World of Tanks news » Fixes to Preferential Matchmaking

This past May saw us test changes to the KV-5. Had they proven agreeable, they would have been applied to other preferential tanks. The results didn’t align with the intended outcome, however, and the majority of player feedback was negative. As the feedback and testing showed, the reason you take these tanks onto the battlefield or bring them into your Garage in the first place is their preferential status and unique characteristics. In response to your comments, we went back to the drawing board to work on another round of adjustments.

Here's a look at where the current setup is falling short and how the upcoming changes address those areas.

Basics

• Problem: Tanks with preferential status are likely to get matched into two- or one-tier battles, where their status combined with combat parameters does more harm than good. In certain battles, they can’t compete with Tier IX and feel inferior against regular Tier VIII tanks.
  
• Goal: Improve the experience for preferential tanks while keeping the preferential matchmaking parameter and their unique characteristics intact.
  
• Solution: All-around vehicle rebalances on a tank-by-tank basis combined with matchmaker rule revision. The latter is aimed at reducing instances of getting matched at the same position (top/middle/bottom) on the list for several battles in a row.

Vehicle Rebalances

We'll kick-off the preferential tank revision by tweaking combat parameters. We originally set these parameters so tanks can play comfortably and competitively in Tier VIII-IX battles, where they are weaker than other machines in combat given their stats. With this in mind, at Tier X, these tanks would be ineffective, which is why they have preferential matchmaking. We will definitely look at their stats to ensure their effectiveness is comparable with the performance of Tier VIIIs and remain competitive in those battles.

There is no blanket solution to this problem, so we’ll address it on a tank-by-tank basis, starting with Tier VIII vehicles. Combat parameters will be improved to better suit the Tier spread, while also keeping their gameplay-defining characteristics intact.

Matchmaker Improvements

In its current state, matchmaker often fails to ensure proper rotation among the top/middle/bottom of the list. Getting matched at the same position for several battles in a row slows progression and degrades the overall experience for all vehicles. Unfortunately, simply tweaking the current algorithm won’t fix it.

We tried to artificially lower the probability of getting preferential Premiums in +1 Tier and same-tier battles. This created more problems, however, by increasing the number of single-tier battles and waiting times for not only Tier VIII and IX but tanks tiered VI-X.

So we’re looking into redesigning the underlying matchmaker rules to improve 3/5/7, 10/5, and 15 template distribution. This will aim to prevent cases of spending 80 percent of in-game time in 3/5/7 battles at the bottom of the list.

As you can understand, to find the optimal solution will take some time (about half a year) and we ask for your patience. We have already laid down a plan and work on the matchmaker is underway. We will give more information when we have it in a separate article.

What’s Next?

We’ll be watching the Supertest data very closely to ensure vehicle rebalances are working as planned and are generally resonating well with players — be it this particular solution or something else. Hit the forum to share your thoughts on the suggested changes and stay tuned for a closer look at what’s in store for the matchmaker.