Streak based rating is flawed

[ishu76]

The rating system which is streak based is flawed. The following scenario has happened to me twice. I have 750+ points. I was number 2 in the clever league and was beginning to get pit against number 1's in other divisions and some players in gifted. I was obviously a candidate for league promotion. Since I was playing with better players now, I had a losing streak and instead got demoted to fluffy, where I am obviously number one. I don't stay there long since I am pitted against other fluffies or lower clevers. I have a winning streak. When I get a promoted back to Clever, I am number 2 and now again am pitted against gifted and high clevers. This is a vicious cycle.

The problem lies in the fact, within leagues, ranking is ordered by points, but promotions and demotions are determined by streaks. So you are comparing apples to oranges. Your point system itself gives points for wins and takes points away for losses. This should be a good indicator for ranking and is clearer cut. It doesn't make sense that during league promotions I go to the top. Theoretically if I get promoted to a higher league I should be at the bottom. Am I making sense?

[oneadamleft]

Sorry the league is effing with you so hard. I'll bring this to Alex's attention. He is the god of leagues, who intimately knoweth how worketh the leagues.

You may have a point, or you may be experiencing some kind of anomaly we can patch.

[ArtNJ]

This doesnt seem to make any sense given the way the system has been described...ie that it matches you based on hidden rating, not points. If you just got out of Fluffy, you should be playing lower skilled folks in the Clever league, not top Clever/Gifted folks. I think that is how its supposed to work anyway. Sounds like it did not.

[ishu76]

We should not be ordered by points, it is deceiving. We should be ordered by however your rank is calculated. The equation used still seems to be a mystery.

[TheBarrow]

I'm not sure that I understand rank or streak scoring, unless I'm suffering from a bug. I've won at least 10 games in a row, and have probably only lost 2-3 times in 30-some games (mostly early when I was learning to play), but I have plateau'd at #9 in Clever for the last 4-5 wins. I'm getting 16-18 points per win. I see the #1 team in my clever league with 800+ points... he's not moving up yet? really? do i really have to win ~60 games in a row to get to the top spot in Clever... and if so, then do I move up?

I love the game... and honestly don't care THAT much about the rank - I guess I just don't understand it. And I guess I do want to move up the ranks so that I can play tougher battles.

[FreakyMan777]

Yeah it seems that it is REALLY hard to upgrade.... And it should be.... But maybe it's a little too hard.... My friend and I (SwagUpKillInIt) placed in Fluffy with a 3/5 placement wins... -_- And now we have won literally EVERY SINGLE MATCH except for like two... I'm just saying I think that it was a REALLY good idea with the league system but I do think it needs to be tweaked... Certainly I think it should go by points considering if you defeat a higher player it should promote you more...l like a private killing an enemy general.... You know? I'm just saying that the point system is the way to go...

Personally I think every level should be reached at a certain number of points... For example:
Fluffy: 0-499
Clever: 500-999
Gifted: 1,000-1,499

And so on... Like I said before I'm not trying to say the original idea was bad, or that my idea was better... It's just I, personally, think it would be better this way, especially if people knew what they had to work towards....

[CombatEX]

Yea the point system still takes a long time to match against the right opponents. My friend doesn't have an iDevice so I let him play on mine (he made a separate game center ID). As you can imagine he doesn't play many games as a result. Currently he is 22 wins 2 losses and in Gifted league. His losses are to a Super-Titan who is currently in the top 100 (top 50 I believe) who he played in placements and a high masters player. Yet for some reason after beating around 10 masters players he's still in gifted and is now playing exclusively gifted players. Sure they are all high point gifted players but I watch him play most of his games and it's not even close... The guys he plays throw away wits left and right but for some reason he's still getting matched with them. In SC people like he could play 15 games and if they consistently beat Masters players they'll at least be playing all masters players if not beig outright promoted. In Outwitters he's playing Gifted players. It's pretty boring for him when he goes 50/50 against supertitans and high masters in friendlies but is still playing people far beneath his skill in league =/

The same happened to me in the beginning but eventually I ended up playing people around my skill. Still, even though the system will eventually do its job, it takes way too long to get matched with the correct people and for people who don't play as much it's quite annoying.

[Jack•Sparrow]

It might be somewhat flawed, but let's face it: if a player in, for example, Fluffy League just keeps winning over and over, it would seem obvious that the person should be in a higher league. Likewise, if a Master League player goes on a losing streak of, say, 50, they probably belong in a lower league.

It's unfortunate that you seem stuck in a cycle of promotion and demotion, and it sounds like you're maybe stuck on the borderline of the two leagues. However, if you keep playing I think you'll keep improving too, and eventually you'll be sitting happily in Clever (or even work your way up the Leagues!)

Also, note that the points you see, and your ranking withing your division, is based MOSTLY on activity, and has little to do with your skill level. The same applies to people you see at the top of their respective divisions; someone with high points probably just plays a lot, and probably isn't actually good enough to be in the next League (since if they were better and played enough games to have the points they have, they would probably be promoted already).

I my own personal experience, I was placed in Gifted immediately after placements, lost the first game after that and was bumped down to Clever. It took be about 30 wins (with one or two losses) to be pushed up to Gifted again, and I've been winning about 60-70% of my games since (which makes me think I'm probably not good enough for Masters League until I improve my meta-) which has kept me solidly in the middle of Gifted (I'm unlikely to be promoted or demoted for a while).

[connor3491]

I actually think the system is okay, but would like the scope of who you face to be widened a bit. I am in clever and ranked 5th with 758 points. When I first got into the league I was only doing okay, but now I win basically every game to the point where it is getting boring again. I'm never going to be first in my league because the first place person has 1300 points. I wish that the system would at least let me face some people from the clever league so that I have a chance to see if I belong there.

[wonderpug]

You don't have to get to the #1 slot to get promoted to the next league. Ranking in your division is based on points, league placement is more based on the hidden skill rank, I believe.