Marvel Rivals

So, after Noodle mentioned the loser bracket, I did some research and while complicated -- it's real.

I go on a win streak and then all the sudden I am paired with people that can't even put their shoes on without assistance. Dead fucking serious.

I take on responsibility for mistakes I make (usually pushing too far forward or forgetting to click a cool-down in ultra-fast situations), but after a loss streak I spectated some of the people in the matches where we were getting rolled and ..........JESUS FUCKING CHRIST..........

Turns out, you can make it to Diamond+ as a retard. I spec'd a Bucky player that literally did nothing but repeatedly shoot into Dr. Strange's shield -- the entire match. A Scarlet Witch that would run out front and tickle anyone she could reach and get deleted.

It's impossible to win with people like that. In fact, I think it'd actually be better without them because at least they're not feeding Ults.

The match-making in this game is fucking cancer.

Oblio said:

Yep, I was recently on a nice little win streak on my main account. After 5 wins I got paired with people that belonged in Silver. What is funny is the worst players tend to be the most toxic/loudest about why everyone else sucks or why they think the Hero someone else chose is wrong. Example i played Adam as a healer in a match, I lead in final blows and was the second highest damage but we lost and I got blamed, because I healed for 10k while our Rocket healed for 18k. They don't think about the amount of damage that my shift mitigates or the clutch Ults I had that even kept us competitive. I have decided after I finish the Season Pass I am going to limit my play to once or twice a week. Time to get going on my back log, looking at you Space Marine 2, Wukong, Armored Core and Rogue Trader.

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Yep, I had a very similar experience an hour ago. Numbers are almost meaningless. Impact is what counts. Some characters do a lot more damage/healing than others, but the numbers don't tell the whole story. A diving Spider-Man may not have a lot of damage, but picking off a healer can win an engagement. That's a lot more impactful than shooting Magneto 400 times.

Anyway, my experience -

Game 1 - I'm HARD carrying the team. I had ZERO deaths to their 4-7, but we manage to push to within a couple feet of the last checkpoint.

In chat I say -- "I was doing my best to carry you guys, but you're not giving me a lot to work with."

The worst performing guy on my teams says -- "ur on a shit character, ur not carrying anyone" and "how much healing do u have?"

I respond with -- "The fact that you ask that question tells me all I need to know about why we're struggling."

He and another of the retards pop off about me being shit.

Anyway, the game ends, we win, I get MVP and have 37k healing (mostly immaterial, but just wanted to add it for context).

None of them say shit.

P.S. Anyone who plays support knows how hard it is to get MVP as a healer and you basically can't unless the team is trash.

They also need to add a column for healing received so the "gg no heals" morons can see that they're literally soaking up heals, but contributing nothing.

*edit*

And in regard to bad positioning -- One game we were getting rolled and during a respawn I said -- "I can't do anything but laugh at you dps that stand in the middle of a passage not using cover and just expect to be healed through the team focusing you."

It's literally impossible to do that with tanks for an extended period of time. Much less someone with 250hp.

Healing is supposed to top people off, not be chain cast, non-stop.

Oblio said:

I have said the same thing to myself, I would love to see healing received as a data point.

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More data points in general. You can't improve as a team if you can't pinpoint your weaknesses

Btw if you aren't aware netease engineers posted a white paper about this years ago

Oblio said:

Ah they joy of the loser's queue...

View attachment 575918
yeah my deaths were high, but if you saw my teams you would understand

Was so close to Diamond, lost five straight won two and then this lovely streak.

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Before the end of last month, i lost 13 out 16 games.

Played my ass off, but got major fucked from bad teams & smurfs. I dont mind losing in a fair competitive match, but smurfs piss me the fuck off more than anything else.

Oblio said:

Ah they joy of the loser's queue...

View attachment 575918
yeah my deaths were high, but if you saw my teams you would understand

Was so close to Diamond, lost five straight won two and then this lovely streak.

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I know the pain.

I was one game from Grandmaster (my goal so I can stop playing this trash) and moonwalked all the way back to Plat I in about 3 hours.

I got back to Diamond, but losing the will to keep grinding.

I'm 99.99% sure that some of the comp games have bots on teams. If you pay close to attention to the voice chat messages when players join/leave; the ones that seem like they have 20 IQ and are shit performers always leave instantly when the game ends. Yet never say a word when you talk to them mid-game. Fuck that shit.

There's no other explanation for the braindead behavior I kept seeing. It's simply not possible for people to make it to nearly Grandmaster and do some of the things I have seen.

I de-ranked from Diamond I to Platinum III in about 8 hours. I'm not wasting any more of my life with a game that literally steals your time by fixing the odds.

Un-installed. Permanently.

The matchmaking rules is the one of the most important parts of a competitive game.

If this losers/winners queue is actually a thing that's incredibly gay.

DOTA 2 shitty role-queue for competitive matchmaking was what got me to quit that game.

Grabbit Allworth said:

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Really puts that 13 loss out of 16 games i had in a bit of a different light. It was over the course of 2 or 3 days iirc.

I wonder how much you can fuck with the algorithm in trying out new heroes or even get good enough with them to throw a wrench in the system.

Muurloen said:

Really puts that 13 loss out of 16 games i had in a bit of a different light. It was over the course of 2 or 3 days iirc.

I wonder how much you can fuck with the algorithm in trying out new heroes or even get good enough with them to throw a wrench in the system.

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What I read was that when you take a loss you have to log off for 8 hours because it tells the algorithm that you are not a "happy" player and will seed an 'easy' game.

The way I ranked up was going on long win-streaks by carrying trash players, but at a point the skill gap between myself and the other players shrinks and I can no longer carry the team so I end up losing match after match because I am too stubborn to quit and come back later when the algorithm 'rewards' me.

I refuse to play the algorithm mini-game. Just pit me against players of similar elo and stop all the fuckery to try and keep me online to maximize my chances of buying skins.

if anything, this strategy is destructive because as more players realize the trend, they're going to get furious and quit.

Grabbit Allworth said:

What I read was that when you take a loss you have to log off for 8 hours because it tells the algorithm that you are not a "happy" player and will seed an 'easy' game.

The way I ranked up was going on long win-streaks by carrying trash players, but at a point the skill gap between myself and the other players shrinks and I can no longer carry the team so I end up losing match after match because I am too stubborn to quit and come back later when the algorithm 'rewards' me.

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I might have missed it in the video, but is this algorithm being applied to competitive matches? To be clear that bad stretch for me was in competitive, not quickplay. I dont give a shit about quickplay.

Muurloen said:

I might have missed it in the video, but is this algorithm being applied to competitive matches? To be clear that bad stretch for me was in competitive, not quickplay. I dont give a shit about quickplay.

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Yes.

I, also, give less than zero fucks about quickplay. It's a braindead queue. I played 10 matches there yesterday to sit out an hour suspension I got for closing the game and got MVP 10 out of 10 games.

It's a complete waste of time for any competent player.

*Edit*

One of the ways the competitive algorithm is manipulated is that the developers know which team compositions are likely to win/lose vs other teams and the characters people play are also recorded. That data is used to aid matchmaking and if the algorithm has decided it's time for you to lose -- you get paired up with those 4 dps insta-locks that only swap to heal or tank when yelled at, but don't know how to play them against a team of properly distributed roles that normally main those characters.

A Dr. Strange main is going to absolutely shit on one that has 2 hours played on him.

Grabbit Allworth said:

Yes.

I, also, give less than zero fucks about quickplay. It's a braindead queue. I played 10 matches there yesterday to sit out an hour suspension I got for closing the game and got MVP 10 out of 10 games.

It's a complete waste of time for any competent player.

*Edit*

One of the ways the competitive algorithm is manipulated is that the developers know which team compositions are likely to win/lose vs other teams and the characters people play are also recorded. That data is used to aid matchmaking and if the algorithm has decided it's time for you to lose -- you get paired up with those 4 dps instalocks that only swap to heal or tank when yelled at, but don't know how to play them against a team of properly distributed roles that normally main that character.

A Dr. Strange main is going to absolutely shit on one that has 2 hours played on him.

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Long and short would be to get good with many characters as you can to try and keep the algorithm guessing.

Muurloen said:

Long and short would be to get good with many characters as you can to try and keep the algorithm guessing.

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Individually, sure.

However, that's not a realistic solution for the entire playerbase. It doesn't matter if you're pro-level with every single character because you're still going to get paired with that Spider-Man main that goes 3-12 and has a total of 9 minutes on 3 other characters. Your other teammate is the Hawkeye that constantly ADS's, side strafes into the open trying to hit his 'play,' and gets nuked from orbit while tunnel visioning. Or he panics into completely useless backpedaling when the team moves in on him.

The game is cooked unless you want to play casually. Or grind the competitive queue like you have no job to power through the algorithm fuckery.

I'm objectively good at the game, but I'm definitely not special. I think my true ceiling is probably between Grandmaster II-Celestial III. I've been close to that tier, but never quite gotten there. Though I have watched several hours of top-tier players and I don't see much of a difference between their play and mine. However, at that level it's the tiny/intangible things that make all the difference. Also, I don't know what I don't know so I'm sure there are things I could improve upon that I'm currently completely oblivious to.

Example - And this is embarrassing, but until about 3 days ago I had NO IDEA that you had to hold the button for Iron Fist's parry to deflect the blow. Though, to be fair, it doesn't say that in the description.

This whole thing pisses me off even more because I actually really enjoy the gameplay of Rivals, but I detest being a lab rat.