Matchmaking idea: Handicap

Starsinger·1/12/2014, 7:03:55 AM·1 votes·529 views

So, an idea came to me after watching a team be mercilessly beaten by 2 level 30s.

Team A was between levels 10-21 and Team B was generally under level 10, but two of its players were level 30. The two 30s dominated. So the idea I had was: When your teams are put together, "regress" higher level players to lower level equivalencies. If the enemy team is all lower than level 20, disable tier 3 runes. Set everyone's mastery points to the average team level.

You can make it more extreme and instead set everyone to the lowest person playing. If you're in a group with a level 1, everyone has one mastery point and no runes available. When going against higher level players, in theory they should be better than you because of experience, not experience plus runes and masteries.

1 Comments

Inexplicably1/18/2014, 9:12:35 PM1 votes

I'm not entirely sure how involuntary regression would shake out, since there would be no point to having saved mastery pages, and rune pages would be somewhat useless unless you were playing ranked, but I do agree that something needs to be different.

I hate hurting the experience for my friends when I play on my 30, and they are level 5. They are automatically put against people who have played more than they have, and have better runes, etc. I don't see how it contributes to a good environment for them.

Sure, we frequently play bot games. But maybe if there was a way for me to voluntarily lower my account level, mastery points, rune access (I don't mind not using runes if that gives them a better experience), and then queuing as the equivalent of a level 5 myself.

The main difference between what you have suggested, and what I'm contemplating is the involuntary vs. voluntary nature of the option.

I don't support forcing players to match the lowest level account in the match, but I do support voluntarily being able to queue as a lower level account, so as to improve my friend's experience.