any trick to PvP MMR?

loroku

In the last week or two, I have been unable to ever see any seed teams in PvP. Doesn't matter how fast I get into the event, while I used to see level 1s and 2s I now see level 60-80, with 40 being the lowest and 70 being average. It was a somewhat quick transition, as I started to get more and more 20s and 40s with fewer under 5s, but now suddenly I can't even find a 20 to fight. It's only 40+. I wondered if it was strictly my MMR or if it was actually leveling characters, since I really don't play much PvP and since my opponents started changing to 20s and 40s I think I've played once or twice, but the big change was that I bothered to level two of my best 2*s to level 70 (my highest level characters) and took a few more to 60. That may have been coincidental, but since I've done that I can't really play at all. (It may also come back to bite me in PvE. What is wrong with this game where advancing kills your ability to advance?!? Sheesh I should have kept everyone at 40.)

I've tried tanking (actively losing) a few times, and occasionally I'll jump in fast enough to a Lightning Round to get a seed team and then get beaten to a pulp, but even Lightning Rounds are mostly too high for me to bother anymore. (Does losing on defense help? Is that tanking as well?) But tanking isn't doing anything, or it's not working quickly. I also end up skipping (as in: not playing entirely) the last few PvPs since I can't really get more than a 25 or so anyway, and someone said they thought skipping helped, but it's not helped nearly as fast as whatever I did that hurt - and I wonder if skipping is better or worse than tanking? Anyone know? I feel like Lightning Rounds are connected to my normal PvP MMR as well, but does anyone know? Or about defensive losses?

My guess is that after Season 6 ended I must have gotten some kind of huge boost in MMR - maybe a lump sum from playing in the simulator? I can't even play the simulator anymore. It's beyond worthless to do so: I have to punch through 50s and 80s just to get a 1* cover? I mean, it's not like I can break 1000 in the simulator anyway. Unfortunately, as others have mentioned, the simulator is a less-than-horrid source of 2* covers (from match wins), and now it's gone. ("Less than horrid" still being one of the best.) Or maybe it was from playing over half the Lightning Rounds during the anniversary? But the teams didn't seem to really change that quickly, although I could tell they were getting a little tougher. But now suddenly they're too hard.

The end result is that placing in the top 490 in PvP is now too hard to be worth it. So what changed? And how can I unchange it?

loroku

Also, fun fact: if you get zero points in a PvP event, regardless of your rank, you don't get rewards.

HariSeldon

I suspect more than anything, it most likely depends on when you start your PvP round. I find that if I start right at the beginning with everyone else, I end up in an active (and full) group, eliminating the need for seed players. For me, I often won't start until much later in the PvP round (for LR) or event. I don't think there's a science to it, as the player base is pretty dynamic in its behavior.

That said, even with 9 maxed 2*s, its not uncommon for me to see at least 3-4 rounds of seeds in alot of the events. Not always, as the last PvP event started me with a maxed 3/4* team in two of my starting rounds. Try moving your start time for the pvp around and see if that helps the situation. Good luck!

Unknown

my trick has always been to que up all 3 slots with seeds them right when the event starts but not enter it until 24 hrs later...

budman59

Hi can anyone tell me if lighting rounds affects your MMR in normal PvP? I wait until 18 hours are left before I start a PvP. To answer the first question. I hope someone can answer this for me

Unknown

As far as I've heard LRs don't affect MMR. Only events tabbed with 'Season' above affect MMR. So Simulator will affect MMR in PVPs

loroku

Thanks for the advice on start times, but I guess I should have made this more clear in the beginning: start times do NOT help - or at least, they no longer help like they used to. I can start minutes after an event and all I see are levels 40-80+. And these are all names with zero points, just like seed teams - but with WAY higher rosters. (Although to be fair, if I wait until late into an event, I see level 100+ guys, so it does get worse.)

Any other ideas?

Unknown

Nick-Thor wrote:

As far as I've heard LRs don't affect MMR. Only events tabbed with 'Season' above affect MMR. So Simulator will affect MMR in PVPs

Pretty sure the in-between season events (e.g. Balance of Power and Combined Arms) also impact MMR. So all 2.5 day PvPs and Simulator.

loroku wrote:

Thanks for the advice on start times, but I guess I should have made this more clear in the beginning: start times do NOT help - or at least, they no longer help like they used to. I can start minutes after an event and all I see are levels 40-80+. And these are all names with zero points, just like seed teams - but with WAY higher rosters. (Although to be fair, if I wait until late into an event, I see level 100+ guys, so it does get worse.)

Any other ideas?

If you're in an alliance, see if anyone knows about tanking.

loroku

Nick-Thor wrote:

As far as I've heard LRs don't affect MMR. Only events tabbed with 'Season' above affect MMR. So Simulator will affect MMR in PVPs

Yeah, I am also sure that LRs affect MMR. What I'm not sure is if they have their OWN MMR, or if it is the same "general" MMR of all the other PvP events, but what I am 100% sure of is the more I try in LRs, the harder the opening opponents get (and I'm talking about starting seconds after the LR begins). Also, the faster I get matched to higher-level opponents. Originally I could fight seed-level teams (under 5s) up to about 150 points - so, maybe 12+ straight games? Later I could fight maybe 2. There is definitely something that increases, palpably and quickly.

lukewin

silverrex wrote:

my trick has always been to que up all 3 slots with seeds them right when the event starts but not enter it until 24 hrs later...

I do the same. I have multiple 3*s and 4*s, none max leveled and only 1 fully covered. I have found that tanking does nothing for me. I have reached 600+ pts before in PVP, but that's the highest. Never been able to claim a 700 pt progression reward. Don't recall if I've ever finished with more that 600 pts, but my goal is Top 100, for the cover. I have 10 fully maxed and leveled 2*s, so even if I'm up against similar opponents, I can come out ahead. I don't really skip any teams, until the end of the event, but I also don't hit the wall of 166's til after I've hit 500 points. I try to spread out my PVP play, so that I don't mind losing players. Maybe 100 points in 1 session, 200 or 300 in the next, definitely play the last hour or two to score points on retaliations and make the final push for Top 100. When I open nodes, I'll find 2 level 1's, a 1 and 17, 2 20's, etc, but I still do find seed teams.