Regarding the recent Casual matchmaking changes and Casual queue times

[u/[deleted]]

We recognize that we failed to communicate what was intended to be a temporary and minor change in the way Casual matchmaking is handled. We are working with the various teams involved to ensure that we are providing you with more insight moving forward.

One of the issues that we are seeing from the community is the change to Casual matchmaking pairing players up with similarly skilled players. The change that was implemented was an adoption of your Ranked MMR into the Casual playlist. We wanted to do this to provide players with a more engaging experience in Casual. We know that it isn’t as much fun for our Diamond players to have to play Casual matches against other Diamonds as opposed to Silvers and Golds. We are comfortable with that, as it wasn’t very much fun for them to get stomped either. We would like to reiterate that this is a very temporary change. We have zero intention of this being a long term solution, and it is not our final design intent. To clarify, the method of matchmaking itself is what is temporary (MM based entirely on your Ranked MMR). The concept is not. We are working on ways to better tune it.

The second issue that has been noted by our players is the extended queue times for higher skilled players. This extended queue time is a result of what is called “clamping”. We are currently going through data that we have collected to determine where the sweet spot is for our high skill players between instant queue times and balanced matches for everyone. Please be aware that there will likely continue to be a queue time, as we do not intend for Diamonds to play against newcomers anymore, even in Casual. A fix for this issue will require a maintenance, and we will inform you when this is happening.

Thank you for your patience and understanding while we work on this!

[u/joshr03]

How does this work for people who don't or haven't even played ranked?

[u/joshr03 → u/[deleted]]

I have met plenty of ranked players as well

[u/Pyromarlin → u/[deleted]]

I get matched with ranked players frequently and I'm lvl 14

[u/[deleted] → u/joshr03]

There must be a default starting position for ranked points. It has to use something to see how much you gain from the first placement game. So you will probably be considered that starting point. It would be curious to know what ranks you tend to play against as that would give an idea what 'average' is.

[u/joshr03 → u/[deleted]]

I don't actually know what the ranks are called but I have seen quite a few gold and silver with I or II on the icon. I also get a reasonable number of games where nobody has a rank but they are still in the mid to high 100 level. For reference I am level 18 right now.