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Proleague: Most Balanced/Broken Maps of All Time

Forum Index > BW General
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Love.Zelduck
Profile Joined February 2008
United States170 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-18 05:53:51
January 05 2009 09:46 GMT
#1
UPDATED! (See rationalization for more info)

Proleague's Most Balanced Maps of All Time

1. Sin Peaks of Baekdu
2. Python
3. Tau Cross
4. Blue Storm
5. Andromeda

Rationalization
+ Show Spoiler +

Forget the old methods. If a map has a %pop. imba. of 17% or greater (away from 33%), it's imba. Python just makes the cut, Katrina SE just misses it. If a map has a %MU imba of 20% or greater (away from 50%), it's imba. Maps are ordered by their worst matchup.


Numbers
+ Show Spoiler +

Map - Worst pop. imba. / worst record imba.
T: %T's sent out
Z: %Z's sent out
P: %P's sent out

Tau Cross - 4 10
T: 32
Z: 37
P: 30

Destination - 3 20.3
T: 31
Z: 33
P: 36

Sin Peaks of Baekdu - 8 9.6
T: 31
Z: 41
P: 28

Blue Storm - 9 12.5
T: 27
Z: 42
P: 31

Arcadia 2 - 17 6.7
T: 31
Z: 50
P: 19

Medusa - 6 21.1
T: 27
Z: 37
P: 36

Python - 16 9.6
T: 49
Z: 25
P: 26

815 III - 7 22
T: 35
Z: 38
P: 26

Andromeda - 11 14.9
T: 28
Z: 44
P: 28

Sin Chupung-Ryeong - 10 20
T: 38
Z: 39
P: 23

Katrina SE - 17 12.5
T: 16
Z: 34
P: 50

Colosseum II - 15 20
T: 24
Z: 28
P: 48

Nemesis - 20 18.4
T: 23
Z: 23
P: 53

Chupung-Ryeong - 25 15.5
T: 53
Z: 8
P: 39

Neo Harmony - 18 22.7
T: 51
Z: 26
P: 22

Baekmagoji - 15 28.6
T: 34
Z: 19
P: 48

Monty Hall - 23 18.7
T: 35
Z: 10
P: 55

Monty Hall SE - 26 16.7
T: 59
Z: 16
P: 26

Neo Requiem - 20 22.3
T: 13
Z: 35
P: 53

Othello - 39 13
T: 72
Z: 15
P: 13

Katrina - 22 23.5
T: 14
Z: 31
P: 55

Colosseum - 30 25
T: 49
Z: 3
P: 49

Rush Hour 3 - 34 24.1
T: 67
Z: 28
P: 6

Raid Assault 2 - 45 21.4
T: 22
Z: 78
P: 0

Un'Goro Crater - 25 50
T: 40
Z: 52
P: 8

Harmony - 38 50
T: 71
Z: 19
P: 10

Wuthering Heights - 42 50
T: 75
Z: 3
P: 21

Geometry - 43 50
T: 76
Z: 15
P: 9
Plexa
Profile Blog Joined October 2005
Aotearoa39261 Posts
January 05 2009 09:48 GMT
#2
Um thanks for an arbitrary list of maps in some order without any justification or rationalization behind the creation of the list

Care to elaborate?
Administrator~ Spirit will set you free ~
Patrio
Profile Joined September 2007
Norway706 Posts
January 05 2009 09:49 GMT
#3
Medusa most balanced map of all time?????

I thought Harmony and Othello was better balanced than Medusa
Zerg Bunker
Scaramanga
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Australia8090 Posts
January 05 2009 09:49 GMT
#4
On January 05 2009 18:48 Plexa wrote:
Um thanks for an arbitrary list of maps in some order without any justification or rationalization behind the creation of the list

Care to elaborate?

Loda talked about the fun counter, it's AdmiralBulldog on his natures prophet
Shikyo
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Finland33997 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-05 09:53:43
January 05 2009 09:53 GMT
#5
The "Proleague's Most Balanced Maps of All Time" and "Proleague's Most Broken Maps of All Time" could be switched and it would be almost just as accurate.


I assume you play Protoss?
League of Legends EU West, Platinum III | Yousei Teikoku is the best thing that has ever happened to music.
Love.Zelduck
Profile Joined February 2008
United States170 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-05 09:54:32
January 05 2009 09:53 GMT
#6
elaboration added, so yknow, it's moar clear that its just numbers based (whether or not the numbers ought to mean that is another story.)
BanZu
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States3329 Posts
January 05 2009 09:53 GMT
#7
On January 05 2009 18:53 Shikyo wrote:
The "Proleague's Most Balanced Maps of All Time" and "Proleague's Most Broken Maps of All Time" could be switched and it would be almost just as accurate.


I assume you play Protoss?

That's exactly what I was thinking, wtf?
Sun Tzu once said, "Defiler becomes useless at the presences of a vessel."
whatusername
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Canada1181 Posts
January 05 2009 09:54 GMT
#8
ummmmmmmmmmm idgi most of the so-called "balanced" maps on that list arent the well balanced at all???
im gay
PH
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States6173 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-05 09:57:09
January 05 2009 09:55 GMT
#9
I hiiiighly doubt that Othello is that imbalanced. I also highly doubt that Medusa is that balanced.

Elaborate on your elaboration...let's see numbers and the stats you used.

EDIT
I read your edit of your elaboration...if that's the case, then the actual games played on the map don't figure into your analysis, and that you're basing this whole thing off of who got sent against who on what map?

-____-;;
Hello
Love.Zelduck
Profile Joined February 2008
United States170 Posts
January 05 2009 09:59 GMT
#10
On January 05 2009 18:55 PH wrote:
-____-;;

lol cammon its not that bad an idea
Shikyo
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Finland33997 Posts
January 05 2009 10:02 GMT
#11
Medusa

Race Stats (non-mirrors):
TvZ: 12-16 (42.9%) [ Games ]
ZvP: 15-20 (42.9%) [ Games ]
PvT: 21-10 (67.7%) [ Games ]

Mirrors: 15 TvT | 11 ZvZ | 24 PvP

Sounds balanced.

Also, one thing you didn't take into account is the fact that in 08-09 Proleague, you can't just send out the best race on their best map because every team must send out at least one player of each race. But whatevers.
League of Legends EU West, Platinum III | Yousei Teikoku is the best thing that has ever happened to music.
[DUF]MethodMan
Profile Blog Joined September 2006
Germany1716 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-05 10:14:45
January 05 2009 10:11 GMT
#12
thread title is misleading but the figures are interesting especially
Raid Assault 2 - 45
T: 22
Z: 78
P: 0

imagine no protoss at all was ever sent out to that map. poor tosses who had to play it in individual leagues :D
Love.Zelduck
Profile Joined February 2008
United States170 Posts
January 05 2009 10:17 GMT
#13
On January 05 2009 19:11 [DUF]MethodMan wrote:
thread title is misleading but the figures are interesting especially
Raid Assault 2 - 45
T: 22
Z: 78
P: 0

imagine no protoss at all was ever sent out to that map. poor tosses who had to play it in individual leagues :D

What's more funny is that they realize the imbalance with RA2, and then replace it with RH3...
Hahaha
Zoler
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Sweden6339 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-05 10:24:33
January 05 2009 10:23 GMT
#14
You cannot base the imbalance percentage only on that!!

It's mindgames! The coaches thinks which player the opposing teams will send and they will send players to counter them etc etc....

It's also that a team may not have very good players of that certain race.

its not that easy.
Lim Yo Hwan forever!
Lamentations
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
Australia211 Posts
January 05 2009 10:26 GMT
#15
Tau Cross, Medusa, BlueStorm all very good. Not sure about Destination, haven't made up my mind on that.
Bogus is like "nerdy cute", whereas Lomo is like "I would make him wear a dress and rape him" cute -Turbovolver
Hot_Bid
Profile Blog Joined October 2003
Braavos36375 Posts
January 05 2009 10:27 GMT
#16
Plexa said it best.
@Hot_Bid on Twitter - ESPORTS life since 2010 - http://i.imgur.com/U2psw.png
Love.Zelduck
Profile Joined February 2008
United States170 Posts
January 05 2009 10:29 GMT
#17
On January 05 2009 19:27 Hot_Bid wrote:
Plexa said it best.

He said it before I included rationalizations/numbers?
At the time, ya I'm glad he said it lol.
baubo
Profile Joined September 2008
China3370 Posts
January 05 2009 10:34 GMT
#18
On January 05 2009 18:55 PH wrote:
I hiiiighly doubt that Othello is that imbalanced. I also highly doubt that Medusa is that balanced.

Elaborate on your elaboration...let's see numbers and the stats you used.

EDIT
I read your edit of your elaboration...if that's the case, then the actual games played on the map don't figure into your analysis, and that you're basing this whole thing off of who got sent against who on what map?

-____-;;


If you take into account records, then we're talking about player imbalance, not map imbalance. Put players like Best or Stork on terran favored maps and they can still rape. That doesn't make the map PvT imba.

I don't see what's wrong with analyzing things this way. If a map, for example, 60% PvT, yet coaches send out terrans most of the time, it doesn't make the fact PvT imba. It just means that coaches will only dare putting the best PvTers on the map as snipers.
Meh
Shikyo
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Finland33997 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-05 12:00:04
January 05 2009 11:59 GMT
#19
On January 05 2009 19:34 baubo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 05 2009 18:55 PH wrote:
I hiiiighly doubt that Othello is that imbalanced. I also highly doubt that Medusa is that balanced.

Elaborate on your elaboration...let's see numbers and the stats you used.

EDIT
I read your edit of your elaboration...if that's the case, then the actual games played on the map don't figure into your analysis, and that you're basing this whole thing off of who got sent against who on what map?

-____-;;


If you take into account records, then we're talking about player imbalance, not map imbalance. Put players like Best or Stork on terran favored maps and they can still rape. That doesn't make the map PvT imba.

I don't see what's wrong with analyzing things this way. If a map, for example, 60% PvT, yet coaches send out terrans most of the time, it doesn't make the fact PvT imba. It just means that coaches will only dare putting the best PvTers on the map as snipers.

Or maybe the team just happens to have good terrans and lacks Protoss? KTF?
League of Legends EU West, Platinum III | Yousei Teikoku is the best thing that has ever happened to music.
GTR
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
51460 Posts
January 05 2009 12:53 GMT
#20
lol at othello and rh3 regarded as imbalanced
Commentator
geno
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States1404 Posts
January 05 2009 13:21 GMT
#21
On January 05 2009 19:29 Love.Zelduck wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 05 2009 19:27 Hot_Bid wrote:
Plexa said it best.

He said it before I included rationalizations/numbers?
At the time, ya I'm glad he said it lol.

Its not a terrible idea, but it was a bad execution, lol. Anyways, its an interesting way to think about map balance, but it does assume coaches always know best, which I think is a pretty commonly contested point (for example: *WHY WOULD THEY SEND HIM OUT FOR ACE?!*).

Also it doesn't take into account the types of players the coach has to work with. It may be KTF's best interest to send out a zerg or protoss for their ace match on medusa, but you can be damned sure they are going to send out Flash 9 times out of 10. Sometimes players practice specific maps and since sending them out twice before the ace match isn't possible, the coach may have to settle for a player of a different race if he doesn't have many good players of the 'favored' race, or is stuck because of the three race rule. And just in general, teams are going to have to make adjustments based on the team they are playing against, which affects who they send out because those particular players matchup stats are often more important than the maps stats.

Anyways, if you're going to look at map balance that way, you might just be better off just looking at how many mirror matches were played for each race on each map. It essentially tells the same story anyways (if there are zero ZvZs and 20 TvTs / PvPs, its probably a safe bet the coaches don't feel safe sending a zerg out on that map).

This has the added benefit of giving us the interesting statistic of how many games on that map are mirror matches (the lower the %, the more confident the coaches probably are sending out any race). Of course this suffers from some of the same pitfalls I listed above, but its still pretty interesting. I've taken the liberty of doing this for a couple maps:
+ Show Spoiler +
Map Name
Mirrors out of Total Games
Percentage of mirrors

Destination
55 out of 176 games
31%

Medusa
50 out of 144
35%

Colosseum (I and II)
59 out of 179
33%

Andromeda
59 out of 201
29%

Blue Storm
89 out of 353
25%

Blue Storm overall has a very low percentage of mirror matches compared to many other maps, despite its zerg leaning in the overall matchup stats. (probably due to the update in the map; terran actually went 50/50 with zerg in the last 24 TvZs played on the map)
wswordsmen
Profile Joined October 2007
United States987 Posts
January 05 2009 14:14 GMT
#22

Numbers
+ Show Spoiler +

Map - Imba factor
T: %T's sent out
Z: %Z's sent out
P: %P's sent out

Destination - 3
T: 31
Z: 33
P: 36

Tau Cross - 4
T: 32
Z: 37
P: 30

Medusa - 6
T: 27
Z: 37
P: 36

815 III - 7
T: 35
Z: 38
P: 26

Sin Peaks of Baekdu - 8
T: 31
Z: 41
P: 28

Blue Storm - 9
T: 27
Z: 42
P: 31

Sin Chupung-Ryeong - 10
T: 38
Z: 39
P: 23

Andromeda - 11
T: 28
Z: 44
P: 28

Colosseum II - 15
T: 24
Z: 28
P: 48

Baekmagoji - 15
T: 34
Z: 19
P: 48

Python - 16
T: 49
Z: 25
P: 26

Arcadia 2 - 17
T: 31
Z: 50
P: 19

Katrina SE - 17
T: 16
Z: 34
P: 50

Neo Harmony - 18
T: 51
Z: 26
P: 22

Nemesis - 20
T: 23
Z: 23
P: 53

Neo Requiem - 20
T: 13
Z: 35
P: 53

Katrina - 22
T: 14
Z: 31
P: 55

Monty Hall - 23
T: 35
Z: 10
P: 55

Un'Goro Crater - 25
T: 40
Z: 52
P: 8

Chupung-Ryeong - 25
T: 53
Z: 8
P: 39

Monty Hall SE - 26
T: 59
Z: 16
P: 26

Colosseum - 30
T: 49
Z: 3
P: 49

Rush Hour 3 - 34
T: 67
Z: 28
P: 6

Harmony - 38
T: 71
Z: 19
P: 10

Othello - 39
T: 72
Z: 15
P: 13

Wuthering Heights - 42
T: 75
Z: 3
P: 21

Geometry - 43
T: 76
Z: 15
P: 9

Raid Assault 2 - 45
T: 22
Z: 78
P: 0


You need to double the number the for each race for mirror matches since both coaches decided to send out a T/Z/P.

I know you didn't do this at least on destination because the numbers are actually T:50 Z:53 P:54 (not sure about P but it is close to that)

I hope no one beat me to this
errol1001
Profile Joined April 2008
454 Posts
January 05 2009 14:57 GMT
#23
Coaches will send players out based on the map, yeah. But each decision is not made independently based on the map.

So you see all zerg on x map. Doesn't mean the map is imbalanced, since it could mean that zerg is completely hosed on the other maps in the match.
baubo
Profile Joined September 2008
China3370 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-05 15:38:41
January 05 2009 15:20 GMT
#24
On January 05 2009 20:59 Shikyo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 05 2009 19:34 baubo wrote:
On January 05 2009 18:55 PH wrote:
I hiiiighly doubt that Othello is that imbalanced. I also highly doubt that Medusa is that balanced.

Elaborate on your elaboration...let's see numbers and the stats you used.

EDIT
I read your edit of your elaboration...if that's the case, then the actual games played on the map don't figure into your analysis, and that you're basing this whole thing off of who got sent against who on what map?

-____-;;


If you take into account records, then we're talking about player imbalance, not map imbalance. Put players like Best or Stork on terran favored maps and they can still rape. That doesn't make the map PvT imba.

I don't see what's wrong with analyzing things this way. If a map, for example, 60% PvT, yet coaches send out terrans most of the time, it doesn't make the fact PvT imba. It just means that coaches will only dare putting the best PvTers on the map as snipers.

Or maybe the team just happens to have good terrans and lacks Protoss? KTF?


On January 05 2009 23:57 errol1001 wrote:
Coaches will send players out based on the map, yeah. But each decision is not made independently based on the map.

So you see all zerg on x map. Doesn't mean the map is imbalanced, since it could mean that zerg is completely hosed on the other maps in the match.


In the proleague this season, coaches sent out 31% protoss, 34% zerg, and 35% terran. Suffice to say, it's not a matter of teams lacking a certain race. Interesting that everyone is screaming protoss imbalance, when it's actually the least used race in the proleagues.

Now I'm not saying the way the op used the stats is unbiased, but I currently find no reason why it's not legit. Everyone has their own opinions, but at least on the pro level, this method of judging map balance seems fairly good. At least better than "Oh protoss imba because PvZ is 6-2!"
Meh
Love.Zelduck
Profile Joined February 2008
United States170 Posts
January 05 2009 20:54 GMT
#25
On January 05 2009 23:14 wswordsmen wrote:
You need to double the number the for each race for mirror matches since both coaches decided to send out a T/Z/P.

I know you didn't do this at least on destination because the numbers are actually T:50 Z:53 P:54 (not sure about P but it is close to that)

I hope no one beat me to this

I did do this. The listed numbers are percentages (I wrote over the actual numbers when I was doing it originally). And I only included proleague games and excluded individual tournament games since obviously I'm trying to look at coach decisions not who qualifies for the osl.
errol1001
Profile Joined April 2008
454 Posts
January 05 2009 21:25 GMT
#26

In the proleague this season, coaches sent out 31% protoss, 34% zerg, and 35% terran. Suffice to say, it's not a matter of teams lacking a certain race. Interesting that everyone is screaming protoss imbalance, when it's actually the least used race in the proleagues.

Now I'm not saying the way the op used the stats is unbiased, but I currently find no reason why it's not legit. Everyone has their own opinions, but at least on the pro level, this method of judging map balance seems fairly good. At least better than "Oh protoss imba because PvZ is 6-2!"



You completely missed the point. The coaches send out various players/races on the maps because they obviously want to win. The OP takes this to make a list of balanced and unbalanced maps. The point is that these choices are not made in a vacuum, rather they are heavily influenced by OTHER factors.

Other people have pointed out problems too. This doesn't mean the stats aren't interesting. They are. They're not a direct representation of map balance though.
Love.Zelduck
Profile Joined February 2008
United States170 Posts
January 05 2009 21:48 GMT
#27
On January 06 2009 06:25 errol1001 wrote:
You completely missed the point. The coaches send out various players/races on the maps because they obviously want to win. The OP takes this to make a list of balanced and unbalanced maps. The point is that these choices are not made in a vacuum, rather they are heavily influenced by OTHER factors.

Other people have pointed out problems too. This doesn't mean the stats aren't interesting. They are. They're not a direct representation of map balance though.

Ya, I <3 interesting stats. It's why I did this. I don't expect people to agree with the methods, I just wanted to share what I did so others could see what it looks like and interpret the list for themselves.

:D
ish0wstopper
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
Korea (South)342 Posts
January 05 2009 21:51 GMT
#28
lmao katrina wasnt broken jesus
the methods apparently were not good at all looking at the list


one reason it doesnt work well is that teams have to use one of every race this season and that skews results and u didnt take that into account
ish0wstopper effect
neliel
Profile Joined April 2008
Sweden63 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-05 21:56:09
January 05 2009 21:55 GMT
#29
Was it just me that read "Protoss: Most Balanced/Broken Maps of..."? :D

Also i wouldn't consider these stats the only thing to use when talking about balance. (Medusa wtf?).
baubo
Profile Joined September 2008
China3370 Posts
January 05 2009 23:37 GMT
#30
On January 06 2009 06:25 errol1001 wrote:
Show nested quote +

In the proleague this season, coaches sent out 31% protoss, 34% zerg, and 35% terran. Suffice to say, it's not a matter of teams lacking a certain race. Interesting that everyone is screaming protoss imbalance, when it's actually the least used race in the proleagues.

Now I'm not saying the way the op used the stats is unbiased, but I currently find no reason why it's not legit. Everyone has their own opinions, but at least on the pro level, this method of judging map balance seems fairly good. At least better than "Oh protoss imba because PvZ is 6-2!"



You completely missed the point. The coaches send out various players/races on the maps because they obviously want to win. The OP takes this to make a list of balanced and unbalanced maps. The point is that these choices are not made in a vacuum, rather they are heavily influenced by OTHER factors.

Other people have pointed out problems too. This doesn't mean the stats aren't interesting. They are. They're not a direct representation of map balance though.


Are you just randomly guessing? Or can you point out what these factors would be and how this would affect maps?
Meh
Kuja900
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States3564 Posts
January 06 2009 00:02 GMT
#31
you say alltime then you say from 2006 onward
OMG you nasty gurl
G0dly
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
United States450 Posts
January 06 2009 00:06 GMT
#32
What about Monty Hall, the zerg graveyard?
The Emperor - The Genius - The Cheater - The Maestro
Heyoka
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Katowice25012 Posts
January 06 2009 00:07 GMT
#33
I was under the impression that coaches weren't allowed to send the same race on a map twice in a row (so if you send a P on medusa, the next time you need to send T or Z), but I have no idea where I got that. Did I just make that up or is that how it works this season?
@RealHeyoka | ESL / DreamHack StarCraft Lead
thedeadhaji *
Profile Blog Joined January 2006
39489 Posts
January 06 2009 00:09 GMT
#34
I actually like OP's reasoning more than straight up stats. There would ideally be some sort of weighting and fixing based on the lineup of each team because not all teams are deep in each race, but it's really not a bad basis for judging which map was perceived by the proteams as having the most racial partiality.
geno
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States1404 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-06 00:38:07
January 06 2009 00:36 GMT
#35
On January 06 2009 08:37 baubo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 06 2009 06:25 errol1001 wrote:

In the proleague this season, coaches sent out 31% protoss, 34% zerg, and 35% terran. Suffice to say, it's not a matter of teams lacking a certain race. Interesting that everyone is screaming protoss imbalance, when it's actually the least used race in the proleagues.

Now I'm not saying the way the op used the stats is unbiased, but I currently find no reason why it's not legit. Everyone has their own opinions, but at least on the pro level, this method of judging map balance seems fairly good. At least better than "Oh protoss imba because PvZ is 6-2!"



You completely missed the point. The coaches send out various players/races on the maps because they obviously want to win. The OP takes this to make a list of balanced and unbalanced maps. The point is that these choices are not made in a vacuum, rather they are heavily influenced by OTHER factors.

Other people have pointed out problems too. This doesn't mean the stats aren't interesting. They are. They're not a direct representation of map balance though.


Are you just randomly guessing? Or can you point out what these factors would be and how this would affect maps?

check my post at the top of the page, the second paragraph. Some teams have a different set of players to work with. KTF has Flash as their best terran and maybe Tempest or Stats? as their best protoss; they are probably going to prefer to send out Flash even if P has a slight advantage on the map, because Flash's matchup advantage far exceeds the map's racial advantage. Thats just one example, but there are a lot of teams that have similar dilemmas (see SKT with Best/Bisu > s2/Thezerg, and Lecaf with Jaedong > Backho). This most affects maps I think when it comes to ace match: if the other team sends out their no-name protoss because of the maps balance, KTF will laugh and send out Flash who will wreck him. For this reason, both teams usually end up sending out their best players regardless of race, or players who have prepared a specific build rather than blindly picking their best player from a specific race.
traced
Profile Joined October 2007
1739 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-06 01:22:35
January 06 2009 01:21 GMT
#36
On January 06 2009 09:09 thedeadhaji wrote:
I actually like OP's reasoning more than straight up stats. There would ideally be some sort of weighting and fixing based on the lineup of each team because not all teams are deep in each race, but it's really not a bad basis for judging which map was perceived by the proteams as having the most racial partiality.

Yeah it's useful reasoning, but it has flaws, just like anything else:

1. Seasonal map synthesis.

If the map pool collectively favors any one race at any point, it will likely not reflect the entirety of the skew. This is in part due to team lineups (ie if a team has a strong zerg, and there are no strong zerg maps, they will still likely send him out frequently because they do not have a better option - so even if a map disadvantages him by 10%, he may be 10% better than any other option), and because of the recent season's lineup requirements, which both limit the # of repeated races per match, and requires a minimum number per match (this definitely reduces racial variance). However, if the map pool was essentially balanced, then neither of these factors would matter, and the racial spread would be a true distribution of racial utility at the proleague level.

I'm positive "sniping" would not be a skew, because the % of snipes would probably be equal to the true racial balance, in a large enough sample.

2. Imperfect map strategy.

Map balance changes over the course of a season, either through new strategies and paradigms in the metagame, or just in the map.

3: Small sample size

One of the most important things to remember in statistics. Most people say raw statistics are useless, but it's just an incorrect statement. It's more accurate to say, "statistics only contain so much useful information," and sample size largely determines how useful the information is. I don't think there's ever been a sabermetric Starcraft study, but I'd assume you'd need at least 20 games to get a usable sample.
MorningMusume11
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States3490 Posts
January 06 2009 01:27 GMT
#37
On January 06 2009 06:51 ish0wstopper wrote:
lmao katrina wasnt broken jesus
the methods apparently were not good at all looking at the list


one reason it doesnt work well is that teams have to use one of every race this season and that skews results and u didnt take that into account


Remember Flash fucked that up with his wins against Stork haha.

Oh yeah what about Troy?
sung_moon
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States10110 Posts
January 06 2009 01:32 GMT
#38
On January 06 2009 06:51 ish0wstopper wrote:
lmao katrina wasnt broken jesus
the methods apparently were not good at all looking at the list


one reason it doesnt work well is that teams have to use one of every race this season and that skews results and u didnt take that into account


katrina not broken? im assuming broken means not imbalanced in which case i have to disagree.. by alot.....

Forever Young
IzzyCraft
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States4487 Posts
January 06 2009 01:34 GMT
#39
On January 05 2009 19:02 Shikyo wrote:
Medusa

Race Stats (non-mirrors):
TvZ: 12-16 (42.9%) [ Games ]
ZvP: 15-20 (42.9%) [ Games ]
PvT: 21-10 (67.7%) [ Games ]

Mirrors: 15 TvT | 11 ZvZ | 24 PvP

Sounds balanced.

Also, one thing you didn't take into account is the fact that in 08-09 Proleague, you can't just send out the best race on their best map because every team must send out at least one player of each race. But whatevers.

That seems really unbalanced becuase it's clearly P favored balanced is all number about the same number so it's a trade off of T>Z>P>T
I have ass for brains so,
even when I shit I'm droping knowledge.
Dromar
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States2145 Posts
January 06 2009 01:37 GMT
#40
Did you have some formulaic way of determining the "imba factor" or did you just make it up?
Malongo
Profile Blog Joined November 2005
Chile3472 Posts
January 06 2009 01:38 GMT
#41
On January 06 2009 10:21 traced wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 06 2009 09:09 thedeadhaji wrote:
I actually like OP's reasoning more than straight up stats. There would ideally be some sort of weighting and fixing based on the lineup of each team because not all teams are deep in each race, but it's really not a bad basis for judging which map was perceived by the proteams as having the most racial partiality.

Yeah it's useful reasoning, but it has flaws, just like anything else:

1. Seasonal map synthesis.

If the map pool collectively favors any one race at any point, it will likely not reflect the entirety of the skew. This is in part due to team lineups (ie if a team has a strong zerg, and there are no strong zerg maps, they will still likely send him out frequently because they do not have a better option - so even if a map disadvantages him by 10%, he may be 10% better than any other option), and because of the recent season's lineup requirements, which both limit the # of repeated races per match, and requires a minimum number per match (this definitely reduces racial variance). However, if the map pool was essentially balanced, then neither of these factors would matter, and the racial spread would be a true distribution of racial utility at the proleague level.

I'm positive "sniping" would not be a skew, because the % of snipes would probably be equal to the true racial balance, in a large enough sample.

2. Imperfect map strategy.

Map balance changes over the course of a season, either through new strategies and paradigms in the metagame, or just in the map.

3: Small sample size

One of the most important things to remember in statistics. Most people say raw statistics are useless, but it's just an incorrect statement. It's more accurate to say, "statistics only contain so much useful information," and sample size largely determines how useful the information is. I don't think there's ever been a sabermetric Starcraft study, but I'd assume you'd need at least 20 games to get a usable sample.


I actually think this is the most accurate way of talking about balance issues because starcraft isnt perfectly balanced itself and the only existing sample that can be relevant to profesional starcraft is proleague (because individual leagues are too short/variated).
Help me! im still improving my English. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. M. G.
meegrean
Profile Joined May 2008
Thailand7699 Posts
January 06 2009 01:53 GMT
#42
heh, i wanna see a pvp on raid assault 2.
Brood War loyalist
traced
Profile Joined October 2007
1739 Posts
January 06 2009 01:54 GMT
#43
Oh of course it's useful, but my point is it's not the whole story because it has some flaws, so it needs to be used in conjunction with map records, strategy analysis, etc.
SkepTicAL
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Canada872 Posts
January 06 2009 02:07 GMT
#44
Proleague's Most Balanced Maps of All Time

1. Destination
2. Tau Cross
3. Medusa
4. 815 III
5. Sin Peaks of Baekdu
6. Blue Storm

Proleague's Most Broken Maps of All Time

1. Raid Assault 2
2. Geometry
3. Wuthering Heights
4. Othello
5. Harmony
6. Rush Hour 3

Medusa, 815 and peaks are not balanced lol
AeriALsLighT @AerialsLight
baubo
Profile Joined September 2008
China3370 Posts
January 06 2009 02:33 GMT
#45
On January 06 2009 09:36 geno wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 06 2009 08:37 baubo wrote:
On January 06 2009 06:25 errol1001 wrote:

In the proleague this season, coaches sent out 31% protoss, 34% zerg, and 35% terran. Suffice to say, it's not a matter of teams lacking a certain race. Interesting that everyone is screaming protoss imbalance, when it's actually the least used race in the proleagues.

Now I'm not saying the way the op used the stats is unbiased, but I currently find no reason why it's not legit. Everyone has their own opinions, but at least on the pro level, this method of judging map balance seems fairly good. At least better than "Oh protoss imba because PvZ is 6-2!"



You completely missed the point. The coaches send out various players/races on the maps because they obviously want to win. The OP takes this to make a list of balanced and unbalanced maps. The point is that these choices are not made in a vacuum, rather they are heavily influenced by OTHER factors.

Other people have pointed out problems too. This doesn't mean the stats aren't interesting. They are. They're not a direct representation of map balance though.


Are you just randomly guessing? Or can you point out what these factors would be and how this would affect maps?

check my post at the top of the page, the second paragraph. Some teams have a different set of players to work with. KTF has Flash as their best terran and maybe Tempest or Stats? as their best protoss; they are probably going to prefer to send out Flash even if P has a slight advantage on the map, because Flash's matchup advantage far exceeds the map's racial advantage. Thats just one example, but there are a lot of teams that have similar dilemmas (see SKT with Best/Bisu > s2/Thezerg, and Lecaf with Jaedong > Backho). This most affects maps I think when it comes to ace match: if the other team sends out their no-name protoss because of the maps balance, KTF will laugh and send out Flash who will wreck him. For this reason, both teams usually end up sending out their best players regardless of race, or players who have prepared a specific build rather than blindly picking their best player from a specific race.


Yeah, no shit, except you missed the point about map stats from ALL proleague teams, and not just one team.

There are 12 teams in the proleague.

Protoss-favored teams: Khan, T1, Ace, STX(1/2 Kal), MBC(1/2 Pusan), Stars(1/2 Free) Roughly 3 1/2 teams.
Terran-favored teams: KTF, OGN, Estro, Wemade, MBC(1/2 Sea/Light), Roughly 4 1/2 teams
Zerg-favored teams: Lecaf, CJ, Stars(1/2 Zero), STX(1/2 July/Calm), Roughly 3 teams.

Just a rough estimate, but pretty much shows there's is no racial imbalance when you take into account THE WHOLE LEAGUE. Don't just use one team because no one's talking about one team. We're talking about ALL TEAMS.
Meh
geno
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States1404 Posts
January 06 2009 07:32 GMT
#46
Ok I'm going to make this really simple.

This:
The point is that these choices are not made in a vacuum, rather they are heavily influenced by OTHER factors.

is what you were originally contesting. And this:
KTF has Flash as their best terran and maybe Tempest or Stats? as their best protoss; they are probably going to prefer to send out Flash even if P has a slight advantage on the map

is direct evidence that the above statement is true, and the proof you were looking for. All you need is one example to prove that the coaches decisions aren't made in a vacuum, and I gave you one. Funny enough, you yourself just proved that this is more or less the case for ALL the teams too, lol.

I'm not trying to argue that in the aggregate there is a huge race imbalance. (Although the 12% deficit for zerg you mentioned is far from the perfect balance you claim.) I'm just pointing out that its quite true that deciding who plays a specific map is about a lot more than "What race is best for this map?" Thus the players the coaches send out on specific maps may very often not be the best race for the map.

This method will certainly spot maps that the are quite obviously favoring of a specific race (Raid Assault2, Geometry, even Othello and Harmony - pretty much anything you see entirely too many of a specific mirror match on). But I think its most precise when a majority (over 50%) of the games played on the map involve one of the races. When there is at best a plurality, you are better off looking at the matchup statistics to decide how balanced the maps are in the proscene.
MrHoon *
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
10183 Posts
January 06 2009 07:34 GMT
#47
Whenever I see Destination
It reminds me of Nostalgia

Even the balances remind me of it.
dats racist
ShinyGerbil
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Canada519 Posts
January 06 2009 07:44 GMT
#48
the thing is, if theres a map thats heavily Z>P, P>T, T>Z, then it might very well show up with equal amounts of each race playing on it, although its probably not very balanced at all. probably the matchup %s give a better idea of balance for a map.
[s]savior[/s] jaedong fighting! // member of LighT eSports
thunk
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States6233 Posts
January 06 2009 07:55 GMT
#49
You have to consider that sometimes teams ace snipe and stuff. And although KTF is a terran team they only have one (Lecaf is a zerg team but only has one zerg, ya know?) So they can't always send their best player out according to map balance.

What would be worth arguing is which team is the most balanced - aka who has the best "average skill" of their best Terran, Protoss, and Zerg. It's tempting to say CJ, but Effor/Savior, Much and Iris are playing so weak right now.
Every time Jung Myung Hoon builds a vulture, two probes die. || My post count was a palindrome and I was never posting again.
dhe95
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
United States1213 Posts
January 06 2009 22:25 GMT
#50
Where's katrina?
Love.Zelduck
Profile Joined February 2008
United States170 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-18 05:55:19
January 18 2009 05:45 GMT
#51
*Bump*
There. Okay, I've finally seen enough Medusa to acknowledge it can't make the list. The new method makes the most sense. These maps are all great. <3
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