[R] Ladder Rank Distribtion

On March 17 2010 03:07 Go0g3n wrote:
I'd say there are 60 platinum divisions in all 3 realms combined, about 100 players each, - 6k out of 25.000 testers, of course, mostly StarCraft and WarCraft enthusiasts.

Using the graph above, I'd say everyone above D+ is in platinum.

On March 17 2010 03:30 spinesheath wrote:


Maybe around 50-60 on average, but 100 is way too much. I know platinum divisions with as few as 35 players.

On March 17 2010 03:07 Perseverance wrote:
Hopefully the distribution ends up being somewhere near ICCUP's as I would like Platinum to actually mean something.

On March 17 2010 07:42 Disastorm wrote:
What somoene said earlier about not starting you off at the lowest and work your way up is the biggest flaw in blizzard's system. especially if they plan to make u take the 10 game test every season (not sure if they are gonna do that though). If they do that, that would mean when the new season starts your league would be determined by luck, by who you happen to play in the 10 game placement matches (and since everyone would be the same rank, you have equal chance to fight a good player as a crappy player).

On March 17 2010 07:42 Disastorm wrote:
What somoene said earlier about not starting you off at the lowest and work your way up is the biggest flaw in blizzard's system. especially if they plan to make u take the 10 game test every season (not sure if they are gonna do that though). If they do that, that would mean when the new season starts your league would be determined by luck, by who you happen to play in the 10 game placement matches (and since everyone would be the same rank, you have equal chance to fight a good player as a crappy player).

On March 17 2010 08:07 Excalibur_Z wrote:


Think about how the system operates, and you'll discover why it's vastly superior to the ICCup system (or any legacy system). When you're 0-0 playing your placement matches, your MMR is of course going to be 0 (though this may be influenced by how experienced in RTS games you declare to be when you first start). Let's say the newbiest newb would have an MMR of 0 and the highest end Platinum player would have an MMR of about 3000 (to use WoW arena values).

Your first match is going to be against someone who also has a very low MMR, so probably not a very good player, or someone also on his first placement match. Beating this person will probably net you about 300 MMR.

Your next match is going to be against a rather low-end player, again with a similar MMR. Your volatility rating is still very high because you have so few games played, so if you beat this guy, you'll probably get another 400 MMR.

Game 3 will be against someone who is low-mid range, again similar MMR. You win, and say you get 600 MMR for this.

At this point your MMR is about 1300, and game 4 is against someone who's pretty solidly mid-level. You win this one and get 800 MMR.

Now you're starting to play against people who are pretty good with your 2100 MMR. Let's say you lose game 5. Your MMR falls by about 400, because the system knows that you're better than the 1300 guy but not quite up to the 2100 guy.

Game 6 you win and get 300 MMR, so you go back up to 1900. You still have a pretty high volatility rating, maybe that last game was a fluke. The system still believes you're pretty good, because after all, you've been winning more than you've been losing.

Game 7, you win, you're up to 2400.

Game 8 you're playing against someone who's very good, but you lose. You go back down to 2000 and the system is starting to think that maybe you're not quite as good.

Game 9 you lose again, you go down to 1800. It's starting to get a pretty good idea of where you should be and your volatility drops.

Game 10 you win and you go up to 1950. You get seated in Gold, being among the top 25% of players. This MMR will continue to change, sometimes wildly according to your win and loss streaks, as it constantly determines where to place you. If you all of a sudden get your MMR up to 2600 and hovers around there, you may suddenly find yourself promoted to Platinum.

This is a way better system because those ten placement games more or less put you where you need to be at first. I don't expect people's MMRs to change every season either (there would be no reason for them to do that).

On March 17 2010 08:25 Disastorm wrote:
for example someone in Silver with an ELO of 2000 is better than someone in Platinum with an ELO of 1200.

On March 17 2010 08:25 Disastorm wrote:

yea u are right, my thing would only apply if they do reset mmr every season. yea sorry i don't know why i said it was their biggest flaw either, they have some other flaws that i think are more important. In reality, what I think their biggest flaw is , is the whole ELO being different in each league, such that if you want to know someones skill you need to know their ELO and League and then calculate it to determine, for example someone in Silver with an ELO of 2000 is better than someone in Platinum with an ELO of 1200.

On March 17 2010 08:38 Excalibur_Z wrote:


The thing with the elo ratings (which aren't really elo either, this is a total misnomer) is that they're still relevant, but only within their own league, and more specifically their own division. If the system has cemented you in Silver and your volatility rating is so low that you're unlikely to be graduating to any higher leagues, then all you have to separate you from the other people in your division (as well as your league) is your rating. The top 8 qualify for a tournament that takes place at a predetermined time, so it's not like the ratings are meaningless. It could be argued that it's still meaningless because "who cares if you're #1 in that Silver tournament in division 23", which is inevitably what some people will be saying, but it's a fun little milestone and goal for players to set for themselves. Psychologically it's very thrilling and entertaining, and to some extent it allows many more players than just the top 0.1% to experience the pressure of a tournament against players who are around their level.

The ratings don't directly translate to other leagues, which would have to be by design, based on the way the leagues are structured.

On March 26 2010 14:24 Disastorm wrote:


Im pretty sure with the current reset they just reset MMR and now everything is all discombobulated. Players that are really good are worth the same as players who dont know how to play and depending on your luck of the draw you will either get a cerrtain number of wins or losses and get placed in a league based on that.