A Look On: World of Tanks Matchmaking

I've started to take notes on matches that I'm playing on World of Tanks to try and figure out the matchmaking process and find issues relating to it if not evidence to support it handicapping good players and trying to keep win ratios balanced at roughly 50%.

The information gathered is as follows:

• Played 25 matches in a single tank one after the other
• Server choice constant, in this case the server was NA East
• A photo at the start of the game showing tanks on both teams
• Recording the result of the game
• Record the map and gamemode being played
• Record the spawn point of my tank on the map ( the theory is that to assist in the game handicapping or allowing you to play better by spawning you in a different area can either help or hinder your game performance )
• Take notes of unusual things within the game relating to RNG not being in your favor.

Of each match I played there is a picture to accompany each statistic relating to the game played. At the end there will be a small part that will show everything taken into account. This is one of a few tests as the next parts will be to do the same with a 2 man platoon and the next with a 3 man platoon.

 Mines Standard Battle. Balanced teams in number of tiers. I spawned K9. Game Won. All enemy tanks destroyed.

 Malinovka Assault. Spawned on the defending team. Game Won. All enemy tanks destroyed. Mali assault not balanced IMO.

 Cliff Standard Battle. I spawned A3. Game won. Enemy flag captured. One more 8 on our team but not a game changer.

 Sand River Assault. Defending. Not balanced game. 3 Tier 10's, 1 Tier 9, 5 Tier 7's and 1 Tier 7 on our team, 4 Tier 10's, 3 Tier 9's, 1 Tier 8, 5 and 4. I was last alive against 6 tanks and survived. Game won, only just. Time limit reached.

 Mines Encounter. I spawned A5. Game won. Enemy flag captured. Game balanced for having one less Tier 8 but 1 more Tier 7 on our team. Debatable on the types of tanks on the other team. x2 Caernarvon, x2 Tiger 2 and a T32.

 Malinovka Standard Battle. I spawned J6. Game lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. Balanced on Tier tanks.

 Cliff Standard Battle. I spawned A3. Game won. All enemy tanks destroyed. Green team extra 2 Tier 8's.

 Mountain Pass. I spawned J8. Game lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. Blue team had extra 2 Tier 7's.

 Sand River Assault. Defending. Game won. All enemy tanks destroyed. No balance issues as defending team has advantage.

 Malinovka Assault. Attacking. Game lost ( no surprise ) All friendly tanks destroyed, Game finished 15-0. No tier balance issues but this is Mali Assault and pointless in playing. I drowned my tank towards the end.

 Mountain Pass Standard Battle. I spawned B2. Game lost. Friendly base captured. Green team balance issues come into play only on where they go. A6 flank lost causing flag to be captured. My own tank along with some tier 8's and below limited ability to contribute to the match outcome.

 Westfield Standard Battle. I spawned A5. Game won. All enemy tanks destroyed. Felt unable to pen tanks in weak spots and had accuracy issues.

 Mountain Pass Standard Battle. I spawned B2. Game won. All enemy tanks destroyed.

 Westfield Standard Battle. I spawned A5. Game won. All enemy tanks destroyed.

 Widepark Standard Battle. I spawned A6. Game lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. Issues dealing kill shot to a side on Caernarvon that I had penned 3 times before. Both shots only counted as track damage.

 Westfield Standard Battle. I spawned F3. No surprise the game was lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. Balance issues. Green team had 2 Tier 10's and 2 Tier 9's. Blue team had 1 Tier 10 and 5 Tier 9's. Some green team members of high tiers spawned at the bottom.

 Widepark Standard Battle. I spawned J4. Game won. Enemy flag captured. Once again limited in my contribution. Death star shot me early on from A9 although he was not spotted, it was pot luck where he and I went.

 Sand River Assault. Attacking. Game won. Enemy base captured. Not sure where the other 2 T28's came from but defiantly contributed in the win. Maybe since I was on my own I could have been put on the other team?

 Widepark Standard Battle. I spawned J5. Game lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. T95 ran amock. No shit really considering the power of it.

 Malinovka Encounter Battle. I spawned J0. Miles away from anyone. Game lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. No tier issues but placing the top tier away from the hill and their 2 tier 2's next to the church is not balanced. But then this gametype on this map is not balanced anyway. Church spawn is closer to the hill. End of.

 Cliff Standard Battle. I spawned A3 ( this is a trend atm on cliff to spawn on this side ) Game won. All enemy tanks destroyed.

 Malinovka Encounter Battle. I spawned F0. Can you guess what happened next? Game lost. Neutral flag captured.

 Mines Encounter Battle. I spawned K6. Game won. Neutral flag captured. Green team extra Tier 9 but only came into play when all 5 top tiers bum rushed the flag and killed the E3 quickly.

 Cliff Standard Battle. Same bloody spawn. Game lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. Still I bounced a shot from the E100 so I can't complain.

 Westfield Standard Battle. I spawned J3. Game won. Enemy base captured.

Those are the 25 games I played today with the T28

15 Wins and 10 Losses.
7 Wins and 3 Losses in the first 10 games
5 Wins and 5 Losses from the next 10 games.
3 Wins and 2 Losses from the last 5 games.

Games that were lost only came about after a win. After the 1st ten games, the game seemed to try to be getting me into games that resulted in the opposite to the last game. Any time I'm placed into Mali Encounter Battle and spawned on the other spawn from the church only came after winning the previous game. Winning that gamemode from that spawn is difficult.

Maps
Cliff - 4.    75% win ratio ( 3 won 1 lost )
Mountain Pass - 3.     33% win ratio ( 1 won 2 lost )
Sand River - 3.     100% win ratio ( 3 won 0 lost ) Fun fact. Assault was the only game mode played on Sand River today.
Malinovka - 5.       20% win ratio ( 1 won 4 lost ) Fun fact. The only game mode won on Malinovka today was Assault on the defending team. The losses included attacking on assault, the shit spawn twice on encounter and 1 standard battle. This was also the most played map today making up 20% of the total maps played.
Westfield - 4.   75% win ratio ( 3 won 1 lost ) Fun fact. Won most games from A5 spawn.
Widepark - 3.   33% win ratio ( 1 won 2 lost ) Fun fact.I don't like this map.
Mines - 3.   100% win ratio. ( 3 won 0 lost )

Theory
After time the MM system will work out what maps you do not perform well on and uses that to increase your chance of a loss to even out the 50% win/loss ratio. Generally just on this I believe you should be winning once and then losing and then winning. In the event of the game you're meant to lose ( sand river assault where I got Kolobonovs medal standing alone against 6 tanks of which 4 where tier 10's ) the MM should put you into a better balanced game then before but place it on a map and gamemode that is not in your favor. Couple that with spawn placements and team mates can cause you to lose the game and to balance the XP gained in the previous game before hand.

I am happy I did this today as yesterday I only got 3 maps on a regular basis, Mali, Sand River and Mines of which it took the game at least 15 matches before Cliff appeared. This is the tip of the iceberg and only a test to see if what is said about the MM holds weight. More info to come in later posts.