This Is Why SR Needs to Go

[Wontkins]

Hey everyone,

I’d like to bring up something that has been bothering me (and I’m sure others too): the SR (Skill Rating) system on ETL1.

In theory, SR sounds like a good idea. Reward players for winning, give a sense of progression, maybe even improve matchmaking. But in practice, it’s doing the exact opposite and is actively harming the gameplay experience.

Here are some of the main issues I’ve noticed:

• Team switching to protect SR
  Players constantly switch to the stronger team just to avoid losing SR. This completely breaks team balance and makes matches feel one-sided before they even properly start. Players that get auto-switched move to spec or simply rejoin the other team.
• Leaving before the match ends
  A lot of players leave right before a loss is inevitable, just to avoid a SR penalty. This ruins the match for everyone else and leads to incomplete or uncompetitive rounds.
• Focus on SR over gameplay
  Instead of playing for fun, teamwork, or objectives, people are playing for SR. You see selfish behavior like stat-padding, avoiding risky plays, or not supporting teammates if it might hurt their rating.
• Discourages fair competition
  Rather than encouraging players to improve, SR promotes avoiding losses at all costs. That means fewer players stick through tough matches or try to turn a game around.
• New players get punished
  Less experienced players end up with low SR and get stuck there. It can be frustrating and discouraging, especially when they’re matched against stacked teams.
• Toxicity increases
  When SR is on the line, people take losses more personally. This leads to blame, arguments, and generally worse vibes on the server.
• Doesn’t reflect actual skill 
  Winning or losing in a team-based game doesn’t always represent individual performance. A good player can lose SR simply because their team was unbalanced.

ET has always been at its best when people just jump in, play, and enjoy the game without worrying about rankings or penalties. The current system pushes players toward selfish and unfair behavior instead of teamwork and fun.

What do you guys think?

Tl;dr: Remove SR, it improves the game.

[Makkie]

I agree Wontkins raised some valid points. The rules are hard to enforce to keep the teams fair because of SR, when a player leaves in warmup ( because of win probablity to avoid losing SR ) the server shuffled before that and it makes teams uneven from the start. Removing SR will make the !shufflebysr command redundant, I'd suggest then something like !shufflebywr (winrate) based on most matches played.