Latest DOTA 2 Update Revamps Matchmaking System And Removes Solo And Party MMR

Valve has just announced in a recent blog post that they have made significant changes to the Dota 2 matchmaking system and how MMR is handled in an effort to make the MOBA “more fun for players of all levels.” The first of these changes is the removal of separate Solo and Party MMRs.

“We expect this to be the most controversial component in today’s update, as we’ve heard fair criticisms of it in the past. We can’t say that we are fully confident that this will end up being a good change either, so we’ll want to wait until the end of the season when we gather feedback and data on how it has played out after players have had a chance to absorb it.”

The devs recognize that this change will affect both the teamplay and social aspect of the game and the accuracy of a player’s MMR values. “We think it is really crucial for you to not have a disincentive to play with your friends,” says the devs. “The game currently overly emphasizes playing solo and establishes a strong social reward mechanism for this, which causes many players to prefer playing alone than with friends.”

As for the accuracy and correctness of the MMR value, Valve says that it shouldn’t pose much of a problem. “We recognize that there is a tradeoff here on the mmr data quality if the match has solo mmr numbers with party mmr numbers, however we feel that the impact of that data noise is much smaller than even we initially considered it to be early on and generally with how it is discussed online. [. . .] At a base level, we think mathematically we are able to have high confidence that playing with a friend will not have a material effect on your average mmr value with a properly balanced matchmaker.”

In place of Solo and Party MMRs, Valve has introduced multiple MMR values depending on what roles you play during a match, each with their own leaderboard. “Now when you matchmake, you will have the option of selecting roles from position 1 through 5 (Safe Lane Core through Hard Support), including multiple selections,” Valve explains. “So if you like playing Mid or Offlane, you can select those two, or if you like playing Hard Support and Mid, you’ll be able to do that as well. You will be matched based on either your Core or Support MMR.”

According to Valve, these changes are experimental and will remain active for the rest of the season to give players time to test it out and allow the devs to gather more accurate information and feedback from the players. “We hope to have your support and patience through this experiment as well as subsequent changes towards the path of making a better overall matchmaking system.”

Head over to the Dota 2 official site to learn more.