League rankings + promotions: suggestions and ideas for change

[Jack•Sparrow]

(09-29-2012 09:29 PM)Luckymori Wrote:  I agree. One thing I noticed when I started playing (I played my first ever matches in the league already) was that you can start more than five matches at the start and, as long as the first five matches that END were won, you'll be promoted to master league. So if I start 20 matches and let all of those where I don't have a great chance at winning stagnate I can be promoted to master without any actual skill. This must change.

Although this might seem like something that strongly affects the league, in reality all those losses at you've put on hold will all catch up to you. You can only leave a game sitting for four days before you lose it, and before long, you're bound to be booted back to a tier more reflective of your skill.

Also, OP, take it from me that the first five games have no more weight than is proportional... Technically the first one, two, three, and four games have even more weight than the fifth, but you don't get a rating until the fifth. The sixth game still bears a lot (and I mean a LOT) of weight, only slightly less than the fifth or fourth; as would the seventh and eighth and so on. I say this because when I first played ranked games (after many a friendly match to get my bearings on the game and its controls) I had a bit of a roller coaster ride around the leagues. I started five games all at once on a Monday (bear with me here...) and had three victories by that evening. Motivated by my winning streak, I started my sixth game and had a few turns. Tuesday morning saw me lose game number four, win game number 6 ("You've been placed in the Masters league") then lose game number 5 ("You've been demoted to Clever league") then win my next four games ("You've been promoted to Gifted") where I've been ever since. This, surely, shows that the following games still have a lot of weight on them, even after you've completed all your placement matches.

Note: I've been getting better at this game for the least few months but I've only had 5 active games going at a time, instead of the 20 that most people had (this was prior to the most recent update) and as a result have been climbing the ranks slowly. Whenever I get on a winning steak of just 5 or 6, I'm matched against a Master or even Super-Titan player, and subsequently lose (I think I have the skill to stay in Masters, if I get there, but not quite enough skill to get there) to be matched against more Gifted's until I get on another 5-6 winning streak.

I certainly don't think the matchmaking, promotion/demotion, or even placement match algorithms need changing. The visible "activity points" do what they are meant for, and the largest group of players (casuals) are catered for as a result. They encourage activity and continual play, and discourage players from trying to artificially modify their stats by ceasing to play when they think they're at the top of their winning streak (where more games would just mean losses from competitive players, and hence a drop in stats). On the other hand, the most competitive and highest skilled players are also catered for, in vying for the glorious and enviable "Top 100 of the week" positions.

If you truly think yours is an exceptional case, where you're not being matched with challenging players soon enough, send a message or bug report to OML and they'll check to make sure you're not encountering a bug or glitch.