you make really good points about the drawbacks of "skill based matchmaking"! (halfway through the video) to be honest, i feel like matchmaking wouldnt be such a hot topic if the meta wasnt so shifted to one super op/ultra bugged pokemon LOL. in all seriousness i still would love the ideal skill based matchmaking but i also do value the short queuing times in comparison to some other games ive tried, like IDV (though an entirely different genre). i think the best approach to all this would be to find that middle ground between the "we need skill based matchmaking" vs "player retention" and much more focus on *teaching* those new and confused players (end of the video) well.. you ended up saying what i was thinking LOL. have i earned a cowboy hat of my own? thanks for the interesting video spragey. what do you think about ranked for possible future alternative gamemodes?
I don't want to know anything anymore I JUST don't want those near 500 matches played players in my 1600 rating lobby in every single match anymore Pls God take me...
i honestly think the solution is to add an improved updated mandatory TUTORIAL, so everyone has to learn some advanced topics we shouldn't want every bad player to stop playing, we should try to improve the average skill and understanding of the playerbase
I am just hoping they don't make the mistake that Pixelgun 3D made, where they made matchmaking separated in 100 different parts, and then you weren't able to get into a match
A way to support better matchmaking is by helping players get better and learn how to play the game (there's nothing besides youtube right now). One easy idea is to add in info screens before a match like "Did you know scoring points is faster when teammates are standing on the pad" or "try to save your unite for the Ray fight"
Another idea: if you're under master rank, have in-game tips either at spawn / death timers / objective timers to suggest what to do i.e. don't use your unite until Ray now or mid farm is spawning, bot objective gives your entire team exp.
Casual players don't want to learn anything, they just want to play their favorite Pokemon during their free time just to relax. It's not their fault, Pokemon Unite is not a serious game cause it just wants to engage this kind of player.
They probably didn't move for enough time or stay too long at the base (even while throwing attacks) for the game to recognize they are AFK and automatically accept the report. Doesn't work if they are doing small pauses or farming only.
This is mainly anecdotal evidence but i feel like the top end and the low end of the skill bracket gets paired together on the same team pretty often in solo q. My hunch is they try to balance the TEAM'S mmr and when that happens you get games we meme about where you get paired with 4 people with a less than 50% winrate. The high winrate player feels like a balancing chip which makes the game feel unfair for that person in partiuclar. I use to get sniped by a player with a fairly good winrate pretty often and they almost never ended up on my team and was most of the time against me.
@@spragelsI am pretty sure that the hidden MMR isnt just determined by your win streaks and such but by your damage and KDA as well. Maybe also objective last hits. One way to lower your Hidden MMR so that you arent forced to hyper carry, and actually get good players on your team is to play characters that can't do lots of damage. Like Wigglytuff and Sableye. If you play a bunch of characters like that you'll eventually get teams that are balanced better instead of 4 sub 50s.
The best matches in pokemon unite are when that 1 time a month occurrence happens where both teams rotate properly. The match is where it's so even and both teams know what they're doing that none of the towers go down and everybody sitting at 11 or 12 for levels because there's never farm. Win or lose, those matches are fun
I think ranked would be a lot better if they took the bot matches out or lower ranks and make the grind to Masters more punishing. You should get stuck in Expert or something if you're not contributing to your teams' victories.
They should kind of do it like apex on the more kills you get the higher you rank up so the players that get the most kills so level up high compare to people that barely do anything plus with scoring the more you score the higher you go or even defending rise plus healing added in
+Ideas: -More in-game: guides, training modes, accurate info on mons moves etc, loading screen tips, mandatory training to learn play support mon which is the one that can teach you more -I'm good and I'm still learning, mid players are the big key playerbase
I think the reasonable take people have is Masters should feel like the pinnacle of the playerbase. The current issue is players are in masters that play absolutely terrible, yet there they are. Its frustrating having players who literally never rotate to objectives especially ray(zap). I have lost a lot of games that I felt were fair and balanced and simply the better team one. No hard feelings, on to the next. But the most frustrating ones are when players watch you die, avoid objectives, or do the most dumbest thing you would only expect from someone in like veteran but they are in masters. I remember like over 50% of the playerbase is in masters and thats a terrible system. The matches would feel much better if bot games were removed and everyone got demoted back to rookie to climb up again. That way if you make it to masters you actually earned the rank and you can reasonably assume your teammates aren't dumb and you can trust they are playing to win as well. Matchmaking is fine, the actual laddering mechanic is busted beyond belief. Its horrible that you can climb ranks through bot games just so you don't wait over a minute thirty
_When the ally Cinderace is using a Shell Bell to gain healing from Special Attack moves. Only Ember out of all its moves would've been Special in the base games._
Jake I hear what you're saying about people leaving if they can’t get into matches within 20 seconds but I believe more people are leaving the game due to bad matchmaking, AFK teammates, meta issues, etc. I think Unite needs to separate the line harder between ranked and standard. If you want to have fun, mess around with a new Pokémon, play a bunch of quick games Unite already has the standard and quick game modes. Ranked needs to be more than standard with a number that goes up or down.
So true for the standard/ranked part. I hate how casuals are allowed to just waltz into a competitive mode and mess around with the worst builds possible. Not that they have much choice rn either since standards are dead.
The quality of matches will improve if good players keep playing after reaching 1600. To keep them engaged, TiMi needs to fix the meta to improve the gameplay experience (obviously) and offer more/better performance-based rewards.
I think the problem with matchmaking right now is that teams are not playing in the same conditions. Whenever the game wants me to lose they put me with duos or trios that are clearly inferior than the ones on the enemy team and stats at the end of the match prove it, and also the guy with probably the worst hidden MMR of the team (the one at the top of the table or at the right position in prematch screen) insta picks jungle. That shouldn't be a thing but it feels it's done on purpose. Same when you have a bad streak they put you a match against bad/new players you probably should not lose, even while trolling, because your team will probably carry in a 4 V 5, that's how trolls have a 40 % winrate and not a 0%.
@@KyleBoisjoli-i7w Doesn't necesarily mean all of the time the guy at the bottom of the table will be the carry or do the most for the team, and the guy at the top will not always perform bad but it is more likely if you pay attention. Also, when there are duos or trios they are placed at the bottom, so the "best soloq player" is placed after them.
Spragels you hit it towards the end. THERE NEEDS TO BE LEGITIMATE PUNISHMENTS FOR THROWERS/GRIEFERS! Period! The reporting system is just a step above a joke (it used to be a legit joke) and if they changed it so that players were punished for purposefully performing malicious actions to their team, it would help the game so much. Playing with toxic griefers makes me want to put down the game and i know I'm not the only one.
I once played with a teammate that legit delivered less than 1% of our team's damage, and they weren't even playing a Support or smth. I reported the player to no avail. This game only "punishes" being afk. If you move around but basically don't participate in the match, nothing will happen to you. It's so enfuriating.
I just don’t like how match making frequently makes me, a 54% winrate player have a team of all sub 50%’s VS a bunch of players who are all 52%+ These aren’t even stacked matches we are all SoloQ, why not just balance out the win rate so both teams average a similar winrate?
I think the most important point you made is that with the majority of players playing on mobile, the game is competing with TikTok, TH-cam, etc. literally everything else someone can do on their phone. That was something that I haven’t considered when reading through the current discourse on the matchmaking.
In other mobas, when I get a 5+ minute waiting time, I'll pull out my phone and check socials or chat with friends etc. To do that in Unite, it means switching apps, and that will usually reset the game. Those 5 minutes are going to be harder to fill. When on a computer, you usually have a phone nearby as an extra distraction, but when you are on a phone having a computer in arms reach is much less common.
I 100% agree that we need a pick/ban turn on the ranked format. There would be so much more strategy into your picks Most times i can tell how my matches will go just from seeing the enemy teams picks.
What matchmaking? Unite is so bad it doesn't even feel like it has any matchmaking. Even when I'm in ranked, it feels like I can get anything from a 5 year old that doesn't know how to move or attack, to a fucking masters player. This game just randomly throws you with whoever else is online looking for a match at the time.
I think they should generally narrow matchmaking a bit. For example, Instead of generalizing a whole rank, they should match veteran class 1 players with others of that class, vet class 2 and Ultra class 5. I think that's all they need to do, because you're trying to climb so it makes more sense to replace a person in that higher class.
9:45 with current state of pokemon Unite, the game probably already losing players instead. 13:53 very much true. However, without the devs communicating or trying to even listening, this video has no meaning.
I think that while is important to see the downsides of possible fixes or suggestions, dwelling on it doesn't help improve things, things are at such a low point, that any improvement is welcome at this point, so it's better to focus on solutions right now than spending to much time on the downsides of said suggestions.
The fact that I can play with people in master rank and they just stay and farm and never go for reggie or ray ever, while the other team is unified and are on top of every objective, is proof that how they matchmake and rank people up needs to be severely changed But i also think ranked itself is a joke, the fact that I can break my back carrying my team while they do nothing and lose and go down in rank is in no sense smart or logical
It's easy for streamers to say they want better matchmaking, but they don't really mean it. You see this in every type of game. Streamers want to dunk on people, and it is to their benefit that they play the worst players in the game. If they play competitive matches and their WR ticks closer to 50% they lose their appeal and following. What I want to see more than improved matchmaking is a more serious reporting system. Get the trolls and griefers out of the game for good. Regardless of the matchmaking, a 4v5 is always worse than a well balanced match.
Jake: Timi knows what will make the game successful and know what they are doing. Timi: Mewtwo Y It’s a joke btw I agree with his take on matchmaking. I think it’d be better to fix the rank system. Too many bad players floating around in Masters that should have never made it past Great rank.
They should just make the matchmaking more and more lenient on MMR difference as your queue time increases, up to a point... and get rid of botgames or make them opt-in.
Yea quite a lot of people seem to just grind to master or 1600 and then stop playing until next season or when they get a returning player event. Including me
Match making is the worst I’ve ever seen in a game, if I’m master why am I getting so many bot games for no reason or why I’m I matching with gamers not in master or veteran? It doesn’t make sense.
The biggest 2 issues are balance and lack of tutorials or tools to help players understand the game. The fact that I can hop in a match with a teammate garchomp holding a shell bell or an attack based Pokemon holding glasses is ridiculous. They need to have things in place to help players make better decisions and understand the game, rather than hope players will hop on TH-cam to learn the ins and outs.
Matchmaking directly correlates with rank system. They fix their rank system, matchmaking automatically gets fixed. Master should be a class where only a handfull could reach and not players who play worse than bots.ayou may say that it might take a lot more time for matchaking at higher level but isn't it the xase in every other game? Player at higher level have more waiting time for eg. Valorant, clash royale etc.
Honestly I'm just sick of playing Ranked, its just exhausting cause every stupid game there's a MEWTWO!!!! and the players that play mewtwo just play mewtwo, you can tell when you view their profile card and their numbers is below 500. And these players aren't even good just the pokemon is.
10:00 I don't see how they could be 'fighting for retention'' AT ALL if they refuse to fix the other problems with this game. IF they (Timi) want to retain players, make a good game, don't ruin it. The best option has nothing to do with what the devs intend, why? Because the devs intended to make accurate power-level legendary Pokemon and they succeeded---especially as of late (STILL broken M2Y). The devs intentions nor word should be treated as gospel for how a game SHOULD be made; if anything I believe other gamedevs can learn here on what NOT to do when making a video game (certain aspects). The playerbase size wasn't a problem until Mewtwo Y remained un-nerfed for an unacceptably long amount of time (and dev letter lies). And if you saw Teed's video, yes, 60,000 android (Samsung) users have already left the game. Timi is killing their own game. 12:39 This is a reach which fails to consider the factor of convenience. Overall I believe your fear the game will die if the devs so much as attempt to overhaul matchmaking---so they shouldn't, while a valid opinion, is illogical as a slippery slope logical fallacy. The chances of that happening isn't as high as you might think considering the IP. If the IP wasn't as strong the game would already be dead. Yes, I'm mad at TImi, not the players of whom I can't and won't define------either way they deserve better from them.
I think the biggest problem is that they are releasing too many pokemons and off course it’s difficult to balance when you have too many. I think they should focus more on bringing different maps because than the meta can change according to the map. I’m trying to compare with Overwatch for example and it was a good example.
I'd rather play against a Smurf but have teammates around my skill level. They could also implement better communication systems or just better ping messages, so you can actually tell the clueless what to do instead of "Watch out!". I know VC exists but right now it works as a self-ban button
I think the most feasible matchmaking improvements Unite can make is creating more Ranks in between Veteran, Ultra and Masters. 1) Create 2 Additional Ranks in Between Veteran and Ultra. My thought is that there will be a bigger buffer for players to get to the higher ranks 2) Make the in game ranks drop harder like instead of Masters going to Ultra put them in Veteran and others in Veteran should go lower like back to Great rank 3) I believe less bot games will help as well, ultimately the first three ranks are just bot training and that should not be the case 4) More diamonds to rank up, this will make players have to work harder and be more consistent to climb, I think the mechanics in place to protect your rank dropping from bad games will still be useful but less impactful with 5 diamonds instead of 3 5) increase the rewards at lower ranked ranks and even give a free Skin for reaching the middle of the rankings where Masters having a very high amount of rewards for the work it takes to get there I really think this won’t affect the casual players or low level players harshly and the higher ranked players will be where they truly belong
Idk why but they always put me in a team of new players and the other team is full of pros and and keep losing cuz my teammates keep scoring 0 points 💀
To be fair match making needed fixed over a year ago I’ve seen way too many players who were high level quit the game and never look back and I don’t blame them this game is such a disappointment anymore
I’d like to see a more in-depth in game communication system. Like 30-40 messages we can choose 7-8 to use in battle to talk to team mates.. and also showing us teammate rank in pregame
This has been such a bad problem for this game for so long now it’s hard to care anymore. I’ll still watch others play but for me personally I think I’m done with this game
It really wouldn't be hard to fix. I'm sure some sort of metric can be worked out for what a "good" match is. Score X points, do Y damage, whatever. For example, average charizard does 50k damage and scores 75 points. Regardless of a win or a loss if you put up a 20k 0 point game you move down in rank. This starts to filter the afks and trolls out of most games. Once the trash is cleared up it won't be nearly as bad having a top tier player on the other team when you know the people with you can actually help.
I will say player base could be an issue but if we assume that player base isn’t an issues they should absolutely increase queue times for better matches. Currently my queue times at peak hours are sub 30 sec and often instant. If ranked/matchmaker was legitimate people would actually fall into the rank they are meant to be in. I made a Smurf and played bots until I hit vet class so the game effectively auto puts you in plat. Ranked IS a glorified standard that’s just a grind not a skill check. I believe that a good ranked mode would also foster a healthier standard mode which is currently a wasteland and people using there trial licenses for new releases. If people just wanna have fun and have instant queue times that’s what standard is for. Ranked should 100% emulate the competitive scene for the avg player. Finding the fine line between quality matches and queue times will always be difficult but imho I don’t believe they are even close.
I have lost last 8 matches being Mvp in 7 of them along with 10+ kills and scoring 100+ still my dumbass teammates aren't able to do anything... they just keep getting koed or either they just forfeit the match Its soo frustrating to play Pokemon Unite sometimes😢
How about a ranked system where you get MP based on personal performance in game. So you would either gain or lose points based on your performance and your team winning would only add "boost" to those points Meaning individuals performing good will be rewarded and those going afk in match won't necessarily effect your progress
I don't get it, it's pretty easy to fix this, really The answer is to trust the players and give them more control For example, a toggle to focus on more balanced match and allow long waiting time. Pop up can/will present an optional match with matching metric - some numbers, and you choose to compromise or keep waiting. Even something like entering rooms until 10 players enter and toggle ready can be a successful upgrade, maybe when the 3d hub will be implemented.
Good topic, I like your points. I think the issue is: **very low mmr** and **very high mmr** players: -The game *punish very hard high mmr players* ... not fun... is a handicap most of the times. -The game *rewards extremely low mmr players* who dont really play the game, those players should not be in rank mode not on master... at least they should have their how long wait matchmaking with afk players.
I do not agree. I'm quitting the game cause matches are not fun anymore. Even the enemies are terrible, their choices are really bad (for example they break t1 and t2 top, and still they don't prioritize Eleki, but a useless Regice). I don't care about finding a match in 3 minutes, when I reach Master 1600 I don't want to see any Leafeon exp. share no more. I'm tired of that, and I don't want to lose my time babysitting bad players. After they added the new map last year and after Mewtwo release in August, a large amount of new players joined Pokemon Unite, but devs kept messing up with the balance (Mr. Mime for about 4 months, Zacian for about 4 months, now Mewtwo) and obviously, players just quit.
They may need to use a matchmaking system like Hi-Rez uses for Smite. Matches start every 4-5 minutes and it makes the best match based on who is in que at that time. and the start time is different for each type of match, ranked, normal, quick. I just need to not have games where people only have 1 or 2 items when it starts. every now and then its fine, but not every. single. game.
I do agree on most points; however for myself, a good solution towards encountering multiple teams that have no synergy whatsoever, don't respond to pings, misunderstanding the point of team play, would be a simple button. A button that allows you to stay inside a team right after the fight. That way, if you have good chemistry, you could continue to enjoy it for as long as it lasts. Exiting the game, adding players as friends or going to lobby usually ends up with those players already being in the next match.
I hate players who steal postion with a passion. They are usually the look at me, I'm stealing postion and xp from my team, they getting killed, I mean, what's the problem? They usually forget there is 2 lanes and a jungle to compete against and the other 4 are lacking because he stole all the xp. And forgot it's a team game, not a solo game. I'd say around 90% of my games are like this. The other 10% learn and become good, and usually I see the same players improving game by game. When I see that their making that effort, I'm behind them and supporting them 200% and they see that compared to the other games I've played with them. They make a mistake and learn from it and become better players. And I love that aspect of this. That lightbulb moment for them. If they could hear me they would hear me say, " yes mate, great work, brilliant, keep going, keep doing what your doing. "
My dream for unite is not only a draft phase, but queueing up for roles like LoL. Not having a five Speedster or Attacker game every second game would be amazing.
Regarding the comment about the tutorial, 1600 feels more like the end of the tutorial. Having a separate queue for 1600+ would be healthy for the game. To the point that having 3+ minutes is too long of a wait, then a Smurf account is the only option. The issue with Smurf accounts is the grinding process. Having an alternate account to equal a main account takes a lot of time. With how long it takes, I'm curious if we had alt accounts mirror our main accounts, Pokemons, Emblems, and Held items but not win rate, MMR, or rank. Be unreasonable? As a player, the climb to 1600 is fun. I enjoy competing with myself from season to season to see if I can outdo the previous season's WR to 1600. Time has to be considered regarding draft mode. The pick and ban phase might be too long, especially with the queue dodges that will come with draft mode. The idea is that waiting longer might take people's attention span elsewhere. Perhaps if they gave us a blind pick rank mode and a draft pick rank mode, it could resolve it. The reporting system needs to be redone; giving us a tribunal would be awesome, and it could be some decent content for content creators.
I agree with what you’re saying in the video. I think matchmaking, while it can definitely be a problem, is not a as big a problem as having one balance update like every month. The lack of balance updates in terms of quantity is made worse by the fact that each one also has nerfs that are often not strong enough to reel in some of the strongest pokemon (Mewtwo Y). This results in periods of time that are way too long where a Pokémon is dominating and making it nearly impossible to climb consistently without. If they choose to continue doing the sparse balance changes, i can see two solutions to make the game more tolerable in times of rough patches. Like you said in the video, implementing a ban phase to at least remove the problematic Pokémon from games would be one option. This would be a short term solution if they wanted to keep the same schedule of balance updates. Another way is for them to make stronger, bigger buffs and nerfs to make the effects more impactful. I just wish they’d be more frequent in the balancing, especially since they tend to go very light with their changes.
I've played this game on and off since its release, and i just came back to it at the beginning of last season. I wasn't very competitive before then, and im still learning certain mechanics. But now, I think I am atleast an average to above average player. learning more about this game has really opened my eyes to all of the issues it has. I was around 60% win rate before, and between the end of last season and this season started i dropped to about 49%. i get so many games that people make poor decisions in that cost us the game. It's so unfair when a decent or skilled player has their account penalized because a troll or "confused" player who doesnt quite understand the mechanics makes a bad decision. I try to play fairly and as a team, and then ill get a teammate or two who thinks they can 1v3 just because they play a pokemon like mewtwo or zacian when they're already underlevelled. I've finally got my win rate back above 50%, but it took awhile. I think that only through playing with players of similar skill level can you get better. this probably isnt news to most people, but if you relate to this just know that it isn't just you dealing with it
My biggest gripe as a solo queue player is simply that I hate getting queued with 2 duos or with a trio. 4/5 trios I queue with spam surrender vote if we miss first Regieleki. Half of double duos I get are complete chaos. Fighting over jungle, spamming thanks, stealing farm. Just give me an option for solo queue that at most has 1 duo in it.
One of the problems i face with Unite, even in unranked games is that they prioritize groups over skill level. I usually queue with a full lobby of 5 (4 or 3 if we play quick) and more than a few times, we have matched with a full team of Masters 1600 above (they have the stickers to prove it). Keep in mind I am Ultra 5 and my mates are between Great and Expert. Imagine how that match went.
I consider myself an average player, but I could totally relate to what you said: I feel obliged to play a hard carry Mon every single game. If I want to climb the ladder, I have to carry the game. That's really annoying because I love playing off-meta and my favourite mon are Defenders and Supporters. But when you constantly get paired up with leftovers/exp share junglers, half of your team constantly stealing your jungle, trolls, afks, people without any idea of the basics, objectives, when to use Unite move, saving it for ray, feeding the enemy team all game long, breaking goals by 1 or 2 aeos coins... and the list goes on... you are forced to carry, instead of having fun and playing a different role. You just lose interest in the game. It is not fun to play, it's plainly stressful. Pair that with horrible metas of overpowered pokemon that dictate whether the team wins or not, and we're in a terrible spot right now. All of this in high Ultra and Master rank.
Another big problem right now is the way they sort of promote queueing every 30 seconds or any sort of parameters go out the window, at least for solo players
I do think an extra thing with Masters rank would be a good idea, it would be cool to have 5 random people all corporating with voice chat to win the game!
absolutely agree. alot of players dont know/ realize the repercussions of what they want and think is the best. alot of the fact people complain is cus they want to consistently be winning games which is never always the case even for most mobas, you can have the best and worst teammates and its also the same for enemy teams just call it fortunate and unfortunate. people want fair/even matchups cus no matter how insane of a player you are, this is definitely a game you cant win on your own even with blissey+m2y, having 1/2 players that dont know what they’re doing is a huuugggee disadvantage esp for how they game works in order to win. but then again we cant blame new players coming in with how the game is growing and being paired with them. when ur at the top of the ladder in similar games such as dota,league take around 20-45min queue times just to get a game at the same caliber so it definitely wouldn’t workout for unite even if some people think so. just get better and accept that there will be super difficult games and also super easy ones. what needs to change for now that easily fixes alit of issues it balancing
A ccouple things that I truly want - - No bot games, especially in comp. Nothing about a bot game is competitive. I have gotten from Ultra to Master on bot games before because my queue time was too long. There's nothing competitive about bot games. -Rank means mothing. Because ranks reset every season, You could have a top 1% player in the same Ultra game right off the bat, assuming MMR is similar. -You can climb rank with a negative win rate. That should never be a thing. Matchmaking is a very delicate balance. A true "fair" game is a match where both teams have a 50% chance of winning and their win rates are 50% in the long term. Issue with that, at a high enough rank, a 50% WR is a net reduction in masters points. Also, a 50% WR is not very fun. You are playing a game and would like to win at least a little more than you lose to keep the dopamine flowing. Also, I never stay in a queue longer than a minute or so. 5 minute queues would not make me enjoy the game, especially with the 10 second time out timer that could boot you from the queue and make you wait another 5 minutes just because you didn't have the app open, waiting for your game. A unite game is between 5-10 minutes long. I do not want 25-30% of my screen time to be waiting for a game that at its heart is supposed to be a fun game and not entirely all that competitive.
I kind of agree with you but there are a couple of things I would fix: - not allow sub 50% winrate to master: the things they want to do is to make players feel good at the game even if they're not, but this is actually poisoning the match making and kills all the accomplishment one could feel. - solo q ladder: this is something so easy I wonder why they've still not implemented it, it would push more players to play also solo games and would bring a lot of players otherwise they would play only in trio/five stack And yeah, the balance is horrible...
That would be pretty nice if they did these things. I like your thoughts on all of this! I understand why they put you into a bot match if you’re on a losing streak (even in ranked). But I really wish they didn’t allow any bots in ranked at all. Not even to fill out games. Bots just make the match hollow, they’re too easy to beat. Draft at masters would be cool, maybe only do it for MMR 1200+? Or maybe everyone wants it. It does slow down the start of games, but maybe they could make a quick version
Oh no, that's my salty rage tweet at13:44! I made it to the 1600's last season, which I don't normally bother to do. This season was a total nightmare. Being the only player to choose defenders / supporters when the other 4 lock in attackers and having so many games lost because multiple team members decide to back cap instead of going for Ray absolutely drains you. I have no intention of touching the game until the monster of Mewtwo Y finally gets toned down.
I'm not gonna tackle all the things you talked about I want to just correct one specific and important point. As someone who played the game for skill, growth and to be competitive. I would absolutely wait longer for better games, anything less is a waste of my time. Its a 10 minute game yes, but most people are queing for multiple matches anyway, if you're grinding rank you're grinding rank, its not a oh let me do 2 matches and that's it. NO one that actually wants competitive good matches would have a problem waiting, at all. and like you've said and we've said, that wouldn't affect the majority. Not having those things is why I and many others have left the game. not the balance but the lacking matchmaking, because no matter what broken thing they released 9 times out of 10, I was still able to out skill them or counter it in some way. Simply put outskilling 1 person/opponent = fun being forced to hard carry 4 people/teammates = explicative/ a really bad time. lol And to exemplify my point with a real example. A year ago I played standard and I qued into a game with people that had literally just started the game they had less than 10 games less than 7 games. TOTAL the standard matchmaking put that beginner in a match with verteran ulra and masters players along with Me. Who at the time had over 4k matches played. -_- That should NEVER happen. and sadly that type of thing wasn't just a one off. This game has THE WORST matchmaking I've ever seen.
We as consumers are well versed at defining and discerning *_WHAT_* or *_WHERE_* is the problem - however the actual *_FIXING_* of said problem is what few of us can claim to be able to do
Towards your comment on more players playing in the UCS and tournaments, there are probably far more players who want to play a more competitive pokemon unite experience, but because most of these require either external methods of finding them such as discord servers and battlefy, or require a team of 5 people who can coordinate themselves in a tournament setting, which the game provides no internal support for. I myself have been looking into joining the UCS but I only have one real life friend who plays the game a lot, and wouldnt be able to form a team. I think there are plenty of players that are interested in the UCS and tournament play, but only some of them have the ability to do so
If they're not gonna fix matchmaking anytime soon, then the LEAST they can do is add a ban system to ranked, make the reporting function actually mean something significant, and stay on top of balancing. Those three things would improve the game dramatically before matchmaking would even be touched.
I think there is partly problem in matchmaking, when matching the players to same game. It is done at least partly with your rank instead of mmr. And as we have seen the rank is not showing well the players skill. Example there is a lot playing guy achieving master rank, but his mmr is more similar with ultra 3-5 players or even veteran players. Still he is matched with master players because he is master. That makes the players mmr to wider range than it would have been otherwise. Solution for that is to change matching to same game more mmr based OR making the ranked system climbing harder. In general the question of matchmaking is so complicated, that without having good data the discussion if it really works or not is hard. And there is some other problems as well including e.g. Lack of indicator of skill showed to players.
I'm a high ranking AND high paying player. They lost me due to the match making around the mew patch and it saddens me greatly. I LOVED this game from day 1 and sadly the frustrations with potato allies pushed me, and my money, far far away. I would have gladly waited longer for teammates not determined to throw every match.
Oh how I remember my master time 6 on the enemy team with around a 200 battles two other teammates for them. And my team had a comfey/ivysaur duo with 40 battles. 40, as in, just outside the tutorial. And my other two teammates were around 400 battles. Im at 1300 battles and never reached masters. I say comfey ivysaur because they ended up never actually getting to Venusaur. They actively went out and only fought wild Pokémon, but ivysaur stopped attacking to let comfey level them up! Which is sweet, but COMFEY didn’t have an EXP SHARE. So it was ONLY their exp. It was a level 6 ivysaur with the full on yellow ring around wanting it to evolve so bad. The guy with 2.1k achievement points was playing mewtwo Y, other guy had a blissey, and last guy was water urshifu. I actually ended up having to report them cause after a while they “gave up” so they would respawn, wait for each other, comfey attach, and walk themselves into the enemy middle goal zone and get farmed. The other two guys were trying to hard and we just goofed around trying to snipe rayquaza and then run away.
I swear that every time I try to play the game, my teammates are outrageous. There's this one game where my garchomp was getting level gated and was at lv 8 at ray, while I was at lv 15 as cram, then we lost.
I think that ban phase is rly good, I used to play power league in brawl stars which was essentially ranked from Pokémon unite (but it had the ban) and Power Leauge sucked but without the ban power league would be un-playable
Some people don't see Pokémon Unite for what it is. One of the things I like about this game is how varied your builds can be for each character. In an ideal world we would be able to use any item on pretty much any pokémon (be it for a certain strategy or even as an experiment) and not troll the match. In other games of the same genre we have much more limited options for each character beacause their role in the game is a lot more rigid and there's not a lot of room for different playstyles and strats. If you're a tank, you gotta tank, if you're a supporter, you gotta heal. But in PU you can have Mr. Mime and stuff like Greedent dealing a ton of damage while still kind of mantaining their role and definitely not trolling.
I'm ALREADY waiting 2ish~ minutes for a game each time because I stop the matchmaking at 30 seconds, where the game automatically extends the player skill bracket to find me a game faster. I am ALREADY taking steps on my own end to try and get matched into the best games possible. While I agree that making the algorithm too strict or too invasive would be a bad idea, to not do ANYTHING with the matchmaking in its current state is just borderline negligent.
I think one thing to point out that people would throw under the term matchmaking is actually, in my opinion, that the game fails horribly at teaching its players. Yes, i complain (in my mind) about matchmaking when i have someone on my team with choice specs spoon stacking specs charizard and the enemy team has a muscle band, scarf scope lens garchomp in that same slot, and it is silly that the charizard can be in a game of the highest possible level in our current ranked system, but its honestly on the game for not teaching the charizard better. And this goes for a lot of the things people dont understand. Why are spawn timers never explained? Why do people not understand last hitting being required for evolution. Why is comeback audinos something the game doesnt tell you. I could go on for days, but the point stands i hope
I think one problem is the fact that the game seems to match according to a team's MMR - not only individual's MMR. When you're a decent player, you get into teams with sub-50% win rate players way too often. It's like they're trying to balance the bad team by putting one decent player in it - and that team then plays against a team with only >50% win rate players. It's simply not fair. I wouldn't want to wait five minutes for a game probably, but I wonder what something like, for example, 20%-30% more waiting time would do. I don't think I'd mind that if the games are more fair and there are less trolls, etc. Speaking of which, the reporting system definitely needs to be stricter... It's one thing to get matched with bad players, but when you, in addition, also get all these trolls, it's just brutal. And the reporting does nothing ever which is the icing on the cake..! Add broken Pokemon, like Mewtwo now, and the game is probably in the worst state it's every been :/
I'm speaking into the void here cause nobody cares about one person's dream overhaul and I apparently have a totally different philosophy and vision for this game than TiMi does, but here goes. I absolutely agree that proper/proactive balance, ban phase, and actual griefer/afk punishment is a much higher priority than matchmaking. I have also come around to Krashy's point about getting rid of performance points and rank protection cards since I'm still flabbergasted at how negative winrate players can end up in Masters+. I know it's not happening, but bringing Ray back to debut levels will also make games more skill based and encourage more people to keep trying even after it's taken. EDIT: Saw another comment about this and it's absolutely true. There need to be more official guides for how to play like stuff about basic macro (go to objectives, be careful if enemies are missing, you score faster with teammates nearby, etc). The game does a decent job getting players used to the controls, but is horrid at teaching players how to improve. At the same time, it feels like the game needs to totally overhaul how it treats each mode. Ranked really does feel like a glorified Standard up until high Masters, and queueing up for Standards takes so long unless you get a bot game. IIRC, people can access Ranked SUPER early, so one easy way might be to lock new players out of Ranked until they reach a higher level or have more Pokemon? They can still play Standard with friends but they also will not clog the Ranked queue as much where people looking to tryhard a little more can focus on doing so. Likewise, I also really don't like how the game treats pre-Masters Ranked as "training wheels" or a "ranked tutorial". It makes the fun of reaching a new rank meaningless as the real grind doesn't start till mid-high Masters. Seeing a number go up or down is not nearly as fun and makes the grind really feel like an unrewarding grind. I'd argue making all the above changes will fix this, making Ranked more rewarding and player-retentive while also increasing the mode's competitive integrity. Either way, matchmaking is (funnily enough) the least of our problems now. Balance and proper griefer/afk punishments are much higher priority to make the overall in-game environment healthier. That alone will make players much happier and keep them coming back.
I think a huge problem with MMR right now is how easy it is to get wins by playing M2Y. Worse players are getting carried to more wins and then taking up those team slots
Let me know your thoughts in the comments! And as always be cool to each other. No problem if you disagree, just dont troll
Vid from Krashy here - th-cam.com/video/yNgBBz1LdIg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=fvIFvwYVwOAKCF5G
you make really good points about the drawbacks of "skill based matchmaking"!
(halfway through the video)
to be honest, i feel like matchmaking wouldnt be such a hot topic if the meta wasnt so shifted to one super op/ultra bugged pokemon LOL. in all seriousness i still would love the ideal skill based matchmaking but i also do value the short queuing times in comparison to some other games ive tried, like IDV (though an entirely different genre). i think the best approach to all this would be to find that middle ground between the "we need skill based matchmaking" vs "player retention" and much more focus on *teaching* those new and confused players
(end of the video)
well.. you ended up saying what i was thinking LOL. have i earned a cowboy hat of my own? thanks for the interesting video spragey. what do you think about ranked for possible future alternative gamemodes?
I don't want to know anything anymore
I JUST don't want those near 500 matches played players in my 1600 rating lobby in every single match anymore
Pls God take me...
i honestly think the solution is to add an improved updated mandatory TUTORIAL, so everyone has to learn some advanced topics
we shouldn't want every bad player to stop playing, we should try to improve the average skill and understanding of the playerbase
I am just hoping they don't make the mistake that Pixelgun 3D made, where they made matchmaking separated in 100 different parts, and then you weren't able to get into a match
A way to support better matchmaking is by helping players get better and learn how to play the game (there's nothing besides youtube right now).
One easy idea is to add in info screens before a match like "Did you know scoring points is faster when teammates are standing on the pad" or "try to save your unite for the Ray fight"
This is desperately needed
Another idea: if you're under master rank, have in-game tips either at spawn / death timers / objective timers to suggest what to do i.e. don't use your unite until Ray now or mid farm is spawning, bot objective gives your entire team exp.
Casual players don't want to learn anything, they just want to play their favorite Pokemon during their free time just to relax.
It's not their fault, Pokemon Unite is not a serious game cause it just wants to engage this kind of player.
Or just unlock ranked way later instead of throw you in bot ranked matchs that can literally carry you ALL the way almost to Masters.
I'm sorry, WHAT?! to that first fact? Faster scoring?!
At least in Ultra, we need teammates that don't just stand there and move every once in a while so that they can't get reported.😂
I report them and I get messaged back that the report was successful so 🤷♂️
@@DatedOstrich62100% of the time? Doubtful..if so then you're lucky
Hiding in the bush for 2mins then move to the next bush for another 2mins 😅😅
@@IPeppersI idk if giving good explanations helps me at all but so far they’ve all come back as successfully reported
They probably didn't move for enough time or stay too long at the base (even while throwing attacks) for the game to recognize they are AFK and automatically accept the report. Doesn't work if they are doing small pauses or farming only.
This is mainly anecdotal evidence but i feel like the top end and the low end of the skill bracket gets paired together on the same team pretty often in solo q. My hunch is they try to balance the TEAM'S mmr and when that happens you get games we meme about where you get paired with 4 people with a less than 50% winrate. The high winrate player feels like a balancing chip which makes the game feel unfair for that person in partiuclar. I use to get sniped by a player with a fairly good winrate pretty often and they almost never ended up on my team and was most of the time against me.
I think this is 100% right and I also think the unfortunate thing is that there aren’t enough high, rank players in the game.
By removing bot lobbies and reseting everyone back to rookie, you would have to have a high win rate to hit masters. Thats all this game needs
"I need more players to fix this but i need to fix this to get more players!"@@spragels
@@spragelsI am pretty sure that the hidden MMR isnt just determined by your win streaks and such but by your damage and KDA as well. Maybe also objective last hits.
One way to lower your Hidden MMR so that you arent forced to hyper carry, and actually get good players on your team is to play characters that can't do lots of damage. Like Wigglytuff and Sableye. If you play a bunch of characters like that you'll eventually get teams that are balanced better instead of 4 sub 50s.
Yea I think they just lie about MMR and legit just put teams of whoever queued first together
The best matches in pokemon unite are when that 1 time a month occurrence happens where both teams rotate properly.
The match is where it's so even and both teams know what they're doing that none of the towers go down and everybody sitting at 11 or 12 for levels because there's never farm.
Win or lose, those matches are fun
So true dude
These types of matches are pure fire! Always enjoy them.
100%
I’ve had matches where we lost but I couldn’t be mad because it was a super close super engaging match where EVERYONE was in it to win.
I think ranked would be a lot better if they took the bot matches out or lower ranks and make the grind to Masters more punishing. You should get stuck in Expert or something if you're not contributing to your teams' victories.
Remove bot games and reset everyone back to rookie and masters will be fixed
They should kind of do it like apex on the more kills you get the higher you rank up so the players that get the most kills so level up high compare to people that barely do anything plus with scoring the more you score the higher you go or even defending rise plus healing added in
+Ideas:
-More in-game: guides, training modes, accurate info on mons moves etc, loading screen tips, mandatory training to learn play support mon which is the one that can teach you more
-I'm good and I'm still learning, mid players are the big key playerbase
It's baffling how master rank players doesn't know how to prioritize objectives
I think the reasonable take people have is Masters should feel like the pinnacle of the playerbase. The current issue is players are in masters that play absolutely terrible, yet there they are. Its frustrating having players who literally never rotate to objectives especially ray(zap). I have lost a lot of games that I felt were fair and balanced and simply the better team one. No hard feelings, on to the next. But the most frustrating ones are when players watch you die, avoid objectives, or do the most dumbest thing you would only expect from someone in like veteran but they are in masters. I remember like over 50% of the playerbase is in masters and thats a terrible system. The matches would feel much better if bot games were removed and everyone got demoted back to rookie to climb up again. That way if you make it to masters you actually earned the rank and you can reasonably assume your teammates aren't dumb and you can trust they are playing to win as well. Matchmaking is fine, the actual laddering mechanic is busted beyond belief. Its horrible that you can climb ranks through bot games just so you don't wait over a minute thirty
_When the ally Cinderace is using a Shell Bell to gain healing from Special Attack moves. Only Ember out of all its moves would've been Special in the base games._
Jake I hear what you're saying about people leaving if they can’t get into matches within 20 seconds but I believe more people are leaving the game due to bad matchmaking, AFK teammates, meta issues, etc.
I think Unite needs to separate the line harder between ranked and standard. If you want to have fun, mess around with a new Pokémon, play a bunch of quick games Unite already has the standard and quick game modes. Ranked needs to be more than standard with a number that goes up or down.
So true for the standard/ranked part. I hate how casuals are allowed to just waltz into a competitive mode and mess around with the worst builds possible. Not that they have much choice rn either since standards are dead.
@@MusicCometi wouldn't mind if they were stuck in lower ranks with those builds, the problem is they are in ranks they do not belong into
@@serily4524 Absolutely!
The quality of matches will improve if good players keep playing after reaching 1600. To keep them engaged, TiMi needs to fix the meta to improve the gameplay experience (obviously) and offer more/better performance-based rewards.
no if you solo q game gonna be like this 1-2 highest mrr player for both team have to carry 3-4 negetive winrate player to carry
That’s not a bad idea
I think the problem with matchmaking right now is that teams are not playing in the same conditions. Whenever the game wants me to lose they put me with duos or trios that are clearly inferior than the ones on the enemy team and stats at the end of the match prove it, and also the guy with probably the worst hidden MMR of the team (the one at the top of the table or at the right position in prematch screen) insta picks jungle. That shouldn't be a thing but it feels it's done on purpose. Same when you have a bad streak they put you a match against bad/new players you probably should not lose, even while trolling, because your team will probably carry in a 4 V 5, that's how trolls have a 40 % winrate and not a 0%.
Does the position on the table really correlate to their MMR? I was not aware of this, but if it's true that's really interesting.
@@KyleBoisjoli-i7w Doesn't necesarily mean all of the time the guy at the bottom of the table will be the carry or do the most for the team, and the guy at the top will not always perform bad but it is more likely if you pay attention. Also, when there are duos or trios they are placed at the bottom, so the "best soloq player" is placed after them.
Spragels you hit it towards the end. THERE NEEDS TO BE LEGITIMATE PUNISHMENTS FOR THROWERS/GRIEFERS! Period! The reporting system is just a step above a joke (it used to be a legit joke) and if they changed it so that players were punished for purposefully performing malicious actions to their team, it would help the game so much. Playing with toxic griefers makes me want to put down the game and i know I'm not the only one.
I once played with a teammate that legit delivered less than 1% of our team's damage, and they weren't even playing a Support or smth. I reported the player to no avail. This game only "punishes" being afk. If you move around but basically don't participate in the match, nothing will happen to you. It's so enfuriating.
I just don’t like how match making frequently makes me, a 54% winrate player have a team of all sub 50%’s VS a bunch of players who are all 52%+
These aren’t even stacked matches we are all SoloQ, why not just balance out the win rate so both teams average a similar winrate?
I think the most important point you made is that with the majority of players playing on mobile, the game is competing with TikTok, TH-cam, etc. literally everything else someone can do on their phone. That was something that I haven’t considered when reading through the current discourse on the matchmaking.
In other mobas, when I get a 5+ minute waiting time, I'll pull out my phone and check socials or chat with friends etc. To do that in Unite, it means switching apps, and that will usually reset the game. Those 5 minutes are going to be harder to fill. When on a computer, you usually have a phone nearby as an extra distraction, but when you are on a phone having a computer in arms reach is much less common.
I 100% agree that we need a pick/ban turn on the ranked format. There would be so much more strategy into your picks
Most times i can tell how my matches will go just from seeing the enemy teams picks.
What matchmaking? Unite is so bad it doesn't even feel like it has any matchmaking. Even when I'm in ranked, it feels like I can get anything from a 5 year old that doesn't know how to move or attack, to a fucking masters player. This game just randomly throws you with whoever else is online looking for a match at the time.
I think they should generally narrow matchmaking a bit. For example, Instead of generalizing a whole rank, they should match veteran class 1 players with others of that class, vet class 2 and Ultra class 5. I think that's all they need to do, because you're trying to climb so it makes more sense to replace a person in that higher class.
9:45 with current state of pokemon Unite, the game probably already losing players instead.
13:53 very much true.
However, without the devs communicating or trying to even listening, this video has no meaning.
Haven't played in a hot minute, but I miss seeing you Spragles! You are the best part of this community. 💕
Thank you!
I think that while is important to see the downsides of possible fixes or suggestions, dwelling on it doesn't help improve things, things are at such a low point, that any improvement is welcome at this point, so it's better to focus on solutions right now than spending to much time on the downsides of said suggestions.
Oh boy response will probably be out tomorrow morning. Lots to discuss!
The fact that I can play with people in master rank and they just stay and farm and never go for reggie or ray ever, while the other team is unified and are on top of every objective, is proof that how they matchmake and rank people up needs to be severely changed
But i also think ranked itself is a joke, the fact that I can break my back carrying my team while they do nothing and lose and go down in rank is in no sense smart or logical
It's easy for streamers to say they want better matchmaking, but they don't really mean it. You see this in every type of game. Streamers want to dunk on people, and it is to their benefit that they play the worst players in the game. If they play competitive matches and their WR ticks closer to 50% they lose their appeal and following.
What I want to see more than improved matchmaking is a more serious reporting system. Get the trolls and griefers out of the game for good. Regardless of the matchmaking, a 4v5 is always worse than a well balanced match.
This is true. Unite wants to remain casual. Which is fine, is the balance that's making matches not fun to play.
It does seem that way
Jake: Timi knows what will make the game successful and know what they are doing.
Timi: Mewtwo Y
It’s a joke btw I agree with his take on matchmaking. I think it’d be better to fix the rank system. Too many bad players floating around in Masters that should have never made it past Great rank.
They should just make the matchmaking more and more lenient on MMR difference as your queue time increases, up to a point... and get rid of botgames or make them opt-in.
I would argue that more people would play more often if the matchmaking system was better and balancing was better.
Balance patches>new pokémon
Very true. The matchmaking plus mewtwo made me leave the game. For some reason I’ve been getting really bad teammates.
Yea quite a lot of people seem to just grind to master or 1600 and then stop playing until next season or when they get a returning player event. Including me
I don't want equal opponents. I am 1400 points and matter of fact I want to be able to play with spragels who is 1800. 3 hats off.
I just want teammates that don't backcap at Ray...
Match making is the worst I’ve ever seen in a game, if I’m master why am I getting so many bot games for no reason or why I’m I matching with gamers not in master or veteran? It doesn’t make sense.
Live stream was fun as always! Thanks Spragels!
Glad you enjoyed!
Yea dude, his live streams is something I look forward to every day! If I miss one, I don't know what I would do...
The biggest 2 issues are balance and lack of tutorials or tools to help players understand the game.
The fact that I can hop in a match with a teammate garchomp holding a shell bell or an attack based Pokemon holding glasses is ridiculous.
They need to have things in place to help players make better decisions and understand the game, rather than hope players will hop on TH-cam to learn the ins and outs.
Matchmaking directly correlates with rank system. They fix their rank system, matchmaking automatically gets fixed. Master should be a class where only a handfull could reach and not players who play worse than bots.ayou may say that it might take a lot more time for matchaking at higher level but isn't it the xase in every other game? Player at higher level have more waiting time for eg. Valorant, clash royale etc.
Honestly I'm just sick of playing Ranked, its just exhausting cause every stupid game there's a MEWTWO!!!! and the players that play mewtwo just play mewtwo, you can tell when you view their profile card and their numbers is below 500. And these players aren't even good just the pokemon is.
10:00
I don't see how they could be 'fighting for retention'' AT ALL if they refuse to fix the other problems with this game.
IF they (Timi) want to retain players, make a good game, don't ruin it.
The best option has nothing to do with what the devs intend, why?
Because the devs intended to make accurate power-level legendary Pokemon and they succeeded---especially as of late (STILL broken M2Y).
The devs intentions nor word should be treated as gospel for how a game SHOULD be made; if anything I believe other gamedevs can learn here on what NOT to do when making a video game (certain aspects).
The playerbase size wasn't a problem until Mewtwo Y remained un-nerfed for an unacceptably long amount of time (and dev letter lies). And if you saw Teed's video, yes, 60,000 android (Samsung) users have already left the game.
Timi is killing their own game.
12:39 This is a reach which fails to consider the factor of convenience.
Overall I believe your fear the game will die if the devs so much as attempt to overhaul matchmaking---so they shouldn't, while a valid opinion, is illogical as a slippery slope logical fallacy. The chances of that happening isn't as high as you might think considering the IP.
If the IP wasn't as strong the game would already be dead.
Yes, I'm mad at TImi, not the players of whom I can't and won't define------either way they deserve better from them.
I think the biggest problem is that they are releasing too many pokemons and off course it’s difficult to balance when you have too many. I think they should focus more on bringing different maps because than the meta can change according to the map. I’m trying to compare with Overwatch for example and it was a good example.
outside of ranked, i get day 1ers in EVERY single game, or its a Bot game. Ranked is stressful in masters so i'm not always in the mood.
one thing that does not need fixing is spragels beautiful mustache
the perfect comment doesnt exi-
Yes, he has the ultimate cowboy mustache
I'd rather play against a Smurf but have teammates around my skill level.
They could also implement better communication systems or just better ping messages, so you can actually tell the clueless what to do instead of "Watch out!". I know VC exists but right now it works as a self-ban button
I think the most feasible matchmaking improvements Unite can make is creating more Ranks in between Veteran, Ultra and Masters.
1) Create 2 Additional Ranks in Between Veteran and Ultra. My thought is that there will be a bigger buffer for players to get to the higher ranks
2) Make the in game ranks drop harder like instead of Masters going to Ultra put them in Veteran and others in Veteran should go lower like back to Great rank
3) I believe less bot games will help as well, ultimately the first three ranks are just bot training and that should not be the case
4) More diamonds to rank up, this will make players have to work harder and be more consistent to climb, I think the mechanics in place to protect your rank dropping from bad games will still be useful but less impactful with 5 diamonds instead of 3
5) increase the rewards at lower ranked ranks and even give a free Skin for reaching the middle of the rankings where Masters having a very high amount of rewards for the work it takes to get there
I really think this won’t affect the casual players or low level players harshly and the higher ranked players will be where they truly belong
Idk why but they always put me in a team of new players and the other team is full of pros and and keep losing cuz my teammates keep scoring 0 points 💀
If you want Quick games
That is what standards are for
To be fair match making needed fixed over a year ago I’ve seen way too many players who were high level quit the game and never look back and I don’t blame them this game is such a disappointment anymore
I would trully won't mind getting matched with the same 9 dudes if that's necessary to fix matchmaking. At least the games would be more interesting.
I’d like to see a more in-depth in game communication system. Like 30-40 messages we can choose 7-8 to use in battle to talk to team mates.. and also showing us teammate rank in pregame
You can already see the rank through the border of the cards in the pre game
This has been such a bad problem for this game for so long now it’s hard to care anymore. I’ll still watch others play but for me personally I think I’m done with this game
It really wouldn't be hard to fix. I'm sure some sort of metric can be worked out for what a "good" match is. Score X points, do Y damage, whatever. For example, average charizard does 50k damage and scores 75 points. Regardless of a win or a loss if you put up a 20k 0 point game you move down in rank. This starts to filter the afks and trolls out of most games. Once the trash is cleared up it won't be nearly as bad having a top tier player on the other team when you know the people with you can actually help.
I will say player base could be an issue but if we assume that player base isn’t an issues they should absolutely increase queue times for better matches. Currently my queue times at peak hours are sub 30 sec and often instant. If ranked/matchmaker was legitimate people would actually fall into the rank they are meant to be in. I made a Smurf and played bots until I hit vet class so the game effectively auto puts you in plat. Ranked IS a glorified standard that’s just a grind not a skill check. I believe that a good ranked mode would also foster a healthier standard mode which is currently a wasteland and people using there trial licenses for new releases. If people just wanna have fun and have instant queue times that’s what standard is for. Ranked should 100% emulate the competitive scene for the avg player. Finding the fine line between quality matches and queue times will always be difficult but imho I don’t believe they are even close.
I have lost last 8 matches being Mvp in 7 of them along with 10+ kills and scoring 100+ still my dumbass teammates aren't able to do anything... they just keep getting koed or either they just forfeit the match Its soo frustrating to play Pokemon Unite sometimes😢
How about a ranked system where you get MP based on personal performance in game. So you would either gain or lose points based on your performance and your team winning would only add "boost" to those points
Meaning individuals performing good will be rewarded and those going afk in match won't necessarily effect your progress
I do agree, it's hard to balance a game, I played dota 2 at high levels, some times you wait 30min for a match, and each game typically last 35-50min
Yeah 30 mins is wild
Thats how mobas are if u want a good match
No, I can’t be paired with people in MASTERS that have no idea what Rayquaza means to the game. Fix it.
I don't get it, it's pretty easy to fix this, really
The answer is to trust the players and give them more control
For example, a toggle to focus on more balanced match and allow long waiting time.
Pop up can/will present an optional match with matching metric - some numbers, and you choose to compromise or keep waiting.
Even something like entering rooms until 10 players enter and toggle ready can be a successful upgrade, maybe when the 3d hub will be implemented.
That’s a cool idea
Good topic, I like your points. I think the issue is: **very low mmr** and **very high mmr** players:
-The game *punish very hard high mmr players* ... not fun... is a handicap most of the times.
-The game *rewards extremely low mmr players* who dont really play the game, those players should not be in rank mode not on master... at least they should have their how long wait matchmaking with afk players.
live stream + new video = it is Friday and happiness is back
I do not agree. I'm quitting the game cause matches are not fun anymore. Even the enemies are terrible, their choices are really bad (for example they break t1 and t2 top, and still they don't prioritize Eleki, but a useless Regice). I don't care about finding a match in 3 minutes, when I reach Master 1600 I don't want to see any Leafeon exp. share no more. I'm tired of that, and I don't want to lose my time babysitting bad players.
After they added the new map last year and after Mewtwo release in August, a large amount of new players joined Pokemon Unite, but devs kept messing up with the balance (Mr. Mime for about 4 months, Zacian for about 4 months, now Mewtwo) and obviously, players just quit.
They may need to use a matchmaking system like Hi-Rez uses for Smite. Matches start every 4-5 minutes and it makes the best match based on who is in que at that time. and the start time is different for each type of match, ranked, normal, quick. I just need to not have games where people only have 1 or 2 items when it starts. every now and then its fine, but not every. single. game.
I do agree on most points; however for myself, a good solution towards encountering multiple teams that have no synergy whatsoever, don't respond to pings, misunderstanding the point of team play, would be a simple button. A button that allows you to stay inside a team right after the fight. That way, if you have good chemistry, you could continue to enjoy it for as long as it lasts. Exiting the game, adding players as friends or going to lobby usually ends up with those players already being in the next match.
Jake I never wanted to hear the name of that Star Wars film again, it shattered me to pieces. All the horrible memories
Honestly my winrate has been sub 60% because of Bad Metas not match making
Hey Jake banger video as always! I have an idea for your next road to masters. How about nuzlocke from pokemon and items only from original release?
Fun idea!
I hate players who steal postion with a passion. They are usually the look at me, I'm stealing postion and xp from my team, they getting killed, I mean, what's the problem? They usually forget there is 2 lanes and a jungle to compete against and the other 4 are lacking because he stole all the xp. And forgot it's a team game, not a solo game.
I'd say around 90% of my games are like this. The other 10% learn and become good, and usually I see the same players improving game by game. When I see that their making that effort, I'm behind them and supporting them 200% and they see that compared to the other games I've played with them. They make a mistake and learn from it and become better players. And I love that aspect of this. That lightbulb moment for them. If they could hear me they would hear me say, " yes mate, great work, brilliant, keep going, keep doing what your doing. "
My dream for unite is not only a draft phase, but queueing up for roles like LoL. Not having a five Speedster or Attacker game every second game would be amazing.
I kinda took a break on pokemon unite since zacian and its just gone downhill since then.
Regarding the comment about the tutorial, 1600 feels more like the end of the tutorial. Having a separate queue for 1600+ would be healthy for the game. To the point that having 3+ minutes is too long of a wait, then a Smurf account is the only option. The issue with Smurf accounts is the grinding process. Having an alternate account to equal a main account takes a lot of time. With how long it takes, I'm curious if we had alt accounts mirror our main accounts, Pokemons, Emblems, and Held items but not win rate, MMR, or rank. Be unreasonable? As a player, the climb to 1600 is fun. I enjoy competing with myself from season to season to see if I can outdo the previous season's WR to 1600.
Time has to be considered regarding draft mode. The pick and ban phase might be too long, especially with the queue dodges that will come with draft mode. The idea is that waiting longer might take people's attention span elsewhere. Perhaps if they gave us a blind pick rank mode and a draft pick rank mode, it could resolve it.
The reporting system needs to be redone; giving us a tribunal would be awesome, and it could be some decent content for content creators.
I agree with what you’re saying in the video. I think matchmaking, while it can definitely be a problem, is not a as big a problem as having one balance update like every month.
The lack of balance updates in terms of quantity is made worse by the fact that each one also has nerfs that are often not strong enough to reel in some of the strongest pokemon (Mewtwo Y). This results in periods of time that are way too long where a Pokémon is dominating and making it nearly impossible to climb consistently without.
If they choose to continue doing the sparse balance changes, i can see two solutions to make the game more tolerable in times of rough patches. Like you said in the video, implementing a ban phase to at least remove the problematic Pokémon from games would be one option. This would be a short term solution if they wanted to keep the same schedule of balance updates. Another way is for them to make stronger, bigger buffs and nerfs to make the effects more impactful.
I just wish they’d be more frequent in the balancing, especially since they tend to go very light with their changes.
That first sentence about Star Wars hit deep😂 My girlfriend has listened to my rant about Rian Johnson and the last jedi way too many times😂😂
Hahaha I feel you
I've played this game on and off since its release, and i just came back to it at the beginning of last season. I wasn't very competitive before then, and im still learning certain mechanics. But now, I think I am atleast an average to above average player. learning more about this game has really opened my eyes to all of the issues it has. I was around 60% win rate before, and between the end of last season and this season started i dropped to about 49%. i get so many games that people make poor decisions in that cost us the game. It's so unfair when a decent or skilled player has their account penalized because a troll or "confused" player who doesnt quite understand the mechanics makes a bad decision. I try to play fairly and as a team, and then ill get a teammate or two who thinks they can 1v3 just because they play a pokemon like mewtwo or zacian when they're already underlevelled. I've finally got my win rate back above 50%, but it took awhile. I think that only through playing with players of similar skill level can you get better.
this probably isnt news to most people, but if you relate to this just know that it isn't just you dealing with it
My biggest gripe as a solo queue player is simply that I hate getting queued with 2 duos or with a trio.
4/5 trios I queue with spam surrender vote if we miss first Regieleki.
Half of double duos I get are complete chaos. Fighting over jungle, spamming thanks, stealing farm.
Just give me an option for solo queue that at most has 1 duo in it.
One of the problems i face with Unite, even in unranked games is that they prioritize groups over skill level. I usually queue with a full lobby of 5 (4 or 3 if we play quick) and more than a few times, we have matched with a full team of Masters 1600 above (they have the stickers to prove it). Keep in mind I am Ultra 5 and my mates are between Great and Expert. Imagine how that match went.
I consider myself an average player, but I could totally relate to what you said: I feel obliged to play a hard carry Mon every single game. If I want to climb the ladder, I have to carry the game. That's really annoying because I love playing off-meta and my favourite mon are Defenders and Supporters.
But when you constantly get paired up with leftovers/exp share junglers, half of your team constantly stealing your jungle, trolls, afks, people without any idea of the basics, objectives, when to use Unite move, saving it for ray, feeding the enemy team all game long, breaking goals by 1 or 2 aeos coins... and the list goes on... you are forced to carry, instead of having fun and playing a different role. You just lose interest in the game. It is not fun to play, it's plainly stressful. Pair that with horrible metas of overpowered pokemon that dictate whether the team wins or not, and we're in a terrible spot right now.
All of this in high Ultra and Master rank.
Another big problem right now is the way they sort of promote queueing every 30 seconds or any sort of parameters go out the window, at least for solo players
I do think an extra thing with Masters rank would be a good idea, it would be cool to have 5 random people all corporating with voice chat to win the game!
Cooperating*
absolutely agree. alot of players dont know/ realize the repercussions of what they want and think is the best.
alot of the fact people complain is cus they want to consistently be winning games which is never always the case even for most mobas, you can have the best and worst teammates and its also the same for enemy teams just call it fortunate and unfortunate. people want fair/even matchups cus no matter how insane of a player you are, this is definitely a game you cant win on your own even with blissey+m2y, having 1/2 players that dont know what they’re doing is a huuugggee disadvantage esp for how they game works in order to win. but then again we cant blame new players coming in with how the game is growing and being paired with them.
when ur at the top of the ladder in similar games such as dota,league take around 20-45min queue times just to get a game at the same caliber so it definitely wouldn’t workout for unite even if some people think so. just get better and accept that there will be super difficult games and also super easy ones. what needs to change for now that easily fixes alit of issues it balancing
A ccouple things that I truly want -
- No bot games, especially in comp. Nothing about a bot game is competitive. I have gotten from Ultra to Master on bot games before because my queue time was too long. There's nothing competitive about bot games.
-Rank means mothing. Because ranks reset every season, You could have a top 1% player in the same Ultra game right off the bat, assuming MMR is similar.
-You can climb rank with a negative win rate. That should never be a thing.
Matchmaking is a very delicate balance. A true "fair" game is a match where both teams have a 50% chance of winning and their win rates are 50% in the long term. Issue with that, at a high enough rank, a 50% WR is a net reduction in masters points. Also, a 50% WR is not very fun. You are playing a game and would like to win at least a little more than you lose to keep the dopamine flowing.
Also, I never stay in a queue longer than a minute or so. 5 minute queues would not make me enjoy the game, especially with the 10 second time out timer that could boot you from the queue and make you wait another 5 minutes just because you didn't have the app open, waiting for your game. A unite game is between 5-10 minutes long. I do not want 25-30% of my screen time to be waiting for a game that at its heart is supposed to be a fun game and not entirely all that competitive.
Was MMR the fiery thing we could see in our profile in past
I kind of agree with you but there are a couple of things I would fix:
- not allow sub 50% winrate to master: the things they want to do is to make players feel good at the game even if they're not, but this is actually poisoning the match making and kills all the accomplishment one could feel.
- solo q ladder: this is something so easy I wonder why they've still not implemented it, it would push more players to play also solo games and would bring a lot of players otherwise they would play only in trio/five stack
And yeah, the balance is horrible...
That would be pretty nice if they did these things. I like your thoughts on all of this! I understand why they put you into a bot match if you’re on a losing streak (even in ranked). But I really wish they didn’t allow any bots in ranked at all. Not even to fill out games. Bots just make the match hollow, they’re too easy to beat. Draft at masters would be cool, maybe only do it for MMR 1200+? Or maybe everyone wants it. It does slow down the start of games, but maybe they could make a quick version
Spot on with the pose and the title. Wonder how many people get the reference.
Oh no, that's my salty rage tweet at13:44!
I made it to the 1600's last season, which I don't normally bother to do. This season was a total nightmare. Being the only player to choose defenders / supporters when the other 4 lock in attackers and having so many games lost because multiple team members decide to back cap instead of going for Ray absolutely drains you. I have no intention of touching the game until the monster of Mewtwo Y finally gets toned down.
I'm not gonna tackle all the things you talked about I want to just correct one specific and important point.
As someone who played the game for skill, growth and to be competitive. I would absolutely wait longer for better games, anything less is a waste of my time.
Its a 10 minute game yes, but most people are queing for multiple matches anyway, if you're grinding rank you're grinding rank, its not a oh let me do 2 matches and that's it.
NO one that actually wants competitive good matches would have a problem waiting, at all. and like you've said and we've said, that wouldn't affect the majority.
Not having those things is why I and many others have left the game.
not the balance but the lacking matchmaking, because no matter what broken thing they released 9 times out of 10,
I was still able to out skill them or counter it in some way.
Simply put outskilling 1 person/opponent = fun
being forced to hard carry 4 people/teammates = explicative/ a really bad time. lol
And to exemplify my point with a real example.
A year ago I played standard and I qued into a game with people that had literally just started the game they had less than 10 games less than 7 games. TOTAL
the standard matchmaking put that beginner in a match with verteran ulra and masters players along with Me.
Who at the time had over 4k matches played. -_- That should NEVER happen. and sadly that type of thing wasn't just a one off.
This game has THE WORST matchmaking I've ever seen.
We as consumers are well versed at defining and discerning *_WHAT_* or *_WHERE_* is the problem - however the actual *_FIXING_* of said problem is what few of us can claim to be able to do
Great point
Towards your comment on more players playing in the UCS and tournaments, there are probably far more players who want to play a more competitive pokemon unite experience, but because most of these require either external methods of finding them such as discord servers and battlefy, or require a team of 5 people who can coordinate themselves in a tournament setting, which the game provides no internal support for. I myself have been looking into joining the UCS but I only have one real life friend who plays the game a lot, and wouldnt be able to form a team. I think there are plenty of players that are interested in the UCS and tournament play, but only some of them have the ability to do so
If they're not gonna fix matchmaking anytime soon, then the LEAST they can do is add a ban system to ranked, make the reporting function actually mean something significant, and stay on top of balancing. Those three things would improve the game dramatically before matchmaking would even be touched.
I think there is partly problem in matchmaking, when matching the players to same game.
It is done at least partly with your rank instead of mmr. And as we have seen the rank is not showing well the players skill. Example there is a lot playing guy achieving master rank, but his mmr is more similar with ultra 3-5 players or even veteran players. Still he is matched with master players because he is master.
That makes the players mmr to wider range than it would have been otherwise. Solution for that is to change matching to same game more mmr based OR making the ranked system climbing harder.
In general the question of matchmaking is so complicated, that without having good data the discussion if it really works or not is hard. And there is some other problems as well including e.g. Lack of indicator of skill showed to players.
I’m from the livestream from TikTok!!!
I'm a high ranking AND high paying player. They lost me due to the match making around the mew patch and it saddens me greatly. I LOVED this game from day 1 and sadly the frustrations with potato allies pushed me, and my money, far far away. I would have gladly waited longer for teammates not determined to throw every match.
Oh how I remember my master time 6 on the enemy team with around a 200 battles two other teammates for them. And my team had a comfey/ivysaur duo with 40 battles. 40, as in, just outside the tutorial. And my other two teammates were around 400 battles. Im at 1300 battles and never reached masters.
I say comfey ivysaur because they ended up never actually getting to Venusaur. They actively went out and only fought wild Pokémon, but ivysaur stopped attacking to let comfey level them up! Which is sweet, but COMFEY didn’t have an EXP SHARE. So it was ONLY their exp. It was a level 6 ivysaur with the full on yellow ring around wanting it to evolve so bad.
The guy with 2.1k achievement points was playing mewtwo Y, other guy had a blissey, and last guy was water urshifu.
I actually ended up having to report them cause after a while they “gave up” so they would respawn, wait for each other, comfey attach, and walk themselves into the enemy middle goal zone and get farmed. The other two guys were trying to hard and we just goofed around trying to snipe rayquaza and then run away.
How many active players do we have in pokemon unite?
I swear that every time I try to play the game, my teammates are outrageous. There's this one game where my garchomp was getting level gated and was at lv 8 at ray, while I was at lv 15 as cram, then we lost.
I think that ban phase is rly good, I used to play power league in brawl stars which was essentially ranked from Pokémon unite (but it had the ban) and Power Leauge sucked but without the ban power league would be un-playable
Some people don't see Pokémon Unite for what it is. One of the things I like about this game is how varied your builds can be for each character. In an ideal world we would be able to use any item on pretty much any pokémon (be it for a certain strategy or even as an experiment) and not troll the match. In other games of the same genre we have much more limited options for each character beacause their role in the game is a lot more rigid and there's not a lot of room for different playstyles and strats. If you're a tank, you gotta tank, if you're a supporter, you gotta heal. But in PU you can have Mr. Mime and stuff like Greedent dealing a ton of damage while still kind of mantaining their role and definitely not trolling.
Na fam the comments on this video are actually wild asf y'all have never played any decent mobas before ......
I'm ALREADY waiting 2ish~ minutes for a game each time because I stop the matchmaking at 30 seconds, where the game automatically extends the player skill bracket to find me a game faster. I am ALREADY taking steps on my own end to try and get matched into the best games possible.
While I agree that making the algorithm too strict or too invasive would be a bad idea, to not do ANYTHING with the matchmaking in its current state is just borderline negligent.
In oce, matchmaking is already 0:50 to 4:00 to find a match and I would appreciate faster queue times. 😂
I think one thing to point out that people would throw under the term matchmaking is actually, in my opinion, that the game fails horribly at teaching its players. Yes, i complain (in my mind) about matchmaking when i have someone on my team with choice specs spoon stacking specs charizard and the enemy team has a muscle band, scarf scope lens garchomp in that same slot, and it is silly that the charizard can be in a game of the highest possible level in our current ranked system, but its honestly on the game for not teaching the charizard better.
And this goes for a lot of the things people dont understand. Why are spawn timers never explained? Why do people not understand last hitting being required for evolution. Why is comeback audinos something the game doesnt tell you. I could go on for days, but the point stands i hope
I think one problem is the fact that the game seems to match according to a team's MMR - not only individual's MMR. When you're a decent player, you get into teams with sub-50% win rate players way too often. It's like they're trying to balance the bad team by putting one decent player in it - and that team then plays against a team with only >50% win rate players. It's simply not fair.
I wouldn't want to wait five minutes for a game probably, but I wonder what something like, for example, 20%-30% more waiting time would do. I don't think I'd mind that if the games are more fair and there are less trolls, etc.
Speaking of which, the reporting system definitely needs to be stricter... It's one thing to get matched with bad players, but when you, in addition, also get all these trolls, it's just brutal. And the reporting does nothing ever which is the icing on the cake..!
Add broken Pokemon, like Mewtwo now, and the game is probably in the worst state it's every been :/
I just dont want to be the only positive win rate player on my team; that feels like I never had a chance to win in the first place.
I'm speaking into the void here cause nobody cares about one person's dream overhaul and I apparently have a totally different philosophy and vision for this game than TiMi does, but here goes.
I absolutely agree that proper/proactive balance, ban phase, and actual griefer/afk punishment is a much higher priority than matchmaking. I have also come around to Krashy's point about getting rid of performance points and rank protection cards since I'm still flabbergasted at how negative winrate players can end up in Masters+. I know it's not happening, but bringing Ray back to debut levels will also make games more skill based and encourage more people to keep trying even after it's taken.
EDIT: Saw another comment about this and it's absolutely true. There need to be more official guides for how to play like stuff about basic macro (go to objectives, be careful if enemies are missing, you score faster with teammates nearby, etc). The game does a decent job getting players used to the controls, but is horrid at teaching players how to improve.
At the same time, it feels like the game needs to totally overhaul how it treats each mode. Ranked really does feel like a glorified Standard up until high Masters, and queueing up for Standards takes so long unless you get a bot game. IIRC, people can access Ranked SUPER early, so one easy way might be to lock new players out of Ranked until they reach a higher level or have more Pokemon? They can still play Standard with friends but they also will not clog the Ranked queue as much where people looking to tryhard a little more can focus on doing so.
Likewise, I also really don't like how the game treats pre-Masters Ranked as "training wheels" or a "ranked tutorial". It makes the fun of reaching a new rank meaningless as the real grind doesn't start till mid-high Masters. Seeing a number go up or down is not nearly as fun and makes the grind really feel like an unrewarding grind. I'd argue making all the above changes will fix this, making Ranked more rewarding and player-retentive while also increasing the mode's competitive integrity.
Either way, matchmaking is (funnily enough) the least of our problems now. Balance and proper griefer/afk punishments are much higher priority to make the overall in-game environment healthier. That alone will make players much happier and keep them coming back.
I think a huge problem with MMR right now is how easy it is to get wins by playing M2Y. Worse players are getting carried to more wins and then taking up those team slots