For the sake of Norman's sanity I'll be changing this to suggest it just be 100% random for pairings

Edited 4/13/2021 07:19:39

have it prioritize matching players with players from other clans that have the same number of territories on the map.

Dude Splat, don't jump on that. That was a suggestion coming from MASTER Clan who are aware that this would lock in a certain win for them. For us ordinary folk this is the worst suggestion ever.

For the sake of Norman's sanity I'll be changing this to suggest it just be 100% random for pairings

Random is not great. RR + Late season ladder is better, I think.

Master's complaint was that they keep getting paired to the same clan (Python mostly) with little variation, which happens b/c it's rating based and not based on CW standing (# of territories), this may or may not be the team directly competing with them based on # of territories, so while 2-3 clans may be vying for top spot, they may not actually play games against each other. Mostly based on win rate vs participation rate. But pairing vs CW standing would also end up keep pairing against the same clans as well.

Random would solve that but then the matches are completely non-strategic and luck of pairings becomes a factor.

I recommend an RR early season and CW Standing Ladder-ish RR algorithm.

EARLY SEASON:
Use RR, each clan plays each clan, makes it fair and so no clan is constantly getting paired up against the same clans over and over, regardless of # of territories or ratings. So it's not weak vs weak & strong vs strong, it's just everyone vs everyone.

LATE SEASON: (Only 25% of territories remaining)
You are prioritized to be matched against clans within 3 ranks either direction of your CW standing (and if there's no room Up, the range Down gets extended, so 1st place is matched within 6 ranks down, 2nd place matched within 1 Up+5 Down, 3rd place is 2 Up+4 Down, 4th place and after is 3 Up+3 Down), and RR throughout that range. So you're still not always getting paired against the same clans.

RR in all cases is simply priority, algorithm tries to enforce it where possible, never a guarantee. If those matches are available, it pairs those up with priority, but never skips giving someone a match b/c the best RR pairing isn't available.

Edited 4/13/2021 15:51:38

You guys are overcomplicating something that really is that trivial just for the sake of having a say

@Sephiroth
We (everyone who has posted "overcomplicated" solutions) disagree that your "simple solution" is actually a good solution, hence the more detailed solutions. Simple is only good if it meets the need, and yours doesn't.

@krinid:

Masters current Elo: 279.85
TSFH current Elo: 141.61

Every clan has a specific Elo range. Python is usually fluctuating around 320, Masters around 270, M'Hunters around 200 and TSFH is the lowest of the big four.

Type in Masters and TSFHs current Elo here here http://sandhoefner.github.io/chess.html and you get an expected win rate of 31% for your clan against Masters. Any matchmaking based on territories would transform the race to the crown into a 2 way battle between Python and Masters with M'Hunters being the third underdog and TSFH getting farmed as much as possible. I understand Masters arguing for that but I have my issues with us ordinary folk jumping on that wagon.

The other question is also whether our more cassual clanmates would keep up their high participation knowing that Masters or Python are aiming to snipe games against them.

Edited 4/14/2021 06:23:37

It's not 'masters' arguing for that. 'masters' for the main part just disagree how free wins are handled.

@Norman
A chilling analysis! Thanks for spelling it out plainly. The "getting farmed as much as possible" part was a nice tough. (I'm being serious, not sarcastic).

@MoD
Isn't that Seph's recommendation, a matchmaking switch so it pairs just as Norman indicates by # of territories instead of ELO?

The simple solution
Since number of wins is the only value that matters towards Clan War victory, that number itself is the value that better expresses performance and, hence, the one that should be used for matchmaking.
With the other artificial rating, the system will always reward clans like TSFH and MH.

Or do you mean Seph recommends that but the rest of Masters isn't necessarily in agreement with that recommendation?

I think everyone is in agreement that Free Wins should affect rating.

Hey, we PKU58ers ranks #5 and have several impressive wins against Master and Python. I think we deserve some attention :)

Just joking. Let us come back to our main story - our clan also experienced a period when our rating was very low and the best players were kept assigned with free wins (especially in 2v2). But we really didn't want to take advantage of this, and we decided to stop registering for 2v2 for a while and improved our rating to >100 with 1v1 games. I agree that matchmaking algorithm has some problems - one simple suggestion: stop assigning free wins, but allow the players to register for the next slot. This was exactly what we wanted when we had a low rating.

stop assigning free wins, but allow the players to register for the next slot

Unfortunately, the problem with this suggestion is many players may have occasionally time to register only for one slot, some can only register for the last one. Even if you make it so they can play 2 games next day, I don't think it's fair to waste their time they spent preparing for given timeslot.

The idea of weighted wins I don't agree with, as it makes it more difficult to understand the scoring from the new player perspective, and can cause some internal disagreement on who should play (and when) within clan. I would say it's important to keep it simple, 1v1 win one point, 2v2 win 2 points, done.

The matchmaking can be somewhat complex, as it's not clrearly visible to the players, it's enough if they know it's fair. I still think it should reward participation, as it did so far, and match clans mainly based on rating.

It would be great if we could avoid situations like mentioned earlier:

https://www.warzone.com/Clans/War?ID=1&Timeslot=28

For instance, TLA played 5 players on the Small Earth 1 Wasteland slot, only two of which got a game because of their low rating, the other three did not get a free win.

Another thing that I personally would like to see, is to have free wins somehow distributed more evenly (percentage-wise), as I mentioned before. If there is going to be slight change in matchmaking, that still keep the aspect of "rewarding participation" as priority, and distribute free wins slightly more "fairly" as a side effect, I'm all for it.
(btw. I don't think and never said that TSFH are having too many free wins, there are few clans with higher % of their games resulted in free wins)

---

Completely different idea, that I did not thought through yet, and maybe it's complete rubbish - how about getting game vs AI instead of free win? Possibly with some buffs for AI, scaled depending on the clan rating.
It's not great solution, but still better than free win in my eyes, at least people get to play something.

"Dude Splat, don't jump on that. That was a suggestion coming from MASTER Clan who are aware that this would lock in a certain win for them. For us ordinary folk this is the worst suggestion ever."

I mean, we're up by 13 wins, already looks like a certain win.

From looking at the map, I have to say it seems to me like BIA, M'H, and the Boiz Army are doing great, but KING are by far in the lead. They have by far the greatest land area. I’m seeing this as primarily a duel between TBA and KING right now, though if BIA get Greenland things could get interesting. Lu Fredd are a dark horse as they have some nice expansion possibilities in Australia, but beyond that, there’s not much room for them. If M'H can expand north into Sudan and the Sahara rather than wasting time on Rwanda/Gabon/etc they can definitely make some noise as well.

To be honest, Masters' only chance is that FCC take Acapulco and either The Conoisseurs or Clan Español take Antioquía, so that after taking Belize they have a chance of spawning somewhere with real prospects of large land acquisition.

TSFH are in a slightly better position, as they can expand into Lanzhou, Urumqi, etc.

Should be an interesting finish.

I think at this point we can declare a winner.

Congratulations to the KING + Preußen Garde coalition!
Well played by the runner ups BIA and Boiz Army as well, really strong performance