I see your point about a real matchmaking system and I agree with it but I am asking for something very simple and potentially feasible. I just want the type of matchmaking that tries for several minutes (can even be less than 5) to match a premade vs. a premade. The current system will pop as fast as it can and if basic matchmaking waited even just 30 seconds we'd have more even matches than we do now. This does not mean all premades vs premades and all pugs vs. pugs. This also does not mean class/role/gear balancing. It is simple, BW could easily do it, and it would only positively benefit people who are even remotely competitive as well as benefit complete noobs.

There is no valid reason why a competitive person would be against basic matchmaking. Maybe you aren't as good as you think you are. The make a friends argument is not valid. If you are a good player and you team up with other good players then you will be on the sure win side which is just as boring and you will even be contributing to the current problem. Keep in mind, all I am asking for is the most basic of matchmaking. I realize that BW will never add real matchmaking and most likely won't even add something as simple as I am proposing, however what I am asking for is sorely needed. I just want the type of matchmaking that tries for several minutes (can even be less than 5) to match a premade vs. a premade. The current system will pop as fast as it can and if basic matchmaking waited even just 30 seconds we'd have more even matches than we do now. This does not mean all premades vs premades and all pugs vs. pugs. This also does not mean class/role/gear balancing. It is simple, BW could easily do it, and it would only positively benefit people who are even remotely competitive as well as benefit complete noobs.

My post was long so I won't fault you for missing it but I wrote multiple times that I don't like sure wins either. I like even matches. In mmo pvp you'll never have all of your matches down to the wire or even most but with even basic matchmaking you should have a fair amount be rather close. This is what normal people like. It is not normal to enjoy pugstomping. If a player is young and likes to pugstomp occasionally for lols that is one thing but if the player likes to pugstomp daily then there is something wrong with that person that I hope they work on. They are not happy and well adjusted. Now I know some people mainly premade in SWTOR because they feel it is less annoying than pugging and because they decide they would rather be on the sure win side than to flip a coin. I get this. I did this early on in SWTOR but just got to the point where I found pugging to be better than pugstomping. However, what I really wanted then and what I really want now is to actually make good premades and face other premades. I have a personal rule to pug rather often so I remain self sufficient but I love premading if I can actually face other premades (I loved ranked 8s for instance). If matchmaking was added I'd rejoin guilds and actually premade again myself. So this isn't a "make friends" issue. Whether you like to pug, premade, or both you should still want basic matchmaking. Until then I guess I'll stick mainly to ranked but I do love me some huttball and I'd really like to enjoy regs as well.

Haha, I know, I must be psychic!

Seriously, *** is up with regs? I finally got my 3 ranked chars up to 1700 or higher for gold and started q'n regs again last week. Every match has been either a sure win or a sure loss. I've actually had "good" luck and had more of the sure wins than the sure losses but I haven't had a single down to the wire match in an entire week! The matches are mostly one team of largely pve-focused cxp grinders with 110k hp vs a tank/healer premade in 236+. So one side just stomps the other. This has also brought out the losers who LOVE to pugstomp and they are happy doing it all day (I'll never understand this). I've talked to a lot of other decent yolo players and most of them feel the same way about regs as of late. I know some special needs kid will say "make your own premade". Reading comprehension buddy. I dislike sure wins as well. Even matches are what normal people enjoy. You'll never have a majority of even matches in mmo pvp but usually you at least have some. We really need basic matchmaking. Sure complex matchmaking is great but lets just focus on something small. I'm talking the kind of matchmaking that when a premade q's up the system tries for several minutes to find a premade for the other team. I tested it out on harb this weekend (sure small sample set). I quit all matches I got in as soon as I could tell if there were premades (either side) and then kept joining new matches. I found there were likely 10 premades q'n during primetime and likely around 15 matches going. However, most premades were in matches against pugs. A basic matchmaking would really help with this. This isn't a qq, I hate premades thread. This is a come together all halfway normal people who like some competition and request basic matchmaking thread!

Lol, it would be so nice and so funny if there was a ninja ratings reset of all DVL exploiters.

Sometimes a regs pop takes forever and I've found that if I drop the q and re-q I'll usually get a pop within a few minutes and it is back to normal after that. I've seen people have a couple reg pops while I'm still waiting (same person have 2 wz's) and re-q'n always fixes my bugged q. If I don't get a pop within 10-15 minutes I always re-q. Either your q bugged like I'm talking about or you were q'n in extremely off hours as harb 70 pops are still frequent. Even yolo is frequent for a good portion of the day.

I think the OP's idea along with putting bolster up to 4 levels below max would really be the best solution. 230 is still pretty crap. I kept my 230 gear and I can tell a huge difference between 230 and 236/242 I have now. In regs it doesn't matter very much but I'd be lying if I said I don't have a huge advantage in solo ranked vs someone in 230.

This guy.....lol.... Look buddy, Evolixe made a decent suggestion, I said I agree and then gave what I thought would work better (either in addition to or by itself) and then another guy came in and discussed both of our points. Then you came in and defended a system that many paying customers are unhappy with. On top of this, you didn't defend the status quo with actual sound reasoning, instead you just said it is great and we're all simple yes-men. If anyone in this discussion is a yes-man without any great ideas it is obviously you. I can say with very high statistical confidence that you are no where near me IRL and from reading Evolixe I see he/she thinks logically and is likely far better off than you as well. Just stay out of this conversation unless you want to bring actual reasoning to it and not just insults.

I completely agree with you but I think BW setting bolster above top tier isn't going to happen according to what they have said about it so far. I can kinda see their point as well even if I don't agree with it. However, I think with enough push we could get them to set bolster at around 4 levels below the current max and move it up as the max is moved up. This would still give BW what they want (a grind) while allowing casual pvp'rs and/or pvp'rs with alts to play on a nearly even playing field. On top of this it would still allow several tiers of gear for pve'rs and allow for pve'rs to get gear a bit faster without screwing pvp'rs if BW still wants it that way.

I agree with this but even better would be if going forward they just make pvp bolster up to somewhere in the 4-6 levels below max gear level. The issue with PVE and PVP gear being the same is that PVE players need to have several tiers (I don't pve in swtor but in past games where I raided I would do hardmode dungeons > easy raids > hard raids for gear). So I can see why having 230, 236, and 242 would make sense for PVE'rs. However, good and competitive PVP'rs would like everyone to have the same stats. This is a company trying to make a profit though and grind does work to an extent. So the best solution would be to bring bolster up to around 4 levels of the top tier gear. This way PVP'rs that want to grind still can but it would not be truly necessary. This also allows for the PVP grind to be slower than PVE since the gear isn't as necessary as it is now. Also, PVE'rs could easily do both and there would be little reason for PVP'rs who hate PVE to do it. Even as someone who never PVE's in SWTOR I understand that PVE'rs need a grind and I even understand that if we are only using one type of gear for both that good PVE'rs should probably be able to gear up faster (gear matters more to them). If we were to bring bolster up to 238 then people who work to get 240 and 242's would still have an advantage in PVP and have a reason to grind but other players with less gear could still PVP on a close to even playing field. Also, the lesser geared players would still want to get the higher tier gear as well so there would be incentive for them to grind too. I loved 5.0 and that was perfect for me but I understand BW wants everyone to grind. If we bring bolster up to 238 (and then 4 levels below whatever the next top tier gear level is) there would be a reason to grind gear, different methods could gear at different rates, and everyone could pvp somewhat fairly.

It is not any one ability that makes them OP. People think it is reflect but that really isn't it. As someone who has blind q'd 2 reroll mercs to gold this season I've learned how to easily cycle my dcds (along with a little kiting and los) so that I always have one nice dcd between my big blue bubbles. This is what the other good mercs in yolo do as well and this is what makes merc very OP when you know how to play it. Sniper when well played is still better than merc but Merc is very OP right now if you know how to play it. If you don't think so it is a l2p issue. I'm not even very good compared to the best mercs so it really isn't that hard to play at an OP level. BTW, I'm not just a fotm loser as I've gotten a dps sorc to gold this season too .

I'm sorry but complaining about dps sorcs in this meta tells me that this is a l2p issue. First of all it appears you are talking about regs and Jug dps are great in regs it is just that they suck in yolo. Anyone that pvp's a lot and isn't biased can see that Snipers and mercs are OP right now but in regs all classes still do pretty well. However, mara, sin, and op are all above dps sorc in yolo. This isn't a ranged vs melee issue it is just a merc/sniper issue.

Mara is already top 3 dps....Not saying to nerf at all just saying it is pretty good where it is. I think Mara is about where all dps classes should be. Slight nerfs to mercs and snipers and then slight buffs to the classes below mara (some less slight than others ) and balance would be back to a decent level like it was before 5.0. There have always been balance issues but 5.0 onward has seen the worst balance in SWTOR history.

I agree with you that sniper is obviously not the best 1v1 class and I don't think sniper is OP in regs, however Sniper is obviously the best dps class in solo ranked. Merc is a close 2nd but sniper is stronger when in good hands. Of course part of this is just the current meta. Mercs on the sniper's team make it hard to truly charge and sit on a sniper and mercs on the other team hate fighting a sniper. On top of this, sniper has never been a very popular class regardless of strength and so most snipers don't have a lot of experience. This means the new snipers are just easy kills for the good ones but the good ones can offer some area denial to support the bad ones if on the same team. Also, from my experience this season, the good snipers are now playing aggressively due to their new defensives. In the past snipers had their team set up in a good area and then often let the enemy come to them. However, this season the good snipers are often leading the charge as well as chasing down low hp players. A class with as much area denial as a sniper that can play aggressively is pretty strong in yolo.

Learning dps is possible in ranked but the OP is a healer. You can go from a mediocre healer to a good healer through ranked but it is very hard to go from bad to mediocre healer through ranked matches. You will be stomped too fast to learn and people will even give up if they are on your team. If you do what I said it will get you to mediocre healer status in ranked (if you are capable of course). You will still lose rather often but you will be good enough to not be globalled and to keep your teammates up for a bit. You will also be good enough so that people don't /stuck or drop the match when they see you.

[[/color] You can learn up to a mediocre ranked level in regs but you have to play differently than you would otherwise. Drop out of winning matches and look for matches against a good premade. Then push yourself into the middle of the premade and make yourself the focus target. Eventually you will learn to survive pretty well while still doing your job. Also, find a very good operative to duel. Remember, you would think it is rude to jump into a high level basketball game when you don't know how to dribble. It is the same with ranked.

Think about it from a real world perspective. I used to play basketball a lot when I was younger and I was pretty good. My college had a gym with 7 full courts of which 5 were often free for basketball. The courts had different skill levels on them. There was no set in stone rule but a guy new to basketball was not going to play on the court with almost all 6ft + people. If he did it would be extremely rude. It was an unspoken rule but everyone knew it. If the terrible player got on a pug team and played terribly and then tried to play again I'm sure some people would have had some choice words for him. However, this never happened while I was there as people in the real world understand these things. Now imagine if the new basketball player convinced some good players in a 3v3 tournament to let the bad player on their team (they don't know he's bad). That would be very rude. Also, this is just the bad dps analogy. The bad healer analogy would need to be something like a soccer tournament where the bad player is the goalie and just sits down the entire game. Mediocre is fine but truly bad really destroys the fun for others. Elo is supposed to be like the 5 basketball courts. New and/or bad players play on the court with other new and/or bad players and as these players become better they move up the courts. However, BW elo is all screwed up and without x-server/x-faction it never had a chance. Because of this a lot of players become rather frustrated and rightfully so. It is important to realize though that it isn't just them being rude. When you q as a new/bad healer you are q'n as the goalie that sits the entire match and can't be subbed out. Either get to a mediocre level (which is all that is required and people who rage at mediocre players are usually just mediocre themselves) or q as a dps.

1v1 snipers are definitely not the best dps class, I agree. However, you know as well as I do that sniper is the best solo ranked dps class right now. Mediocre players think the best dps class in yolo is merc but good players understand that it is really sniper. A (good) sniper is by far my least favorite class to see on the other team. Your bias is showing .

There is no excuse for someone telling you to kill yourself. This is obviously not warranted no matter how bad you might have been. However, q'n multiple times as a healer or tank when you don't know how to play ranked is rather rude and it is understandable that some people will ask you to stop q'n. If you want to q once or twice to test yourself that is one thing but I bet by the 4th q people were rather upset and rightfully so. Solo ranked can be very frustrating and carrying a terrible healer is highly unlikely. On top of this the higher rated healer will usually get the highest rated dps as well. Also, as a healer, if you are bad in ranked you won't learn by doing more ranked. You will be stomped too fast to learn. You need to pug regs and stay in matches where there are good premades on the other side. Put yourself in the middle of their premade again and again until you can both survive for awhile and keep up some of your pug even in a runover match. At this point you will be at least a mediocre ranked healer and q'n ranked won't be an autoloss for your team. Also, if you want to q ranked right now then just change spec to dps. There is nothing rude about q'n ranked as a bad dps. Bad dps can be carried and aren't a big deal. BTW, BW is really at fault. Elo with low pop is stupid and very frustrating (remember there are already people with close to 1000 matches played this season). For elo to have a chance at working there has to be x server. If BW won't allow for x server then BW needs to use something besides elo or just deal with less matches by not allowing healers or tanks to be matched against each other if their ratings are more than 500 apart. This system makes people rage and so instead of crying elitism try to be the better person and empathize.

The DVL exploit helps some classes more than others as well. For example, dvl exploit on a decent dps sorc in solo ranked takes them from rather irrelevant to a strong teammate. It really is a huge difference. It is crazy how terrible this community has become where many people don't even care and/or think it is ok to exploit in a videogame. I feel sad for these people.

My favorites have been killing people with shiv on my sniper or saber strike on my sorc. On mara I sometimes stealth out and wait the full stealth before I finish them. Also, if it is a 1v1 with someone I don't like, I love to backpedal for a few seconds right before I kill them. Nothing pisses people off like being 1v1'd by a person backpedaling .

Merc is extremely easy to play rather well (great players can still go way above this and some players still manage to fail somehow). We shouldn't compare class skill softcaps to merc since it would be like comparing the height of an ant to the heights of several different people . I agree that snipers can get globalled but the same goes for the best operatives and even the best healing sorcs. **** can happen. However, to do well in most solo ranked matches you only need to get to the softcap I was talking about.

Snipers are the best dps class right now. However, the idea of them requiring a lot of skill to play well is an exaggeration. The average player on any class isn't much of a threat and the same goes for sniper. In regs sniper is very easy to play and the skill softcap argument isn't valid. What is different with snipers than some other classes is their arena performance. They have a higher softcap than some classes. You need to learn to survive while putting out decent dmg. It really isn't that hard to learn but until you learn it you will be almost worthless in ranked. However, once you learn this they are about the same difficulty as any other class in ranked. Some classes need to go rather far past their softcap to be viable in ranked where sniper just needs to get to that softcap. It is kind of like skiing and snowboarding. Snowboarding is more challenging to learn at first but is easier once you get the basics down. My first snowboarding trip I was falling constantly my first day but doing blacks rather easily by the end of my 2nd day but with skiing I was able to do greens the first time I tried but took awhile before I could easily get down blacks. BTW, to any new snipers that are getting globaled and screwing up yolo, the best way to learn is do regs and in reg arenas ask your team to go in slowly and then (without telling them) run in to the middle of the other team. Your team will run in but the other team will likely focus you. Once you get to the point where you can both do decent dmg and you live long enough so that a couple players on the other team give up and decide to attack someone else you are now ready for solo ranked. Although please try a different strategy in ranked arenas . Also, in the reg wz matches between arenas rush in solo or go to the offnode/etc. to practice there as well. Another tip is to find a GOOD operative to duel with often.

For the most part I agree with the posters above. However, in regs all dps classes are still ok (although some are far more ok than others ). In ranked, for tanks/healers the posters above have it. In solo ranked for dps(best to worst): 1. Sniper - You need to learn how to survive. It isn't as hard as some people will have you believe but you need to practice or you will be worthless. 2. Merc - easy mode for sure 3. Mara -focus on surviving first then surviving while doing huge dmg. more gear dependent than some other classes. 4. sin/op - similar to mara note 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Jug/Sorc - you can still make these work but you can't really truly carry so you do rely on yolo luck more than other classes 11.walrus 12.hamster 13.goat ..... 999. Ptech - even if you are the best dps ptech ever if you have a high rating you are either a q dodge pro, you are cheating, or you won the yolo lottery.