The Dota 2 developer explained how match quality is assessed during matchmaking
Dota 2 developer Jeff Hill responded to a Reddit user’s question about how the match quality rating—which appears when accepting a game—is calculated. The player encountered a situation where the overall rating was the lowest possible, despite positive individual metrics.
Hi, Luxalpa. As you might expect, the matchmaking system takes many factors into account when evaluating the overall quality of a match. This dialog box displays:
- the overall estimated match quality score, based on all factors;
- balance, determined by the difference in the teams’ average ratings;
- skill spread, determined by the difference between the highest and lowest ratings in the match, regardless of the team;
- the fairness level.
Some factors not displayed in this window likely flag this match as questionable. It’s understandable why seeing a negative overall score alongside positive individual metrics might be confusing. I would guess that in this case, the issue might have been that we were unable to accommodate the language preferences of some players.
Previously, the developers removed the ability to watch high-rated games if you were friends with the participants, and subsequently banned viewing via DotaTV as well. This decision may be related to efforts to prevent the automated collection of information about professional players’ rated matches.
Photo: Valve.
