Posted 21 September 2014 - 04:14 PM

Wraeththix Constantine, on 21 September 2014 - 03:32 PM, said:

The MM works OK, other than it's a bit too eager to loosen restrictions to speed up matches so you can get to being rolled faster by 12-mans.



The larger issue has to do with how ELO is computed and/or used. I'm not sure what the calcuation does, but it appears to be based loosely off KDR and W/L and damage done. Which means if you're a newer player, not only do you have to deal with the "Tax" which is everyone else using strikes and UAVS every single match and having elited out mechs while you have some crap mech with no modules, in addition if you accidentally do well for a few games, you spend the next 2 weeks in hell.



Time played and total XP across all mechs/GXP should be the largest determinate. Newer players should be matched with newer players, and veterans should be matched with veterans.



As it is, right now I get stuck in matches with people playing for 2 years. Despite my founder's tag, I've only actually been playing for two weeks. So I basically get the "priviledge" of losing over and over and over and over again because a.) I'm not that good and b.) because the game is CONVINCED I'm awesome because the ELO calculations somehow place me on par with people from Lords, 226, ACES, etc.



And if losing repeatedly wasn't "fun" enough, I get the extra bonus of getting insulting comments directed at me from all the veterans. And honestly, they're probably justified in their anger (if not maybe the verbage), because why am I even in their games?



For a game that has on-boarding issues, let me suggest that getting yelled at every single match and losing repeatedly does NOT really entice someone to want to spend money on your game.



"I'm not sure what the calcuation does, but it appears to be based loosely off KDR and W/L and damage done."There are a number of posts all over the forums explaining how Elo is calculated in MWO ... personally, I think the devs should have a FAQ for these sorts of things ... though there are some player resources with lots of useful information.One example: http://mwomercs.com/...ost__p__3057938 In brief, the matchmaker takes the Elo scores of all players on both sides. The side with the higher Elo score is expected to win and the difference in Elo scores between the teams defines the probability of that happening.The match is then played.If the team that was expected to win actually wins then NO Elo scores are changed.If the other team wins then ... the Elo of players on the losing team drops up to 20 points ... the actual number depends on how much they were expected to win by ... similarly the Elo of players on the winning team goes up in a similar fashion. The bigger the upset, the bigger the change in Elo.So Elo scores do not depend at all on W/L ratio, KDR or damage done.However, new players are seeded somewhere near the center of the range with a handicap that drops off the more games they play. This is part of why new players end up in groups with experienced players ... the bulk of players end up near the middle of the distribution ... that is the whole point ... but most of these players have been around for a lot of matches and even with the handicap new players will often find themselves in matches with folks from the center of the distribution.The other reason that new players end up in groups with experienced players is that over time, in order to form a match, the matchmaker widens the Elo band if it can't find enough folks for the match it is making. This means that you can occasionally pull folks from the middle into high Elo range matches ... AND ... some of those middle of range folks could have played 50 or less matches (relative new player) ... since by that point their handicap will likely be gone but it can take quite a few games for Elo to settle down to an appropriate value. In addition, you have a different Elo for each weight class ... so when you start a new weight class as a newer player you will likely start near the middle of the range without a handicap until you get your Elo established in that weight class.Finally, one more factor, the Elo calculation doesn't take into account the loadouts or experience you have in a chassis. It doesn't know that you are less effective when the skills haven't been unlocked ... particularly cooling, speed tweak and doubled basics. So most folks when they start leveling a new chassis will have their Elo drop until they at least Elite it ... and then start going back to where it should be after it is mastered.There is a lot of contention about the use of a variant of Elo in a multi-player team game ... something like Microsoft's TrueSkill system might be better but it would cost money to license. However, over a large enough sample set Elo should converge to give a reasonable estimate of your average contribution to winning a match as part of a larger team since all of the outlier events that folks complain about should average out in the long run.P.S. It is never right for folks to yell at a person for their perceived performance in a game. I have had some matches where my performance was pitiful and it had nothing to do with how many games I have played, experience, or Elo ... it usually has to do with bad luck or a bad decision ... which everyone can make no matter how high or low their Elo. The folks who blame others for the failure of the team ... obviously don't know what it means to play on a team ... those were probably also games with very little useful team chat.

Edited by Mawai, 21 September 2014 - 05:23 PM.