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Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.

Just played my third ever game of Team League and got matched with the 8th and 9th players on the leaderboard.

I'm honestly just completely floored right now. My player level is 26 and I was queueing with a few of my friends and we just got completely steamrolled. The friends I queued with were ranked ranging from silver to low platinum in previous hero leagues. How is this a thing that is possible?

Screenshot for proof: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/125753892968464384/316471817600761856/Untitled.png

(the ranked players are EKevin and EToby)

BlizzTravis

Posted 7 years, 4 months ago (Source)

We have some changes coming to TL with the next season which will hopefully help with this.

For reference, the problem is the disparity between the number of players queuing as 2s and 3s. The system needs both in order to put a team of 5 together, but when there are a lot more 2s than 3s, the 2s end up with a long wait which causes the matchmaker to expand it's search range for viable matches. When the wait is long enough, it goes into YOLO mode and makes any match it can find just to get a game going.

TL matchmaking is better than it was before the 2s and 3s were added, but it still makes poor matches way too frequently. The changes we're making are aimed at addressing that. They're in development right now and we'll get more details out closer to the start of the season.
BlizzTravis

Posted 7 years, 4 months ago (Source)

Why not roll out a simple incentive system that gives a small amount of gold and exp bonus to the underpopulated side? You could do this for underrepresented roles in QM too.

This would be a "soft' solution for the problem and not likely to be a silver bullet, but it would undoubtedly help significantly. Remember, exp and gold now mean more lootboxes and more rolls even for people with everything so it's a universal incentive.

The XP part already exists. The group XP bonus increases with the size of the group.
BlizzTravis

Posted 7 years, 4 months ago (Source)

/u/BlizzTravis Any word on getting character swaps in Hero select? Say for example in HL or Unranked we want to pick KT first pick but our first pick doesnt play KT so now we have to give it up. Having the ability to swap heros and pick for other players in the draft would be a positive change id like to see

It's coming, but no ETA. We have the basic implementation in custom games, but need to be a lot more protective about how it can be used for normal draft modes. There's a decent amount of work left before it's ready for prime time.
BlizzTravis

Posted 7 years, 4 months ago (Source)

YOLO mode? Please tell me thats the canon name for that specific program protocol.

Sure, let's go with that. ;)

I like calling it that because anyone who hears it understands what it's doing.
BlizzTravis

Posted 7 years, 4 months ago (Source)

Something that would be really great, is to allow you to invite people to your fancy voice chat though the game client. I have went into a few games and a person just threw up a Discord link and Bam we were 5 man team chatting. This was in HL, but the idea is solid to have for both.

Agreed! Voice chat makes a world of difference with the right people.

I mentioned at BlizzCon that it's on our to-do list and that's still true. Just a matter of time.
BlizzTravis

Posted 7 years, 4 months ago (Source)

Appreciate you taking the hard questions. As a dev myself, I know the feels of dealing with customers. Can only imagine what dealing with gamers is like ~_~

PS fuck the matchmaker, but praise be the devs who try to improve it. MMR isn't a great concept for a 5 man game where 1 person has the potential to throw a match. But, I don't have a better solution, so I'm just going to :salt:

Matchmaking is a thankless job. When it's working absolutely perfectly, players are still losing half their games.

Our primary matchmaking engineer likes to joke that his job is making players unhappy 5 at a time.
BlizzTravis

Posted 7 years, 4 months ago (Source)

Wait what? I dont quite get why you cant adress the "YOLO mode", as you call it, right now. I see theres something in development, but not adressing something very broken before next season sounds awkward.

With this system right now youre allowing experienced players to stomp anyone if they queue 2man at a time, where the queue is long enough to just "YOLO" it.

Why couldnt you just disable this? If theres no fair game to be made within 5 minutes, you basically let your new playerbase suffer for it. I would prefer to wait 15 minutes for a fair game, than to wait 5 and to stomp/get stomped for another 15.

That'll be part of it. Development just takes time.
BlizzTravis

Posted 7 years, 4 months ago (Source)

I think you'll find a solution, but please don't put duoQ back in HL (or at least not in master+). Removing it was in my opinion one of the best change ever, thanks for doing it !

We're not planning to change HL. The reduction to solo has been a positive change for HL overall. Our focus is on finding a good solution for TL.
BlizzTravis

Posted 7 years, 4 months ago (Source)

Would it be possible to allow people to solo queue into team league and then also allow 4 stacks? This would allow combos of 1-2-2 and 1-4, though I would agree having more than 1 solo queue per team would defeat the point of the league.

Not currently, but it's on the table if our current plans don't solve the problem.

<blockquote class="quoted">
    
</blockquote>
<div class="md"><p>We have some changes coming to TL with the next season which will hopefully help with this.</p>

<p>For reference, the problem is the disparity between the number of players queuing as 2s and 3s. The system needs both in order to put a team of 5 together, but when there are a lot more 2s than 3s, the 2s end up with a long wait which causes the matchmaker to expand it's search range for viable matches. When the wait is long enough, it goes into YOLO mode and makes any match it can find just to get a game going.</p>

<p>TL matchmaking is better than it was before the 2s and 3s were added, but it still makes poor matches way too frequently. The changes we're making are aimed at addressing that. They're in development right now and we'll get more details out closer to the start of the season.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhxtj98">BlizzTravis</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
    <div class="md"><p>Why not roll out a simple incentive system that gives a small amount of gold and exp bonus to the underpopulated side?  You could do this for underrepresented roles in QM too.  </p>

<p>This would be a "soft' solution for the problem and not likely to be a silver bullet, but it would undoubtedly help significantly.  Remember, exp and gold now mean more lootboxes and more rolls even for people with everything so it's a universal incentive.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="md"><p>The XP part already exists. The group XP bonus increases with the size of the group.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhydhjy">BlizzTravis</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
    <div class="md"><p><a href="/u/BlizzTravis">/u/BlizzTravis</a> Any word on getting character swaps in Hero select? Say for example in HL or Unranked we want to pick KT first pick but our first pick doesnt play KT so now we have to give it up. Having the ability to swap heros and pick for other players in the draft would be a positive change id like to see </p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="md"><p>It's coming, but no ETA. We have the basic implementation in custom games, but need to be a lot more protective about how it can be used for normal draft modes. There's a decent amount of work left before it's ready for prime time.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhy2why">BlizzTravis</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
    <div class="md"><p>YOLO mode? Please tell me thats the canon name for that specific program protocol. </p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="md"><p>Sure, let's go with that. ;)</p>

<p>I like calling it that because anyone who hears it understands what it's doing.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhy2a82">BlizzTravis</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
    <div class="md"><p>Something that would be really great, is to allow you to invite people to your fancy voice chat though the game client. I have went into a few games and a person just threw up a Discord link and Bam we were 5 man team chatting. This was in HL, but the idea is solid to have for both.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="md"><p>Agreed! Voice chat makes a world of difference with the right people. </p>

<p>I mentioned at BlizzCon that it's on our to-do list and that's still true. Just a matter of time.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhxxk0m">BlizzTravis</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
    <div class="md"><p>Appreciate you taking the hard questions. As a dev myself, I know the feels of dealing with customers. Can only imagine what dealing with gamers is like ~_~</p>

<p>PS fuck the matchmaker, but praise be the devs who try to improve it. MMR isn't a great concept for a 5 man game where 1 person has the potential to throw a match. But, I don't have a better solution, so I'm just going to :salt:</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="md"><p>Matchmaking is a thankless job. When it's working absolutely perfectly, players are still losing half their games. </p>

<p>Our primary matchmaking engineer likes to joke that his job is making players unhappy 5 at a time.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhxw6rw">BlizzTravis</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
    <div class="md"><p>Wait what?
I dont quite get why you cant adress the "YOLO mode", as you call it, right now. I see theres something in development, but not adressing something very broken before next season sounds awkward.</p>

<p>With this system right now youre allowing experienced players to stomp anyone if they queue 2man at a time, where the queue is long enough to just "YOLO" it.</p>

<p>Why couldnt you just disable this? 
If theres no fair game to be made within 5 minutes, you basically let your new playerbase suffer for it. 
I would prefer to wait 15 minutes for a fair game, than to wait 5 and to stomp/get stomped for another 15.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="md"><p>That'll be part of it. Development just takes time.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhxvqwb">BlizzTravis</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
    <div class="md"><p>I think you'll find a solution, but please don't put duoQ back in HL (or at least not in master+). Removing it was in my opinion one of the best change ever, thanks for doing it !</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="md"><p>We're not planning to change HL. The reduction to solo has been a positive change for HL overall. Our focus is on finding a good solution for TL.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhxveg9">BlizzTravis</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
    <div class="md"><p>Would it be possible to allow people to solo queue into team league and then also allow 4 stacks? This would allow combos of 1-2-2 and 1-4, though I would agree having more than 1 solo queue per team would defeat the point of the league.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="md"><p>Not currently, but it's on the table if our current plans don't solve the problem.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhxva84">BlizzTravis</a>)
<hr/>

<p><div class="md"><p>We have some changes coming to TL with the next season which will hopefully help with this.</p>

<p><div class="md"><p>The XP part already exists. The group XP bonus increases with the size of the group.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhydhjy">Source</a>)</p>

<p><div class="md"><p>It's coming, but no ETA. We have the basic implementation in custom games, but need to be a lot more protective about how it can be used for normal draft modes. There's a decent amount of work left before it's ready for prime time.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhy2why">Source</a>)</p>

<p><div class="md"><p>Agreed! Voice chat makes a world of difference with the right people. </p>

<p><div class="md"><p>Matchmaking is a thankless job. When it's working absolutely perfectly, players are still losing half their games. </p>

<p><div class="md"><p>That'll be part of it. Development just takes time.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhxvqwb">Source</a>)</p>

<p><div class="md"><p>We're not planning to change HL. The reduction to solo has been a positive change for HL overall. Our focus is on finding a good solution for TL.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhxveg9">Source</a>)</p>

<p><div class="md"><p>Not currently, but it's on the table if our current plans don't solve the problem.</p>
</div> (<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/6ct5wx/just_played_my_third_ever_game_of_team_league_and/dhxva84">Source</a>)</p>
    
    <hr/>

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Just played my third ever game of Team League and got matched with the 8th and 9th players on the leaderboard.

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