Brand new players should not be allowed into 4v4 Feast.

[Kyani]

One of the (many) problems with the Feast's matchmaking, currently, is that it tries too hard to make the two teams match up - if one team has the best player, it'll also have the worst player to balance them out. But the balancing completely breaks when the "counterweight" player is someone who has little or no experience in the mode at all.

Three players averaging 900 are not going to be able to carry a 0 player against 4 players averaging 675. They are simply not enough better. New players should be forced to play some number of unranked games (or win a smaller amount) before being allowed into the wild, because they are not equipped to handle a 4v4 match, and it creates a huge imbalance in game quality. This gets worse the higher your rating gets, as well - @900, you might have 2 450s and a 0. This is technically carriable if your 0 is a DPS.

At 2000? You'll have 2 Silvers and a 0. You're not winning that short of some absurd luck.

e:

Ranked Feast should require (for example), 10 matches or 3 wins (the #s in Challenge Log). Without any experience at all, you are dead weight and actively ensuring that your team is not winning the game.

[Dimitrii]

Is the purpose of preseason not to get experience in a 4 v 4 setting anyway? It's not like we gonna get any rewards for achieving certain ranks in preaseason.

[Iagainsti]

I suppose this isn't the first, or last, thread trying to segregate the pvp player base.

Technically, I myself am not even bronze rating due to the current system, yet my own records got me 48% win rate in 4v4 so you're saying that I'm a sub optimal player because my rank is low?

I think people really need to evaluate their lives if something like losing matches pre season is causing them this much stress.

[Kyani]

Technically, I myself am not even bronze rating due to the current system, yet my own records got me 48% win rate in 4v4 so you're saying that I'm a sub optimal player because my rank is low?

I think people really need to evaluate their lives if something like losing matches pre season is causing them this much stress.

Correlation is not causation. Players are not bad because their pvp rank is low, but someone getting the achievement for "enter a game of the feast" is a strong indicator that they are not up to the standards of the other seven players. Teams with that player tend to lose a significant majority of the time, because they are fighting a de facto 3v4.

I enjoy losing if I can say to myself "my team played well, the enemy team played better." Losing because your healer did not cast a single heal in the entire match (and not for lack of protection) is not fun.

[Kyani]

The purpose of preseason is to collect balance feedback & make adjustments. This is an important adjustment to be made before the start of the regular season. Three players and a new person should not be matched against 4 players of (slightly) lower skill.

Other possible solutions:

• Unranked (8v8) and Unranked (4v4) both give win credit up until Bronze. Require Bronze to queue for Ranked.
• Decrease matchmaking so that only players within x00 ranking (500?) can be put together.

[Myrhn]

You know we had Wolf Den right? The Feast is practically that but you collect coins and try to reach a goal. So assuming someone is bad just because they got the archivement is kinda dumb.

[Dimitrii]

You can make them play for 3 wins in the 8 v 8 mode before being able to queue for ranked but it's not gonna necessarily make them any better. There's 7 other people to potentially carry them and it might be more difficult for them to see that they are the problem because of that than if they played the 4 v 4 where it's much harder to get carried. I suppose it'll help them familiarize themselves a little more with the pvp dynamic but it'll hardly guarentee that they still won't be a liability when they do enter ranked matches.

[Kyani]

You can make them play for 3 wins in the 8 v 8 mode before being able to queue for ranked but it's not gonna necessarily make them any better. [..] I suppose it'll help them familiarize themselves a little more with the pvp dynamic but it'll hardly guarentee that they still won't be a liability when they do enter ranked matches.

Short of heavy gating (add unranked 4v4, let it get you to bronze, do not allow ranked without Bronze / 20 wins), it's the best i can really think of. While it wouldn't solve the problem, it SHOULD significantly cut down on the amount of players who run in & die in 5 seconds, or have never used their pvp actions (tutorial for this please), or who output less than a quarter of the damage/healing as their counterpart do while not being focused.

Streaky gameplay is streaky, but I have a very hard time believing anyone enjoys sliding because of unwinnable "carry this person" games.

[Petite]

IMO they shouldn't match people according to their average rank at all on solo queues.

What better way to discourage players from ranking up than to turn them into babysitters? Basically, the higher the rank, the more stressful and frustrating the matches. Over time, people will desert solo queues for either Light Party 4v4s or 8v8s rather than bothering to break their necks carrying people all the time*.

Randomizing the match-ups completely would be fair to everyone. Sure you'd get good or bad teams now and then, but at least you wouldn't get forced every match with newbies when high ranked.

[Powe]

Yea i think you just want a hardcore group........ " curses you will newbs for days"