Almost a month after the arrival of Siege X to Rainbow Six Siege, players are still spending hours and hours trying to climb up the Ranked standings. After all, everyone wants to reach the best ranks, or, at least, reach their goals set at the start of the season.
However, it's fair to say Siege X has initiated — or reignited — a debate that has been around since the arrival of Ranked 2.0: is Ranked 2.0 good? Is Hidden MMR a good idea? How does it even work?
Well, today we're here to answer some of your questions. Keep on reading to know more about Siege X's Hidden MMR and how it works:
What is Siege X's Hidden MMR?
In Siege X, the Hidden MMR is a value determined from past performances in the game and recent matches. This score is what actually matters when joining a Ranked match, and it's not visible to players.
Hidden MMR was introduced to Rainbow Six Siege in Year 7 Season 4, also known as Operation Solar Raid, as part of Ranked 2.0. This value was defined by Ubisoft as a "hidden value that will be used for matchmaking" and it's basically an "estimation" of a player's skill which takes into account results in previous seasons and current season results.
How does Siege X's Hidden MMR work?
When players initiate matchmaking in Ranked, Ubisoft uses the players' Hidden MMR and not their current Ranked placement. The idea behind this concept is to group players based on their historical level and not just their current level.
To further explain Hidden MMR, I will use one of my most recent Ranked matches. The information has been obtained from Tracker.GG, a website that gamers use to have a deep understanding of their performances in a big number of online video games.
As seen in the picture, the lobby included a mix of players who were placed in Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Emerald. However, as we mentioned earlier, Ubisoft doesn't take into account the current placement, but the historical placement. In this match lobby, seven of the ten players have hit Emerald, while the rest have hit high Platinum. This is what Ubisoft uses for matchmaking.
With the addition of Hidden MMR, Ubisoft could also get rid of Squad MMR Restriction, which would prevent players from teamming with their friends if there was a substantial difference between them in terms of rank. This is because Ubisoft simply mixes those Hidden MMR and calculates the right placement for an squad of, let's say, a Gold III, a Silver V, and a Bronze III.
Plain and simple, the concept of Hidden MMR allows Ubisoft to create fairer lobbies. If a player has consistently reached Champion lobbies in the past, they will be paired with other Champion and high-Diamond players.
However, Hidden MMR is a double-edged sword. Taking a break from Siege can make your experience extremely poor when you get back to the grind.
For instance, let's imagine a player who has hit Platinum I, Emerald III, and Emerald IV in three consecutive seasons, but then spends a whole season without playing Ranked. When coming back to the game, although the player hasn't touched Ranked for three months, and probably their skill level is slightly worse for not having played the game for almost ten weeks, they will likely be paired with high Platinum and low Emerald players.
For more information about how Siege X's Hidden MMR works, check out Ubisoft's official blog post.
Do Siege X players like Ranked 2.0?
The addition of Ranked 2.0 to Rainbow Six Siege was initially welcomed with open arms but has been the origin of criticism and negativity. Right now, it's fair to say the community's overall opinion about Ranked 2.0 is negative.
Before Ranked 2.0 everything was simpler. Players would have to play ten matches to be awarded with an average rank and then play more games until reaching the highest place on the standings. It was easy to understand as players would compete against other players with their same rank. Nothing was hidden from them and everything was crystal clear.
Unfortunately, that's the main problem of Ranked 2.0: Hidden MMR is just that, hidden. While there's a formula to calculate it, players can't really comprehend the logic behind the value as they don't have access to that information. So, although the idea of Hidden MMR is great, it ends up being extremely chaotic — which brings us to the present.
With the arrival of Rainbow Six Siege X in Year 10 Season 2, Ubisoft decided to add Rank Display to Ranked matches. This allows players to check their teammates and opponents' current Rank but not their Hidden MMR. As players still don't fully understand how Hidden MMR works and its importance, they feel really shocked when they see they are playing against current Emeralds or Platinums when they are Silvers or Golds. If you're one of these, don't worry: again, the rank displayed is the current rank, not the historical rank.
What's my Rank in Siege X then?
In Ranked 2.0, your Rank indicates the average level of your match results in a season. It also determines what rewards you will get by the end of the season.
The more you will, the closer you will get to the best prizes on the list. Moreover, the more you improve your final ranks, the stronger your Hidden MMR will be. Keep that in mind!
Will Ubisoft cancel Ranked 2.0?
Ubisoft hasn't announced any changes coming to Ranked 2.0 in the near future. No changes have been unveiled about how Hidden MMR works either. Therefore, we don't think Ubisoft will make any changes in the near future.
Considering that Ranked is possibly Siege X's most competitive game mode alongside the Siege Cup, competitive enthusiasts will likely be looking forward to changes. Unfortunately for them, as we just said, no changes are expected to be released soon. If you're one of them, you will have to wait.
For more information about Rainbow Six Siege X, don't forget to bookmark the site and follow us through our social media pages.