CknSalad
Inkster Jr.
The time of day does make a difference. Typically 2-6PM PST, I have noticed the matches are slightly easier on average. 8PM-2AM PST, the matches are very intense. After 2AM PST, the matches are slightly easier again. Keep in mind, things may vary a bit depending on what maps/modes you have to play too during those 4-hour slots.
Award
Squid Savior From the Future
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In PST I'm generally playing 4:00-7:30PM PST - (I think I converted right) - though on weekends I'll often play that 8AM-2AM slot. Your timing is pretty much right I think but I've generally found the 9:00EST (6:00 PST) map rotation or a little before is when it suddenly switches to "sheer brutal" most of the time. I'm not sure I've noticed much difference between the 6PST shift and the 8PST shift. Though I think recently I've been mostly squadding on the only 2 nights a week I'd be playing that late since it's one of the few times I can play with people in time zones west of me. It's good to know it's not imagination!
Yesterday was inverse though - solo AND squad Moray/Warehouse RM was brutal in the early slot, Dome/Underpass SZ seemed to go much easier. Though the RM problem wasn't so much excellent opponents so much as, as this thread suggests "incompetent teammates."
Have you found Sundays in particular are excessively brutal? That's one of the trends I've been trying to follow. 3 Sunday's ago, it was outright brutal - rediculously so. The following Sunday, it was actually quite easy and I sailed back to A+ with ease. The Sunday after that it was excessively brutal and filled with obvious alts. This past Sunday it was fairly brutal again. There seems to be this pattern that on Sunday's I lose because my "A-" opponents play like S+'s. On other days I lose because my "A-" teammates play like C+'s :p Sadly it never crosses over or switches teams.
I have the same opinion, after 6PM (11PM for me) horror stories begin, I avoid playing after that time or else I get mad.
xXShadeXx
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Not gonna lie, it honestly feels like I'm going to be in A limbo forever.
Currently an A rank, highest I've been is an A 74, as the system seems to not want me to go past that number. Whenever I get close, I get losing streaks enough to almost drop me back down to an A-.
I stopped playing rank maybe a month, month and a half ago because I had lost my A rank about 3 times, only to get a win streak to boost right back up to it But a few days ago with the new patch and everything, I decided to give it another go to see how things would fair. Went in...believe it was SZ. I experienced a losing streak that knocked me right down to an A-. I was clearly matched with the lower skill teams each match who couldn't manage to get splats at all, but would get splatted over 10 times with a max of 3 splats themselves. I was using the Deco Slosher, so I was close range, but would only get splatted about 3, max 5, with about 10 splats. When I went back in to get my A rank back, I got a winning streak to boost me back up. I called it quits that day.
About two days later I went to try again to earn an A+. It was TC, which I was fine with, so I grabbed my E-liter and jumped in. Things were fine, both teams were balanced with us equally pushing the tower along. I had no problem if I lost those matches as they were always close. When I got to A 68, I experienced another losing streak which kicked me all the way down to either A 12 or 17. All those matches I was put on a team who couldn't seem to even do the smallest bit of cooperating, or jumping on the tower. I had to do it if I wanted it to go somewhere. Splats they were decent with, but covering up enemy ink surrounding us and getting/staying on the tower seemed to be a problem for them. Not to mention I noticed whenever we were in the lead and the game had about 40 seconds left, I would notice they wouldn't play as serious as they were in the beginning. Guess what? That would cause us to lose the lead and the game because of it. I was going to quit rank until I was put on a team with an inkling who stopped the opposing team at 1, splatted all of them, and rode the tower into over time. He (male inkling) reached mid, and started spamming C'mon. My other two teammates were ignoring him and off doing something else (probably gave up). I wanted the win, so despite being an E-liter, I took the chance and rode the tower with him. Somehow I managed to get two splats, and he managed to splat one more. We would've both got splatted but he threw a splash wall and won us the game. So it gave me faith to continue. For every win I would get, I would lose about 3 times in a row. I quit when I was over 60 while I was ahead before another losing streak kicked in.
I dunno what kind of method the game uses, but it is kind of infuriating. I'd say it's 70% I'm paired with the team of lower skill than the other team. I'll lose about 7 times in a row, then win about 3, before my losing streak would come back. This happens in TW and Ranked. Ranked I'll lose maybe 3 times in a row before winning once or twice, then go back to losing again (which isn't too bad). But I'm more prone to losing more than winning each day. I strictly play between 8PM-4AM EST time. No matter what time it is, or the rotation, my winning and losing continues throughout the day mainly the same way. Even when I play earlier in the day, it's the same. Some days I'll get lucky and win more than I lose, but it's the other way around most of the time.
I won't say I'm a bad player, but I'm not an excellent one either. I do my best to hold my own and support and push when I see the opening for it. I wasn't carried to my rank either. So maybe it's just a string of bad luck.
Wow...did not expect that to get so long...
When stuck on the same rank for ages I started to take notes (or use apps) of my wins and loses. That way I could avoid playing disfavorable combinations of map x modes, this helped me improve my rank a lot. Getting many points on a good combination then losing all those in a bad one sucks, and you can avoid that.
HypernovaSoul
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Generally speaking, I've come to learn the hard way that I can't head into any solo queue match expecting to rely on my teammates for anything specific. It sucks to have to face that, but I really see it as a pleasant surprise when I receive the support I hope for. And generally I think it's safer to have that mentality, because any assumed reliability of solo queue teammates can leave you falling flat on your face.
In terms of age differences...there are some formidable younger players, I'm sure, but I'm really doubtful very many young people (i.e. children) would make it into upper A/S rank. In part because of the skill floor and in part because you generally have to play often to make it there and continue to be successful there, which kids don't always have the option of. Keep in mind...I'm not trying to offend younger folks on the forums. When I say younger I mean children. As in, people who should not be old enough to even be on this forum. Teenagers, whole different story. There are frighteningly good teenage gamers. So frankly I wouldn't blame younger players for incompetence in upper tier.
That being said, I absolutely get where you're coming from being frustrated by incompetent teammates. It's unfortunately the nature of the matchmaker. A lot of people have said "you are matched with where your skill level lies," but frankly that's an overgeneralization and the matchmaker generally isn't that kind (or practical). The reality is, you are usually matched with other people who have a similar...not always same, but similar...rank to yours, which does not necessarily indicate their actual skill level. The lower you fall, the more of a mishmash it becomes (C being the exception). The span of B's, especially, can vary wildly. What I will say is this: as much as it sucks, if you feel in a position of having terrible or uncooperative teammates, you need to make the initiative to pick up their slack. You still need to support them, even though they aren't supporting you. Because if you have a whole team full of uncoordinated players who are all too busy being angry at each other's incompetence to actually progress themselves, it's all but a guaranteed loss.
In terms of age differences...there are some formidable younger players, I'm sure, but I'm really doubtful very many young people (i.e. children) would make it into upper A/S rank. In part because of the skill floor and in part because you generally have to play often to make it there and continue to be successful there, which kids don't always have the option of. Keep in mind...I'm not trying to offend younger folks on the forums. When I say younger I mean children. As in, people who should not be old enough to even be on this forum. Teenagers, whole different story. There are frighteningly good teenage gamers. So frankly I wouldn't blame younger players for incompetence in upper tier.
That being said, I absolutely get where you're coming from being frustrated by incompetent teammates. It's unfortunately the nature of the matchmaker. A lot of people have said "you are matched with where your skill level lies," but frankly that's an overgeneralization and the matchmaker generally isn't that kind (or practical). The reality is, you are usually matched with other people who have a similar...not always same, but similar...rank to yours, which does not necessarily indicate their actual skill level. The lower you fall, the more of a mishmash it becomes (C being the exception). The span of B's, especially, can vary wildly. What I will say is this: as much as it sucks, if you feel in a position of having terrible or uncooperative teammates, you need to make the initiative to pick up their slack. You still need to support them, even though they aren't supporting you. Because if you have a whole team full of uncoordinated players who are all too busy being angry at each other's incompetence to actually progress themselves, it's all but a guaranteed loss.
xXShadeXx
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I don't take notes on my wins and loses. But I always make a mental note on maps and modes that I should not play on. Last time I played rank, SZ on Ancho-V Games is a definite nope for me. Played on that stage about 10 times in a row to know that that stage and mode combo is not for me. I have a rule that if I lose 3 times, no wins in between, to just stop playing ranked and to wait until the next rotation and to chill in TW...I just did the dumb thing and didn't quit when I knew I had a disadvantage like the day before. The rotation before that, TC Arowana Mall and Walleye Warehouse, I had no issues with it myself. It was more so my teammates than I. I do, however, acknowledge and accept the mistakes and faults I made for our losses, though, and try to improve on it.
But keeping a physical written out of wins/losses and mode and map combos would be a good idea. So I will do that.
If you read a bit of japanese there's an app called Ikamemo which also make reports of your data x weapons x equips and stuff.
Yeah I do the same rule, losing 3 is my limit, I normally lose my head after that and start jumping into risky situations without reason. So it's better to stop with 3 loses than with 10 :D
Award
Squid Savior From the Future
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Yep, and that's the bulk of the time during which I tend to play, so.....fun! ( generally play for a little before then but that time does make up the bulk of it! )
I just have to say every single detail of everything you described could 1:1 be swapped with my own experiences. It seems like you're one of the people caught in whatever odd slotting the matchmaker has me in. There's plenty of others in that situation. That's the odd thing. Not everyone experiences this problem in quite the same extreme, just some of us. I actually did better pre-2.6. After I dropped the S down to B (re-introducing rainmaker into the mix and taking eliter into ranked for the first time after spending months honing it in TW) I climbed back up to A+98 at one point. Then flip flopped between B+ and A+ several times, but after 2.6 I'm just caught in the Aflat loop endlessly. There's a CHANCE I might make it back to A+ finally if I don't get another losing streak today. But I've had that chance a few times now. On one hand it's nice that I haven't been in danger of dropping to B+ for a change, but it's not nice that I'm not even close to S contention anymore mostly due to being paired with those inferior (not USUALLY terrible, just inferior to the other team) teammates. And as a fellow eliter main - I feel you with how limited it can be when your team doesn't push. Yesterday's RM rotation (Moray/Warehouse) was a PERFECT rotation for me with eliter. I was doing well! But since they refused to push I felt I had to switch to more aggressive weapons to try to make up for them. But how does every lobby get the same quality of player that doesn't push? That's a little coincidental that everyone online in the whole A bracket at the same time ALL has the same weakness? Only the ones on our teams? I went through 3 brushes, and a krak-on roller trying to find a more ideal weapon to deal with the specific problems....but it didn't work out.
But the patterning you describe, the ratios of wins and losses, the frequency you're paired with the lower skill team, that exactly, to the letter, describes my experiences. We also play during mostly the same time period. WIth some lucky days of winning more. And the situation you've described where you're holding the lead and then the team seems to just stop playing and lets the other team push a big turnaround....I've seen that so many times. In fact, it's rare that we DON'T have an early lead, even if I'm the one that put it there. And we can even hold it for a while many times. And it's inevitable, the enemy pushes and it's like my team never saw it coming and was totally unprepared. I of course DO expect it, but one prepared squid can't save the whole game!
Yeah that's one thing I probably do "wrong' is I don't avoid "bad rotations" I keep playing them trying to find ways to make them good rotations. AnchoV Zones is bad, Moray RM is bad. But I'd rather find ways to make them good. It worked for Mackerel. I used to hate mackerel in every mode, but I've found the right weapon pairing to actually make it a good mode for me in SZ (got to A+ the last time there!) and one of my ONLY wins the other day in RM was in mackerel and I dunked the RM myself...so I've made mackerel a very workable map for me (except TC.)
Same with Depot RM. I used to hate it, but it was there I picked up Octobrush and learned how effective it can be, and it was there when even THAT was failing that i decided to pick up inkbrush and learned how effective it is in map control. But it does cause some losses along the way that a "rank enthusiast" might prefer to avoid. :)
jsilva
Inkling Cadet
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With what Award and xXShadeXx are saying, it really sounds a lot like playstyle. And since I'm pretty confident Splatoon has a means to determine that (more or less) really quickly, it is certainly possible that it matches that way on purpose.
Just to share something I experienced ranking up my two accounts:
I dislike the idea of leading my teams. I'm not a subordinate player but I like my teammates to take equal effort and initiative (not that they actually do), and so I resisted the notion of leading my teammates when I started the accounts. But one thing that really stood out for me was that I had to accept it was sometimes pretty much entirely up to me. I played plenty of games where my teammates played well enough but took no initiative. I knew I simply had to make it possible for my team to win—usually that entailed taking out certain opposing players who were dominant. Sometimes I had to pull off 'heroic' acts and then also start the push to get them off their bottoms.
That mindset is now stuck in my mind and is how I approach the game. Not that I do it perfectly, but it's always on my mind.
Not sure if that helps any...
Just to share something I experienced ranking up my two accounts:
I dislike the idea of leading my teams. I'm not a subordinate player but I like my teammates to take equal effort and initiative (not that they actually do), and so I resisted the notion of leading my teammates when I started the accounts. But one thing that really stood out for me was that I had to accept it was sometimes pretty much entirely up to me. I played plenty of games where my teammates played well enough but took no initiative. I knew I simply had to make it possible for my team to win—usually that entailed taking out certain opposing players who were dominant. Sometimes I had to pull off 'heroic' acts and then also start the push to get them off their bottoms.
That mindset is now stuck in my mind and is how I approach the game. Not that I do it perfectly, but it's always on my mind.
Not sure if that helps any...
In my 5-year old's 30-minute gaming session today he got up to A+ 54 :) I knew he was good but he's usually somewhat distracted when he plays. For some reason he started using the Luna Blaster and is kicking butt. Maybe he's learned a lot by watching me and his brother uses it sometimes too. I expect he will have a losing streak anytime now but it's been really impressive!
HypernovaSoul
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That is some 5-year old! :) Lol I have a friend with a 5-year old and can't even imagine her gaming to that caliber (she is a casual gamer herself). Gaming must be in his genes! Haha. ;)
jsilva
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It is really surprising to watch this cute little boy playing :) He doesn't just go in head on and shoot, he really has good game sense and makes decisions really quickly, instinctively positioning himself strategically in anticipation of splatting opponents. I do help him somewhat with game strategy if I'm watching, but mostly I just have to remind him not to fool around!
Dessgeega
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Introduce him to strategy games when he's a little older, you might have a little tactician on your hands ;)
xXShadeXx
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Okay, well at least I'm not the only one experiencing this extreme case of limbo. Pre 2.6, I won't say it was a glorious moment, but I had at least a higher chance of being paired with decent teammates. The opponents would rarely get a K.O in less than 30 seconds. Heck, a minute isn't even that bad. In 2.6, I really can't say as much. The opponents or we (if I'm on the superior team) can get a K.O in less than 30 seconds depending on the mode and map. And this happens really often as well, which is what I'm confused about. In my experiences, it didn't happen as much pre 2.6, but now it happens a lot. It seems already that there is some sort of major offset in the A bracket, despite 2.6 not being out for too long. I recently picked up the E-Liter sometime in the middle of last month I believe, and I've been training with it in TW as I had to get used of the change sense I really only used the kelp/splat charger. So from using the other chargers in rank, I knew what to expect, but I didn't expect it to be...that bad. To the point where I'm riding the tower and pushing it to 50 or something is actually not a good thing as the team loses the long range support, so I stopped doing that unless I saw that now's the time to ride the Tower/grab the rainmaker/etc. And I usually switch to an aggressive playstyle when I find out playing support isn't really working, but I'm trying to stop that for now so I can get better with the E-liter.
I know in S rank (I believe) it's not uncommon to just push for the lead, get the lead, then to stop lowering your counter and to just play defensive to prevent the opposing team from lowering theirs. If that's what they were attempting to do, they do a poor job of it as they're not even checking their surroundings for the enemy team or anything. If they really just stopped playing because they think a team can't make a turnaround in less than a minute, then they don't need to be in the rank they are. And we can take the lead from the beginning, hold it to the last min, then somehow lose the lead, and the game. I'm always prepared for it to happen, but they aren't. So you're right about that.
No no, I understand what you mean. As much as I want to win and raise my rank, I don't quite want to do that. Sometime during pre 2.6, I managed to win a few SZ matches on Bluefin Depot by myself. I would be taking on the whole team in the zone, while my allies would be getting splatted all the time. And there's also a lot of matches where I would splat an opponent or two, push the counter, then my team would follow through and try to keep it going. Then they would even keep attempting. In any game really where there's different playstyles, I tend to stay on the passive/support side as that's what I'm good with. I go aggressive when it's needed. What I don't want to have to do is initiate the push every time to try and get my teammates to cooperate with me to try and win. I know you can't really expect much from playing ranked with randoms, with zero communication...but there's still some sort of teamwork needed that you can accomplish to help. The main reason I go for the chargers is so I can see everything, mainly what opponents my team is having serious trouble with, then I do my best to take them out whenever I can to help them push. If I do good, they usually go for it and push no problem. The issue is sometimes even when we either splat the troubling enemies or all of them, despite it being safe, a lot don't push. And if I was to get off from my perch or wherever I am to try and push, the enemies would be respawned and heading back in.
Litagano Motscoud
Inkling Commander
binx
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Well first of all, I'd like to talk a bit about psychology. Not just you, it seems several players are thinking they play more with bad teams than good ones, but I still don't buy it. I give a link, hoping it's the good one (as I'm not an english native) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-serving_bias
That's how everyone works, even if some of us are thinking "nah it's ok, I know I'm not doing it", this is kinda impossible to be neutral about oneself.
Well. I remember you (one of you) said at one point "maybe the whole system went in easy mode", but that's not possible. It's easy for your team, not for the other one, so basically they're not in easy mode.
You all seem to know more than me how the matchmaking work, or can work in other games. I don't know that at all. But there is a thing I know. In all my games, 100% of them, there was something that never changed: I was in. It's the same for you (yes it is :p), you were in 100% of your games. I don't know how matchmakers are doing things and all, but I'm pretty sure they won't do something "100%". You won't be 100% in [a specific situation] because of the matchmaker. Well, what's my point there... I mean, when I feel something is wrong, that I lose a lot, that something specific happens, I first think it's because of me. I'm winning a lot? It's because of me. I'm losing a lot? My fault obviously. I feel it's better to take it this way. Even if it were to be wrong, at least, I can try to change what I'm doing to change the result. If I'm thinking "well, it's not my fault, game is being hard on me / I had bad teams", I feel I wouldn't try as hard. Plus, I know there are monsters that could win even with the bad teams I couldn't win with, so there must be things I still had to learn in there, so that next time, just maybe, I'll do the thing my bad team needs to go wild and strong.
About teammates being passive, not pushing and so on. I don't know how it is on other ranks but in S+ there are a lot of Japanese players. When they're on splatfest, I feel the whole playstyle changes. My thinking is, Japanese are more "passive". But actually, they are "building". Of course this is not 100%, you'll still have some Japanese players playing the objective like nothing else exist. But from my point of view, Japanese players tend to wait more for a wipe out or so to push objectives. Personnally I tend to play that way too (excepted in some configurations).
If you feel you're winning more when you play the objective, it might just mean you're strong at pushing it. For instance I'm quite bad at playing objective, because duels are not my forte. When I play objective, I'm noticed a lot more, so I have to fight more and I die a lot more (excepted for RM, as I can fight with it). And when I die, was it useful? The objective is often taken back, so it's hard to say. I prefer a good push who looks leathal than lots of pushes with lots of death. So I prefer to play objective when it's safe, and help my team by building the conditions. But maybe you're not like this. Maybe you should just experiment it: put a specific stuff (respawn and maybe stealth jump for TC for instance), take a specific weapon. You're the objective-man, you'll play it a lot. Try it and see what happens to matchmaking and victories streak, that should be interesting.
I hope I didn't sound too rude or something, because it's not my intention.
PS: About the last patch, I did see the difference for weapon balance (E-Liters in both teams and so on), but didn't notice a change my winning or losing rates or anything else. Although it's hard to say as I'm trying weapons once again... And never had losing streak (excepted for weapons I was not used to, and even with them I'd still win once here and there). And I prefer to think the winning streaks were because of me than the kind matchmaker god :p, especially when I keep my special only to prevent the awesome comeback 99% of my teammates can't see coming.
Nice article, thanks for sharing it. The Matchmaking God is a joke to refer the "almost always happening" 50% winratio I had from 2.3 to 2.5.
I agree with you about improving, that was my first post on this topic but I did understand that's a fun topic just to play around. At their hearts they know all this is about telling stories that made you angry, they're just feeding this here :)
Award
Squid Savior From the Future
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That's the one and only thing the devs have been very very clear about from the beginning: "playstyle" has been the cornerstone of their matchmaking. They have never defined what they mean by "playstyle" of course, only that even through the 2.6 patch notes with the Splatfest rules changes, the word "playstyle" was used again in the context that it will rely less on playstyle and more on rank & fes power. Most of us assumed early they meant "inkers" versus "killers" in a TW context - but I suspect it's a lot more nuanced than that, as "inkers" doesn't really apply as a role in ranked at all. Well recently for me it does since going inkbrush to compensate for my teams inability to paint anything, but that's a different issue. :)
So if we assume "inkers" isn't a valid sorting style for ranked, then we can assumed "support" "aggressor" "carrier" etc all might be.
I haven't seen a HUGE amount of 20 second ko's but you're right, I have seen multiple. Once in TC and several times in RM, where nobody even NOTICED the objective was moving. One the other day I was running inkbrush, my team rushed to pop the bubble, so I ran ahead to ink a trail for them as the "designated inker". Instead I see the objective heading toward our base....I kept inking for a moment thinking "oh the enemy grabbed it first, but my team will get it back fast and turn it around, I need to make sure they have a path" I looked at my map and nobody on my team is anywhere near the RM. So I'm deep on the other side of the warehouse, riding/rolling my brush right behind the RM carrier chasing after him up the hallway....too slow! I SJ to the spawn to try to head him off...not fast enough. ko. I didn't even SEE another teammate this whole time. They were off in the corners doing whatever. That is not the first time a similar scenario has played out.
Generally eliters are very good in ranked, IF the team is not all "support minded" and hoping "someone else" will push the objective. But if you're playing defensively with eliter you can splat the whole enemy team again and again and you're team will still lose if nobody else ever USES that cover to push. That's what was happening to me the other day, and even switching to brushes couldn't salvage the group of players that day. That said, an aggressive eliter isn't always a bad thing in ranked. I tend to play it very aggressively, or, specifically I main Custom and use my beacons to alternate between "perch sniping" and being more aggressive on the ground. I don't mind pushing the tower as an eliter, especially with Custom as I try to save my kraken just for that purpose. I try to wait until the objective is sufficiently forward to justify using it, or if we're failing to keep it back as a defensive measure. If nobody is having success pushing it I'll use it just to get it moving at all to start momentum. BUT all of that works fine and dandy when squadding in higher tier games with S/S+ players. When playing with teammates will simply not push, it is as you describe, you give up defensive cover and the actual sniping role on the team to instead play aggro with a weapon that is ill suited for playing aggro. Aggressive eliters are a thing of beauty. I've noticed most of the best S+ eliters I've come across, particularly Japanese S+ eliters, are aggressive, down on the ground, in odd places, and very offensive. The most impressive was the one sniping at us from the perch IN OUR OWN BASE! :) But what happens with bad teammates like you describe is you start actually using the eliter like a midrange shooter, running headlong into enemy ink, trying to lead an offensive direct into 4 opponents....and that's just a bad habit to get into. Worse, while you keep getting splatted there's no defensive cover. I switch weapons when that happens, but in rotations like that other day that's unfortunate, because my sniping was playing a vital role that was missed without it, but the team did not use it.
Yes, I tend to play that way with getting a lead and then trying to defend it, though I do so only if the lead is sufficiently wide that I think the inevitable incremental pushing in the remaining time is unlikely to catch up to said lead. If it's a lead of 10 or so it's too risky to try defending it. If it's a lead of 40-60 it can be worth it. But in solo....it's inevitable, they WILL stop playing once they're in the lead, and the other team WILL turn it around. They just assume they've won. I get very tired of losing in the last minute over and over because the team didn't take defense seriously due to their huge lead. That goes double in Splatzones where there's no incoming objective to potentially tip them off and it's easy to lose track of the score. They see that huge clock on the other team's side and, worse, since those counters aren't in whole seconds, assume it's mathematically impossible for the other team to win, as I watch the 20+45 vs 90+10 clock dissolve to a loss.
While what you say is true to an extent, the patterns we're talking about aren't a pure bias of "I must have been great and everyone else isn't" - there are hard numbers to back it up in terms of the ranks assigned to each team (one team consistently assigned the higher rank players versus the other, etc.) along with k/d (questionable in value) and win ratio (as you pointed out, possibly questionable.) However the in-game score (as well as observing) tells us the most. or lets put it another way.
Lets assume that I and xxShadexx are not actually good players. We just got lucky to get as far as we have, but we're really the weakest links on our teams. Worst case assumption. Now we can assume we're not the only lucky bad players that go to our ranks. So there should be a fair chance that the other team has a similar weak link player. Therefore there should be a fair chance that despite our own weakness, our teams are in fact equal, and still have an equal chance to win at least half the time. In that scenario we would also have to assume that we are rarely either the k/d leader or the lead objective pusher.
I can also very specifically tell the difference between playing with bad players, and playing with the weaker team who is not bad. The scenarios xxShadexx is describing, I'm very familiar with. These are bad players. Or specifically players that either are less capable of fighting than their opponents, or are capable of fighting but ignore the objective. Or are completely inattentive entirely. HOWEVER, that's not the only "losing team" situation I've described. The other is when the system goes into hard mode (again I think it's when there's a bunch of alts playing - the gameplay pace, skill, tactics of the A's suddenly jump to S/S+ levels) BOTH teams are in fact GOOD teams. No bad players anywhere. My team works very well as a team keeps the battle tight and contested, and the objective goes back and forth just like I'd expect in a good S/S+ game. IT's just that the other team is even better, generally superior in combat and map utilization. Those cases are not cases where I believe any player in the game is in fact bad, or worse than me. It's just very clear that the opponent is superior in skill. Specifically one or two team members who outplay they rest of their team considerably. But even in those cases, it is far more often or not that that is the OTHER team. It is also telling on that one stray round where you get that player on your team and do win (after 4 rounds with them on the other team and them winning.)
It's also very obvious when, in the A's, the majority of the team is split A+ vs A-, and you're always on the A- side. Imagine S+ pre-2.6 when your team always had the A+s, and your opposing team was always S+'s. Imagine that was how it nearly ALWAYS sorted you, at least 70% of the time. ;) You would have to be a FAR better S+ player than any single S+ player on the the other team to compensate the difference in skill between teams. That is how I'm sorted in the A's. A- (incl. former B+) vs A+ (incl. former S.) And on the rare occasions the other team gets the A-'s, it's the player I described above....a lv19 A- who plays with the tactics of an S+ player that pretty much never loses no matter the team and is in all probability an alt. maybe even you! :D
Interesting insight on Japanese tactics. I've never (ever) heard the Japanese players accused of being passive. Normally they're blamed for being "too aggressive" :) However I've seen what you speak of and I agree about that attempted strategy at waiting to build specials and get a team wipe. And that it can be a devastatingly effective one. HOWEVER, that's also a highly risky strategy when it's not a squad with a prepared tactic. there's no guarantee your teammates have any clue what you're trying to do. There's also high risk that it goes wrong and the enemy takes advantage of the delay. I suspect it's more likely to be successful in true S+ matches where everybody can be counted on to be very solid. I also fear some lower rank players attempt to emulate what they see S+'s doing but don't understand the how and why of it. I've seen too many RM/TC matches where the tower doesn't move. Or worse, everyone races to pop the shield, and then nobody touches the RM, it just sits there, shieldless nonstop. I've tried to play the "maybe they're waiting for a strong moment" game and didn't pick it up. The result? A minute and a half into the game the enemy grabs it and runs it straight to the goal. No...my team had no strategy, they just thought the RM had cooties.
In my case, sadly, I've tried both routes. I used to main luna for TC and be the tower pusher. I got too fed up with that and stopped when I found too many rounds where my team did NOTHING. I was aggro, I was riding the tower, I was shooting everyone around FROM the tower with 18/12 and similar k/d's, I never had any escort, AND my team was not defending, so I had to race back from spawn after getting splatted off the tower, and then defend it incoming too. That's when I started to pick up support roles and observe the team more. The "do nothing" teams are just that. It's not that they're bad at pushing but can defend/escort. It's not that they focus on the objective to the detriment of defense. Is that they mostly aren't playing, or are deadly afraid of fighting (or just aren't good at it.)
Again this is in contrast to the OTHER situation that I get equally as often where the team IS good, and does push and does play and CAN splat, but is simply outplayed by what is a superior opponent, every time.
IMO I'm often very focused on what I need to accomplish, especially in the opening 30 seconds, and the weapons I play, as you see in my sig, are all very specialized and require a very deliberate setup and a lot of focus. As a result I don't often get to observe what my team is doing right in the beginning. When squadding, it has recently been pointed out to me numerous times that I apparently miss just HOW bad some of my teammates can be. There are multiple cases where I believed we were simply outplayed only to find out later we had a teammate that very literally did nothing for the first 30-60 seconds. Just hovered around spawn (or disconnected in more fair cases.) I suspect I get these "did nothing" players more often than I'm aware in solo that make for a 3v4 team. If i don't notice them in squad, I wouldn't notice them solo either.
No, actually on this topic there's a lot of S+ players that just take up the position of "just get better" without really discussing the points, so you're a breath of fresh air among S+'s :) Granted, I think you still might not have a perspective on how it really plays out since I do suspect you're one of those top-tier players that couldn't really experience the problem because your skill is way past it. ;) If you weren't like 5 hours time difference from me I'd invite you to squad to see if you could see it for yourself. The dreadful matchmaking doesn't apply to EVERYONE I squad with, but it DOES carry into squads with some people but not others. That said, it might not be apparent with you in a lobby since it wouldn't really be lopsided with an S+ on my team from the start. If you had an alt in the A's or S it would work - but you'd probably power through the match anyway. :)
Post patch it seems more likely to "win one here and there" than solid losing streaks like before. However, the trend is still a downward one. You mean even in S+ your teammates don't see the comeback coming? :(
P.S. I'd reply separately to each of you since it's easier to read, but the mods get upset and issue warnings if you post two posts back to back, so I have to have this monolithic text walls to everyone in the thread at once instead :(