[2022] For the love of God WG please FIX your horrible MM (unbalanced teams and failed divisions)

The differences between the teams were:

Team A:

1 - Tier 5 BB (fail div)


1 - Tier 4 CA (fail div)


1 - Tier 5 DD (fail div)

Team B:

1 - Tier 6 Cruiser


2 - Tier 6 DD

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The substitution is as follows

Tier 6 Cruiser -> Up one "type" and down one "tier" = Tier 5 BB


Tier 6 DD -> Up one "type" and down two "tier" = T4 CA


Tier 6 DD -> Unable to find alternate. Dropped 1 Tier = Tier 5 DD

The "Battle Tier" of the match was Tier 7, so Tier 7s cannot be substituted, but the lower tiers can be altered in the matchmaking queue is long enough. This is talked about in our "How It Works: Matchmaker video around the 7:14 mark.

There are Tier-restricted modes which offer the ability to Division like Brawls and Clan Battles, and Ranked/Events can occasionally be single-tier as well. Those do provide single-tier experiences for those that want that.

Random Battles is more of a generally accessible mode that is based on players just playing the game against other players. Unfortunately, Profile data is pulled from Randoms which turns what is a general-play mode into a try-hard mode for those that are very focused on their stats. This isn't something we have a resolution for at this time.

While "fail divs" can certainly be frustrating, their occurrence is rare.

The matchmaker logic is that the Div's "Tier" is Tier 5. It's placed in the Tier 5-7 Basket and Tier 7 is the Top-Tier. After an extended wait, the Matchmaker will consider ship substitution as a way to find the Div a match to play in.

The Logic chain is:

Tier 7 Top-Tier

Mixed Tiers

Up to -2 Tiers allowed

Tier 5 Div (highest Tier ship is taken)

Div is allowed under loosened conditions due to time in queue (due to inability to equally match player ship/tier for player ship/tier)

The purpose of allowing the Div to play under loosened matchmaking rules is to allow the div to play within an expected timeframe.

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What solutions/changes are you proposing instead?

Options could be:

Only allow Same-Tier Divisions

Unlikely for Randoms as it is a "casual pvp mode"

Require all ships be within Matchmaking spread of 2 Tiers

Matchmaker would have to be altered to factor Tier-split Divs differently\

other suggestions?

Removing the ability to play with friends seems rather dramatic to fix a problem which is very uncommon.

Because our Matchmaker is Random, that would be a barrier from players being able to play with their friends. Currently, up to 3 players can division to be able to play together in Random and Co-Op Battles. Removing the ability to Division would leave it up to luck if you would be in the same match and/or on the same team.

Gonna hop in here to remind folks that a "queue dump" match like the one the OP is describing are the exceptions, not the rule. Most matches are not like this and do occur when players bring mixed-tier ships into the Randoms queue.

It's frustrating, for sure. This is not the MM failing though. This is the MM doing it's best to find a way to ensure that both teams are about on equal footing ship/tier-wise.
As always, the MM does not factor in WR / PR / damage / skill / yadda yadda - only tier and class. It will also try and split ships of the same type, meaning it will attempt to split 4 Des Moines into two groups of two if it can.