Matchmaking algorithms need urgent updates

Bullying of the Storm or why Blizzard matchmaking needs some urgent updates

A short essay with some examples that already got deleted on Facebook since Blizzard only seems to want positive feedback…

This is what happened on 19.11.2021 on EU. Blizzard considers this a “fair” match:

9.542 player lvl
vs
3.915 player lvl

average high master
vs
average plats

Team 1 (5 stack)

#1 Grandmaster
#33 Grandmaster
5840p Master
3192p Master
Diamond 5

Total 9.542 Player Level
Average high masters

Team 2 (2 stack + 3 randoms)

Diamond 4
Nonplaced (Diamond 5 history)
Platinum 1
Gold 3
Silver 3

Total 3.915 Player level
Average plats

Divisions are there for a reason
So the worst player of Team 1 is equal to the top player of Team 2 but they are a 5 stack. A skill gap that huge is with a close to 100% chance an auto-loose which is no fun. A five stack is already though to deal with but a five stack with 3 divisions difference is just impossible. Go check your internal data, hotslogs, heroesprofile party statistics etc. for evidence.

Was it the rare exception?
No! Close to every day I have been running into full 5 stacks on a regular basis in EU and NA. I ran into serious teams like GG or some ex-pros. The results are always the same: if they are solo or duo (like Fan and Jun in NA) they are beatable. Every time they were five (like Breeze with AlexTheProG and other players in EU) it was a chrushing defeat with nowhere near close to fun.
I took screenshots of the matches to prove that it is a common issue and not a rare exception!

Why is this a problem?
Compare it to sports: It would be called bullying if you put a mid-weight boxer into the ring versus Mike Tyson…
Modern media critizes videos games a lot and this is considered cyber bullying by several therapist’s associations. It kills the fun in the game. And it makes some players do cheesy sh’t themselves in order to be more competitive and “protect” themselves against this sh’t. It sets a downward spiral to ruins the gaming xp which costs Blizzard money. And in the end this is what it is all about. I know players are just an asset. But if you screw your assets away there will no one be whales to farm for you anymore…
Morally degenerated players that gang up to kick weaker players should be stopped. There is no reason to support this kind of toxic online bullying.

What are possible solutions?
Bring back solo/duo que. I rather wait 20 minutes for a game than getting crushed with no chance.
Or let groups like these wait for an extraordinary long times with a warning notification if there is no appropiate enemies. Maybe they won’t get a match. Then they can dispatch or do scrums.
If the player base is too low then put in warning for the underdog team and let it choose whether it would take the fight.

Maybe you can come up with some even smarter solutions. You did in the past. I still believe in you.

Who is complaining?
To whomever it concerns: I am an international business consultant (specialised in gaming and insurance companies) travelling the world I have played and climbed masters in all regions. I really care about this game and it is a shame to see it got down when fixes would be so easy.

1 Like

This happens not only in Blizzard games, the same is in games from Valve and others, in Dota 2 there are exactly the same mechanisms, they also take into account the pool of players and speculate on the incompatibility of the pool of players and the levels of players. This problem needs a class action lawsuit. Since this can be called a fraud on the part of the gaming evil corporations. Unfortunately, there are not so many smart people who see the obvious.