Hey y’all, it’s me again. Been watching the forums and my TL and I must say, this community has disappointed me when it comes to discussions around SBMM. On both sides. Do better, Guardians. The way I see it, there is a fundamental misunderstanding of SBMM and it’s effects on players. SBMM is only viable in environments where player skill is determined by definite quanta (i.e. ranks) wherein each participate may be expected to be of similar standing and the victor is decided by the most refined demonstration of that skill. ELO is then gained or lost, skill re-evaluated, and matches formed accordingly. SBMM is a device for encouraging competition, plain and simple. Why then is it a poor fit for Quickplay? Shouldn’t Guardians be seeking competition? Isn’t that the entire point, the thrill of combat against worthy adversaries? Yes, but there is a problem. Two words: lobby balancing. At lower ELO brackets, the teams being formed will more than likely have a similar distribution of skill and thus allows for more “fair” matches, which is why casual players tend to prefer SBMM. However, at higher brackets, and when there are outliers such as myself in play, this system starts to break down. By the very nature of the system, I or another high ELO player will be saddled with LOWER ELO teammates more often than not, while enemy teams will generally have higher ELO distributions. That’s even if we match freelance Guardians and not stacks of sweats farming KD to fill the holes in their underachieving lives. Crucible then becomes an unplayable mess where losses are determined before a shot is fired, even if the outliers try their best to carry. It’s not fun for us, and it’s not fun for our lower ELO teammates who feel even more helpless. This is not new, it has been a problem for years at this point. But now it stands to be even worse. And this is the point is see angry casuals failing to grasp when higher ELO players say they’re not having a good time. It’s not about “High Level players wanting to pub stomp;” it’s about us trying to enjoy the game, same as any casual. IF SBMM were to be truly implemented, to function as players want, all players on a team should be of similar ELO. Sweats against sweats. Only in that case would Streamer laments be countered. But that is simply not the case. And I haven’t even said a word about the lag. O packet loss. O latency. Crucible is rough right now. We might just have to endure it for the time being. Be kind to each other out there. Remember: we all love the game and want it to be better. For everyone. See you in the Crucible. kaaphro ^^,