Thoughts - Change to not displaying opponent's level and prestige

[DRK3]

With patch 6.2 came a flood of bugs and glitches - most have been fixed with hotfixes, one of them released today - and this change went mostly unnoticed, or at least, not discussed.

Now, whenever you're playing against an opponent, its level and prestige isnt displayed, only his trinkets like avatar, border and title. Recently, they did a similar change, so that in Pro Rank you only see the opponent's name and cosmetics after the match. But that change, they justified why they did it!

Why did they change this now? What reasonable explanation is behind it?
Im against this change, because in my personal experience, i play mostly unranked or seasonal, and as a veteran, when i'm matched with a beginner i go easy on them, let them have one round, try to point out good plays and bad plays with taunts (although i dont think this is very successful), etc.

Now, its much harder to figure this out. One strategy is to judge a player by the trinkets, but Journey has made that much harder, since the Journey cosmetics are so popular im facing complete newbies and pros with the same cosmetics.

Returning to the question - why this change?
Were players doing the opposite that i and several other players did, and targeted newer players for easy wins? Because this is the only logical explanation i can come up, and yet, i have never seen this mentioned anywhere, and i spend a LOT of time on these forums and others.

If you have another reasonable justification for this change, please share it here.

 

[Pacifixer]

I don't like it for the same reason, this change is really stupid. It kind of makes sense in ranked, but nothing good can come out of this in casual.

 

[Draconifors]

It couldn't have been any more unexpected than it was, imo.

I know that some players have been confused when they've faced "low-level" players who, in reality, just had a Prestige level of 1 or higher. Especially with Prestige 1 it's a very easy mistake to make. Or, was. But it would hardly have justified removing the level display entirely.

Maybe some players were targetting new players, sounds more plausible than the above paragraph. I haven't seen any clarification from CDPR, so

 

[4RM3D]

Why did they change this now? What reasonable explanation is behind it?

The prestige level is confusing for a lot of player and I don't blame them because I feel the same way. CDPR should have made it more obvious what level the players actually were. But I guess that the devs actually wanted to do the opposite and not have a distinction at all.

Why? The only reason that I can think of is that there were too many complaints that the matchmaking was unfair and that players faced too many higher level opponents. It doesn't matter whether or not it's true because it doesn't change how players feel.

So, what's the solution? Just remove the level indicator altogether. Now, players can no longer complain because it's more difficult to assert the level of the opponent. Ironically, the level rarely matter, to begin with, but you cannot dismiss the psychological impact.

 

[Pacifixer]

So, what's the solution? Just remove the level indicator altogether. Now, players can no longer complain because it's more difficult to assert the level of the opponent. Ironically, the level rarely matter, to begin with, but you cannot dismiss the psychological impact.

Now that i think about it, it's actually pretty smart - playing against high lvl players (even in casual) can be very frustrating when you just instaled the game, but if you can't see the lvl, you'll assume that the matchmaking works and you just suck.
I dislike this change a litle bit less now

 

[DRK3]

The prestige level is confusing for a lot of player and I don't blame them because I feel the same way. CDPR should have made it more obvious what level the players actually were. But I guess that the devs actually wanted to do the opposite and not have a distinction at all.

Why? The only reason that I can think of is that there were too many complaints that the matchmaking was unfair and that players faced too many higher level opponents. It doesn't matter whether or not it's true because it doesn't change how players feel.

So, what's the solution? Just remove the level indicator altogether. Now, players can no longer complain because it's more difficult to assert the level of the opponent. Ironically, the level rarely matter, to begin with, but you cannot dismiss the psychological impact.

That is true, basically level only matters when you're Prestige 0, where a level 5 might be in a disadvantage vs a level 50. After Prestige 1, comparing the prestige level is enough, and past a certain point it doesnt matter much really.

Of course the problem is (or was)... new players dont know that, and the game lacks so many tutorials or whatever to provide essential information that new players should get, but instead they always need to rely on the forums or reddit, for other players to answer their basic questions.

And it did generate a ton of threads and complaints of these new players about being unfairly matched with higher level players, that they perceived as a big difference when in truth, it was not. So this solution might stop that from happening, but its only hiding the reality that matchmaking could still be improved a lot, when unranked matches Prestige 0 players with Prestige 8/9/10 players.

On a sidenote, when the patch hit, i was matched twice in 3 matches with players with 'Jack of All Trades' title. Players unaware with contracts and trinkets might disregard it, but its actually one of the hardest titles to get, requiring a huge commitment, so its a clear sign of probably a prestige 10 player, and my guess is those players might not have been using it, but decided to put it now that the prestige doesnt appear, to more clearly set themselves as high level players.

 

[Charles5pencer]

its a clear sign of probably a prestige 10 player

I got mine "Jack of all trades" at prestige level 6. I rather think, it is sign of player, who is completionist or likes challenges or likes to explore. It is possibly sign of a player, who wants to find entertainment in form of trying out things ("the path is the goal") rather than player, who just copies top metadecks and plays whole month only with them forgetting any other leader, which is not "meta".

I also dislike this change of hiding player level and I am also that player who ensures, that new player gets at least one round in a match with me.