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Time:   22:44:24 CET   13:44:24 PST   16:44:24 EST   06:44:24 Seoul   05:44:24 Beijing

NEWS
New arena matchmaking system explained (sort of)

By Michael 'Zechs' Radford
Jan 28, 2009 17:34


ImageBlizzard attempted to quash fears about the new arena system today by explaining some of its intentions.



Speaking on the official forums today, Aratil told WoW players some of the background reasoning behind the new changes. First and foremost, he said, the new system is designed "to address potential abuses under the old system."

He then went on to give a bullet-pointed explanation of the new system. You can read the entire description below:

- First and foremost, the primary goal of the new Arena matchmaking system is to match players against opponents of similar skill, regardless of your or your opponents’ team rating. This means that once an estimated skill level is determined, you will more likely be matched against other players of a similar skill level. Please note that the estimated skill level is constantly being evaluated and will adjust based on each team’s continual performance. Ratings that are won or lost also take into account skill level, so that you will not suffer a high penalty if you lose against a team that is much better than their actual team rating.
- Another important aspect of this new Arena matchmaking system is a smaller range of maximum rating that can be won or lost. Because of the differences between how the new system assigns rating points at the end of a match, we are still tweaking rating gain versus loss per match to improve the experience.
- If you were previously ranked with a high skill level and decide to create a new team, it should now be much easier to reach your team’s correct rating. This ensures that players will not feel penalized for moving between teams, and high ranked teams will not feel penalized for trying out new players without much risk to the team rating itself.
- Finally, the core and fundamental reason for the new Arena matchmaking system is for players to participate in Arena games that are fun. We feel that with this new system, higher ranked players will most likely find the challenges that they seek, newer players will no longer feel that Arenas are closed to them, and players will not feel as penalized for trying new things in the Arenas.


Judging by comments on various websites, including the responses to Aratil's post, a lot of players are still unconvinced by the new system. However, the Blizzard poster did preempt this somewhat, finishing his post with the grammatically strange idea that "we welcome your feedback and would constantly be striving to make this system even better."

The fact remains, however, that the new matchmaking system has yet to be fully explained. Although Blizzard have given us an insight into its reasoning, we are still none the wiser as to its exact workings.

Source: MMO-Champion


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