this is smoke and mirrors + how the game should be played.

Only point that makes sense is nr.2 - which is what most people don't get = teamwork can increase your competitive level even by a tier, sometimes maybe even more. Those no comms D4s can easily be D2+ if they use comms / have any interest in teamworking.

Most people play 3v3 BR as soloq queue and worse solo one man squad type of play = 20 bomb only for myself and flex at the end or I don't care to try mentality.