Placement Matchmaking?

[SwagUp]

I think new players who are just starting out in the league play should be primarily placed against other non- placed Players. I say this because when the leagues reset i was placed into gifted, top 10 in my division. I was dropped down to clever after i lost many games to non-placed players i later found out were master, or titan skilled. It seemed a little unfair, as the loss penalty was tremendous, placing me in the 90's before demoting me entirely. Opinions?

[Kamikaze28]

The goal of placement matches is to gauge your skill. Since the system is comparative out of necessity, the best results come from games against players with known skill.
While your opponents may not have been ranked yet, the system may have already known their skill to a certain degree (there were two league resets shortly after launch). Losing against a Master or Super-Titan skilled players is hardly surprising and the only conclusion for the system is, that this new player must a lower skill level than a Master or Super-Titan League player.
While you keep playing, the system will get a more accurate sense for your skill and will promote and demote you accordingly. So while your initial placement may displease you, time and patience will fix it.

[joelduque]

I get matched with unranked players from time to time. That's fine with me. I get very careful because a loss against them would mean a huge loss of points and ranking. My concern is how many of the 5 placement games of an unranked player turns out to be against a super-titan. I think it should be at most only 1 game.

I hope and/or suggest 1 of the matches be against ranked players in each of the various leagues, fluffy to super-titan. If he is really that good, then he very well deserves to win all 5 placement matches!

[worldfamous]

It seems to me that the problem lies in the weight of the value against the ranked player. It seems best to match non ranked vs ranked in order to evaluate the non ranked skill level. However, there shouldn't be much weight against the ranked player, as there is not enough information to make an accurate judgment. It should almost be considered a freebie for the ranked player, in terms of skill rating. I wonder, is the hidden skill rating like the BCS, where your past wins/losses change in value as the season progresses?

[joelduque]

New players add to the 'point pool'. So I usually get 5 points for winning against an unranked player. This is 1 point lower from beating a fluffy to gifted at my current level: I get 6 points. But if a ranked player especially master to super-titan level loses (to an unranked one), I believe that player should not be really harshly penalized point-wise as an unranked player is essentially a wild card, with a true 'hidden' hidden ranking for that time period.