Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-31439783-20171201051107/@comment-25669516-20171201091416

I'm going to answer your last question first. Your opponents in duels are bots who have same name and appearance as other real players. However the game's AI controls them and the fights are not real-time.

As for the matchmaking, the game picks your opponents based on your duel rating. Now, if you don't upgrade your gear as your duel rating goes up you might still be able to win but there will come a point and an opponent against whom you will eventually end up losing. If you lose a lot of times consecutively the game will automatically assign you a weaker opponent to get your rating back up. Similarly if you keep on winning match after match, you will be pitted against a opponent who may have much higher gear rating (which will result in you losing). Since you have a good win/loss ratio you haven't encountered weaker opponents yet, only the stronger one.