Dota 2: The New Frontiers Update Patch Notes – Matchmaking

Let’s learn more about the new matchmaking changes that came along with The New Frontiers Update.

It’s safe to say the new Dota 2 Update called The New Frontiers shocked the world. It has tons of new things, such as a reworked map, new items, loads of hero changes, and interesting matchmaking news. We know many of you want to know more about them, so let’s dive into what’s new.

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General Information and Problems

According to Valve, the Matchmaking Rating (MMR) consists of Rank Confidence and Rank. The latter represents your skill, whereas the other one is what Valve thinks about your skill, as strange as it sounds.

In the new update, we’ve learned that Dota has used a slightly modified version of the Elo algorithm. Even though this worked fine, it seems like the company has noticed that there are problems. Consequently, The New Frontiers Update addresses this issue by providing us with new and improved clumping.

The new algorithm that Dota 2 will use is called Glicko and the idea behind it is to allow you to get matched with players at your skill level much easier. Glicko should allow Valve to factor a player’s Rankl Confidence more accurately than before, which means players should have better rank gain/loss experience.

What will Glicko add to the game?

According to the news, the switch to the new matchmaking system in Dota 2 will feel similar to starting a new season. 

• All players must go through a calibration which will be seeded based on their previous rank. 
• What’s interesting about this calibration is that it won’t require you to play a fixed number of games. You will be calibrated when your Rank Confidence is above a specific threshold.
• Once you calibrate, you will probably have a slightly different medal than before.
• The new Dota 2 update removes the MMR gain and loss after each match. Instead, Glicko will introduce a variable that’s based on different factors, such as the Ranks and the Rank Confidence of players.
• Lastly, inactive players must be careful because their rank will be low if they’re not playing regularly.

Another interesting thing we can learn from The New Frontiers Update matchmaking patch notes is that Valve has been running the 2 matchmaking systems for a while. In other words, players shouldn’t experience any problems once they start playing.

Immortal Matchmaking

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One of the most interesting new changes is the addition of a special Immortal Matchmaking. What’s interesting about it is that it will be completely different than the rest because Valve decided to resign it.

Once you reach the Immortal skill bracket, you won’t get to play in pre-made teams. Instead, there will be 2 captains that will choose the eight players to be in a game with. Of course, this means that players will have to choose one of the roles. 

The idea of these changes is to make the games at the Immortal level a lot more interesting. Of course, we’re yet to see if this will happen. Make sure to follow ESTNN for other Dota 2 updates.