Valve has been experimenting with Dota 2 to make the game’s matchmaking nearly perfect because as you probably know, dota 2 is one of the biggest games in the world. With this big of a game, you had to expect bad actors to try their hardest to take advantage of it. Also, the state of the game’s matchmaking and cheaters in it is increasing substantially, as you might know, that valve recently banned over 40,000 accounts and that was like a bucket in the sea. Valve is trying to make Dota 2 cheater-free and wants to provide the players with a less competitive experience.
There have been a few fundamental changes that have shaped matchmaking’s overall shape these updates also helped new players and regulars with their day-to-day sessions. Like the confidence update or the MMR ranking system changes. There have been a few major updates that have impacted the game’s feel and Matchmaking. So in this blog, I will talk about what are these new updates on the ranking system and I will try to explain it to you in depth so that after reading this blog you will not need anything.
Rank confidence:
So this is a bit off-topic update, but I should say something about it so we will get everything major about the new ranking updates. So rank confidence is an algorithm that marks your rank as how assured it is on your rank. It also affects how you earn your ranks and everything. If you have lower rank confidence you will earn less elo and if you have a good rank confidence rating you’ll earn your points positively.
Valve introduced the rank confidence update to ensure the players that there would be fewer Dota 2 boosters or trolls and that the disbalance between the ranks would even out eventually. You will have confidence points as you play so it doesn’t matter if you win or lose you’ll get the confidence ratings regardless of your match’s outcome.
Glicko Rating System:
After the rank confidence update valve also introduced a new ranking system which is called the glicko rating system. So let me explain what is this glicko rating system before we dive into how it is implemented in Dota 2. The Glicko Rating system was an update to the traditional Elo system to improve the calculation to the right rating faster and better. It is not like the Elo system was faulted and in glicko, there are not any mistakes both rating systems are accurate but the glicko system is faster and more reliable than Elo it also provides more data to make the correct decision.
As we talk about the new match-making system in Dota 2. So Valve has implemented glicko to get the player’s rating more accurately and if we conclude the opinions of the community. Then the new rating system is well received. So I should explain how the system works in favor of you to get the full context of it.
ALSO READ: New Dota 2 Behavior Score Update
The implications of this new system:
These are some of the things that I think you need to know about how this system affects your rank and matchmaking.
- The Glicko system does weigh your performances much in the game. So as long as you win the match you will get your deserved MMR. So there’s no need to bait your teammates to get the best performance now you should only look to winning the match and be a team player.
- The blend of rank confidence and Glicko system is that now after every match the jump between your MMR points will get narrow. After more you play the more precise data the game will receive hence you’ll get placed in the best possible rank according to your skill set.
- The first few matches of this calibration are the most important ones because in them you can get past a couple of ranks. The Glicko system and rank confidence reward or punish the most to first-timers.
- The MMR awards also depend on how much MMR your enemy has and how much you have. Whichever side the equilibrium falls will be the wrong side.
There are two things that this system does which are excruciatingly painful for the bad players.
The first thing is that Valve implemented this system in a way that if someone is a smurf and trolling in the game it will detect it and will give that player a huge MMR that will result in that player’s sudden rank ups and that that player will be matched to play against his skill level players.
The second thing that Valve claims it does is that it also ranks down the boosted players meaning that if a player is playing inferior to his rank the system will give him a massive negative mmr which eventually will result in the rank loss.
With this new system, you also have to go through the recalibration process which can be awful if you’re new to the game and have just started to get through to the ranks. It affects the players who don’t play the game regularly or play the game once in a while. I would not go into specifics about how this “recalibration” actually works because you can see it for yourself while playing the game. I would only say that prepare yourself before playing competitive games because as I said earlier the initial games are the most advantageous so make sure to take the full benefit out of them.
A few Disadvantages of the Glicko System:
While there are numerous upsides to the new update for starters it evens out the matchmaking detects any unusual or suspicious players and pushes them to their belonging rank. But there are also a few downsides or disadvantages of this new system. The first one is that the system can be discouraging towards new players or the players who are returning to the games because it gives massive MMR loss on the first few calibration matches which can lead to frustration and capitulation from the player. The second problem is kind of niche but the system now focuses on your wins and not individual performances and that is why even if you play well and still lose the match your MMR loss will be the same as your other teammates who didn’t perform very well. So a star player can’t shine out because there’s no reason to do it anyway. While that might sound bad it also pushes the players to play as a team and to win the game rather than baiting their teammates for the kills.
Verdict:
The glicko system has brought a lot of promise into the Dota 2 world because it has the potential to make Dota 2’s matchmaking near perfect and make the game competitive and enjoyable for everyone. It is also a big step up from the ELO system and the community is feeling positive about this new system. As we know valve is not afraid to try so let’s what the future is for this new algorithm.
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