So in my most recent march of FFA, I was set against two champion rank players. Not really a problem until you roll down to my gamertag and see that I’m plat 5. This is not an isolated incident either. This has happened to me, and I’m sure many other players, in the past. So my question is why are there ranks? The whole point of this ranking system, or at least the way it was intended to be, was for players to gradually rank up by pitting themselves against players who are maybe 1 to 3 ranks above you. NOT two whole divisions. Why would i bother grinding ranked when, at anytime, a champion ranked player can just enter a match with people who are clearly below his/her skill level. No one had benefited from that match. Not me. Not the champion. And least of all, the ranking system as a whole.
Probably has to do with the low population of FFA. FFA has a loyal, but exceedingly small, following.
The ranking system has been like that for a while. Even when the game first came out it would match you against higher skilled players and even in slayer pair you with lower skilled individuals. Now that the population has taken a plunge it is more frequent.
FFA has been one of the least poplular playlists for a long time so matches like that wouldn’t be unusual.
I don’t want to make this into a “well if you think that’s bad” kinda thing, but:
A few weeks ago, after the last ranking so-called overhaul, I had a run of about thirty matches in Elimination where I saw rank spreads in three games that stretched from BRONZE TO CHAMPION. There were more bronze to onyx, more still bronze to diamond, and I’m very sorry to say that bronze to platinum was pretty much the average match. If there’s a lesson to be learned here it’s that either a) the population is desperately low or b) the ranking system doesn’t work the way we think it does. Or c) a whole lot of both? You tell me.
> 2535468312176380;1:
> So in my most recent march of FFA, I was set against two champion rank players. Not really a problem until you roll down to my gamertag and see that I’m plat 5. This is not an isolated incident either. This has happened to me, and I’m sure many other players, in the past. So my question is why are there ranks? The whole point of this ranking system, or at least the way it was intended to be, was for players to gradually rank up by pitting themselves against players who are maybe 1 to 3 ranks above you. NOT two whole divisions. Why would i bother grinding ranked when, at anytime, a champion ranked player can just enter a match with people who are clearly below his/her skill level. No one had benefited from that match. Not me. Not the champion. And least of all, the ranking system as a whole.
As others have said, the FFA playlist is the least populated playlist in the game so it suffers the most from issues related to population health. A primary result of low population is that players that exist at the ends of the skill spectrum can find matches after a lengthy search, but it’ll likely be against noticeably lower skilled opponents. The lower skilled opponents aren’t going to like facing players who are well beyond their skill levels, but it’s the only way to provide those other players with an ability to play FFA matchmaking. The good news is that the TrueSkill2 system is pretty aware of the match expectations/odds, so your MMR won’t get hit too hard by a loss to players the system expected to beat you handily. With that said, be aware that you’re visual CSR is not the exact same thing as your MMR, but it is suppose to follow it around under some pretty cut and dry rules:
- If your Post-Match MMR is greater than your Pre-Match CSR: you will gain +15 CSR for a WIN or you’ll lose -1 CSR for a LOSS - If your Post-Match MMR is less than your Pre-Match CSR: you will gain +1 CSR for a WIN or you’ll lose -15 CSR for a LOSS
> 2533274873843883;5:
> I don’t want to make this into a “well if you think that’s bad” kinda thing, but:
>
> A few weeks ago, after the last ranking so-called overhaul, I had a run of about thirty matches in Elimination where I saw rank spreads in three games that stretched from BRONZE TO CHAMPION. There were more bronze to onyx, more still bronze to diamond, and I’m very sorry to say that bronze to platinum was pretty much the average match. If there’s a lesson to be learned here it’s that either a) the population is desperately low or b) the ranking system doesn’t work the way we think it does. Or c) a whole lot of both? You tell me.
Elimination is in fact the second least healthy playlist population wise so that plays a significant role is what you’ve been experiencing. Since Elimination is a team-based playlist it will attempt to expand the team member skill variance prior to expanding the team-to-team skill differential. This means that higher skilled players can potentially be paired with much lower skilled players (potentially Bronze - Champ) in order to pit two teams against each other of a similar total, or average, skill. As I mentioned, the system also expands that team-to-team skill differential to create matches within a reasonable search time. It’ll start at 50:50 odds, but grow out to 60:40, and perhaps even 70:30, odds with a skill cap (use to be at 1700 MMR - it might still be) that essentially tricks the system into allowing odds even beyond the 70:30 limit since anyone with an MMR beyond that skill cap is essentially treated by the system as if they were at the skill cap. This is all done so that matches can be found within a reasonable search time or at all.
> 2727626560040591;4:
> FFA has been one of the least poplular playlists for a long time so matches like that wouldn’t be unusual.
Which is really too bad because I really enjoy FFA