GAC matchmaking...again

"Fluffy" does not impact you under current matchmaking. Matchmaking is primarily based on the total GP of your top X many units.

Which units you choose to invest in also does not impact current matchmaking. The difference the matchmaking algorithm sees between my G12 zBastila Fallen and my G13 zRose Tico is about 150 GP. That is because utilization is on you. Not on the algorithm. It assumes you have a plan to use everything you've invested in to the point where they're one of your top units.

They never said the goal was to give every matchup a 50% chance. They have explicitly said that is not the goal; that some matchups will have you at an advantage, others at a disadvantage. What they have talked about is keeping matchups reasonably competitive and reducing the blowout rate. But your performance remains mainly in your own hands.

A large part of performance in Grand Arena is knowing the game and the relevant threats, preparing defensive teams who are difficult to counter and offensive teams that can counter the relevant threats. If your opponent has developed a team that you have not developed a counter for, they have earned their win fairly.

Also, at this point, Darth Revan and Darth Malak are quite free to play accessible. I haven't dropped dosh, but I have both of them. It ain't a F2P/P2P divide. And JKR has been around for so long that leaving yours so low is entirely on you.

Thanks for your response. I appreciate your point. I will keep plugging away until I get these meta toons. I only just got JKR and have been struggling to gear him and remain helpful in DSGTB. That is on me. My theorycrafting is adequate, I am still able to hold my own, just seems unbalanced. (Much harder without the meta toons, but still doable.)

A: Tophat - We've gotten a lot of questions around this idea of "making matchmaking better". What we can offer is that we'll be opening up the investigation again soon., but our current set of analyses indicate that the current matchmaking has led to more "pitched" battles (meaning more players are experiencing a 50% win rate) - which for us is the definition of what we're hoping for. We believe that combat experiences that result in regular victories and losses is more exciting, more engaging, and, hopefully, less one sided. We're going to be running another analysis after the current change to matchmaking (where players can't be surfaced matches that are outside their division) has had its first run. We'll also do some analysis around the impact relics have on matchmaking. A number of players have reached out to us about the "mis-weighting" of zetas relative to G13, which we'll review as well. We've said it a number of places, but we are taking match making very seriously and continue to re-evaluate. We'll let you know if there are any changes we think need to occur.

Congratulations on getting the characters already that I have grinded for everyday. I have a lot of frustration about this already, but I am glad to see it has worked for you. Since I have not been able to collect as many crystals in squad arena, (Lucky to make to close to rank 150, often 200+), I am doing the very best that rng allows. Again, on me not you. Matchmaking is on CG. That is my issue.

Again, thanks for the response. I will work harder on catching up.

It seems that matchmaking is not the problem here. Roster development is. If you are 500k GP ahead of your opponents, but don't have the META characters, they do, you can't really blame it on matchmaking.

Ironically, there may be players complaining here on these forums, that they get matched with you, since you have higher GP. All while having a fluffy roster is not the disadvantage i used to be in GA, and it's also not an advantage in GAC unless you have the META characters.

"TheGraySatyr;c-1958978" wrote:
Congratulations on getting the characters already that I have grinded for everyday. I have a lot of frustration about this already, but I am glad to see it has worked for you. Since I have not been able to collect as many crystals in squad arena, (Lucky to make to close to rank 150, often 200+), I am doing the very best that rng allows. Again, on me not you. Matchmaking is on CG. That is my issue.

No, you did not fail to get Darth Revan because you did not spend money. And you did not fail to get Darth Revan because you had bad luck. And you did not fail to get Darth Revan because you don't earn enough crystals.

You failed because you managed your resources poorly.

Here is what it took to get Darth Revan second pass, worst case: One node refresh per day on Carth, Juhani, and maybe Bastila. One ship energy refresh every third day. That's 108 crystals per day. Daily activities are 65. GW is 25. Daily box averages out to around 20 crystals a day. That's enough crystals per day that you could have gotten Darth Revan second pass before considering any crystals from squad arena, fleet arena, the calendar, Territory Battles, the bounty board, or make goods.

Here is what it took to be ready for Darth Revan third pass. Starting on time. Zero crystals.

You say you have been spending energy on Carth for a "long long time," and you are still sub six stars. From the sound of things, you've been here at least long enough that you were part of the Carth marquee at the end of last year. That means to go from the 50 shards the marquee gave you to 6 stars is 180 shards. At 5 attempts per day and a 1/3 drop rate, that's 108 days of farming. While yes, luck can play a factor and there's some swing to that number, that's a swing of a couple of weeks. Not a quarter of a year.

So this leaves us with several possibilities.

POSSIBILITY 1: The most likely possibility. You have been farming Carth at five attempts per day since early June or late May with no node refreshes. For a character who went farmable in February. For an event that was announced in March. That means you were sitting on the farm for at least two months, maybe as much as four. Two months' farming at 5 attempts a day is 100 shards. Some of that window from Carth's release to when you started farming was at 8 attempts/day, and there was a double drop event in there, so starting on time would have yielded well over 100 shards, probably enough to be done by now.

POSSIBILITY 2: You are using node refreshes, and started significantly later than June, meaning you've been putting off the farm significantly longer.

POSSIBILITY 3: You have been "farming" Carth for significantly longer, but you haven't stuck to the farm, and have either done less than five attempts per day on a consistent basis or have stopped outright for other priorities for extended periods of time.

POSSIBILITY 4: You have had astronomically bad luck, to a highly implausible degree. This is the least likely possibility.

You do not have Revan right now because of your own decision making.

Thank you both for pointing out what I have already stated as a mistake on my part. Yes, roster development is an issue, a disadvantage in my case, otherwise I would have no point in this discussion. Yes, I only afforded one round of shard farming on Carth most days. Yes bad luck played a big part. Double drops of zero is still zero, and the times I did refresh I still averaged 1 a day. I admit that this mistake has cost me a great deal in potential shards earned, and in resource/ time spent I own that mistake.

Now that I have clearly agreed with you, can we get to the question at hand. Am I the only person that has high gp, but not the meta characters? Am I rare like the unicorn? Of course people with lower gp's will find it potentially unfair to have to face someone so far above them at first glance. My non-meta teams do not = meta teams though. What am I supposed to do when matched with teams I cannot beat? Lose right? So as I stated in the original question, why is matchmaking putting me against players that outmatch me even at 200K+ gp less than me. I can not take my gp away, other than pulling mods for a little drop. The gear and stars are already played. I have done this for the wrong reasons clearly. Am I the only person with toons that should not have been developed?

I finally beat my first JKR team this last GAC. (Before you point out how sad I am , or how easy it was for you, I followed all of the popular theory crafting I can find on YT, discord, and talked to my guild.) It took me six teams to wear through it. I lost on efficiency, which yes my roster, squad development, and rng earned my opponent the win. (I graciously accept the loss.)

My concern is that I am matched in such a way that I do not have a chance of winning. Is this balanced? I am working diligently on counters so that I have some chance, but as stated my resources only get me so far. I still farm for carth shards daily, but one a day takes a while to get to the next star level. I will be ready the next time DR comes around, hopefully, but now I will be behind the next meta, and the snowball grows.

I can not change the actions I have made, nor can I speed up my roster development. GAC is happening now and all I want is a fair match. I am not asking for free toons, or hoping to get an advantage over anyone. I don't mind losing a fair match. Please forgive me for being forward, but how is it constructive to point out my mistakes and tell me I deserve to lose. Is there no one else in all of GAC that is in this same predicament? Am I the last person in all of SWGOH that failed to get DR and Malak? If I am the only person dumb enough to play this way, then I accept defeat.

I mean no offense. If making a list of all that I did wrong so as to invalidate my concern makes you feel better, then please let it all out. This all still fails to answer my question. Although I did not ask for someone else to tell me how I have earned the frustration I experience daily in a game I have loved for years, you are free to say your piece. What would you do if you were in my place? Not make these mistakes surely, but what if you had? Would you just lose? Would you not question it?

Thanks for your time and answers, I much rather this form of discussion than my concerns falling on deaf ears.

I’m not really sure what you are looking for here. The devs have said in Q&A that they will continue to tweak matchmaking, but that they don’t really want to take specific meta characters into account in doing so.

I’m sure you are not the only person who doesn’t have them, but you are likely in a division and at a matchmaking GP where your top characters are powerful enough that most people in your bracket do have those characters, especially now that they have all come around more than once.

What you can do is farm for the meta characters.

I did that before it became a problem for me, but if I didn't have them now, that's what I'd do.

That is true Liath. I just want a fair match. I will do the best that I can. I have read the Q&A and somehow missed them stating anywhere that the meta was not taken into account for matchmaking. It is the top 80 characters correct?
Thanks for your time.

Change the way you play, man. There's no question that GAC rewards a certain playstyle, and if you still haven't finished Carth, it isn't the one you've adopted by a long shot.

Chasing meta teams isn't that fun, believe me, I get it. But if you don't, you will lose GA more often than you win. There's never going to be a "fair match" because there's never going to be a roster that looks exactly like yours. So you need to adapt.

"TheGraySatyr;c-1959356" wrote:
That is true Liath. I just want a fair match. I will do the best that I can. I have read the Q&A and somehow missed them stating anywhere that the meta was not taken into account for matchmaking. It is the top 80 characters correct?
Thanks for your time.

This is from the prior Q&A (August):



Currently the primary consideration in matchmaking, within your division and league, is the GP of your top X characters, where X is 10 times the number of defense teams you set. So for divisions 1 and 2 that is 80, yes. Supposedly there are other factors, but we have not been told what they are and best as anybody can tell they appear to be minor.

Everyone has a different definition of what is fair, so when you say you “just” want a fair match, you are applying your personal opinion about what makes a match fair, which may or may not line up with what I, or most players, or the devs consider to be fair.