Seasonal changes to BG matchmaking?

About a month ago when Kabam addressed the community on BG, they had a section about matchmaking (where they addresses some videos I did without giving me credit, ouch). Anyway, in their comments they stated they will continue to make adjustments to matchmaking every season while working on a new system.

My question, it what changes were actually made to matchmaking this season? 98% of my matches, starting in bronze 3 were against fellow paragons, with at least 16.5 - 17.5k prestige.

Meanwhile, much like every other season, to include previous seasons where I did videos of weak accounts in GC (which I didn't waste my time with this season especially after Kabam out me in jail after the last BG GC video I did) this season is absolutely flooded with weak to extremely mid accounts in GC. I didn't bother wasting my time on a vid this time as I'm just not motivated enough at this point, but a simple quick search will show hundreds upon hundreds if not thousands of accounts under 10.5k prestige.

I find this extremely unfair that these under 10.5k accounts are getting married ched with each other while stronger players face nothing but the best in the game every match starting at bronze 3 while we are all competing for same rewards.

This leads to a ton of UC and CAV accounts getting much better rewards than TB and Paragon. I know there are thousands of paragons still stuck in Victory track (as I still face 16.5k prestige players every single match in victory track) while the weaker CAV and UC are sitting pretty on way better rewards without having to face the stronger accounts.

Despite my rant (same one I've been saying since season 2), can anyone telle what changes Kabam is actually making to BG each season as stated in their post. And if changes are being made, does that Kabam is saying they think it is fair for UC and CAV players to get better BG rewards than far stronger players and rosters without ever having to face them?

Comments

DJMNH

Matchmaking standard is horrible.. with my alternate account iam facing champs of R5 and R4 26k, 22k etc against 11k 12k (r2 champs).

how do you expect me to finish this fight earlier than my opponent ? I have no problem with how hard the fight is, but since timing is also an important factor - how ? @Kabam Miike pls guide

Chatterofforums

What tier are you in? Also, so you want to use your alt weaker account to pick on lesser skilled players with weak rosters and complain when you get a stronger matchup? Sounds hypocritical and like your taking advantage of an extremely flawed matchmaking system.

DrZola

This is perhaps the main demotivator for veteran accounts. I’ve hit objectives this past week and played to hit the next solo milestone (about 200K lower than the milestones I’ve hit in prior seasons). As an ally, the 5-6 accounts that usually push in BGs are down to ~3 and I’m apparently the only glutton for punishment who’s actually played *significant* chunks this season. Everyone else is at least 60-70% below typical scores and most have quit the mode altogether.

What Kabam misses here is the sense of time wasted. I’ve played the game for eight years because I find it fun and rewarding. BGs for the advanced player could be that—but it is often just fighting a version of myself, which usually leads to stretches of 50-50 outcomes. Supposedly, this is being addressed, albeit at a snail’s pace. Playing a phone game is, by definition, wasting time, but no one wants to further waste his/her time by fruitlessly wasting wasted time.

This season in particular, I’ve noticed longer matching times as well as matching with players up or down a tier, presumably because no one at my level and account size is looking for a match. I’m sure apologists will disagree, but that indicates to me the mode at some basic level is struggling.

There were plenty of suggestions about avoiding similar issues that plagued AW at its inception. Plenty of posts suggested a modified version of EOL for matchmaking. None of those have been heeded.

I don’t expect anyone on the team to step up and try to *fix* BGs unless the mode is literally on the verge of failing. I don’t mean to suggest that it is—my anecdotal evidence is just one data point out of thousands.

But the logical conclusion I’m drawing is that BGs as currently built is simply not targeted at accounts like mine. That’s fine—but the asymmetry of rewards versus the other game modes should be addressed. Maintaining BGs as an outsized source of rewards versus other modes (while continuing to lean on a failed matchmaking system) will serve only to push players away from the mode specifically and the game in general.

Dr. Zola

pseudosane

I grinded to GC with both my accounts. Feeling the strain of the grind. Feels more like Arena 2.0. I hope there are some improvements incoming.

SlurpZeDerp

I didn’t realize how hard it is for Veterans until I asked my friend (who got me to start playing in late January). I am a 6k prestige player in uru 3 after just getting cav recently (1 and 1/2 week). I agree fully my friend is struggling in plat/diamond and while not easy for me facing players with around 10k prestige but they were definitely not high skilled players and in the end my 6k prestige account got uru.

TyEdge

@DrZola nails it. The rewards for the solo event are structured in a way that makes losses nearly worthless and it’s a SLOW game mode. If 2/3 of the value was on participating and 1/3 on winning, you could at least accumulate points more easily there. Currently, that’s flipped, so your wins move you quickly through solo rewards and losses are barely helpful at all.

Coppin

Dude.. they announce the changes in mid season....
So.. there might be some changes next season

unknown

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Chatterofforums

Thank you for sharing. I made a couple videos in past seasons showcasing accounts similar to yours, in the 5k to 8k prestige range and in gladiator circuit while thousands of paragons were still stuck in Victory track.

Many of the accounts in those videos were clearly legit and got there through legit means based on current matchmaking process. However, Kabam tried discrediting my videos stating most of them had got to GC through cheating and that the videos didn't tell the whole story.

Ironically, one of my videos where they said everyone in the video was cheating was taken hours before season ended and despite kabam saying everyone in video had cheated and despite saying all cheaters are removed from the rankings, not a single player in that range moved up even a single spot, making it clear something isn't adding up. One plus one doesn't equal 8.

Chikel

This season has been a slog. I only made ut to GC 2 days ago and that was by sheer luck. The matches actually got easier in GC.

It was one win, one loss for days in a row as I struggled to advance against accounts stronger than me (I have 7 r4 and 30 r3) All that time I kept asking myself, where are the people at my level? Where are the Throne breakers? What about new Paragons slightly below me?

I stopped using elder marks in VT because it was a waste. I had to do some matches in GC with them to reach the final milestone. I have made GC since Season 2/3 and this is literally the first time I've gotten there without reaching the final milestone of the solo event.

They better have some changes coming as I'm sick of BGs in its current form.

unknown

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Greekhit

You can’t imagine how hard is for veterans players at all.
Veteran players are fighting each other starting from Bronze3 throughout VT.
It’s like doing top tier war fights (if not harder since you can’t use items to mitigate any lack of skill) back to back.
A 16k prestige account is going against the very top players in the entire game.
Unfortunately between two top tier players someone will lose.
And between players of this prestige, where both are very experienced and both have the same optimal generic deck that suits each meta, wins are mainly pre determined on luck of the draft.
At least I know by the time the draft is done, if I’m going to win or lose the match.
Both players at this tier will play, more than 95% of the times, optimal and won’t mess or choose a bad matchup.
As you said your 6k prestige account got GC URU, scooping all VT plus ranked rewards.
On the other side my 4mil+ Veteran account ended up at Platinum3, getting less than half the rewards than accounts that are even 10x smaller.
VT structure and Prestige matchmaking are pushing veteran accounts away from the mode.
Kabam should buff the rewards in other game modes to match BGs rewards, in order for veterans to be able to ignore the mode at all, since at its current state it is punishing progressing your account.
I skipped the 30€ 25% t6cc offers recently, which I would otherwise had bought them all, because there is no point on getting an r5 and have even harder matches at BGs.
I’ve limited my spending to sigil, because there is no benefit in spending at the moment, since the most rewarding mode will directly punish you for that.
@Kabam Miike is that what the company wants?
To not progress our account in order to stay competitive?
Is the company aware of what Prestige matchmaking is causing for two seasons now or not?

Chatterofforums

Well I've been going on and on about since October, have tagged mods multiple times, have made several videos providing undeniable proof of the issues (which kabam saw the vids but deflected with irrelevant excuses) and commented on more BG matchmaking threads I can count. So in short, YES, I guarantee they are aware of the prestige matchmaking issue, the better question is, do they care?

Greekhit

I don't believe that if they are aware they don't care.
Prestige matchmaking is directly opposed to what the company is mainly monetising: Account Progression
Punishing players for doing so, is a very dangerous idea for the game's revenue.
I personally assume that the issue is still there because it seems there is a disconection between Kabam departments.
I'm pretty sure that if the economics director was aware and had technical understanding of BGs VT design and matchmaking, and what spending behaviour this promotes (limiting the spending because there is no incentive to do so), Prestige matchmaking would already be gone.

GroundedWisdom

They've already said they're looking at changes to Matchmaking in the future. That doesn't necessarily mean immediately. I feel like this is rehashing an issue that's already been discussed ad nauseum.

Wally_Woofer

...And yet you feel compelled to be heard...only to breathe more life into said rehashing. Me thinks you enjoy the attention, the more negative the better. It would have been far too easy to grumble to yourself and move on without opposing comment.

FWIW...I've not yet seen VT and it is comforting to hear that others of similar account girth are facing a struggle as well.

SlurpZeDerp

Yeah I’m not a modder and I can 100% assure you that all the players I have faced are legit and are all very high ranked in victory track because most of the time they don’t even get close to 50k because we are straight up bad (I have won many times in diamond with a match score of 20k) and very rarely do I end up facing a skilled player who knows what they are doing. So for low accounts like mine I quickly realized it was far more efficient to ignore the story and just spam bgs. I have attached a picture of what type of player skill I faced on my last match to get into viabranium. My anhilus was around 5k points 12k when placed on defense his Hyperion was 7k. So most of the low players up in the high ranks aren’t modders we are just newbs facing newbs which means just being less noob nets you so many rewards And no joke I have never encountered a modder yet my friend how is paragon has met many. I have also attached a picture of my strongest champs I used to get uru. I will attach a newer screenshot of the other champs I used on my team as well that’s were not in my older picture.

things I guess.

Chatterofforums

Thank you very much for the detailed information! @Kabam Miike any chance you want to chime in here? You are among the ones saying most if not all the low accounts in the BG vids I previously posted got there by cheating, but this appears to be evidence contrary to that and supports my initial argument.

Chatterofforums

@SlurpZeDerp fyi, this is what Kabam recently said about accounts like yours. Said your all cheaters.

DrZola

Obviously, a significant issue is one of pacing. “In the future” is very much like “coming soon”—for those of us who play BGs as one of our main modes, it remains highly frustrating to see the same old every season. There’s been ample time through 6 BG seasons to realize matchmaking has major problems. And yet…

Tl;dr—Talk is cheap.

Dr. Zola

Chatterofforums

Additionally what is very frustrating is that I provided video proof of the matchmaking issues in season 4 and season 5. My videos even got acknowledgement from Kabam HOWEVER they completely deflected and said most if not all of the highlights accounts in my vids cheated to get to GC.

That's an easy excuse to deflect, however, then why did NONE of those accounts on the video I did hours before season 5 ended that Kabam claimed all cheated get banned? Not a single player below the hundreds I showed moved up even one spot so clearly they were NOT banned. So were they cheating and not banned or were they not cheating but accused of it to deflect the real issue is with matchmaking?

Now, we have a player with a 5k prestige account who is in GC who has provided proof and a written experience how easy it is for noobs to get to GC along with photos of matches he did to get to GC while in diamond 1.

I strongly feel a lack of transparency with a bit of intentional dishonesty in some responses we've gotten to this problem.

Vanitelia

Many of us have communicated this in various threads. There's not much new to discuss. I wouldn't be surprised if this issue isn't really an issue. It's a smart strategy: rewarding small accounts to keep their interest without having to use valuable resources (mainly time and units) to progress through VT and get to GC. Meanwhile, larger accounts have to rely on both of those to grind through VT to reach GC.

Smaller accounts aren't invested like the larger ones, so the game can't be made too difficult so those people stay. Hero acquisition is much easier than it used to be. Game modes at the lower levels have had their difficulty reduced and rewards buffed to encourage newer accounts to complete that content (and thus staying in game longer).

BG's are boring and grindy. It would be much better if they flip flopped the way nodes are set up. VT should get the rotating nodes and GC should stay the same. I think a reason why that's not done is because accounts will skip the tougher nodes and wait for one that they feel comfortable with (thus driving down participation numbers during some weeks). Heck, just make the nodes for both VT and GC rotating with the GC nodes tuned up (i.e. masochism 2 for VT and masochism 3 for GC with an additional node) or something like that.

Anyway, they need to monetize certain areas of the game. I get that. There's got to be better ways to do that without grinding larger accounts out of the game.

Ironman3000

100%

I quit playing BGs because the paltry rewards were not worth the effort or frustration. I will never understand how they created a new 'competitive' mode and balanced it around making low-level players happy and punishing their biggest and best players. It makes ZERO sense. What I predicted, and has come to fruition, is that the endgamers would just quit and the mode would eventually die. That's why you're matching ppl in different levels with super long waiting times.

SlurpZeDerp

Sometimes I have a habit of taking screenshots when I am about to go up a rank to show my friend, these are some I have from this season. They obviously aren’t as high ranked as diamond 1 but still are very respectable. That quote from the kabam team is a joke there are so many players who are my prestige that are in the GC and high in VT thats are legit and just keep playing each other so basically in a group off noobs we are the “skilled” ones in essence since we only match each other and lower accounts there are many noobs who are low ranked and noobs are high ranked spread across a ranking system like a distribution. So the people at the top are just noobs who aren’t that bad. The matching system is so unfair towards stronger people and my friends because if you could play us then you would be able to get much higher in rank off beating us. It doesn’t even take your guys roster strength either to beat us. My paragon friend and I do 3 star battle grounds sometimes when bored and he beats me 60-70% of the time so just off skill alone he would crush me so when you factor in rosters it’s a wrap. The system is honestly rigged towards low players like me and I have gotten so many 6 stars from it. If you want to ask me any questions about my experience feel free too.

Ironman3000

Of course they 'care' but they don't care enough to actually do anything about it. IMO, their thinking is that they already have endgamers hooked so it's better to appeal to the lower players to try to get them hooked.

If they really 'cared' they would have sent out a care package of Sheilds when they posted about all the bugs that can't fix.

QuikPik

At the start of BGs, we'd have a good amount of participation. As each season passed, participation has been steadily declining. Our score is less than half of what it used to be.

The decline is mostly due to our higher prestige players deeming the reward vs time involved is not worth it. Why play a mode a few times a day where it is most likely you'll see zero progress.

I didn't play much BGs last season but instead spent my time completing EOP Carina challenges. And while having an R5 helps my roster, it makes my BGs matches even harder now. The mode shouldn't penalize you for improving your roster. Kabam is telling lower level players to focus on content and not on BGs. In it's current state, if I were a lower level player; I'd do nothing but BGs because it's the best rewards for the effort.

Playing BGs on my son's 9k prestige account is far easier than on my 17k prestige account. Why should an account 1/4 the size of mine have an easier time in the same game mode?