WOTLK BG matchmaking

[Stomas]

I see mercenary mode is ON by default on WOTLK but why does it happen that there's 3 healers in one team and NONE in the other? Can you please balance the teams more properly? Even iLvl should be taken into account imo, I've had WSG where one guy did 3x the top dmg of the other team

[Stomas]

Another problem, one team full of icecrown, the other full blackrock. Result? 23 kills vs 1 kill

https://imgur.com/a/c3Lbdll

[Findrin]

I see mercenary mode is ON by default on WOTLK

You can disable it , but if you are a blackrock realm player , you can't always disable it.

Even iLvl should be taken into account imo

it is already being used to separate the barracks , even if you have gear in your bags/bank the server still count those as equipped gear so nobody try to sneak into lower barracks then equip the better gear .

[jmsvanbuskirk]

What I see in that screenshot is base level Blackrock starter toons against Icecrown players with heavily lopsided gear. Meaning they have furious gear with some Wrathful off pieces or junk PvE off pieces because there are no options easily available.

That is an interesting issue. The Blackrock toons get access to a massive amount of resilience out of the gate and really solid PvE options like trinkets. The stats are too much. You can see the problem where that team could barely even inflict damage and you got a resto druid that could easily offset any of it. Basically invincible.

It's a hole in the system. Blackrock with forced mercenary mode can create this scenario of all of them on one team. But also having them start with Relentless gear while perhaps helping queue times across the board, would also create the scenario of being paired with lower toons in a more progression gear state.

[Findrin]

Blackrock with forced mercenary mode can create this scenario of all of them on one team. But also having them start with Relentless gear

That only really happens if they queue as a premade (which, let’s be real, isn’t that often). Normally it’s just randomly selected blackrock players end up on your team, some on the enemy’s. But of course, people only notice the Blackrock guys against them. The ones quietly carrying their own team? Invisible. Nobody will speak and say "Our team was bad and some blackrock did help us to win".

And let’s be honest, players only open their mouths when they’re annoyed or losing.

[Brutone]

That is an interesting issue. The Blackrock toons get access to a massive amount of resilience out of the gate and really solid PvE options like trinkets. The stats are too much.

Ironically the exact opposite becomes the case after a Blackrock player got his first Wrath gear. Then he gets thrown in the high gear bracket and has to face full BiS donor premades from ICC which have like 6,8k GS while he has 5,5k. And the Blackrock player can't even create his own +5 man premade because forced mercensary mode makes AV enabler unusable on Blackrock.

[Allylilith]

This problem is mostly caused by the gear bracket breakpoints being in spots that dont make a lot of sense.

Blackrock starter gear should put people into a bracket where blackrock starter gear is some of the lowest gear possible, meanwhile right now it is the exact opposite :
Blackrock starter gear is the absolute top end of a bracket, which feels bad for all the people from other servers, as they get completely outgeared by people who created a character 20secs ago, and it feels bad for blackrock players, who are happy to gather a handful of pieces of gear and then suddenly do much worse in bgs, because they dont que against 5kgs pve geared people anymore but 6.6k bis sm dks.

making the top bracket wider to already include blackrock starting gear would probably make the most sense, alternatively cut off the 2nd bracket earlier to not include blackrock starting gear anymore and have two brackets above it, one from blackrock starting gear up to around the 6-6.1k mark, which requires some arena rating to reach, and one from there up to bis

[jmsvanbuskirk]

This problem is mostly caused by the gear bracket breakpoints being in spots that dont make a lot of sense.

The brackets don't have break points anymore. They removed that a couple years ago because players found the limits and started making twinks in the brackets. It's more dynamic now where they match average item levels so you're matched with players in the general range of gear. It still results in general low, mid and high brackets, but you can't manipulate it as much. It just depends who is online in queue.

I think the issue comes down to Blackrock starting with a flat 251 level all resilience gear which is ICC 10 level. Progression realm players are hitting all over the place. They get 232 from FOS/POS or 264 from BoE ICC drops or a Wrathful/off piece at 270 while they're grinding honor. These averages are pushing these players to that 251 range where Blackrock is. Blackrock on the other hand who is at the same range has significantly more resilience and set bonuses and access to some stronger pieces like trinkets off the mark.

[Allylilith]

there are still clear brackets, they just changed the rules about who goes where and there is some rng involved if you are close to the edge, but my point remains:
a fresh blackrock char will always land in a bracket where he extremely outgears people from other realms and few items later he can get into higher ques

[Brutone]

a fresh blackrock char will always land in a bracket where he extremely outgears people from other realms and few items later he can get into higher ques

A starter geared Blackrock player also ends up in the high bracket after he earned a certain amount of honor. Even when he didn't purchase any gear.