@Marge010
Pure speculation on my part here: I know the "update" of a few seasons back was supposed to expand the skill buckets from FIVE to some unspecified higher number. If I had to guess, I'd say it was six, maybe seven. Neither here nor there.
Because what I think is really going on (again, pure speculation) has not to do with the number of buckets or the skill ranges they're willing to group together. It has to entirely with how they determine skill. Of course this has to be a "secret sauce" in order to prevent manipulation. I get that, and I agree to an extent. The extent to which I disagree is the extent to which the system can be manipulated even without knowing exactly how it works.
The single best example I can give is one I've speculated on before. Yes, the system has some secret formula for determining your skill. But I genuinely believe that it also has a "glutton for punishment" scale, and every single player in the game falls somewhere on that scale, and the higher up that scale you are then the looser your skill bracket will be and the broader range of skills you will experience in a match. I think it has a lot to do with how many matches you play in a session, how consistent that number is, how likely you are to re-queue after a broad-range match vs. after a close-range match. Etc. Etc. Etc.
In other words, the game looks at how declining k/d numbers, declining win rate numbers, and various other metrics, affect your willingness to re-queue. I guess you could call it your "willingness to participate" quotient. I think for players who quit a lot of matches that number is necessarily low, and I think it results in less brutal lobbies for them. Speculation, but it fits with my own personal experience, and would certainly account for why a lot of "average" players end up in a lot of "above average" lobbies.
Food for thought.
Community Manager
