Why Matchmaking sucks and what can be done to make it better.
Hey everybody,
So I guess most of us can agree on how the matchmaking system in ranked is extremely bad and feels unfair at times. What currently happens is that the system tries to match you up with people such that your winrate stays about ~50%, so that you can belong in the division you actually deserve.
But the problem at hand is, the way it FORCES you to be on 50% winrate. So, right now say a Gold II player is on winning streak of 5, sooner or later the system will try to "balance out" the teams by giving you Allies who are considerably lower division like Silver V, while at the same time they give you Opponents of higher division like Platinum IV (If they want to check whether or not you deserve Platinum V or more).
Now the thing is, if you really deserve Platinum IV or higher, getting opponents from Plat division is PERFECTLY FINE and should be that way. But you SHOULD NOT get teammates from lower division in the same game.
The conclusion of game completely depends on whole team performs, not just you. The current system is like "If you deserve Platinum IV, you should be able to solo-carry 1v9 in order to climb further.... AGAINST a team of 5, who have already proven to be Platinum IV worthy."
No matter how good you are, at the end of the day it's still a TEAM-GAME. You shouldn't expect a person to be able to solo-carry games in order to climb (without grinding Ranked over and over, being forced to lose matches in order to maintain 50% winrate).
What should happen is, if you are on a hot winning streak, you should be placed against Higher Tier Division players, AND with teammates from same Higher Tier Division players as well.
Now comes a new problem at hand: "If you was just lucky to be on a hot streak; if you get placed with Higher Division players, you will just become a burden to them ruining THEIR game by making it 4v6."
But it's already happening when You are the one on winning streak and 4 people in your team holds you down.
For example, This is how matchmaking is done right now: (Using Arbitrary numbers)
| Team 1 | Team 2 |
|---|---|
| 2 | 4 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 9 | 5 |
| 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 4 |
| Total: 21 | Total: 21 |
Looks balanced, right? Well, No.
The problem here is, even if 2 guys from Team 1 do extremely well, winning lanes, taking objectives. But if the other 3 are losing badly, the game will still be in favor of Team 2.
Now this might not be a problem in really low elo like Bronze, Silver etc. But once you reach Plat+ tier it really gets hard to solo-carry from that point. The difference between your enemies and your teammate is just too much and it's not even fault of your teammates.
What I think should happen is, if you're on a winning streak and the system needs to force you back down to 50% winrate, instead of making you lose right away by giving you lower division teammates but higher division opponents The player should get Better opponents AND better teammates, and then change matchup-level depending on how it goes there, until you reach ~50% winrate in the new division (where you most likely belong).
TL;DR When you match people against Higher Division opponents, match them with same Division teammates as well.
