Hello,
When we play AOE2, we just want to play without constraints. If you only like Arabia, you should be able to play only Arabia, and the same should apply to any other map type. The issue with the current system is that there is no reward or recognition for knowing how to play multiple map types. From a ranking perspective, a person who doesn’t ban any maps is foolish. It is smarter to ban all the maps you are less skilled on.
However, from the game’s point of view, the fewer bans there are, the more varied the matches become, and the faster and more balanced the matchmaking is for a player’s skill level. A player who specializes in one map type and plays nothing else will have an inflated ELO because they will be matched against players with a much more diverse skill set.
A solution that could work for everyone would be:
-
Allow players to play only the maps they want to play.
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Adapt the matchmaking to account for a player’s specialization.
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Reward and encourage map diversity.
To achieve this, players could be allowed to ban as many maps as they want, but each ban would artificially increase their ELO for matchmaking purposes. For instance, each ban could be worth some ELO point and follow this rule:
Temporary_ELO = Actual_ELO
For i = 1 to number_of_bans do
Temporary_ELO += 5 + i
End
Matchmaking would then use this temporary ELO. At the end of the match, the ELO gains and losses would be calculated based on each player’s temporary ELO, but the resulting change would be applied to each player’s actual ELO.
Best regards,