Matchmaking Question

[HamsterIV]

I am sorry if I this has been answered, but I was watching an old fire side chat about match making. It seemed to indicate that matchmaking would be done by ship. I like the idea of this, but I was wondering what object does the rank for match making belong to? Also will it be persistent between play sessions?

The first question refers to pilot, crew, or lobby space. Does the pilot get all the credit for each win such that if the pilot leaves the ship the entire ship will be ranked according to the new pilot? Does the entire crew get combined credit such that if a crew member from a high ranked ship transfers to a low level ship the low level ship gets a higher rank? Does the micro lobby that holds the crew between games get the credit such that if a troll joins a ship and the entire crew leaves, the troll inherit their rank? Also if the rank is attached to a player's account does that rank stay with them after they log off the game?

[shaelyn]

email Muse.  get a key to the dev App.  test matchmaking with us tomorrow, have all your questions answered

nothing you're questioning is really a part of matchmaking as I understand it...unless that's all beyond what I see in the UI in how it works, then I really don't know.
but overall I've noticed matchmaking isn't discussed in too much detail on the forums since it is a work in progress...so I'm going to strongly urge you to just test it

[Watchmaker]

Usual disclaimer: this is discussing a planned-but-not-yet-released feature, and is therefore theoretically subject to change.

Matchmaking rating is tracked and stored per player.  It is persistent with an emphasis on recent performance.  When assembling crews and teams, a (weighted) average of the ratings of all players involved is used.  We're already tracking rating information and have so far found that it predicts match win rate pretty well (this also means that when the system is released your rating will already be something reasonable.)

Post-match changes to your individual rating are based on your individual rating relative to the (weighted average) rating of the other team.  You can read all about the hairy math involved at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glicko_rating_system (our system is based on Glicko-2.)  The short version: your rating changes most when you win or lose against the odds, and least when the result matches the expectation.

[HamsterIV]

I wasn't so much interested in the funky math so much as how joining a ship of low ranked players or low ranked players joining my ship will effect match placement. I envisioned several possible ways you could store a match making value (as stated in the original post). Thank you Watchmaker for clearing up how you plan on implementing it.

[Omniraptor]

Also, I would like to know how the system handles people joining or leaving mid-match. Perhaps a scalable system would be best, instead of a binary check- present at match end yes/no. Basically, for now (in the profile leave count) I am only considered as being in a game if I were in when it ended. But I would like it to be more scalable, for example if I participated for 80% of the game's direction I should get 80% of the score change.

Sure this system would still exclude genius captains who quickly bring a game back from a near-loss and stalemate, but it would acommodate more scenarios than the current binary ones.

Lastly, it would be nice to keep separate ELOs for the different roles, namely captain and crew- the only fixed roles in the game. For example if I'm an engi-captain who flies a galleon, I would like my games as captain to count towards captain-rank.

[HamsterIV]

I am not so much concerned about making my way to the top as I am concerned about  being put into a super high level game based on my game history when I am trying to show a bunch of new players how the game works.

[Byron Cavendish]

I am not so much concerned about making my way to the top as I am concerned about  being put into a super high level game based on my game history when I am trying to show a bunch of new players how the game works.

This was my concern that I wrote about in the dev app forum. I try and recruit as well as just meet new people, hang out, and play casually with low levels. I too am concerned I'll be limited from doing this.

[Omniraptor]

I think there's already a "teacher" feature.. You can email muse and they'll give you a key that lets you into novice matches. Plus CAs can do that by default afaik.

There would probably something similar that lowered your matchmaking rank and matched you with noobs.. But it would most likely have to be reimplemented with the new matchmaking, so valid concern.

[Byron Cavendish]

Ya there is, but teacher is an implied responsibility that borders on CA. Not talking about wanting to teach brand new players, but simply hang out with 3-10's casually, chat, chill, recruit if possible.

[shaelyn]

you guys aren't alone in your concerns...

[macmacnick]

...Helping and dealing with issues, along with even getting into a matchmaking lobby is going to be a difficult prospect for CA business.

[Keyvias]

For CAs you will be able to turn on novice queue if you feel like helping new players.  For issues you'll simply do what you do now and join off name or friend.

On Byron's point, you won't be fighting the same people all the time and lets say you're the best or one of the best players online what it will try to do is keep you playing with people around your glicko level if that's not possible you could be put with a varied group of players meaning you'll get to meet (and recruit) new players.
This means more balanced games across the board.

We're also going to add in tools to more quickly add and group up with players you like since we know that strong teammates (for recruiting or for allies) are one of the most important parts.