The official Matchmaking blog post
Here’s the most awaited blog post about matchmaking https://www.ea.com/games/apex-legends/news/matchmaking-2023
Forum Discussion
@Airish85As cited in several of my matchmaking tests over the years, the algorithm treats different account’s differently.
Accounts with certain “data” are flagged. So accounts flagged as “high” don’t get the same forgiveness that other accounts do. I’ve lost 100 (literally 100) games with under 100 damage and early elimination and still had lobbies comprised of mostly diamond players— but this is on my main account where I have hit Masters and what not.
On my other accounts that I intentionally have poor performances on, it only takes between 6-11 games for a lobby to reduce in difficulty (after a win).
Accounts are 100% treated differently. Literally all of my data tests support this.
So your results suggest the game sees you as someone who doesn’t deserve the “lower bucket forgiveness”. And also, some of those unintentional top 5 placements absolutely told the algorithm you were “doing well”, so it’s likely they kept you in a top bucket.
But please don’t think that there isn’t any “skill-based” dimension to the matchmaking. There is. It’s not perfect by many standards but it’s still 1000% working to protect under-average players by keeping high MMR players playing each other the majority of the time (top bucket lobbies).
@Axs5626Sxa5001 Fine so there is SBMM but then there is so much exploiting going on because.
To give you perspective I have 1800hrs in Apex. Scout record 88, Smoke 3400 and Bow 3950. I usually stop playing ranked when I reach silver because I feel that just enough for me and I play it only if certain maps are in rotation for change of the pubs maps. I have all time KD of 0.5. First part of this season I had like 0.7 but after some time I am now at around 0.46. I think this decline is due to most players on my under-average level play for sometime in the beginning of every season hoping for improvements and then quit after getting stomped too many times. So I know my place and level.
I noticed that the MM tried at some point setting me up with one or two very high level players which is just too obvious and lazy. Being carried by some exploiting rando as the solution in matchmaking is just depressing.
Which bucket would you now place me in?
@Airish85
What bucket are you in? I’m not sure, man.
Rather than judging a lobby based on the presence of one opponent, I typically have to see divetrails and I have to look at boxes to see badges.
The top bucket lobbies are a majority of 4k, 20bomb, diamond to pred players. Playing with a friend will instantly increase the likelihood that you end up in this lobby. I think the only people who aren’t 4k 20bomb players in my lobbies are the (average skilled) premades that did well in their last game. It’s a terrible product of the algorithm.
I swear to you though, under-average to average pub lobbies 100% exist. I access these lobbies consistently on my intentionally weaker accounts. These lobbies often have absolutely no divetrails. And upon inspection of boxes, you very rarely see 4k 20bomb badges.
I urge you to not look at your KD as a “true measure” of success. The algorithm is also looking at your placement. And I have a hunch that accuracy might even play into MMR; I will be testing this in the future.
My point is, their algorithm is probably assessing you as higher than you assess yourself. I encourage you to make some more accounts and continue to run tests.Wacky MM. But despite the numbers it felt more even than it looks. The enemies weren't bad. Their team was just more balanced. Ours were not. For once I had an actual S-tier teammate who did stuff though. It is a weird way to run a sbmm system. Balance one team, then put people from extremely different "buckets" on the other team. 🤔
The current bucket system described in the blog post does not work & I'm not sure it is even used for LTM's.
I am getting so sick of being killed instantaneously over & over again. The Finals looks like it will be pretty decent and I really need something to break up the horrific matchmaking runs in Apex.
I used to enjoy Apex. Now I can barely get a kill. The new MM is worse.
" I encourage you to make some more accounts and continue to run tests."
This is what is probably the biggest issue why the MM isnt working. Smurfing is so casual and normal thing that you can just wing it like that. Like whatever just run some "tests" with a new account against some beginners or below average players because everyone else is already doing it. I already wrote that these streamer pros are killing the whole point of ranked system by making dozens of account so they can showcase how awesome they are against some lower level players. "Watch me drop 20 bomb in ranked lands in youtube tomorrow. It only took me a week because the bronze was so cluttered with other smurfs like me so I had to make 2 new accounts to get the youtube video made."
Getting constantly stomped and wanting to do good in a game that is supposed to be fun leads to the cheating problem being so common in non competitive gaming.
Exploit is real man. Even if you arent using it for personal gains (I only use it for shooting range trust me bro 😉), everyone else is.I have one account and even with that I have issue of remembering my login credentials. Couldnt imagine two 🧙
@Airish85
Well you and I are in agreement that its far too easy to create a new account. While I don’t think smurfing is as bad as outright cheating, it still sucks.
To be clear, literally all of my accounts are created with the intention of doing specific things to help me develop an understanding of the MM guidelines. This desire to understand the matchmaking wasn’t a result of me being an under-average and wanting to win more than average, it came from being a higher level player stuck consistently losing to the top top players. I guess I just felt like I was against the idea of “everyone should be losing and winning at similar rates, regardless of skill”— which is what tight matchmaking aims to achieve. And I am also against the idea of people being stuck at the bottom of a matchmaking bucket. A player who is “more skilled” than 92% of a playerbase shouldn’t lose more overall than people below them. This topic has always been of interest to me.
But you creating a new account may be a way to alleviate some of the issues you’re facing. The majority of people in your lobby are Masters and Preds right? The silly algorithm has likely flagged you for whatever reason and you’re in that “less-forgiveness” group of accounts that I spoke about in an earlier post. Make a new account is a horrible solution to the matchmaking system, but it may be a solution for you nonetheless.
