Ok same *********** players are wintrading and throwing and as always BW does nothing. Next week MikeBradley will post June pvp report and he will tell his lies how they banned wintraders and cheaters but ofcourse it is all just a stunt as always they will do nothing since this ******es are doing it for a long time.

They created new mail to report cheaters and as always nothing changed because same people are gonna take action and they are just gonna ignore as always and will post we banned them for 1 week and we will see cheaters in queue next day with all their rating on.

They created a *********** retarded queue system and they dont even trying to fix it. They are the worst developer team i have ever seen, that *********** queue system is just kindergarden level.

THIS GAME NEEDS REAL GAME DEVELOPERS. And Musco claims they have a combat team what a joke.

At the end of the day you just have to accept and move on...

I see too much raging here about this age old subject in PVP forums about this topic.

Be realistic, man. This wintrading has been around for how many years now ? Do you really think they can do anything about it ? I think not.....

Ranked is about queing.. getting the rewards you want and moving on. It will never be fair, it cannot be fair...

Peace.

As I said before I am not aiming for any top spots, I just play the game, its the best you can do. Playing ranked is something different, its not a NiM ops which has a set number of mechanics and rules, which once learned can be done over and over. Ranked and PVP in total offers a huge variety of possible outcomes. You can learn something new everyday, you can have simple easy matches, but also stale mates or very very close calls. Its probably the best thrill you can have in this game. Thats why I play it, not for the top spots or recognition by someone i dont know, but for the fun of it!

As to the topic, wintrading was, is and will be part of the game. The only question is how BW is able to manage it. Eventhough they are monitoring it now, things go through, but most importantly many already got through, the spots are already taken people dont bother anymore cause their spots cannot be challenged so they dont need to move a finger and will get their rewards......

At the end of the day you just have to accept and move on...

 

I see too much raging here about this age old subject in PVP forums about this topic.

 

Be realistic, man. This wintrading has been around for how many years now ? Do you really think they can do anything about it ? I think not.....

 

Ranked is about queing.. getting the rewards you want and moving on. It will never be fair, it cannot be fair...

 

Peace.

All of this pretty much. ^

As long as people keep supporting the old rating/ELO scoring system which has been proven to be corrupt and impossible to properly monitor to curtail said corruption the present ranked system is what we will get.

I also think anyone that refuses to consider changing the ELO rating system to any other type of score system are either corrupt themselves or simply have had the best possible luck ever in avoiding wintraders, match-droppers, and any other fairly common methods used to manipulate the ELO scores.

Those not in the loop seem to underestimate just how important top 3 titles and all those type of achievements are that are gained via ranked, maybe even I have underestimated it too.

I don't know if a lot of money is involved, or if it's just some weird nerdly pride that drives some of these players to feel obligated to cheat to get these coveted ranked pixel prizes.

Whatever it is, we have a large enough cabal of cheaters manipulating the system for their own personal gain that it ruins the contest for any half legit player wanting to participate.

As long as BW keeps this score system in place, players can bank on seeing continued corrupt behavior which completely compromises the ranked game mode.

All of this pretty much. ^

 

As long as people keep supporting the old rating/ELO scoring system which has been proven to be corrupt and impossible to properly monitor to curtail said corruption the present ranked system is what we will get.

 

I also think anyone that refuses to consider changing the ELO rating system to any other type of score system are either corrupt themselves or simply have had the best possible luck ever in avoiding wintraders, match-droppers, and any other fairly common methods used to manipulate the ELO scores.

 

Those not in the loop seem to underestimate just how important top 3 titles and all those type of achievements are that are gained via ranked, maybe even I have underestimated it too.

 

I don't know if a lot of money is involved, or if it's just some weird nerdly pride that drives some of these players to feel obligated to cheat to get these coveted ranked pixel prizes.

 

Whatever it is, we have a large enough cabal of cheaters manipulating the system for their own personal gain that it ruins the contest for any half legit player wanting to participate.

 

As long as BW keeps this score system in place, players can bank on seeing continued corrupt behavior which completely compromises the ranked game mode.

Yeah.. you are really aggressive with this remove ELO thing of yours and you might be right, but you really think they gonna invest resources into remaking the way players are rated ?

The community is very tiny. The same people que all the time. On Darth Malgus 50% of the que is one guild only... So what makes you think they will invest in game mode that only like 3% of the current active playerbase plays ?

the problem is matchmaking not ELO. go away with the ELO argument. ELO will always be imperfect. It's like poll data.

the only thing you can really do to improve ELO is to lengthen the requirement for games played before first rating. beyond that, no individual rating will ever be accurate in a TEAM game.

matchmaking can be massively improved with class stacking, the whole way grps are composed (mixed ratings). basically, all things that will slow pops, which is anathema to BW. also keeping players with fewer than 20-50 games in the same matches. again, this will all lengthen queue times, so it will prolly not happen. but these are the real solutions. if you throw, you drop rating until you're out of the top tier matches and therefore cannot affect top 3. it polices itself MUCH better than this observe and report system (which you still should do, of course).

the problem is matchmaking not ELO. go away with the ELO argument. ELO will always be imperfect. It's like poll data.

the only thing you can really do to improve ELO is to lengthen the requirement for games played before first rating. beyond that, no individual rating will ever be accurate in a TEAM game.

 

matchmaking can be massively improved with class stacking, the whole way grps are composed (mixed ratings). basically, all things that will slow pops, which is anathema to BW. also keeping players with fewer than 20-50 games in the same matches. again, this will all lengthen queue times, so it will prolly not happen. but these are the real solutions. if you throw, you drop rating until you're out of the top tier matches and therefore cannot affect top 3. it polices itself MUCH better than this observe and report system (which you still should do, of course).

Imagine if Bioware had worked the matchmaking years ago so there was quality over pop times. There would be many more people still playing and pop times would probably be better due to more balanced and quality games,

Bioware have always had this absolutely stupid philosophy that pop speed is better than quality. This has driven just as many or more people away from pvp as slower pops. Eventually the quality is so **** that pop speed mean nothing if people stop playing.

I’ve given up on pvp for the meantime. Something I thought I’d never do. I just can’t bring myself to play it in this game anymore because it’s such a joke at all lvls. So as far as the pvp queue goes, they’ve lost another pvper from it all because of the stupid matchmaking in both ranked and regs.

That and the demise of lowbies, Mids and the garbage that is regs, has made me abandon pvp. I’ve not stepped foot into into it for a month, except to play one last lowbie match to get a weekly finished.

I think I’m done. I’ve broken my pvp addiction because it was unhealthy how upset and angry I would get during and after a pvp session. I’ve a few Alts I want to finally finish the story on and some achievements, rep and personal goals I want. After that, I guess I’ll unsub when classic WoW is released because I can’t see 6.0 fixing any of the things that have made me stop playing pvp.

the problem is matchmaking not ELO. go away with the ELO argument. ELO will always be imperfect. It's like poll data.

the only thing you can really do to improve ELO is to lengthen the requirement for games played before first rating. beyond that, no individual rating will ever be accurate in a TEAM game.

 

matchmaking can be massively improved with class stacking, the whole way grps are composed (mixed ratings). basically, all things that will slow pops, which is anathema to BW. also keeping players with fewer than 20-50 games in the same matches. again, this will all lengthen queue times, so it will prolly not happen. but these are the real solutions. if you throw, you drop rating until you're out of the top tier matches and therefore cannot affect top 3. it polices itself MUCH better than this observe and report system (which you still should do, of course).

Actually, elo is a huge part of the problem. The life support population this game has had, the system is easily manipulated and basically encourages cheating. It's not just matchmaking, but the elo system too.

At the end of the day you just have to accept and move on...

 

I see too much raging here about this age old subject in PVP forums about this topic.

 

Be realistic, man. This wintrading has been around for how many years now ? Do you really think they can do anything about it ? I think not.....

 

Ranked is about queing.. getting the rewards you want and moving on. It will never be fair, it cannot be fair...

 

Peace.

It's not that they can't do anything about it, it's that they clearly won't. They want to avoid perma banning in any which way they can, no matter how it looks or what it takes, all because of money. They ban the cheaters, they lose revenue. It sucks.

It's not that they can't do anything about it, it's that they clearly won't. They want to avoid perma banning in any which way they can, no matter how it looks or what it takes, all because of money. They ban the cheaters, they lose revenue. It sucks.

Problem is it’s probably causing more legitimate people to leave than banning those few who cheat. They are practically throwing money out the door by supporting these cheaters.

If they had the opposite policy, I’m sure more people would have confidence they give a **** and would stay even when things aren’t always perfect.

So at the end of the day, their scramble to keep the small amount of revenue they get from not banning the cheaters is actually losing them more players and more money. It’s not logical.

But then again, who ever said Bioware follow any logic with so much of what they do. Half the time it feels like headless chickens running the asylum and dishing out rat poison instead of meds.

As someone who despises ranked with something of a passion, the actual cheating is merely the tip of the iceberg.

The arrogance, horrible attitudes, low population, and simple fact that playing the queue and/or randomness are as big variables as skill in determining ratings are all contributing factors too.

As someone who despises ranked with something of a passion, the actual cheating is merely the tip of the iceberg.

 

The arrogance, horrible attitudes, low population, and simple fact that playing the queue and/or randomness are as big variables as skill in determining ratings are all contributing factors too.

played in the yolo queue on SF last night from 7-9:30. pops were faster than reg queue.

watched two streams (devil & deanlo) playing on SF as late as 2am.

Get out of here with the dead queue bs.

I watched deanlo hop on 3 different toons and run up an initial score of close to 1500. the same players in the queue. different players on teams each match, many of whom I played against hours earlier. they weren't throwing or cheating for him (I don't know the guy in the least other than he's good and streams). my point is that it's perfectly possible to be good at what you do and succeed in yolo. it's also incredibly frustrating because the matchmaking is such that wins and losses are usually the result of your weakest link. that's literally the case of every format ever. if you choose to solo queue, you need to accept that fact. it's like contracting to go on a fishing expedition and then getting upset when your hands smell from the bait or taking a fish off the hook. that's part of the deal.

played in the yolo queue on SF last night from 7-9:30. pops were faster than reg queue.

 

watched two streams (devil & deanlo) playing on SF as late as 2am.

 

Get out of here with the dead queue bs.

 

I watched deanlo hop on 3 different toons and run up an initial score of close to 1500. the same players in the queue. different players on teams each match, many of whom I played against hours earlier. they weren't throwing or cheating for him (I don't know the guy in the least other than he's good and streams). my point is that it's perfectly possible to be good at what you do and succeed in yolo. it's also incredibly frustrating because the matchmaking is such that wins and losses are usually the result of your weakest link. that's literally the case of every format ever. if you choose to solo queue, you need to accept that fact. it's like contracting to go on a fishing expedition and then getting upset when your hands smell from the bait or taking a fish off the hook. that's part of the deal.

I never said it wasnt possible to be good and get good rating. There are just ways of not cheating, being mediocre, and getting good rating too, making it all rather meaningless. Naturally, it's entirely possible to do good because you are good; my complaints are about all ranked, not merely solo ranked.

You really can't deny the fact that the population who chooses to play ranked in general, and granked in particular, does affect the quality of matches. You say yourself it was the same players in the queue being reshuffled around; extend that argument to explain some of peoples frustrations.

I.e. if there arent 8 people of similar skill, you have to put good and bad players on or against the same team as average ones, and how do you balance this? Someone has to be hamstrung with the sorc running a tank stim or that mara with one lightsaber, or the that sniper that doesnt know what cover is. And there is a limit to how much anyone can carry, no matter how good you are.

This was also just one variable in my time attempting ranked I found annoying, I'm only commenting at all because if you all who do enjoy ranked wish for the format to have relevance or gain more players, and thus likely garner more attention, it would help to consider the reasons why those of us who find it annoying and pointless find it that way. Then positive minor changes could be made to attract more people to the format, improving the overall quality of life and increasing the probability of garnering more attention and resources all in one fell swoop.

Maybe if there was a larger population that could support putting 8 similar quality players in a match together, you wouldnt be so "hamstrung by your weakest link". I.e. your top 3 whatever isn't getting on a team with the aforementioned mara with one lightsaber. Because, as you are implying, there is a limit to what can be carried.

I cannot speak for every server, but in my limited experience (this season), there are very few players chirping and harassing others. In general, the "bullies" are juggs/guards who are clearly frustrated with getting focused down every match, so when they see a sin or a merc or healer die before them, they go ape. they're still in the wrong, but it's absolutely NOTHING like it used to be before I left (S1-5ish). in fact, it's downright cordial now.

the problem is entirely matchmaking and idiotic choices by BW to incentivize ranked play with valuable mats used as participation rewards. think about this, the worse you are as a player, the less you will be liked/welcome by your random teammates. HOWEVER, because you're not very good, it may take you 50 matches to get that crystal instead of 10-15. so now, the asinine mat quest has created a situation where bad players aren't simply in it for participation, but they're in it LONGER than any other player, thus dragging 50 games to a halt instead of 10-20.

I had at least 5 matches in one night over the weekend in which one team either had only 3 players or one team had a healer/tank but the other did not. that's matchmaking. that's BW. that's not cheating or elo. all BW has to do is port players into the arena AFTER all 8 participants have accepted. that solves 80% of the broken matches involving roles and number of players.

I've seen a few players been accused of throwing in just one night, and guess what? they're just not good. one was a mara. the other was a sin. they don't have mastery over their cds. I think the mara made bad utility choices. but they didn't throw. they were the worst players on every team the played against everyone, and we all ended up on the same teams at one point or another. again, I can't speak for DM or SS, but pissing and moaning about throwers cheating for their friends is drastically overblown. the real problem is about how teams are constructed.

edit: I quoted you, but clearly (as you pointed out) my response was geared toward the thread as a whole.

As someone who despises ranked with something of a passion, the actual cheating is merely the tip of the iceberg.

 

The arrogance, horrible attitudes, low population, and simple fact that playing the queue and/or randomness are as big variables as skill in determining ratings are all contributing factors too.

No KendraP, clearly ranked is working fine, it's your perception that is skewed not the ranked PVP in SWTOR.

Your failings in ranked are only a reflection of your lack of skill in PVP and have nothing to do with any other elements outside of your control.

You are the creator of your own destiny in ranked PVP and other factors you think other than your own skill never cause you to lose a match, like hardly ever.

I mean it's really rare anyway, like so rare you can queue for 2 whole hours and determine that it really is a flawlessly working score system! You can also watch some Superstar Streamer for a few hours and you'll see how clean and well-behaved players are now, no one is toxic, like ever!

Pretty sure only boyscouts now play ranked btw, will try to confirm or deny said claim though. Just what I been told...

/sarcasm off

Reality is: Ranked sucks, has sucked for years, is toxic, and has enough cheaters involved that the entire contest is compromised by poor player behavior. Either they need to start swinging banhammers harder, or change the scoring system to anything other than what it is now.

Reality is: Ranked sucks, has sucked for years, is toxic, and has enough cheaters involved that the entire contest is compromised by poor player behavior. Either they need to start swinging banhammers harder, or change the scoring system to anything other than what it is now.

It's amazing that the people that bash ranked the most don't ever play ranked. The way you always describe ranked has never been my experience.

Now, to be clear, I obviously support both much harsher punishments for wintraders/cheaters (and have stated so many times), and I support exploring other scoring systems that might lead to better competition overall.

But it's still irresponsible to pretend that ranked objectively "sucks" and that it's impossible to have fun, competitive matches. I have fun playing solo ranked in swtor almost every single day. The vast majority of matches are fair with no toxicity. That is a fact. Your perception of what ranked is actually like comes almost entirely from your own head, not reality.

It's amazing that the people that bash ranked the most don't ever play ranked. The way you always describe ranked has never been my experience.

 

Now, to be clear, I obviously support both much harsher punishments for wintraders/cheaters (and have stated so many times), and I support exploring other scoring systems that might lead to better competition overall.

 

But it's still irresponsible to pretend that ranked objectively "sucks" and that it's impossible to have fun, competitive matches. I have fun playing solo ranked in swtor almost every single day. The vast majority of matches are fair with no toxicity. That is a fact. Your perception of what ranked is actually like comes almost entirely from your own head, not reality.

To be fair, I think he's saying that it "sucks" not in literal terms, but in the terms that the system is drowned in cheating, wintrading, que manipulation BS, along with the super low population which exacerbates egos and toxicity because almost everyone knows everyone. Though I'll add that toxicity, no matter the size of the population, will always be an issue because that's just the nature of the internet (but that's a different topic entirely).

I love the ranked format and think arenas are fun and I consider myself a hardcore/competitive player, but I agree with his assessment that SWTOR's current ranked environment and format "suck".

To be fair, I think he's saying that it "sucks" not in literal terms, but in the terms that the system is drowned in cheating, wintrading, que manipulation BS, along with the super low population which exacerbates egos and toxicity because almost everyone knows everyone. Though I'll add that toxicity, no matter the size of the population, will always be an issue because that's just the nature of the internet (but that's a different topic entirely).

 

I love the ranked format and think arenas are fun and I consider myself a hardcore/competitive player, but I agree with his assessment that SWTOR's current ranked environment and format "suck".

Wintrading and cheating are serious problems, but let's be precise about their impact. They affect the integrity of the top 3, because most of the top 3 are illegitimate, and so they taint the system as a whole. But the vast, vast majority of ranked games don't have any wintrading or cheating happening in them. Queue manipulation really only applies to tanks or healers at this point due to cross faction. Toxicity is a nonissue in my opinion, and the little real toxicity there is, like you say, is universal to competitive online games.

Pretty much all of ranked's problems boil down to low population. If there were more people playing consistently, the elo system would function better, and therefore the matchmaking system would create fairer matches. Others have suggested that something other than the elo system might be for the best at this point, and I agree that that's worth considering. But as it stands, the elo system in swtor is functioning as best it can as far as I can tell, given the population.

Toxicity is a nonissue in my opinion, and the little real toxicity there is, like you say, is universal to competitive online games.

 

Pretty much all of ranked's problems boil down to low population. If there were more people playing consistently, the elo system would function better, and therefore the matchmaking system would create fairer matches. Others have suggested that something other than the elo system might be for the best at this point, and I agree that that's worth considering. But as it stands, the elo system in swtor is functioning as best it can as far as I can tell, given the population.

Yeah, but ask yourself, why is the rank population so low? There are many ex ranked players still in the game. They haven’t left, they just won’t play it any more because of all the reasons you’ve listed.

You also have new players or would be ranked players avoiding or dropping ranked early because of the toxicity. Older players just get sick of the toxicity and also stop playing.

There is competitive banter and sledging, which are fine, and then there is toxicity, which doesn’t help or make anyone feel inclined to play with it. You should not need to have a thick skin or turn off chat just so you can play without harassment.

Nobody was a super star the moment they walked into ranked the first time and I think many people forget that. Regs is now so bad that it’s impossible for most people to hone their skills there before playing ranked.

The problem as I see it is ranked has a bad name and is tainted by all the bad stuff that does or can happen in it. People are wary about trying it if they are still trying to learn the format and tactics. Others who could play just avoid it so they don’t have to put up with the grief.

That is what’s affecting the queue population. Older ranked players leaving it and new ones avoiding it because the population is not welcoming to new blood. And yes, of course the game’s over all population has shrunk, but that is a different issue.

 

But it's still irresponsible to pretend that ranked objectively "sucks" and that it's impossible to have fun, competitive matches. I have fun playing solo ranked in swtor almost every single day. The vast majority of matches are fair with no toxicity. That is a fact. Your perception of what ranked is actually like comes almost entirely from your own head, not reality.

yolo produces far better matches than regs. I understand ppl may hate arenas and therefore consider any arena bad. but the matches themselves are much much closer than your average reg match. and when an arena IS a blowout, it's over quick unlike a WZ where you either farm or get farmed for 10 minutes or everyone quits.

personally, I just don't like the anxiety or butterflies all the time, so I only dip in occasionally.

yolo produces far better matches than regs. I understand ppl may hate arenas and therefore consider any arena bad. but the matches themselves are much much closer than your average reg match. and when an arena IS a blowout, it's over quick unlike a WZ where you either farm or get farmed for 10 minutes or everyone quits.

 

personally, I just don't like the anxiety or butterflies all the time, so I only dip in occasionally.

Shame there is no dedicated reg arena queue

Yeah, but ask yourself, why is the rank population so low?

I think the ranked population being low is due to a lot of factors, not just one thing. I have no doubt that some people stay away from it purely because of its perceived toxicity, but I doubt it's that high a number. There are really two kinds of people complaining about toxicity in ranked that I see. 1. Players that don't ever play ranked. 2. Players that played ranked a literal handful of times, played very poorly in all of them, got yelled it, and now think ranked is "toxic" all the time. If you can find a player that actually plays ranked consistently that thinks ranked is a toxic cesspool, please get them to post to prove me wrong.

There is competitive banter and sledging, which are fine, and then there is toxicity, which doesn’t help or make anyone feel inclined to play with it.

This gets into the problem that Lhance and I discussed at length in another thread. Everyone defines "toxicity" differently. To some people, the language has to be especially harsh to be considered toxic, to others, simply saying "you have no clue what you're doing, you shouldn't be queueing for ranked" is toxic. The line from what you call competitive banter to "toxicity" is far from clear. If you presented people with a hundred in-game statements with context and asked them to classify them as toxic or not, no two people would come out with the same results.

You should not need to have a thick skin or turn off chat just so you can play without harassment.

I think this is a pretty important point to discuss. It's been discussed before in other threads, so I don't want to rehash all of it again, but here are my views briefly. I do think you need to have a thick skin to thrive in a competitive online game. Dealing with trash talking is a fundamental part of the experience. Every single online game I've played, be it counter-strike, Overwatch, TF2, they all have it. If you mentally can't handle people calling you out for mistakes, or calling you bad, or calling you names, then that's up to you. Those things are inherent parts of competitive online games that need to be accepted, in the same way that a Yankee getting booed at Yankee stadium if he strikes out 4 times in a row is par for the course.

Now, there is clearly a line into harassment territory. If someone starts whispering you telling you to kill yourself or using racial slurs, then obviously you shouldn't have to deal with that. You should report the person and hopefully Bioware will take action. I know of a person that got permabanned for doing that (he used the n-word a lot). He made a new account and is playing again. Similarly, I don't think new players should have to deal with getting kicked from ranked matches. **** talked? Yes, that's inevitable if you play poorly in match after match, but kicking someone for that is uncalled for as long as they're trying.

People are wary about trying it if they are still trying to learn the format and tactics. Others who could play just avoid it so they don’t have to put up with the grief.

So here's a legitimate problem. On the one hand, obviously we want new people trying ranked to increase the population. Therefore, you would surely say, it would benefit the whole ranked community to be nice and welcoming to those people. To help them along, teach them, and make them into better ranked players so that they can benefit ranked play as a whole.

That all sounds great until you're actually in game with such people, and your own rating is on the line, and you have a merc that pops reflect as he runs into combat before anyone even touches him, or a mara that uses force camo to engage the enemy, or a sniper that doesn't even have entrench on his bar. Such players shouldn't be queueing until they are ready for ranked. While it's true that there are certain things you can only learn from doing ranked itself, people need to have a basic understanding of how to do damage and most importantly how to use their dcds to survive. If they don't have that basic understanding, ranked isn't for them. Ranked is for serious competition, not hand holding. And if my attitude is part of what keeps ranked small, so be it. I doubt you could find many, if any, ranked pvpers that would disagree with me.

Here's a final thought that ties some of my points together. When I started playing this game again last year after not having played it for 4 years, I was obviously pretty bad. I played regs for months before I got fully used to my main class again. And when I first started playing ranked again, I was bad. I was making stupid mistakes, like using my breaker too early, getting netted and dying. I also didn't know the target priorities, and wasn't at all clear on what the right strategies were. I got yelled at a decent amount in those first bunch of matches, and rightfully so. I was messing up and I didn't really know what I was doing. But I still basically knew how to play my class, and I kept playing and trying to improve. Why should the opinion of random strangers stop me? I just needed that ranked experience to get back into the swing of things, which I did rather quickly. Now I don't get yelled at (except by 1 or 2 people that just hate me lol).

So if someone new is starting ranked, they should expect to make mistakes, and to get yelled at for those mistakes. And if you can't handle that, then ranked probably isn't for you. If you can persevere and continue playing until you actually improve, then you will be all the better for it. I've personally seen plenty of players get way better at ranked over the last year, so it's certainly possible.

I could go on and on on this subject, but I'll stop here

I think the ranked population being low is due to a lot of factors, not just one thing. I have no doubt that some people stay away from it purely because of its perceived toxicity, b

agree that it's not nearly as high a number as those who stay away because they don't want to get roflstomped (same reason granked is barren).

however, if said players were to frequent ranked more often, I predict an exponential increase in toxicity, because BW matches high ELO with low ELO on the same team for balanced matches and faster pops. It's frustration with teammates who aren't on the level of themselves that is the root of most of the nasties that I've witnessed in this game's pvp.

edit:

point of clarification on the harassment analogy: booing is a privilege one pays for with a ticket. singling out a player and telling him he sucks is an actionable offfense at yankee stadium (speaking from experience here). personal attacks are actionable offenses. "you don't know what you're doing with your dcds!" is fundamentally different from "you're a sh-tter!" one is a direct reference to game mechanics. the other is a personal attack. "you suck. get out. don't queue. etc." are personal attacks. BW implicitly opened ranked to everyone with their asinine monumental weekly. ranked has no gate. there's no dps check. BW designed the quest so that you could fail 50 times and get your reward. I don't know whether I agree with you or not about who should be in ranked, but I'm certain BW does (or did) not. it is what it is. I'm not judging your opinion on the matter. it's just not what evidence suggests.

however, if said players were to frequent ranked more often, I predict an exponential increase in toxicity, because BW matches high ELO with low ELO on the same team for balanced matches and faster pops. It's frustration with teammates who aren't on the level of themselves that is the root of most of the nasties that I've witnessed in this game's pvp.

But if more people queued to the point that more games started happening at once, then the high elo and low elo players would be separated into different games. That already happens now occasionally.

agree that it's not nearly as high a number as those who stay away because they don't want to get roflstomped (same reason granked is barren).

 

however, if said players were to frequent ranked more often, I predict an exponential increase in toxicity, because BW matches high ELO with low ELO on the same team for balanced matches and faster pops. It's frustration with teammates who aren't on the level of themselves that is the root of most of the nasties that I've witnessed in this game's pvp.

I guess I'm overly generous and assume that if the matchmaker could put 8 people of similar skill in a match it would. The issue with low population is that there aren't 8 people of similar skill - theres some really good, some really bad, some in the middle. So.in an attempt to balance it, the really good get stuck with the really bad to even it out. In theory this works sure, but in practice? Idk how to do it better though, without solving the underlying "need more peoole" problem.