I love GAC. I like good competition. I accept that I will be outplayed and will lose at times, this is ok, I am a good sport and gracious loser.
Yet, it is a wonder to me that I keep getting matched up, or out matched by meta characters. I cannot take my gp away. I have an inflated or "Fluffy" roster. In all the years that I have been playing, I have been encouraged to unlock, gear, mod, etc as many toons as possible to have more to enjoy with the game. Now I am falling so far behind the new focused players and people with fat wallets that I am frustrated more than having fun. As a F2P, I am forced to accept this as just the way this game is.
In the last devs Q&A, it was stated that matchmaking was meant to give each person a 50% chance to win or lose. It is more fun if it is challenging, no one wants easy wins all of the time. So I am left wondering why I keep getting matched up against people that have the meta characters fully developed, and I do not have them developed or in most cases at all. It seems strange to me to complain about this when I have 500k gp more than my opponent (or more), but my inflated roster does not equal G13 DRevan. (I have 0 G13 characters) There is no way for me to win efficiency, no way for me to full clear with my available roster if they place meta teams in front wall defense, no way to win.
How is this balanced matching? Am I the only person with such an inflated roster? I have spent all of my energy buying shards to unlock the metas, but the drop rates are not allowing me to get anywhere close. Another DR event is almost over, and even though I spend energy on Carth for example, everyday (And have for a long long time now), I am still not even 6 star. I do not have the money to buy him. So once again I am behind every person that does. That is fine, but why am I not matched against other people that do not have metas, but have inflated rosters. I feel like a cheap prize for the people that pay you to win and it is not cool.
If I am over reacting, or if I am the lone player with an inflated gp roster that does not have the meta, let me know CG. No one answered my last discussion. Is there anybody that can assure me that this is not what it seems, unfair? I am the only person in this round of GAC that does not have Darth Revan, some have Malak as well. (Not to mention the Fully zetad JKR teams, mine is gear 8. Or the g13 characters, again I have zero.) It will be a RNG miracle if I make it above last place. This takes the fun out of a game mode I enjoy. Thanks for your time.
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Which units you choose to invest in also does not impact current matchmaking. The difference the matchmaking algorithm sees between my G12 zBastila Fallen and my G13 zRose Tico is about 150 GP. That is because utilization is on you. Not on the algorithm. It assumes you have a plan to use everything you've invested in to the point where they're one of your top units.
They never said the goal was to give every matchup a 50% chance. They have explicitly said that is not the goal; that some matchups will have you at an advantage, others at a disadvantage. What they have talked about is keeping matchups reasonably competitive and reducing the blowout rate. But your performance remains mainly in your own hands.
A large part of performance in Grand Arena is knowing the game and the relevant threats, preparing defensive teams who are difficult to counter and offensive teams that can counter the relevant threats. If your opponent has developed a team that you have not developed a counter for, they have earned their win fairly.
Also, at this point, Darth Revan and Darth Malak are quite free to play accessible. I haven't dropped dosh, but I have both of them. It ain't a F2P/P2P divide. And JKR has been around for so long that leaving yours so low is entirely on you.
Congratulations on getting the characters already that I have grinded for everyday. I have a lot of frustration about this already, but I am glad to see it has worked for you. Since I have not been able to collect as many crystals in squad arena, (Lucky to make to close to rank 150, often 200+), I am doing the very best that rng allows. Again, on me not you. Matchmaking is on CG. That is my issue.
Again, thanks for the response. I will work harder on catching up.
Ironically, there may be players complaining here on these forums, that they get matched with you, since you have higher GP. All while having a fluffy roster is not the disadvantage i used to be in GA, and it's also not an advantage in GAC unless you have the META characters.
You failed because you managed your resources poorly.
Here is what it took to get Darth Revan second pass, worst case: One node refresh per day on Carth, Juhani, and maybe Bastila. One ship energy refresh every third day. That's 108 crystals per day. Daily activities are 65. GW is 25. Daily box averages out to around 20 crystals a day. That's enough crystals per day that you could have gotten Darth Revan second pass before considering any crystals from squad arena, fleet arena, the calendar, Territory Battles, the bounty board, or make goods.
Here is what it took to be ready for Darth Revan third pass. Starting on time. Zero crystals.
You say you have been spending energy on Carth for a "long long time," and you are still sub six stars. From the sound of things, you've been here at least long enough that you were part of the Carth marquee at the end of last year. That means to go from the 50 shards the marquee gave you to 6 stars is 180 shards. At 5 attempts per day and a 1/3 drop rate, that's 108 days of farming. While yes, luck can play a factor and there's some swing to that number, that's a swing of a couple of weeks. Not a quarter of a year.
So this leaves us with several possibilities.
POSSIBILITY 1: The most likely possibility. You have been farming Carth at five attempts per day since early June or late May with no node refreshes. For a character who went farmable in February. For an event that was announced in March. That means you were sitting on the farm for at least two months, maybe as much as four. Two months' farming at 5 attempts a day is 100 shards. Some of that window from Carth's release to when you started farming was at 8 attempts/day, and there was a double drop event in there, so starting on time would have yielded well over 100 shards, probably enough to be done by now.
POSSIBILITY 2: You are using node refreshes, and started significantly later than June, meaning you've been putting off the farm significantly longer.
POSSIBILITY 3: You have been "farming" Carth for significantly longer, but you haven't stuck to the farm, and have either done less than five attempts per day on a consistent basis or have stopped outright for other priorities for extended periods of time.
POSSIBILITY 4: You have had astronomically bad luck, to a highly implausible degree. This is the least likely possibility.
You do not have Revan right now because of your own decision making.
Now that I have clearly agreed with you, can we get to the question at hand. Am I the only person that has high gp, but not the meta characters? Am I rare like the unicorn? Of course people with lower gp's will find it potentially unfair to have to face someone so far above them at first glance. My non-meta teams do not = meta teams though. What am I supposed to do when matched with teams I cannot beat? Lose right? So as I stated in the original question, why is matchmaking putting me against players that outmatch me even at 200K+ gp less than me. I can not take my gp away, other than pulling mods for a little drop. The gear and stars are already played. I have done this for the wrong reasons clearly. Am I the only person with toons that should not have been developed?
I finally beat my first JKR team this last GAC. (Before you point out how sad I am , or how easy it was for you, I followed all of the popular theory crafting I can find on YT, discord, and talked to my guild.) It took me six teams to wear through it. I lost on efficiency, which yes my roster, squad development, and rng earned my opponent the win. (I graciously accept the loss.)
My concern is that I am matched in such a way that I do not have a chance of winning. Is this balanced? I am working diligently on counters so that I have some chance, but as stated my resources only get me so far. I still farm for carth shards daily, but one a day takes a while to get to the next star level. I will be ready the next time DR comes around, hopefully, but now I will be behind the next meta, and the snowball grows.
I can not change the actions I have made, nor can I speed up my roster development. GAC is happening now and all I want is a fair match. I am not asking for free toons, or hoping to get an advantage over anyone. I don't mind losing a fair match. Please forgive me for being forward, but how is it constructive to point out my mistakes and tell me I deserve to lose. Is there no one else in all of GAC that is in this same predicament? Am I the last person in all of SWGOH that failed to get DR and Malak? If I am the only person dumb enough to play this way, then I accept defeat.
I mean no offense. If making a list of all that I did wrong so as to invalidate my concern makes you feel better, then please let it all out. This all still fails to answer my question. Although I did not ask for someone else to tell me how I have earned the frustration I experience daily in a game I have loved for years, you are free to say your piece. What would you do if you were in my place? Not make these mistakes surely, but what if you had? Would you just lose? Would you not question it?
Thanks for your time and answers, I much rather this form of discussion than my concerns falling on deaf ears.
I’m sure you are not the only person who doesn’t have them, but you are likely in a division and at a matchmaking GP where your top characters are powerful enough that most people in your bracket do have those characters, especially now that they have all come around more than once.
I did that before it became a problem for me, but if I didn't have them now, that's what I'd do.
Thanks for your time.
Chasing meta teams isn't that fun, believe me, I get it. But if you don't, you will lose GA more often than you win. There's never going to be a "fair match" because there's never going to be a roster that looks exactly like yours. So you need to adapt.
This is from the prior Q&A (August):
Currently the primary consideration in matchmaking, within your division and league, is the GP of your top X characters, where X is 10 times the number of defense teams you set. So for divisions 1 and 2 that is 80, yes. Supposedly there are other factors, but we have not been told what they are and best as anybody can tell they appear to be minor.
Everyone has a different definition of what is fair, so when you say you “just” want a fair match, you are applying your personal opinion about what makes a match fair, which may or may not line up with what I, or most players, or the devs consider to be fair.
Ironically, this point is used by some of the same posters on here who also strongly advocate for the limited GP matching we currently have as opposed to the GA matchmaking. Apparently those choices deserved a free pass, but not chasing the meta doesn't. Relative, it is, mmmm?
It stinks to get blown out but there isn't much that I can do in the short term. The best thing is to remember that this is a game and is supposed to be fun. In general, if part of the game isn't fun, skip it. That said, the rewards from GAC are good to get. Fight the battles that give you a chance, get as many points as you can for defense and take the rewards you get. Don't sweat your rankings and don't waste time trying desperately to win when you have no chance.
Keep building your roster and concentrate on the meta characters.