The current state of WoW's PvP Matchmaking System, by TheScepticOne

Community General Discussion
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Hello guys,

I don’t know and don’t what to be short, so DISCLAIMER: big wall of text incoming, grab your ladders/eye glasses/wine/whatever if you want to climb it. Else, thank you for the short visit, cya next time. GL HF

As I said back in december, Shadowlands it is a great expansion for me, and I’ve praised the devs working on it. Simple expansion, simple legendary, with no infinite power grinding systems is the way I like my WoW, gives me TBC/WotLK/MoP vibes.

But the more I try playing the GAME, cause if no infinite power systems in place, I actually have time to play the way I want and need to play it, the more I struggle to enjoy it, and my biggest problem with WoW is related to a system that has been in the game for a while and it is the worst of all systems I’ve ever seen in games. And that is the overall PvP MATCHMAKING system.

The MatchMaking system appears to be working, just appears, ~only for the first month of every expansion, but not because it is a great/intelligent build system, or becasue it was build to work smart, NO. It just works for ~one month of every expansion, becasue most people are quite equally geared and the content is mostly gated.

The rest of the time is just a useless, worthless, 50IQ system that even my 5yo child could build beter with just some simple logical filters preset in it.

Let me put down my experience with it:

So in the first month I’ve leveled and geared my Feral to ~200 without any problems, without any struggles, without having any bad feelings during battlegrounds.
But in january, after I’ve started playing some alts, I’ve actually realised, again, how basic and obsolete the PvP MM system is.

My best experience in battlegrounds has been while actually leveling the caracter, because all have templates of x9 lvl and most players there have BiS gear (either hierlooms or dungeon/quest drops), so we all are playing on an even ground and the experience is the best you can get out of this game. The same goes for leveling in Skirmish arena aswel.

The moment you finished leveling your alt, and want to gear it naturally, with the PvP gear that the game has to offer, hell breaks loose. The MM system is so broken, so basic, so obsolete and so brainless, that it just blindly “matches”, lotto-style, players without not even 1 tought put in the proccess. 32/35/40k HP players with fresh 20k players can only result in disaster, frustration, tears :). Even if I WIN a bg, it doesn’t make me feel better, or more reliable, still feeling like an unwanted weight for the allready geared guys.
I need to say that I never play BGs while beeing high geared for the same reason, whats the point in literally one shotting fresh 60s ? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

So, why can’t we have an intelligent, smart, reliable, friendly matchmaking system that can actually make the level 60 Random Battlegrounds or Arena Skirmishes feel actually enjoyable for fresh dingged players ? Either bring back PvP Templates or insert some ilvl intervals from which the MM system can actually add players.
Maybe 140-170, 170-200, 200-230, dunno, just a quick tought.

Or, #BLIZZARD, if you don’t want to be responsible for a good matchmaking system, because you are affraid that alot of people would riot becasue of longer queue times, then at least ADD US LOADS of filters so we can decide what and how we want to play the game.

Some examples:

  • add the possibility to have healers in a BG, or not having them, cause if my team has a 20k-25k healer, and the other team has a 32k-37k healer, then the game could end from the start just like a slots/casino gamble;
  • maybe I want an even ground, like the ilvl in my BG to be with a maximul 10-15ilvl between players, but I don’t want to have a healer, or wait for a healer so I can lower the queue time just by checking the “no healers/tanks” box;

Blizzard doesn’t want to add #SOLOQUEUE for the time sinking minigame called LFG. saying that the solo queue is obtainable in Random Battlegrounds and Arena Skirmishes, but did any Blizzard WoW Dev actually played those modes with a fresh dingged character ?

How am I supposed to gear an alt, with PvP gear, I the mode that should let me do that is full of crazy, elitist players that are bad at rated arenas but are so overgeared that they think they are good because they are killing low geared 60s in Ramdom Battlegrounds or Arena Skirmishes ?

Again, it is so bad that the most equilibrated, fun, enjoyable part of the PvP soloqueue Matchmaking system is found in the leveling bracket and not at end game character level. It should be equilibrated, fun, and enjoyable at all times.

And ofc, if any #BLIZZARD WoW DEV read untill here, give us the #SOLOQUEUE OPTION for rated pvp content :innocent:

For the moment, for me, as a PvP-only,no-ingame-friends player, playing at weird times. the game offers me no way to keep playing the game the way I enjoy playing it, no way to enjoy it at the max level character:

  • The rated pvp games are a disaster time sink for solo, no-ingame-friends payers, because you need to waste more then half of your play time just to try to start the rated content (DAMN YOU souless, brainless LFG TOOL);
  • The actuall soloqueue pvp games are a disaster mix with frustration, and incapacity to actually enjoy the game because there are no borders between fresh low lvl geared 60s and elitist highend geared 60s that play “RANDOM BATTLEGROUNDS” :pensive:

TLDR: just change topic, from my perspective, there is no short way to put this.

Hoping for the best. GL HF. Thank you for reading.

3 Likes
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The fact that they left it as is now shows how much blizzard cares about pvp as part of the game. It’s just a side mini-game for them.

I said it before, you need to lack self respect to play pvp in wow.

There are loads of pvp games out there with actually decent MMR/matchmaking systems, more balanced classes/characters and pvp optimized gear systems, that there’s no real reason to engage in this clown show.

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There is no matchmaking system.

There has never been any kind of matchmaking system.

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It is fun slaughtering low iLvLs in rated bgs tbh. They give up right away after seeing me 42k hp without buffs.

What are those games, can you elucidate us

5

pretty much how all my Warmode experiences went as well…

im not stupid i know when i am out numbered or out matched … may as well take my hand off the keyboard and make it easier for my attackers lol …

that is WoW pvp in a nutshell tbh …

what a disgrace.

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Yeah, I’m sure there’s nothing like WoW. If it were, I would have been gone long time ago. There are games like Dota2, LoL, BRs, but they don’t need a more intelligent matchmaking system since those games don’t involve power gear and ilvl, and all differences that an RPG has because of character building progress.
In dota2/lol you level your character every game and you itemize it every game, and if you fail, you start over again, from even ground. While in WoW, that itemization progression means 4-6 months, if you had a bad start, you had issues in your life that didn’t allowed you to play at the start of the season/expansion, or just want to play an alt, with all “catch-up” covenant gear mechancics, it is a real hard, long, and tedious way to climb the ranks.

Still, that doesn’t mean that WoW needs to use the same mindless system. It could have some logica, basical smart additional filters, like I said:

  • templates for pvp; the ones used during leveling that make every character level x9 and give all players highest ilvl is the best, equal ground for a PvP GAME/MODE. that is the best experience that lets players differentiate one from another with the use of communication and skills.

The way WoW’s competitive scene always worked is similar to having no weight divisions in the boxing scene. Imagine a heavyweight champion vs a minimumweight champion, what are the odds of that match ?

  • if templates is not a wanted thing, then add multiple “divisions” by making matchmaking taking in account ilvl ranges, current MMR in any PvP category (rated arena 2v2, 3v3, RBGs), history of PvP achievements r1, or tiers reached in past seasons/expansions.

Dunno, it feels so simple to implement and to make the PvP part of the game much more then it is, more balanced at least at the ilvl starting point, more easy to try it out even if you haven’t played PvP at all.

7

i miss scaling.
but not 10 min arena games

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And even then, those games do have the intelligent matchmaking systems as they recognize the importance of skill in an equalized environment. So even if you make a completely new account in LoL, you will very fast start getting matched with people of equal MMR.

WoW needs to add a simillar MMR concept and implement in PVP matchmaking, but they don’t because they don’t care. As I said, pvp is a nuisance to wow developers and you can see the proof of it in how they treat it. They are just keeping it alive for the minority that enjoys it, but they don’t really like dealing with it.

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I mean especially: “Shadowlands has seen tremendous participation in Arena with the number of unique players and total matches exceeding those seen in recent seasons.”

Seeing this in the US forum makes me feel that WoW’s PvP MM system has really no hope. Sure, “tremendous participation” is a real real fact BUT seen from the worst point of view. I mean ofc SL’s Season 1 had “tremendous participation” because of all PvE players buying boosts in the PvP Arena mode.

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I’m sure the vast majority of players have just played normally out of their own volition. There’s no need to make sweeping allegations.

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In case you’ve not seen

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Actually no, they are not “normal players”.
Sure they are not all GOLD/RMT boost buyers, but the majority of NEW players or the SURPLUS of players that started playing this season are actually PvE players that whine the gear from PvE takes time and they went for the “easy” PvP gearing system.
The “unlucky ones” that didn’t recieved their PvE gear in 4 weeks timing they felt the game is so “unfair” with them that they started doing PvP with 220-226 ilvl gear friends/guildies/boosters :confused: That is the pure truth.

You’ve linked me the same thing I’ve linked, but from a different website :slight_smile:

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My bad :blush:

1 Like
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You’re still just throwing sweeping accusations around, arbitrary labeling players.

That’s just dumb.

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Thought this was about a cross faction tinder. Dissapointed!

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Actually it is, but there’s one thing to start trying PvP cause you want to have fun in it. And a totally different thing to abuse it with actually 0 care of what happens in that side or what’s happening to the players that actually LOVE that part of the game.

In PvE the enemy (mobs/bosses) stay at the exact same point (hp/dmg/etc.) while in PvP the enemy is an actual human being.
As a solo player, If you want to play 2s Arena the NORMAL way, without having friends in game etc., the main problem is the LFG wasting you time, more then half of your actual playing time. On top of that, now there is this huge problem with PvE boosted players that are disrupting the normal way of arena.

This is my own, personal opinion, based on how things went for me since launch of SL until now. While the first month of the game was EPIC since all players were gearing at the same time, gated ilvl, all progressing at the same pace; the second month being okish, but after that it is a hell to start doing 2s Arena with a new ALT.

As I said in the first post, Blizzard should introduce multiple brackets filters, since ilvl gap is to damn high, and even with ilvl 200 full bg gear, it is hell to play against ilvl 226 teams, even at 1200-1300-1400-1500 rating.

Later edit: (since it doesn’t allow me to post 2 consecutive posts)

So, after a few weeks of break from the LFG Arena 2s, today I said I feel like trying to get some games with my rogue. Again, I reiterate, I play solo, don’t got real life friends playing WoW and I try to use the communities and the LFG tool.

This is how it went:
So, it was 1220cr, (max 1430 this season). So I make a LFG Party: “1.2cr lf heal - be same cr”
Waiting about 20-25mins, a WW Monk pops in.
After waiting for so much time, even tough I saw he was 1016cr, I say … hey, wth, lets try some games. 1 game we win = 10cr points 1 game we lost = 16-20cr points. So I excuse myself explaining that it is not worth to keep playing since I will keep go down.

Again I make a group 20 mins later a Holly Pally pops in. Checking his 1034cr again I say, hey WTH, can’t wait again 20mins, lets try.
Starting 1218 and ending at 1186 after 2 looses.

It doesn’t mater we lost, that is out of discussion, and I can dig winning and loosing.

But the way this system is build it is pure idiocracy:

  1. it forces 50% winrate arena
  2. it punishes you for playing with lower CR players
    while at the same time
  3. it wastes your time 4-5 times more then you actually PLAY. You wait 15mins-30mins for 2 games that total 5-6mins, just to loose more then you win.

@Blizzard, @CS : This idiocracy system should be fixed. I know the punish is there as an antiboosting protection, but man, give me players to play with game after game, win/lose don’t care, make my time feel respected. BUT NO, you make me waste 20-30mins for every 2-3min game, then you punish me for accepting in party someone that joins with 200CR lower even tough I’ve asked to “be same cr”.

This is ridiculous, mind blowing hillarious … pure dissapointment.

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