FACEIT release a major elo distribution update

Matchmaking service FACEIT introduced a new major elo system distribution update where users will earn less Elo in a group with under-ranked players.

FACEIT blog reports that the service does not want to restrict players from wanting to play with friends, but many users use the issues in the system to earn Elo ratings. A brief description of the changes in scoring:

Party rating deviation penalty: The system adjusts the amount of League and Ladder points won/lost to each party member in each team based on the party members skill difference.

For example, if we have a party of three players with the following Elo:

  • Player 1: 3,272 Elo
  • Player 2: 3,118 Elo
  • Player 3: 1,228 Elo

The progression for that party across 11 matches would have been +62 points with the old system while they will gain only +4 points by applying the new Party Rating Deviation Penalty, shown in the table below:

“Balanced Scoring”: The system uses the predicted match result to add or subtract a certain % adjustment to the league points for each player within an unbalanced match. Thanks to the latest matchmaking update, we have a smaller number of unbalanced matches — however, we wanted to start applying a fairer point system for all those use cases to not penalise too much the faction losing or provide unfair Leagues points advantage for the faction winning those matches.

  • We consider a balanced match to be any match where the win probability for the teams falls within the range of 40–60% before the match starts. For all those matches no penalty or bonus will be applied to the league points.
  • In case the win probability for one of the factions falls within the 61–80%, then the new system will apply a penalty/bonus equal to 25% for Leagues points won/lost. For example, if you lose a match where you had a 38% chance to win, you will lose a number of points that is 25% lower than what you would have lost with the old approach. The same thing applies in the case of a win of the match (the favourite team will get 25% fewer points).
  • If in a match a team has a win probability falling within the 81–100%, then a penalty/bonus of 50% will be applied to the League points Won/Lost. For example, if you lose a match where you had only a 19% chance to win, you will lose a number of points that is 50% lower than what you would have lost with the old approach.

The table below shows the league point progression for that party across 11 matches by taking into account both “Party rating deviation penalty” and “Balanced scoring”:

FACEIT representatives also stated that in the past few months they have been working on a new system to identify smurf accounts and boosters. Thanks to this innovation, more than 10 thousand profiles have already been banned. The service will reset the earned rating to zero for those players who gained it in the group with banned users in the next update.

AI Minerva has been tested for several weeks banning people who are in the AFK position during the match or deliberately obstruct the movement of their teammates. Soon the AI will be able to fight against those who shoot at teammates or give away their positions to the opponent.

In December 2020, it was reported that FACEIT began to automatically ban players for offensive behavior.

Origin: blog.faceit.com