Matchmaking thoughts from a Dev

[reconzero]

@Axs5626Sxa5001

"My response wasn’t for you, it was for LaughingSharko"

Not to worry, my friend. I have plenty of opinions to go around whether they're by invitation or not!

"I’m genuinely just trying to honor people’s proficiency in Apex"

I'm not really trying to call your motivations into question, though it may have sounded that way in earlier posts. I understand the Sally Brown proposition: You just want what you have coming to you. You just want your fair share.

It gets murky when we're not clear whether we're talking about, as one's due, a specific win rate or a specific rank. Because emphatically NO, no one has a right to a rank curated by sbmm. On that point we are 100% in agreement. Unfortunately in a team-based game there will always be people who have ranks that inaccurately reflect their skill - too high by being carried by consistent teammates, and too low by soloing.

The subject of win rate is even trickier. Especially, again, in a team-based game. Especially in a team-based game that has a significant luck component built into its gameplay formula. I'm grateful that the system seems to produce for me what I consider to be a healthy win rate. But I can also say that I've played the game long enough now to know that a few of those wins are luck and a few are skill, and most are a combination of the two. And I've played long enough to know that if you count on any specific number of wins for a sense of satisfaction... in a game with 57 enemies trying to kill you... that it may be time to look for a sense of success in some other metric. Placement. Rank. K/D. To name but a few. For example: I feel your pain with your current win rate. But knowing that you're a top 5% player makes it harder for me to believe that the system needs an overhaul. In other words, being good and knowing that you're good is in itself a form of reward. Just because one particular metric is giving you hell this season doesn't necessarily mean that you're being shafted.

That said, I'll repeat: you need a secondary account.

[LaughingSharko]

Notice how many times you use the words "I want" in this post. Again, you want the game to cater to you and the other 5% of the player base. If you want to pay for everyone else's battle passes, then I'm sure the devs will be happy to make everyone else miserable so you can wipe lower-level lobbies by yourself.

[Axs5626Sxa5001]

@reconzero

I appreciate that response. I also appreciate that we can agree on certain things and not agree on other things. Exploring these matters while remaining respectful (and as compassionate as possible) is what the forum is all about.

I’m glad that you’re aware enough to acknowledge that the current structure produces a healthier win rate for you (based on your individual skill).

I guess on paper knowing that I fall in the top 5% should be reward enough, but I really can’t stress how disenchanting it is to know that at any given time (and months, going on years) people who occupy lower standings are winning FAR more than me. As you mentioned, this is the Sally Brown effect going to town on my psyche.

As for other accounts, I have about 14 different accounts, but these are dedicated to conducting tests on matchmaking. I have accounts with 400+ deaths with 0 kills/damage, and I have accounts with 8+ KDs. But again these accounts are not for playing to have fun. I am against smurfing to have fun. A high level player should NOT be playing against 57 other specifically weak/new players.

I’d like to use the last point to anchor back into another topic— matchmaking. I don’t want an “overhaul”. Or rather, I don’t want the algorithm to go away and leave everything to chance. While I do think this would indeed be “fair”, I understand the relationship between [how the bulk of average players feel] and [the life/longevity of a live service game]. I guess I am just asking for a tweak that specifically makes my own public games feel less like high-diamond/masters ranked games (with no reward).

[Axs5626Sxa5001]

@LaughingSharko

I’d advise you to go back and read the exchanges between myself and reconzero. I don’t want the matchmaking algorithm to cater to me. Because ultimately, no algorithm at all would benefit me (but even I don’t want that).

I’m sorry you’re struggling to understand my position. I think the difference between us is that I’ve been in your shoes (to a degree), but you haven’t been in mine (to a degree).

[LaughingSharko]

@Axs5626Sxa5001 I understand your position very well. Trying to state something politically doesn't change the end result of what you're proposing.

Here's another thread that covers several of the logical fallacies you've made in this thread. I'd advise you to give it a read:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion/Ok-so-here-is-the-real-question/m-p/12060380#M225713

We both know you've been making these threads for years, rehashing the exact same points over and over. And you will again next month.

[Axs5626Sxa5001]

@LaughingSharko

Yeah you’re right. I should just stop discussing these matters entirely because I shouldn’t “rehash” things. I appreciate that input and I should likely step away entirely from these forums.

Thanks for being open minded. Bye all, I’ve enjoyed some of our discussions.

[LaughingSharko]

@Axs5626Sxa5001 Lol. Passive aggressive much?

[reconzero]

@Axs5626Sxa5001

"A high level player should NOT be playing against 57 other specifically weak/new players."

I agree completely. In principle. In reality I've not played a shooter (in 20 years of Halo and several more of PUBG and Apex) that didn't practically BEG the player to do this. These games, as you have observed, find some fairly insidious, if unintentional, ways to screw over most players, some more than others. How else are you supposed to register your displeasure and remedy the ill if not by passing on some of the bad karma to others? And be guaranteed that the game will sooner or later push you right back to the same place you are now. Probably sooner. Unless you make some pretty dramatic changes to your playstyle. Which defeats the purpose of even playing, imo.

I don't have a second myself, or haven't had since Halo 3, so I feel like that makes me a little less of a "devil on your shoulder" here. I don't do it, but I see the rationale for it.

[Unitee01]

@Axs5626Sxa5001*STARTS SLOW CLAP* well done sir, well done. It's like no one that is in favor of SBMM realizes that if they themselves keep playing and improving they will end up in that same tough spot and stay there, forever most likely. aka game over.

[Unitee01]

@reconzero "as if they have some intrinsic right to crap all over lower-level players" isn't that exactly what low level players are doing in reverse? Expecting good outcomes yet has never set foot in the firing range? You do realize there is an unavoidable roof they will hit eventually and end up in the same situation REGARDLESS if they are good or not?