One thing I see that is possibly flawed about Falcon's charts is, "where do you draw this line between 'high' mmr and 'low' mmr players?" It's just too binary. Most players are 'average' mmr. And two average mmr players may or may not be as good together as that one high mmr player - depending on how compatible their play-style is as a team.
I got tired of saying this over the course of '14-'15, but since it's been brought up again, here I go:
There are two (maybe three), more elegant ways of preventing the imbalance which is primarily caused by starting matches without a full and even complement of players and quitters.
1. Only allow matches to start if the server has a full complement of players. If a certain time passes and not enough players have joined, introduce a vote to even the teams and close join-in-progress once the teams are even. So, if there are only 6 players in a lobby and the time elapses, they can vote to go ahead and start with just six players and then no join-in-progress is allowed until the match ends. Players who want to join that server from the server list can check "OK, I'll wait until the next match." or look for something else.
2. Provide a multiplier bonus to players who stick with a server for multiple matches. The more consecutive matches you play in the same server, the bigger your bonus when you leave. Sure, you'd eventually need a cap on that, but you get the idea. And it has to be something worth sticking around for too - as right now, most long-term players have all the XP and HC they could ever care about.
*3. Rage-quit time-out penalty. This is the 'maybe' thing. I know it's not popular and comes with some drawbacks. However, with the same controversy, Rocket League implemented a rage-quit timeout penalty several months ago and, despite a massive initial uproar from the angry mob... it is now highly praised by most everyone. In Rocket League, If you leave a match in progress, you can't join another for 15 minutes. And, you know what, since they implemented that, rage-quitting has almost vanished. The number of reported 'disconnects' has gone up, but the developers have been able to show that the vast majority of people complaining that they were disconnected from the server are blatantly lying. It has been a huge success.
The only still existing complaint about this new penalty in Rocket League, which is still about 'don't penalize me for getting disconnected', will be addressed in an update next week. They are instituting a "rejoin the match you were 'disconnected' from" option. So, if your game client has closed and/or a visible interruption of your connection to the servers is seen, when you get back to the main game menu, you will be asked if you would like to rejoin the exact same match you left. If you accept, no time-out or points penalty. If you refuse, you have to wait for the time-out to expire.
Now, I am well aware that Hawken is a unique game and what works for one doesn't always work for another. But I thought those two clever little adjustments to the time-out for quitters really helped alleviate the majority of the pitfalls.
Edited by StubbornPuppet, 29 December 2015 - 12:51 PM.