Competitive Backfill

I have been in an absurd amount of games where we have been steamrolled and people have left, and i understand a suspension, however that affects only the leaver, whilst the teammates are left without a player. In my opinion, if a player leaves a match (Comp especially), the next game they join is a backfill, I understand that for people who’s Wi-Fi bugged out and people with good reason to leave will not be able to re-join, but 9/10 times somebody leaves, they don’t re-join.
Pros

  • The game isn’t stuck as a 4v5
  • Leavers are also punished after the suspension
  • Its a deterrent for leavers, as their next game will also likely be a loss
    Cons
  • Leavers who left for good reason will be punished (like 1/10 leavers)

It is borderline unworkable in quick play… in ranked it would be catastrophic.

Yea, i know its chaotic, but from a teammates perspective. One of our players leaves, so id rather get a new teammate than none, and it would be unfair for it to be regular players, so why not players who left. so they can see their destruction. Its a punishment for the leaver, and can give the leavers team a chance at winning.

People cry enough about match making now. Being ranked they’d need to be in a specific MMR range to backfill… And that takes enough time before the match… To find someone it might take 5-10 minutes. At which point you might as well not bother.

Also, do you want to queue for ranked and be dumped into a lobby thats been 4v5 for a few minutes, with no chance to win.

You could offer some compensation, like no SR loss for the back fill… but there is nothing to compensate the time.

Best to just leave the game as it is, and if you want, leave as well when the little count down is done.

No, and that’s what makes it a punishment/deterrent if only used for leavers. Or alternatively have an option when selecting a game for “allow backfill” where you are placed into a match with a leaver, ofc compensate the backfiller with an xp boost / lower loss in MMR if lost

No one will pick that. No one wants it in ranked. It would kill games dead.

The only reason it is plausible in QP is that it doesn’t use any real match making to do it. Just pulls in who ever is queuing… Which is why the games become a mess.

To avoid this you’d need to be in a very specific, narrow, MMR range. Which would then mean it would take a long time to find someone. Then that person would be irritated to backfill in ranked, and want to play ranked less.

And so by leaving the game as a 4v5 its less of a mess than 5v5 with a backfilled player?

Yes. Still a mess, but less of one than backfilled. At least everyone still in the game is the right MMR.

And can freely leave at the end of the countdown as well if they so wish. So they waste less time.

Ok i can see what you mean now. What if instead of a player, the game placed a bot in with the same MMR as the player or the game rank. No players are upset with backfill, and it evens the game out more?

NOOOO that would be even worse.

Just leave it as it is for now. Either group up and try to beat the odd, or leave when the counter is over.

You sure about that… There is a reason they started punishing quick play leavers. One of them is people hate playing backfill, or having backfill players turn up and immediately leave, or turn up and do nothing. So they added punishments to encourage people just to stay in games.

  • Ban the leaver
  • Null the result of the match for all players
  • If the leaver is grouped - set those players with the Loss.

That’s my preferred angle on dealing with leavers, and keeping competitive ladder legit.

My wording could have been better,but what i meant was by adding a bot, you wont be backfilled, so nobody would be upset by it

I get that. People would be just as mad with a bot.

You seen the amount of posts on the US forums about people losing their minds when they think people on their team are bots.

Ok, so if my team is say, 90% winning, and an enemy player leaves, everything that I did is in vain? And nulling the enemy? If the game was already won, why nullify. Leave the victors ranking the same. and the losers get a reduced MMR loss. If the leavers team wins keep the MMR system the same

Also punishing the leavers group? I see that as unfair as they shouldnt be affected by their teammates actions. For example last week I paired with a random player. Joined a comp in survasa i think. After P1 closed he left. And it wasnt my fault

(also north korea does that so its prolly something NOT to do)

Yeah this does seem like an odd suggestion. Given that collective punishment is a rather unpopular idea…

So what is fair anyway? Because a leavers team is overlooked in the current system, and I see no truly fair way then

I’m not sure there is a “fair” way.

The suggestions above of collective punishment are laughable at best (there’s a reason it’s a war crime)

Filling with a bot is a big no no

Backfill would be highly problematic.

I think the only solution is to just let the match play out, winners get the win, losers get the loss (obviously), but any adjustments are removed.

You also have the option to leave too for the same loss if the leaver is on your team.

The RIGHT thing to do would be community action. If there is a leaver, stop, talk, force a draw. Obviously if the leaver is right at the end, probably no. But use common sense as to when it’s appropriate.

Sadly, that seems unlikely, so what we have is probably the least worst outcome.

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Unfair matchmaking. The game can still be turned around by the other team if it was still 5v5.

This is to stop groups using a single account as a Leaver, to avoid losses on their preferred accounts… say, using an account as a form of a loss avoidance.

Which is something that should be considered. But collective punishment isn’t the answer.

I’m not providing answers. I’m providing proposals, suggestions, ideas.