GW Matchmaking and "Power" Clarity
After hearing many theories, I am utterly confused about how Galactic Wars determines the strength of an opposing team for any given node. And with recent adjustments to "Power" calculations, my confusion is only greater.
There are five places in the game that "Power" appears:
1. Each character has a "Power" at the top of the individual character screen;
2. Characters can be sorted by "Power" in the list of all characters;
3. In a guild roster, players can be sorted by "Arena Power";
4. In the Squad Arena opponent selection screen, "Power" is shown in the top-left corner;
5. When assembling a team in a character selection screen, "Squad Power" is shown in the top-left corner.
Additionally, there is a sixth "Power" that players sometimes talk about, though it isn't shown in the game:
6. "Top-Five Power".
After some experimentation, I have concluded that:
Power (1) is calculated from all of a character's individual attributes: rarity/stars, level, gear, abilities, and mods. It can only go up, except after removing a mod or replacing a mod with a less powerful one.
Selecting Power (2) as a sort option in the list of all characters just sorts all characters by Power (1).
Arena Power (3) in the guild roster is... ?
Power (4) in the Squad Arena opponent selection screen seems to be the Squad Power (5) of whatever team I used last in Squad Arena, regardless of whether I won or lost. It can go up or down or stay the same from battle to battle.
Squad Power (5) is the running total of Powers (1) for the five characters I am selecting before a battle. It goes up or down as I select or deselect characters, and is "locked in" when I tap "Battle." When a character is borrowed, it includes the Power (1) of the sixth, borrowed character.
Top-Five Power (6) is the combined total of Powers (1) for my five most powerful characters at any given moment. It can only go up, as the Powers (1) of my top five characters go up.
I have heard some people say that the Galactic Wars matchmaking algorithm selects opponents based on a percentage of Top-Five Power (6). I have also heard that GW selects based on Squad Power (5). Others say that GW selects based on Arena Power (3). And still others say that GW matchmaking isn't based on "Power" at all, but rather on Arena Rank.
Speaking of Arena Power (3) in the guild roster, what is it? Earlier today, my Arena Power (3) was 41,303. At that moment, my Top-Five Power (6) was 42,107. And my Power (4) was 39,345 because that was the Squad Power (5) of the team I had used in my last Squad Arena battle (a victory, as it would happen). As an experiment, I ran my Top-Five team in a Squad Arena battle, resulting in a victory. The effect was that my Arena Rank increased and my Power (4) changed to match my Top-Five Power (6). But my Arena Power (3) in the guild roster remained unchanged: it is still 41,303, about an hour after the battle. Will it change to match my new Power (4) and Top-Five Power (6) at some point? If not, what does it reflect?
Back in February, developer im-not-really-a-jedi wrote on Reddit that "we use SQUAD POWER to calculate your opponent and NOT ARENA RANK" He added, "We use your LAST PVP SQUAD WIN so long as that power is greater than the last time you won. So we DO take it from Arena, just not RANK, just Squad Power."
That is a bit ambiguous. If I win with a 42k team, then win with a 40k team, and then win with a 41k team, the Squad Power of my "last PvP squad win" is 41k. And 41k is more than 40k, which was the Squad Power of the immediately previous time I won. So would GW matchmaking use 41k to select my opponents? Or did he really mean, "so long as that power is greater than the greatest power you've ever won with, even if it was six months ago"? That would be a lifetime look-back, which seems to make sense.
Does anybody know what "Arena Power" in the guild roster means? And does anybody know which "Power" is used by the GW matchmaking algorithm?
There are five places in the game that "Power" appears:
1. Each character has a "Power" at the top of the individual character screen;
2. Characters can be sorted by "Power" in the list of all characters;
3. In a guild roster, players can be sorted by "Arena Power";
4. In the Squad Arena opponent selection screen, "Power" is shown in the top-left corner;
5. When assembling a team in a character selection screen, "Squad Power" is shown in the top-left corner.
Additionally, there is a sixth "Power" that players sometimes talk about, though it isn't shown in the game:
6. "Top-Five Power".
After some experimentation, I have concluded that:
Power (1) is calculated from all of a character's individual attributes: rarity/stars, level, gear, abilities, and mods. It can only go up, except after removing a mod or replacing a mod with a less powerful one.
Selecting Power (2) as a sort option in the list of all characters just sorts all characters by Power (1).
Arena Power (3) in the guild roster is... ?
Power (4) in the Squad Arena opponent selection screen seems to be the Squad Power (5) of whatever team I used last in Squad Arena, regardless of whether I won or lost. It can go up or down or stay the same from battle to battle.
Squad Power (5) is the running total of Powers (1) for the five characters I am selecting before a battle. It goes up or down as I select or deselect characters, and is "locked in" when I tap "Battle." When a character is borrowed, it includes the Power (1) of the sixth, borrowed character.
Top-Five Power (6) is the combined total of Powers (1) for my five most powerful characters at any given moment. It can only go up, as the Powers (1) of my top five characters go up.
I have heard some people say that the Galactic Wars matchmaking algorithm selects opponents based on a percentage of Top-Five Power (6). I have also heard that GW selects based on Squad Power (5). Others say that GW selects based on Arena Power (3). And still others say that GW matchmaking isn't based on "Power" at all, but rather on Arena Rank.
Speaking of Arena Power (3) in the guild roster, what is it? Earlier today, my Arena Power (3) was 41,303. At that moment, my Top-Five Power (6) was 42,107. And my Power (4) was 39,345 because that was the Squad Power (5) of the team I had used in my last Squad Arena battle (a victory, as it would happen). As an experiment, I ran my Top-Five team in a Squad Arena battle, resulting in a victory. The effect was that my Arena Rank increased and my Power (4) changed to match my Top-Five Power (6). But my Arena Power (3) in the guild roster remained unchanged: it is still 41,303, about an hour after the battle. Will it change to match my new Power (4) and Top-Five Power (6) at some point? If not, what does it reflect?
Back in February, developer im-not-really-a-jedi wrote on Reddit that "we use SQUAD POWER to calculate your opponent and NOT ARENA RANK" He added, "We use your LAST PVP SQUAD WIN so long as that power is greater than the last time you won. So we DO take it from Arena, just not RANK, just Squad Power."
That is a bit ambiguous. If I win with a 42k team, then win with a 40k team, and then win with a 41k team, the Squad Power of my "last PvP squad win" is 41k. And 41k is more than 40k, which was the Squad Power of the immediately previous time I won. So would GW matchmaking use 41k to select my opponents? Or did he really mean, "so long as that power is greater than the greatest power you've ever won with, even if it was six months ago"? That would be a lifetime look-back, which seems to make sense.
Does anybody know what "Arena Power" in the guild roster means? And does anybody know which "Power" is used by the GW matchmaking algorithm?
