I’ve been thinking about the ranked system and would be interested in seeing it revised to help people actually climb. I feel especially for those with high MMR who land down in Gold and get stuck there because they’re playing against Conq guys all the time with the same MMR. While the matchmaking with MMR makes sense, the system means they’re hard locked even when they shouldn’t be in gold.
I’m not that guy, I’m not that good.
My observation of my personal ‘treadmill’ experience is, admittedly, more skill issue, though I can’t help but see guys who are the same MMR as me be a couple of ranks above me in RPs.
This makes me think/wonder:
- What if we reset MMR along with RPs every season since the season insists on placement matches? This lets everyone fully reset, maybe fixing the higher elo players issue. Those who climb too much in the placements and weren’t supposed to, will level out with more games. This would also prevent smurfing to some degree I’d imagine since you could start a new season on a new civ without worrying about keeping MMR, because it reset!
Some may be opposed to that
Or
- What if we added a system of relegation in the game that makes it harder to just drop rank (as removing the ability to drop wouldn’t really be great, someone could reach conq with a really low level). I think of something like FIFA’s ranked mode, where it was based on divisions (in this case, ranks would act as divisions).
You would start out in Division 10 and work to Division 1. Each division had a set number of games, like 10). You matched with people in that division and were given points based on results. A win would give 3 points, a draw would give 1 point, and a loss would give 0 points. If the game disconnected, it was usually counted as a draw, where both players got one point (can be applicable to crashes in AOE IV lol).
Each division had a clear point target. You had a promotion target, that is, you earned enough points in the division to be promoted to the next division, and a relegation zone, where if you fell under a certain number of points, you would drop divisions. There was also a threshold that you could cross that gave you the ‘division title’ for ‘winning.’ (This could also be incorporated as granting some rewards or icons or something, idk).
The KEY point here is that there was a point threshold to hold/stay in your division. You got enough points to not be relegated, but not enough to be promoted.
Some benefits:
This means one or two bad games don’t break your rank; you have the opportunity to stay in ‘division.’ If something like this were applied to AOE IV, I feel like it could help reduce the treadmill-pyschological effect. Instead of watching RPs swing wildly with every game, you track points toward clear goals. A bad day doesn’t relegate you immediately if you’re past a checkpoint. Progress feels more cumulative and less punishing. Furthermore, it allows for more matchmaking stability, matching in your division though MMR could still be used. Additionally, there are more short-term goals that encourage more playing and thus more players. There are tangible targets that give people progress in the middle of a rank grind. It rewards consisncy rather than punishing or rewarding single game variance so harshly; again, that one cheese won’t break you!
In addition, it would help people who reach a rank keep playing rather than stopping to save their rank. Why? Because a couple of bad games won’t break you. They still may stop playing if their points can’t match up, but they have the option to earn ‘continued placement’ without just dropping. Safety nets are the big thing here, to avoid burnout and accessibility. Instead of getting the boot for a bad streak, you still have a chance to at least stay in your rank.
What about my first example? The high MMR guy stuck in Gold? There would still be MM based on MMR, so you could still face plat or diamonds, BUT instead of needing a long win streak to push past thresholds, you are able to accumulate points and, because of the point system, have a higher chance of getting out of gold (Because their win rate against higher opponents would still be >50%, they’d reliably accumulate enough points to promote over a 10–15 game block, rather than needing a long streak in the current system).
Implementation would be something like this:
Keep ranks as is. But change the progression system in the rank system with three visible point thresholds and a set amount of games per rank. Thresholds being: Promotion, Holding, and Relegation (and/or titles if more rewards are implemented or something). Add the points: Win = +3, Loss = 0. There aren’t draws, so save the draw point of +1 for game crashes or something like that.
After the set amount of games are played, the player moves (or stays) based on the amount of points they’ve picked up. If they beat the relegation threshold, they stay in that division and can try to get the promotion without worrying about dropping; it’s a built-in safety net. If you don’t have potential points to advance, you can either a) skip the remaining games with a built-in option or b) play a match with something different without it affecting your placement.
For the most part MM and ranks will be the same; it’s just how progress moves along is changed.
Hurdles:
I’m not sure how it would work with team ranked or how it would affect team ranked. I didn’t do much team play in my FIFA days, though I’d assume the system would work similarly to solos. Since MMR is still used, the queue times will be about the same for the top percentile (sorry guys). It doesn’t fully prevent smurfing; there were smurfs over in FIFA as well. It’s just how it is, sadly. The biggest hurdle is that it would require work from the devs (but if EA can do it, lol, I think Relic can).
Attached image as a reference point of what a division’s points looked like in FIFA:
