I originally posted this to Reddit, however upon realizing that the forums are much more active and ZOS is more involved with the community here, I've decided to repost it here with a few modifications. I'd just like to start this off with stating that I understand the Battlegrounds just came out, and I am grateful that we finally have it. I am enjoying Battlegrounds so far, and I think it's definitely a step in the right direction; it's action-packed, fun, and doesn't involve running about on a mount for 30 minutes to get to a fight. That being said, right now it isn't very structured and I think there's definitely some room for improvement to the Battlegrounds system.

'Casual' and 'Competitive' queue with MMR
As of right now, there is only one bracket for players, and because of that everyone gets matched with anyone of any level. Supposedly there is/was two brackets, one for levels 10-49 and one for levels 10-50, however that doesn't appear to be the case. So, what exactly does that mean for Battlegrounds teams? It means that a level 10 player with their 10 or so Skill Points wearing prison clothes can hop right into a match and be potentially paired with 11 other players, all of which are level 50, CP 160+ (I know CP is disabled in BGs, but for the sake of experience/ game knowledge) running fully optimized builds in Epic/ Legendary gear. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the level 10 could be having the time of their life (and nothing should stop them from being able to do so), that level 10 is likely to get destroyed repeatedly by higher level players running optimized gear, with fully leveled skills and maxed out passives. At the other end of the spectrum, a level 50, CP 900 player with full Legendary proc sets (I know, but for the sake of argument) could be placed on the same team as 3 level 10s with their prison clothes and starter greatswords, and while he may be able to carry the team, it shouldn't be on one person to win a match.

That's where a Competitive queue could come into play. The existing bracket(s) could remain, but be renamed to Casual queue, and a Competitive queue could be introduced, along with an MMR system. This Competitive queue could introduce a level 50, CP160 minimal requirement in order to ensure that players have had time to get to know their class and the game better, and hopefully start getting set items together. This would allow those that wish to play competitively against other players of similar gear/ skill levels to do so, without infringing upon the rights of any other paying costumers (such as the aforementioned level 10s with prison clothes).

As for the MMR system, it would preferably (for more accurately depicting a players skill level) utilize your winrate, KDA, damage done, healing done, and damage mitigated, although I realize that an MMR system of that caliber would be fairly complicated (and thus isn't implemented in many games), so it could be simplified down to winrate/ KDA in order to use less resources on the backend. Appropriate titles and rewards could be given out at the end of each 30 day season (like Cryodiil) based on a player's end-of-season MMR.

Teams
Now, I believe there's already a system similar to this in-game, however it appears to be a bit buggy, so I'll leave this section for solidarity's sake. Two separate subdivisions should be created for both 'Casual' and 'Competitive' queues; one for Solo/Duo/Trio players, and one for Teams (4). The distinction between the two would be automatic and appropriately match you with other players in the same subdivision based off the amount of players in your group when you queued. Solo, Duo, and Trio players would be matched only with other solo/duo/trio players, while teams would only be matched against other teams. This would promote fair play, as the more coordinated teams of 4 would likely be able to roll over teams of random players who aren't on comms together.

Appropriate Rewards
As of right now a small amount of XP and AP is rewarded at the end of each Battlegrounds match, along with a package in the mail with gear, however the XP and AP received is not equivalent to the time invested. If we take a look at Cyrodiil, a 15 minute fight at a keep could net you 10-20k AP (depending on your participation), whereas that same 15 minutes in a Battleground only nets a few thousand AP, making leveling your Alliance War skill lines via Battlegrounds extremely inefficient. I understand that this isn't the primary function of Battlegrounds, but making it worth player's time in terms of Alliance progression would be a huge quality of life improvement for those that don't like the vast openness and zerg style PvP of Cyrodiil.

Custom Games
Another feature that could be implemented is Custom Games, where players could set up their own matches in order to play with one another in large groups. The easiest way for this to be implemented (imo) is a large group (12) would have to be formed prior to starting, with teams being organized into their respective small groups. The leader of the large group would then select the custom game option in the Battlegrounds Queue UI, then be presented with a subset of rules (FFA/ TDM/ CTF/ etc.). Once the rules are selected, the leader would select start, a ready check would be initialized, and once everyone in the group accepted, they would be ported to their custom game. This system would allow guilds and large groups of friends to play with one another in a closed environment, for fun or even in-house tournaments. Another feature that could be introduced with the custom games concept is spectators, with all groups beyond the initial 3 that are playing be spectator slots, so that other guild members or friends could watch and get in on the fun as well.

I think these options would prove to be extremely beneficial to both the game and the playerbase, and hopefully we see some of these features in the future. If you have anything you'd like to be added, or any other suggestions as to how Battlegrounds could be improved, feel free to post below!