What is the busiest time of day for DB?

How would mixing ranked/unranked via MM cripple it? You can build up the strength of a ranked MM team that you don't care about and then use it to cripple top teams without thought for the ball.

That's a good point. Still, I feel unranked teams have less incentive trying to win as the stakes are not as high which would lead to more unproductive behaviour.

The only difference unranked has is the challenge system, i.e. you could potentially challenge a friend or another team of your own so you win, but the unranked team would never become ranked. And a ranked team would always have to MM.

It would make it too easy to farm wins if you could challenge your ranked team with your unranked one. Also, ranking has little meaning if the (unranked) opponents are not randomly available for anyone to test their teams against and if ranked fights do not have the same stakes for both teams. When you use matchmaking, you always risk your ranked team to random opponents. Mixing challenges with that would dilute the whole system.

It would also be too easy to farm a true killer team in unranked and then use it to grief ranked teams. Let's not put tools like that in the hands of the for-the-lulz types.

If you could only challenge other unranked teams the only change would be that the unranked teams would be mixed into the ranked matchmaking. This would have the side effects listed above. I feel the much better, safer and clearer solution is to just roll a ranked team if you want to play other ranked teams.

That said you can still manipulate it now, given so few players online. Just make 2 ranked teams and MM same time, almost guaranteed you play yourself and you can help yourself win and gain SP!

True. No need to make it easier, though.

The main issue the game faces is not the niceties of the rules and whether ranked should ever face unranked, but the fact that so many players are getting bored of waiting in MM, which de-segregation would help address.

We've heard conflicting anecdotes about that. Not everyone seems to be having issues. Only Cyanide know from their server logs what is the true average wait for a MM match and how many coaches quit without getting a match.

Probably only a few unranked teams are so far developed that you couldn't almost as well start over with a new ranked team. Besides, we knew the system going in. I can understand wanting to get to play my favourite unranked team more but the downsides are just too great.

If the matchmaking wait time is the main issue, just roll a new ranked team. Problem solved, as far it's possible to solve with the current level of player population. Creating new issues is not likely to draw new players in. Except habitual griefers.

Hehe, agree to disagree then. I tend to play 18:00-00:00 GMT and see about 12-20 people in the lobby, most already in-game. I would play beyond 00:00 but by then lobby has dropped below 12 with maybe just one or two others "online" (and that doesn't mean they're actively in matchmaking).

Wait time for 1000 TV ranked MM is less than 2 minutes early on, by 00:00 I'm waiting over 20 minutes with a 1000 TV MM and give up. With higher TV teams it takes longer, around 10 minutes early on, by 00:00 I waited once 45 minutes before I got a game.

It's not quite so easy to "If the matchmaking wait time is the main issue, just roll a new ranked team" because many people (myself included) like some continuity with a team, I don't like having to create a new team just to get a game. The consensus does seem to be that MM takes far too long and however it's done, it needs a fix