Recently Dota 2 received yet another update, which addressed ranked roles and the matchmaking system. Again.
Matchmaking changes again
The last time we had an update on the matchmaking system was back in the middle of January when Valve readjusted MMR gain/loss and removed the fast queue. It also put a greater emphasis on solo queue, but there was a downside as well. Not having “charges” for ranked roles meant that you’d either have to go play ranked classic and argue with teammates about roles or simply queue for all roles and end up playing support 90% of the time. Surprisingly that didn’t cause players to abuse the system.
So what’s new in the recent update?
The news came from the official Dota 2 blog website where the details of the new update were revealed. Unlike before where players had Core and Support medals there’s now only a single one, but Core and Support MMR are still visible in your stats. On the other hand, we now have 5 different ratings for each of the roles – carry/ mid/ offlane/ support/ hard support. Each will have an impact on determining your average score and the medal associated with it. This also means that if you’re great at carrying and suck at supporting the average score of games where you play safe lane will be higher than the ones where you’re supporting.
The base line for the medals of each player is calculated based on the previous results you had on Core/Support MMR and an analysis of the last 100 matches you played.
Smurfs and single role players
Smurfing (people from higher ranks making a new account just to have fun by playing against players much lower than them) has always been an issue in Dota 2. With the new system, it’ll be even more apparent when someone has outstanding success in a single role, which is the most common thing we see in smurfs/boosters.
But what about people focusing on a single role, surely there are players that aren’t a jack of all trades. With the latest update Valve is expanding on the initial idea of Core and Support MMR, now with ratings for each role. The thing is they’re not visible on your public profile so only you’ll be able to see them all at once. As for players who main a single role, they’ll still be able to do so and as long as there’s no cause to report them for MMR abuse (smurfing) it should all be fine.
What do you think about the latest update? Are Valve overdoing it with the roles, is it a natural step forward or something else?
