Smurfing and SBMM are beyond a joke
Adding the option to report smurfing is a step in the right direction but it’s not enough, and half the time it doesn’t let you anyway! I’m not sure if this is because people just set themselves to o...
Forum Discussion
@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.
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.
@Axs5626Sxa5001 Thanks for the input and especially giving it in a respectful way rather than the get gud scrub comments I was honestly expecting. I actually agree with you about keeping SBMM but toning it right down like the good old days when it was based more on connection strength with a good mix of players. This may seem like I’m contradicting my earlier point but I’d rather fight a random mix of players than what’s currently going on. Someone mentioned earlier increasing the lvl to access ranked to keep smurfs out the bottom tiers, this also seems a reasonable idea to me.
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