Let's assume that player is currently an AR spec'd Assault. What happens if that player decides to spec into AV? The guy could just keep grinding in his AR set until he has enough sp, but this discourages players from trying out different builds and roles.

Your idea also encourages people to play in prototype gear 24/7.

Also, and this is the most important part, how the hell do you even BEGIN to balance a game when people have such a large gear disparity?

everyone has a crutch,. the good players have more. =)

if someone fears there own rank,. then the same players fear there own k/d ratio right now..

This gear balancing wont solve anything. The battles will play out the same, in favor of those with more SP and skills, and someone with more SP is usually the better player because they have spent more time playing....

This is why we need what ive stated. Instead of matching people based on gear, how about trying to show a players skill level is, based on what they get done in a match. Id someone proto stomps all day and has high stats, then they should be more likely to be put with other proto stompers.

Because matches literally full of snipers, full of logis or full of heavies doesn't interest me.

I do not understand match making.
You only get better -playing better players.

You watch a better player do something that kills you, /facepalm "Why didn't I think of that" and move on.
I frankly suck at this game. I am not going to quit because of it, I'm going to try harder.

Sometimes you get stomped. BFD, move on to the next one.
We are playing as Mercenaries in a Scifi universe. Who said it should be easy?

That is what I am perceiving this discussion to be about. Making the game easier.

Really.
I don't understand the thought.

Hey that's great and all, but how about you actually address what I wrote.

Doesn't that pretty much screw Amarr assaults?

Dude, this already happens right now, its pretty random, but it happens. But if that happens with a legitament match maker, then obviously something is broke balancing wise.

but i did,. /shrug

your saying this player has built a crutch with skill/gear, so he is scared to try new things, and drop in rating..

HMG heavies generally have low accuracy. Snipers generally have high accuracy. So tell me how a matchmaking system with accuracy as a variable is going to make sure that matches don't end up having 32 snipers or 32 heavies? I'm not saying your idea is a bad one, I'm just saying lets start off with gear and and variables as we go along.

You just described 99% of the player base.

the problem,.?

Like I said, the best players dont need to crutch there rank, the ones that do, well,.. to bad for them,. Let the ELO sort us out.

And the Heavy user can make up for it by destroying vehicles, racking kills defending a point etc. This type of matchmaking is dynamic and is always changing.

SP tiers is a barrier and high end players would eventually outgrow everyone below them to the point that they consider others at the same tier a personal friend and not even bother fighting.

The problems is that Dust is not (well ,not supposed to be) a run of the mill shooter. Different gear, tactics, roles means that it's not as simple as run & shoot.

I think we are on topic still, so here I go..

Roles can be left to all the other various turf wars Dust should fix up and add more to. Squads in a match maker will just rise faster in rank, roles always work in the squad crutch, <---- love this term btw.

I play scout, 100% of the time. I feel my role,. no problems here.

I see dust as MMO bg style pvp,. not a shooter, so lets delete this run of the mill shooter thing..

No offense, but that could not have been more painful to read, but I think I know what you're saying. I just don't think ELO is adequate for Dust.

The problems is that Dust is not (well ,not supposed to be) a run of the mill shooter. Different gear, tactics, roles means that it's not as simple as run & shoot.

It doesn't matter, he's right, all you need is an ELO system. If someone is wearing proto and 10m SP but is a total garbage player then he will sit in amongst the lower end crowd because he's not a threat to anyone, even the militia geared players. If someone is wearing militia and has 1m SP but is some sort of FPS Superman then he'll climb the ladder until he meets people who can give him a good match (either through skill or gear, it doesn't matter). The proto equipped FPS master will sit at the top of the tree.

So Tl:dr you don't need to differentiate WHY a player is kicking ass or not, an ELO system will agnostically account for it.

ELO pretty much works the same as what im describing. But what im describing takes everything into account for a composite score that constantly change. It can change rapidly or very slowly.

ELO by its very nature includes everything about a player because it is only concerned with one thing, the result, your success rate.

The only addition to ELO you would need is a slight modifier based on gear meta level. Otherwise with pure ELO if you decided to take off your proto-gear to earn/save ISK then you'd be outside your overall "ranking" bracket and in over your head. It would take too many matches to readjust, same with when you put it back on.

So it just needs to be pure ELO*(Small_Gear_Meta_Adjustment)

Elo (it's a name by the way not an acronym) type system would work if effectiveness was solely determined by killing people.

What happens to our professional logi players, dropship pilots etc?

*IF* warpoint rewards were balanced between different playstyles then there is probably someway that they could be used to implement a similar ranking system.

Pure Elo based on kills however will not work.

ELO match maker, based on who you kill/die to. not win ratio, or anything else,.