Super Titan matched against Gifted

Alvendor · 08-30-2012, 04:11 AM

(08-28-2012 09:32 AM)swimj Wrote: That is really strange. I am #16 in the latest rankings, and had a game open all yesterday which finally got filled today after 20 hours with Harti! who is #8. So if it's the case that the search "broadens" after a certain time it must be over a day, which means p1noyboypj had an open game which probably overlapped with mine, but we did not get matched together. Is the system really that narrow that #1 and #16 can't play each other?

I believe it is, when I was ranked ~10th I never got to play any of the top three players.

swimj · 08-30-2012, 04:40 AM

(08-30-2012 04:11 AM)Alvendor Wrote:
(08-28-2012 09:32 AM)swimj Wrote: That is really strange. I am #16 in the latest rankings, and had a game open all yesterday which finally got filled today after 20 hours with Harti! who is #8. So if it's the case that the search "broadens" after a certain time it must be over a day, which means p1noyboypj had an open game which probably overlapped with mine, but we did not get matched together. Is the system really that narrow that #1 and #16 can't play each other?

I believe it is, when I was ranked ~10th I never got to play any of the top three players.

Have you been able to play any of the top 3 players in recent games? I definitely think the #6 player would be good competition with any of them.

Alvendor · (This post was last modified: 08-30-2012 06:19 AM by Alvendor.)

Yeah I've been playing ..Sir3.. in a couple of games now, which has forced me to rethink how I play the game yet again =/. In my experience there is a noticeable skill difference if you just move a couple of steps up and down at the top of the rankings.

That said I still think it would be an improvement if the matchmaking algorithm is made a little bit wider at the top. Some variation and more available games for the top players and some great learning opportunities for the lower players.

wonderpug · 08-30-2012, 06:27 AM

(08-30-2012 06:18 AM)Alvendor Wrote: which has forced me to rethink how I play the game yet again

I've been going through this a lot as well. I love it, even if it does result in me having losing streaks. Such a simple game at first glance, but after all these matches I still keep seeing new tactics.

Alvendor · 08-30-2012, 06:43 AM

(08-30-2012 06:27 AM)wonderpug Wrote:
(08-30-2012 06:18 AM)Alvendor Wrote: which has forced me to rethink how I play the game yet again

I've been going through this a lot as well. I love it, even if it does result in me having losing streaks. Such a simple game at first glance, but after all these matches I still keep seeing new tactics.

It's kind of a bittersweet feeling when you realize something you thought you knew is completely wrong. I thought the scrambler was underpowered earlier but not anymore!

The mass/exchange runners thing was also something I thought only newbies did and could easily be countered with a soldier or two. But after playing against Sir3's very aggressive openings I must admit it is a very valid tactic.

jaesonwu · 09-01-2012, 08:00 AM

Alvendor, would you be against sharing these replays? I'm very curious to see how these top players play. I always check the ST replay thread but it seems recently there has been a lack of replays in general, and notably, replays between players in the top 50. If a few positions in the highest levels of play really make that big a different in strategy then I'm all the more interested to see them =)

Of course I'll understand if you don't want to upload them, but just thought I'd ask.

swimj · 09-01-2012, 08:50 AM

(09-01-2012 08:00 AM)jaesonwu Wrote: Alvendor, would you be against sharing these replays? I'm very curious to see how these top players play. I always check the ST replay thread but it seems recently there has been a lack of replays in general, and notably, replays between players in the top 50. If a few positions in the highest levels of play really make that big a different in strategy then I'm all the more interested to see them =)

Of course I'll understand if you don't want to upload them, but just thought I'd ask.

I've been meaning to post some of the more interesting ones I've had, just haven't gotten to transferring my replay links to my computer where it's easier to post them.

Dawizerd · (This post was last modified: 09-03-2012 01:39 AM by Dawizerd.)

Ok, so I decided to conduct a small experiment, and it may or may not have some correlation to this issue. I'll share the results.

First my background-
At the time I started I was in masters league, 58 wins, (around 50 1v1) with 560 league points. I've had about a 80% win percentage. I consistently get paired with master league players, usually those with anywhere from 80 to 150 wins or so, I feel that I play at a solid upper tier masters level. As a rule, I don't keep many active games going, I stay at around 5-6 at any given time.

The setup-
I load up my queue with 12 games as player 1. (details about this issue have been and continue to be covered in previous threads) I then sit on those open games for two days without taking my initial turn.

The results-
After two days, I start taking my initial turns on 6 of the 12 games loaded in my queue. The matchmaking system very quickly finds players to fill the games, usually in about 2 minutes. EVERY opponent in these games is taken from gifted league or lower. In my initial 6 games started (taken from the 12 in queue) I got 2 fluffy, 2 unranked and 2 clever leaguers.

After taking my initial turns on those 6 games, I start a brand new game (NOT one of the 12 I queued up), I immediately get matched as player 2 against a master league player.

After finishing most of the initial 6 queued games, I proceed to take my first turn on the remaining 6 games. ALL of them pair me with clever and unranked players. I then start another brand new game, quickly getting paired with a master leaguer, with me as player 2.

After all those games were finished, I returned to my usual routine of starting games, and am once again getting paired with upper tier master leaguers.

Summary-
In my case, "working the queue" resulted in pairings with opponents of a vastly lower skill level, while starting games at more random intervals gave me well matched opponents. So, could some of this "skill mismatch" issue be the way the system is reacting to queue loading by the higher league players?

GreatGonzales · (This post was last modified: 09-02-2012 01:36 PM by GreatGonzales.)

Very interesting dawizerd..

Alvendor · 09-05-2012, 06:02 AM

(09-01-2012 08:00 AM)jaesonwu Wrote: Alvendor, would you be against sharing these replays? I'm very curious to see how these top players play. I always check the ST replay thread but it seems recently there has been a lack of replays in general, and notably, replays between players in the top 50. If a few positions in the highest levels of play really make that big a different in strategy then I'm all the more interested to see them =)

Of course I'll understand if you don't want to upload them, but just thought I'd ask.

Sure Jaeson, I've posted one in the super titans thread. I have a few thoughts on it but hope to get some discussion before I post them.