Grand Arena

"Ragnarok_COTF;c-2352744" wrote:
I don't see how the old system fostered competition. You weren't even competing against your opponent. You were seeing if you could eke out more banners vs your opponent than some other guy vs his. Your whole season could get derailed by 1 misclick or 1 opponent setting an eff you defense.

We can quibble endlessly about the details but basically the old system was set up to match players with comparable resources, theoretically giving them a chance of victory every match.

The new matchmaking system ignores GP entirely, matching players on their win/loss ratio. This inevitably leads to matches where the rosters are wildly mismatched and one player's only hope of victory is that their opponent is incompetent or a no show. It is designed such that everyone ends up with roughly a 50% win rate in the long term.

"Ragnarok_COTF;c-2352744" wrote:
The crystal change, to me, is just a nice QOL that got me away from my hyperactive arena shard duties. Frankly, I might have quit without this change. IRL was really hectic for me in Feb/Mar, and I could not have kept up with my 7-10 SA battles every evening.

I see pro's and.con's to the change but that isn't my point here.

My point is that many people seem be expecting to see competitive matches but that isn't what the new matchmaking system is set up to do.

The new system is set up to regulate crystal distribution and income by actively managing league / division populations and pushing everyone towards a 50% win rate.