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Promo Series doesn't make much sense when matchmaking is based on MMR and not ELO.

SzGamer227··4 votes·1,803 views

This has been bugging me quite a bit.

A system where your Ranked games are matchmade by your MMR and not your ELO is really good, because games are fair, boosters and smurfs are matched with players of their skill level, and lower-ELO higher-MMR players can still climb with relative ease because their ELO reward for winning is bigger than their penalty for losing.

But now add Promo Series into the equation.

Since you are matchmade based on your MMR, you are going to have a win rate that is very close to 50%. Since you are in games with players of your skill rather than players of the ELO you're climbing out of, you essentially have a 50% chance of advancing out of your Promos no matter how far your MMR is form your ELO. If you are in Silver 2 ELO playing at a Gold 5 MMR, you will climb to the top of your division with ease because the ELO adjustments are weighted based on your MMR. However, once you enter your Promo Series, you have to win a majority of your following games to promote despite the fact that you are playing with players of your skill level and have a 50% chance to win each game.

This means that Promo Series will occasionally bork your climb even though you belong in a higher ELO. If you are playing at a level consistent with a higher division, your advancement will be impeded by Promo Series, not only because they put a gate on your climb that you need to play 3-5 games to unlock, but also because there's a fixed 50% chance that you will pass through it whether you deserve to be on the other side or not. Going back to the Gold 5 in Silver 2 example, this player would advance faster than other Silver 2 players because his MMR is higher, but not as fast as they could be. They will have to go through two Promo Series to reach an ELO that matches their MMR, and with a 50% chance to fail each one, they will very likely have to retry at least one of them, adding unnecessary extra games to reach the ELO that the MMR system already knows they belong at.

Now sure there are a few exception cases where players where the system will sometimes allow players to skip Promo Series or double promote (or something to that effect), but the way I understand it this only takes effect when there is a very significant difference between a player's MMR and ELO, which doesn't make a difference in the majority of cases where someone is just trying to get to the next division. It would be a much simpler and transparent system if Promo Series were removed or restricted only to advancing Leagues. Currently, Promo Series and MMR-based matchmaking are conflicting with each other, and while bypasses are in place to get players to the ELO they belong it would be much more straightforward and less complicated to make promotion more heavily dependent on LP.

If anyone has other suggestions or insights about the Promo Series system, I'd be glad to hear them.

9 Comments

2 Weezy Baby1 votes

Wow. What a long winded excuse trying to say mmr based promos is gatekeeping you from gaining higher elo. LOL.

SzGamer2271 votes

It's not a long-winded excuse for being trapped in a lower ELO, it's a long-winded explanation as to why ELO climb is slower than it should be.

Notice that "trapped", "gatekeeping", and "ELO hell" are nowhere to be seen, as they are not pertinent to this discussion.

2 Weezy Baby1 votes

{quoted}

It's not a long-winded excuse for being trapped in a lower ELO, it's a long-winded explanation as to why ELO climb is slower than it should be.

Notice that "trapped", "gatekeeping", and "ELO hell" are nowhere to be seen, as they are not pertinent to this discussion.

Removing promo series won't help you climb faster. Low elo will still be bad and stuck at their rank because they come up with all these dumb reasons why they arent climbing instead of actually trying to improve.

SzGamer2271 votes

This isn't about Bronze players who can't get out of Bronze.

This isn't about Silver players who can't get out of Bronze.

This is about Silver players who are getting out of Bronze, but have to play extra games to get to Silver even thought the system already knows they're Silver.

If you think that a 5-game stasis on your ELO climb that has a 50% chance to keep you from going through isn't slowing down ELO climb, you're not thinking. Period.

Very Hard Engage1 votes

if you dodge your promos you will eventually be placed in your respective elo without having to play the promo games at all.

the only stipulation is that you keep winning and proving yourself better than whatever you are currently in.

2 Weezy Baby1 votes

If the system knew you were silver, i.e. your mmr was way higher than bronze mmr, you will skip your promos. Stop complaining about promos because you think you're better than you actually are.

SzGamer2271 votes
  1. You don't get to skip Promo's if you are 1 division behind.
  2. The system would be a lot more straightforward if it didn't have to involve exceptions and skip conditions to get players in the ELO they belong in.
  3. I'm not even ranked, so I couldn't possibly be complaining that my skill level is higher than my ELO suggests.
  4. If all you're going to bring to this discussion is biased assumptions, you might as well be doing something else because you're not getting anything done. I have no patience for dealing with a downvote bot who stagnates discussions with ignorance because it's easier than creating intelligent responses.
2 Weezy Baby1 votes

{quoted}

  1. You don't get to skip Promo's if you are 1 division behind.
  2. The system would be a lot more straightforward if it didn't have to involve exceptions and skip conditions to get players in the ELO they belong in.
  3. I'm not even ranked, so I couldn't possibly be complaining that my skill level is higher than my ELO suggests.
  4. If all you're going to bring to this discussion is biased assumptions, you might as well be doing something else because you're not getting anything done.

Of course you don't get to skip promos if you are 1 division behind. WTF? You think that a Silver V mmr is SO much better than Bronze I to the point where you should skip Bronze I promos and just go right into silver? LOL.

Skip conditions only apply to a very very very small amount of ranked players who had unfavorable placements. Other than that, there's really nothing to complain about promos unless you just want another thing to blame for being stuck at low elo.

SzGamer2271 votes

Exactly. So it follows that a Silver 5 player in Bronze 1 would be slowed down by at least 3 Promo games at best, 8 or more at worst, even if the system knows that player is in fact playing at a Silver 5 level.

I'm not arguing that this is a significant problem, I'm saying it's an unnecessary problem with an easy fix. Unless you have a substantial reason as to why Promo Series is beneficial in some way with acknowledgement that they do actually slow down ELO climb, you have nothing more to say.

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