EPTThere is an over arching problem with Wings of Liberty ladder design. It isn't pressing, it isn't related to balance, and by no means needs to be put in the proverbial express lane when it comes to patches. Simply put: there should be a limit to how many times you can queue against a given race and or player consecutively.
Various suggestions have been made in the past regarding this topic. Namely that you should be able to possibly queue a best of three, five, or whatever against a given player as a means to develop a specific match up. While that would be nice, a far simpler change would serve the vast majority of those of us who are neither high level, nor what you would call casual. That change is to limit mirror match ups and the number of times you can play another player in a row.
We have all seen streaming sessions where professionals will consistently queue against the same opponent multiple times in a row. Personally I have seen professionals face the same opponent five to six times before they are able to have some variance in their ladder practice sessions. This not only is dull, though the dialog can often be entertaining, but allows for sniping and other behaviors that are less than cordial; this is especially true at the highest level of play
Arguably Blizzard did make an effort to remedy this problem, by allowing for greater variance as to which MMRs could face one another ( ie higher players of league X can face the league above them despite a potentially large gap in skill if they are doing well). This change though was more frustrating than it was effective. Across the leagues players were either walking through matches or getting beaten into submission by their mismatched adversaries. The occasional match in which you play a player of comparable skill and understanding was either overshadowed by your tilt, dwarfed by your confidence or thrown by virtue of overestimation.
I propose a very simple fix to the ladder that will increase variance, and make the entire experience far more enjoyable to all concerned. Limit race match ups as well as opponent match ups, to a maximum of three games in a row.
No more will you spend the one evening you had been looking forward to Protoss vs Zerg the entire night had having a proper shit time about it;There will be a light at the end of the tunnel for queues where you can't seem to play anything but Zerg vs. Zerg, and you no longer need to audibly lament at the loading screen when you see the same player who has cannon rushed you two of the last four games you have played against them.
Percentages of players playing Protoss, Zerg, Terran and Random obviously play a factor in how all this would congeal in a patch but I do not think it a stretch to say most players would wait longer for a match if they were guaranteed to have some modicum of variance in their nightly Starcraft experience. To me this represents a common sense change that would make the game more accessible at a fundamental level without incorporating balance into the greater discourse.
I am sure that this is not a completely novel idea. To be honest the aforementioned concept of being able to queue a ranked best of X appeals to me greatly but with HOTS on the horizon now is the time to incorporate positive changes that will improve game experience regardless of skill.
Anything we can do to increase the games appeal at the most basic level, while not compromising the highest levels of play is inherently a positive. This kind of change represents a unique opportunity to cultivate new and returning players with the release of HOTS and further develop our community across the board.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
