No, I just think that there is no merit to any argument that goes something like “This implementation of True Skill 2 is good because it improves player retention”
If I develop a drug that, in clinical trials, cures a disease, but then that drug does not in fact cure any disease when it is released into the general public, the drug does not actually accomplish its intended purpose, rather or not other external factors are the primary reason for the failure.
Again, the average player you play will wind up being smack dab middle 50%. You will get to play against bronze and silver players as much as against diamond and onyx players. You are attempting to argue against particular potential experiences that a person might have and might react badly to, but you aren’t addressing the fundamental question in this debate - Why is variation in experience bad in unranked game modes?
Ranked game modes have historically (pre- Halo 5) served to be the “control” for skill based matchmaking. If you are bronze 1 and want competitive 50/50 matches, something approximating that is available to you.
I think it’s a pretty good case (one of several) for abandoning the current one-global-MMR-to-rule-them-all-in-every-list SBMM.
It’s obvious you think it’s fun, but it also appears that you cannot comprehend why others do not think it’s fun.
There is a fundamental philosophical assumption behind your argument - every player, regardless of their skill, should have basically the same kind of experience in the game, at all times. I don’t agree that is fun at all.
I believe this assumption fundamentally removes a significant piece of the incentive to get better at the game, because the game actively tries to not reward players at the higher end of the skill curve in terms of their gameplay experience. I’d argue that in some cases it actively punishes players for being good, such as when it decides to put three absolutely awful teammates on your team to make the game’s final score “close”.
I do understand that there are times when 50% winrates and nail biter games are fun. That’s always been the goal of ranked playlists. I do not want to see that changed in any meaningful way (although I do think it would be much better if it were to match based on CSR instead of a hidden global MMR affected by everything).
However, I believe that providing a much greater variety of experience in the social, unranked playlists - one that better approximates a “random” sampling of the population - provides something of great value and fun for the game, that has been sorely missing since Halo 4.
I also don’t agree with the assumption that it’s bad for a lesser player to get stomped by a better player. If theater mode worked correctly, that provides a really great learning opportunity for the worse player that they would never have if the matchmaking is as it currently is. For example, on launch day, I got to play against Mikwen one game in the ranked list, because there hadn’t been enough time for him to separate out from the rest of the pack climbing from Diamond to Onyx. It was absolutely fascinating, even though I got absolutely dumped on for the entire game and felt like I was a helpless Bronze. But even with the broken state of theater, I got to go back and watch what he did, and I got to learn and improve as a result.
I think that the current system only benefits players who cannot emotionally handle getting dumped on by a much superior player, and who would consider quitting the game if that ever happened.
