Crystal Conflict and the Gold Bracket Wall

[yaba_gabagool]

Subject: This is my concise feedback to fixing the gold wall that is blocking a majority of players.

Background:
I'm a plat blackmage, working on a second blackmage who is hard stuck in gold. I started out on bard (still my favorite).

Proposal:
Compatible brackets should only have a -/+ 1 difference in player skill. Bronze players should never see gold in their games, silver should never see plat, gold should never see diamond etc.

Bronze is the bracket with the largest skill variance. This is due to it being 'entry', so along with players who are just trying to enter pvp, you have a slew of bots, trolls, or otherwise afk players.

It's a huge problem, probably the largest problem currently affecting pvp, and it's significant enough to the extent that prolonging the game queue in lieu for a higher quality match up is preferred.

[Xel]

Unranked-Silver, Gold-Plat, Diamond-Crystal. Nary, they shall meet except during a promotion game.
That worked too well, so they had to fix it.

[yaba_gabagool]

Second character I'm trying to grind out of gold. Why are the majority of players I play with, in bronze, and not gold?

Think I might just turn this into a "my favorites" of solo queue in gold thread.



Beginning of match. My team ignoring the flag and diving head first into enemy crystal/spawn:



Turns out pretty predictable:

[Ransu]

If most of your matches look like that screenshot then the problem is you. I'll ignore the time on the crystal due to you being ranged, but only 1 kill and 1 assist is really really bad. The matchmaking isn't great and I have my share of bad matches, but you gotta be getting 5-10 kills (and just as many assists) if you wanna climb, ESPECIALLY if you're rocking MCH. Even if your team is struggling, MCH can get free kills pretty easily if played right and can turn a match around just from getting the right kill. Only getting 1-3 kills a game or having a low assist count isn't acceptable unless you steamrolled them.

[yaba_gabagool]

If most of your matches look like that screenshot then the problem is you. I'll ignore the time on the crystal due to you being ranged, but only 1 kill and 1 assist is really really bad. The matchmaking isn't great and I have my share of bad matches, but you gotta be getting 5-10 kills (and just as many assists) if you wanna climb, ESPECIALLY if you're rocking MCH. Even if your team is struggling, MCH can get free kills pretty easily if played right and can turn a match around just from getting the right kill. Only getting 1-3 kills a game or having a low assist count isn't acceptable unless you steamrolled them.

The bottom four are my team mates.

The only kills are from my damage into the enemy team. I think you need to look at the numbers a bit more before posting.

The team literally did no damage, died, and left me basically 1v9. My damage outdid the damage of my team, combined. That's the norm.

Even in games that aren't an immediate feed fest, you have the ranking system putting unranked players in games with gold 1. Tell me the system is working:

[MintnHoney]

Sometimes, yes, things are quite like that.
Sometimes it's a skill issue, sometimes it stems from players just not caring enough, and most of the time it stems from players just not having playstyles that blend well together and being otherwise unable to adapt.

Imo, of course.

That said, I agree that brackets should only go +1/-1 if we're looking for numbers, which is what I believe it used to be, but I guess they decided to change it to what it is now in order to keep the queues short. And so now we all get to suffer more for it.

[yaba_gabagool]

Just hit plat on my second character using Machinist instead of Blackmage.

I don't know man. Just getting passed the lower bracket players in gold is a nightmare. Playing games where everyone is Gold/Platinum always feels like a much better chance to win or at the very least have a fair fight.

And even then, it's not assured. They need to weed out the bronzes from gold matches, and the same goes for the higher tiers as well. Fast queue or no.

Honestly, I dont even feel happy, just exhausted from the ordeal.

I will say though, given the rework of the classes, I am enjoying the pvp that the game has to offer in general. I think 2.0 rework was really good, they could even make their own pvp game if they stuck to this design pattern and class identity.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

My 2 cents if worth anything:

My general exp in PvP games taught me that riding enemies to their spawn is healthy if you can stagger them correctly, but overstaying the welcome when you should retreat to refill MP is what most people trying this strat struggle with.

As DRK I push deep into the enemy, if only to draw focus away from my team but I know when to bail for a nearby allied wall or into my team. It's a mix of skill issue and lack of gamesense if you fail.

However Id still not have people stack on the point to hold it or push it - if you already pushed into the enemy side it does not hurt moving the fight back to the nearest wall of comfort rather than stubbornly fighting on the point.

[Ravenwatch]

If most of your matches look like that screenshot then the problem is you. I'll ignore the time on the crystal due to you being ranged, but only 1 kill and 1 assist is really really bad. The matchmaking isn't great and I have my share of bad matches, but you gotta be getting 5-10 kills (and just as many assists) if you wanna climb, ESPECIALLY if you're rocking MCH. Even if your team is struggling, MCH can get free kills pretty easily if played right and can turn a match around just from getting the right kill. Only getting 1-3 kills a game or having a low assist count isn't acceptable unless you steamrolled them.

This is simply not true, and this is coming from someone who went gold->diamond last night so no coping. You do in fact need a team to contest an even fight to find kill opportunity, if your team is falling like dominos then no you will not be able to get 5-10 kills per match as there is no setup for you to use abilities without being overwhelmed. MCH does have a gimmicky LB but you think he'd have that charged 5x in a match that is getting overwhelmingly pressured?(And clearly one that was only 3 minutes and didnt fall into OT)

Gold was a rough bracket for me because of the issue he's stating, I barely lost at plat+ I think maybe once at plat 4 and rest win streak. Even if somehow you know how he actually plays, to say the core point is not an issue is false and you are just misdirecting with a strawman.

I will say though, OP, it may seem like you are hardstuck but nobody is ever hardstuck. You just need a string of lucky chain queues to push out of any position. If you play consistently well and don't tilt, then the cards will eventually fall in your favour. Don't forget that saying 'Hello' gives your team a buff. Marking enemy melee that are aggro as kill targets can also help, too depending. d:

[Xel]

This mode isn't a team game, it has no teams. Teams are pre-made, this is RNG Casino PVP, no one enjoys it except the botters, win traders, and lucky streakers.