Low levels beware matchmaking

madwren

Newbies to the game, please be careful in the event, as your level 12-30 planeswalkers are going to be matched against level 60s in every node, if the start to this event is any indication.

Anecdotally, I guess it's a good thing you can easily level up with the massive amount of runes that are handed out never.

shteev

If this is some kind of attempt to close loopholes that platinum tier players of the game use to play down and get easier opponents to play against, then I applaud that sentiment, at least.

But I'd hate to see that impact on the game that new players have to play. They certainly shouldn't be matched against players who are way out of their league.

UweTellkampf

I remember when I started playing, this was the case. Any event would match my lowlevel PW with monsters. It was frustrating to say the least. I almost quit since the successes were so rare. You know what kept me here? Quickbattle...

bk1234

I kept T2 low because I have great U and B decks and **** green so I wanted to use my limited runes on Aj2 for NOP and on deckslots. So much for that. First match was my level 6 against a level 7 -- next is level 60. I'm going to level him to 50 and bore my way through Story Mode for the next 2 weeks. 

Gunmix25

UweTellkampf said:

I remember when I started playing, this was the case. Any event would match my lowlevel PW with monsters. It was frustrating to say the least. I almost quit since the successes were so rare. You know what kept me here? Quickbattle...

Same for me. Thinking of staying away for awhile.  There's really no enjoyment for me at the moment.  Getting my tinykitty handed to me repeatedly by level 60 monsters loaded to bear with premium mythics is depressing. I can barely touch them at my lower levels. It's gotten to the point that I'm cackling sarcastically when I actually damage my opponent. Smh. Haha

Gunmix25

Kudos for making this thread @madwren

bk1234

I did a ticket to get my runes back. I told them to also put him back at level 6. I want Aj2 more. 

Blinked

This matchmaking is a joke.  And if you complain to support they tell you to level your plainswalkers to 60 another joke especially with qb gone and now not being able to get runes easily without spending money...ohhh wait that's what a greedy dev wants you to do...the last few updates are quickly removing the fun from the game and I fear the player base is going to drastically dwindle until the game shuts down lake many other games with short sighted greedy devs have done.

UweTellkampf

bken1234 said:

I did a ticket to get my runes back. I told them to also put him back at level 6. I want Aj2 more. 

bken1234 said:

I did a ticket to get my runes back. I told them to also put him back at level 6. I want Aj2 more. 

Please keep us posted how they respond 

madwren

I admit, since I joined right at the start of the event, I was hoping to come back to this thread and find that everyone else was having a different experience. It's frustrating and sad to me that it isn't the case.

This is gated content. The rune/crystal income for lower levels isn't high enough for them to simultaneously 1) build a collection, 2) purchase planeswalkers, and 3) level those planeswalkers to 50+ so that they can compete in mythic reward events.

As I've said before, regardless of what they say, the actions of d3 indicate that they do not want you to progress through content. They want you mired in the grind, desperate enough for growth that you're tempted to spend money.

bk1234

madwren said:

I admit, since I joined right at the start of the event, I was hoping to come back to this thread and find that everyone else was having a different experience. It's frustrating and sad to me that it isn't the case.

This is gated content. The rune/crystal income for lower levels isn't high enough for them to simultaneously 1) build a collection, 2) purchase planeswalkers, and 3) level those planeswalkers to 50+ so that they can compete in mythic reward events.

As I've said before, regardless of what they say, the actions of d3 indicate that they do not want you to progress through content. They want you mired in the grind, desperate enough for growth that you're tempted to spend money.

Thank you @madwren. I concur. 

aenigmaeffect

Ok, so it isn't just me getting my lvl 18 vs. lvl 41 on 2 different nodes. The first match of the nodes were vs. even leveled PWs, but then this. ****? *sigh*

AngelForge

It seems to me, that matchmaking is always considering the last PW's level you played for the next matchup.
So, when you played a match with your lvl 60 PW and then go on to your lvl 30, matchmaking is not considering your current but you last match.

To avoid that, play either all your matches on one node first using your lowest PW and then the next higher one, and the highest at last.

You can also play your lowest PW and after, lock your next match by clicking on that node but don't play. That way the game things your lower PW is the one up and matches you accordingly.

@Brigby
I don't think this is intended, right? A hotfix should be done soon.

wickedwitch74

Bogus.

My level 20 Liliana(2) gets paired against a "dressed to the nines" Koth. I was able to take care of the turn three Olivia, but the second,enraged one knocked me off pretty quickly.

Fun? Nope.

My next match was my level 60 Kiora against a level 20 Jace(1), which just made me feel dirty.

Fun? Nope.

Please fix this balancing. 

If this was executed to prevent players from leveling after entering an event and having an opponent chosen, then just randomly generate a new opponent if the PW's level changes.

shteev

AngelForge said:

It seems to me, that matchmaking is always considering the last PW's level you played for the next matchup.

@Brigby
I don't think this is intended, right? A hotfix should be done soon.

This is a major exploit. You can bet your bottom dollar everyone will have figured out how to best use it to their advantage in a week or two.

Kyokudai

TIL:  Level gaps at low levels makes a much larger difference in performance than I would have guessed.

I decided that it might fun to use a baby PW to take on a node just for fun, so I committed lvl 8 J1 with just a weenies deck since "We'll all be at low mana gains so this should give me some wins".  I haven't been paired with anything under level 15 and frequently am paired into the 20s.  WOW, the mana discrepancy is big there.  So much for that node... haven't been able to pull a single win.

Though, that may also be due to the insane decks baby jace has been running into.  Multiple mythics, optimized rares, and all the best uncommons.  How are decks like that still in silver?!  Wish I had that collection.

Tired of being paired against opponents 10+ greater than my level for pretty much everything...

Brigby

@AngelForge

Thanks for the heads up! I've already passed this topic along to the developers, so they'll be investigating it further.

octal9

Brigby said:

@AngelForge

Thanks for the heads up! I've already passed this topic along to the developers, so they'll be investigating it further.

@Brigby - I don't know if the devs are aware, but what's happening is this:

I have two nodes with planeswalkers - one level 30, one level 60. At the event start:

1) Play a node on level 30 planeswalker - matchmaking successfully finds an appropriate match.
2) Play a node on level 60 planeswalker - matchmaking fails to find an appropriate match - it treats my PW as a level 30 PW.
3) Play a node on level 30 planeswalker - matchmaking fails to find an appropriate match - it treats my PW as a level 60 PW.

Irgy

If you want to get the correct planeswalker for your node, then after finishing each game select the same node again to lock in a match at the right level. Once the match is locked in you can play a different game without getting the wrong level opponent later. Note that you need to leave one node charge available to continue this, since once you run out of charges you can't lock in a match.

bk1234

@Brigby why have we heard nothing on this. Support is being very rude to people about it when we all know it's a bug. (I can PM you the response as I am forbidden from posting here). 

Our alliance did some testing on this and found that your PW is matched to the level of the PW you played in the match prior to the one you are currently in. So if you used a level 6 in your last match your next match will be against a PW +/-5 from level 6. If you used a level 60 it will be +/-5 from 60. 

Thr last official word we got from D3 on this forum is that PVP Events are marched +/-5 -- the bug is the fact that it is matching to the previous PW and not the current. I had approx 15-20 people test this after @octal9 proposed it and It worked every single time. 

Grognak

Same.  My response from support was "We are sorry for any confusion or misunderstanding"... Totally tone deaf to the fact that the matchmaking system was changed with no announcement and now half of my new PW's are totally unviable in events.