Battleground matchmaking change after purchasing Solace of the Defeated

Hello,

I play on the Icecrown realm with my mage (around 4000–4500 gearscore).
Before, battleground matchmaking placed me with players around my own gear level.
But after purchasing the Solace of the Defeated (non-heroic) trinket from the store, I’ve been placed in battlegrounds with significantly higher-geared players from Blackrock.

To test this, I even deleted some of my higher-level items to lower my gearscore back to around 4000, but the matchmaking didn’t change - I’m still facing fully geared players.

Could someone from the team clarify:

Does this trinket or any store-related factor affect matchmaking in any way?

Would deleting or unequipping it change my bracket?

And if the system keeps my previous item level even after deleting gear, is there any way to recalculate or reset my matchmaking bracket manually?

I understand that matchmaking is based on average item level and other factors, not just visible gearscore, but I’d really appreciate any clarification or advice on this situation.

Thank you for your time and help.

Mage – Icecrown | 4.3k GS

Buying a higher-ilevel trinket bumped you up. This would have happened the same if you had obtained it legitimately.

There is no way to go down to the lower bracket.

Well, item lvl matchmaking is really strange. As there are people with 5K GS in low bracket against 2k gs guys... bladestorm wiping whole teams. Then there are people with 5.2k gs playing against blackrock 5.5 rele... when you get 5.4 or 5.5 k gs you are bumped UP to play Against BIS chars. With my priest 5438 GS in pvp 4/5 furious gear, 0 items bought im already in HIGHEST bracket. Competing with Shadowmourne guys full BIS. What can i tell you... You have to suck it up. In year or 2 of suffering, you will be able to compete.