Smurfing and SBMM are beyond a joke

@DarthValtrex Hey at least the game is swinging you between lobbies— this provides you with a bit of variance (sometimes your games are hard and sometimes they are medium difficulty). I find it concerning that people want STRICTER SBMM, which would actually make pubs more consistently difficult than they need to be.

Additionally, asking for stricter SBMM is also like saying “I want to win more and I want more skilled players to lose more.”

And of course, the most extreme argument I keep hearing is “all players should win at the same rates and skill shouldn’t = winning more.” This idea is the most ridiculous to me.

@IdleHandsNo1

Ok, I hear you. And look, I definitely don’t want you to have a miserable experience.

A possible solution is a reduction in the current SBMM (for pubs). As someone here has already mentioned, a big reason there are so many smurfs is because the lobbies right now for people in the top 10% are pretty nuts. The only people winning games consistently with ease are the top top players in the world. One might say, “well that’s the way it should be”, but I totally disagree. If a player is legitimately better than 90% of the rest of the player base, they should win far more consistently than players in the bottom 50%— unfortunately that’s not always the case due to sbmm. The more aggressive any SBMM algorithm is (the better it is at pitting you against your clone), the more everyone starts winning and losing at the same ratios, regardless of skill.

I don’t support players doing this, but people are creating smurfs left and right to escape these rank-liked pubs. Smurfing is WRONG because it thrusts a highly skilled player in a lobby that is PREDOMINANTLY weak players— intentionally weak from the perspective of the algorithm. The only understandable reason for someone to smurf would be to play with their lower leveled friends.

A better solution?

I genuinely feel like if pubs weren’t so grueling and there was more VARIANCE, people would be less inclined to smurf.

But let’s talk about the big V word: Variance. What would variance look like and what are its implications?

Variance in matchmaking would look like: the average lobby would have lots of average players, some stronger players, and some weaker players. —From the perspective of the weak player: the lobby is difficult but not EVERY engagement is against the insta-melt pred team. In fact, you would RARELY run into a three stacked pred team by virtue of statistics. In this environment, the more a weak player plays and improves towards the “average skill level”, the better their performance would be (more kills, more damage, more wins, etc)

That’s just my take. I don’t want SBMM eliminated, just toned down. Does that mean the game would become slightly harder for people below the “average skill level”— yes. But these players can absolutely change that by playing and practicing.

@Vdstrk

I’m not sold on the “master pred will wreck havoc” on a lobby that’s compromised of all skill levels. Perhaps they have a much higher chance of winning, but it’s not guaranteed. And honestly— no disrespect, skilled players beating lesser skilled players (in a non-ranked setting) isn’t a controversial idea; skilled players should ABSOLUTELY be winning matches more frequently than lesser skilled players.

If you oppose that idea, then that likely means that you support the “everyone should be winning at similar rates” idea— as mentioned earlier, this idea is “forced equal outcomes” and is a ridiculous idea for a pvp activity.

Personally, I think the game ran fine during seasons 1-3. SBMM existed but it wasn’t as strict as it is now. Back then, weaker players won less frequently, average players won at their own consistency, and the skilled players won more frequently. But to appease the desires of weaker players (“I want to win more than I do now”), they increased the SBMM.

I’m all for creating safe spaces for new players— they need an environment where they can learn. But after a certain experience level you should be exposed to opponents of all skill levels (in non-ranked modes). Skill shouldn’t “mean less” simply because weaker players want to win as much as people who practice more than them. I definitely appreciate your previous input though.