• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 22:16
CEST 04:16
KST 11:16
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors14[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star10Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists19[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Fresh Flow9[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt2: News Flash10
Community News
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers24Maestros of the Game 2 announced92026 GSL Tour plans announced15Weekly Cups (April 6-12): herO doubles, "Villains" prevail1MaNa leaves Team Liquid25
StarCraft 2
General
Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists MaNa leaves Team Liquid Maestros of the Game 2 announced 2026 GSL Tour plans announced Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool
Tourneys
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament INu's Battles#14 <BO.9 2Matches> GSL CK: More events planned pending crowdfunding RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 523 Firewall Mutation # 522 Flip My Base Mutation # 521 Memorable Boss
Brood War
General
ASL21 General Discussion [ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ FlaSh: This Will Be My Final ASL【ASL S21 Ro.16】 Leta's ASL S21 Ro.16 review
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro8 Day 1 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro16 Group D Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend?
Other Games
General Games
Dawn of War IV Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Diablo IV Nintendo Switch Thread Total Annihilation Server - TAForever
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread 3D technology/software discussion European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion McBoner: A hockey love story
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
streaming software Strange computer issues (software) [G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Sexual Health Of Gamers
TrAiDoS
lurker extra damage testi…
StaticNine
Broowar part 2
qwaykee
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2384 users

SC2 Ladder Analysis: Part 2 - Page 19

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
Prev 1 17 18 19 20 21 Next All
darmousseh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States3437 Posts
November 16 2010 20:46 GMT
#361
On October 25 2010 17:20 Slaytesics wrote:
also, this equation might be helpful in determing the actual ranking system and equation



At at around 2:50



I hadn't seen this. This is definitely almost identical to the trueskill formula. Awesome.
Developer for http://mtgfiddle.com
Excalibur_Z
Profile Joined October 2002
United States12244 Posts
November 16 2010 20:51 GMT
#362
On November 17 2010 05:46 darmousseh wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 25 2010 17:20 Slaytesics wrote:
also, this equation might be helpful in determing the actual ranking system and equation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OYTt_8zYHI&feature=player_embedded#!

At at around 2:50



I hadn't seen this. This is definitely almost identical to the trueskill formula. Awesome.


That's not for matchmaking though, that's the calculation to determine the racial adjusted win percentages.
Moderator
darmousseh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States3437 Posts
November 16 2010 22:09 GMT
#363
On November 17 2010 05:51 Excalibur_Z wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 17 2010 05:46 darmousseh wrote:
On October 25 2010 17:20 Slaytesics wrote:
also, this equation might be helpful in determing the actual ranking system and equation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OYTt_8zYHI&feature=player_embedded#!

At at around 2:50



I hadn't seen this. This is definitely almost identical to the trueskill formula. Awesome.


That's not for matchmaking though, that's the calculation to determine the racial adjusted win percentages.


Looking more at this formula it is quite retarded. The 3 variables in the probability are nowhere to be found in the formula itself, so the variables on the right side are probably derived. Instead of this being a probability function it is more likely to be a distribution function acounting for race and opponents race in the equation, however, because the system does not differentiate your ratings based on matchup, they are including all of the games played. The 3 variables in the distribution(gamma, theta and psi) are usually used to represent 3 different variables to determine the distribution. One of them is most certainly skill, the other 2 are probably race and matchup (in trueskill they use skill, team, and team performance). The denonimator is very similar to the message passing equation from trueskill, and the numerator looks like a standard bayesian probabilty seperating the influences out.

So what is probably happening is that they are determining the skill distribution of each matchup while factoring out the matchup influence (easily done using bayesian probabilty) and then comparing these distributions mean and sigma to determine the win % (which is why the equation is nice and huge).

Other than that, i hate that blizzard doesn't just say what it is. The community is not retards, we went to college, we got degrees in math and science.

The final thing is that i do not believe determining a distribution is possible. If even one of those variables listed is dependant on another variable, then using trueskill is not an accurate way to determine skill (IE if performance is highly dependant on matchup). In chess, they can get away with trueskill because the number of each matchup you play is almost 50/50 (50% of the time you play white vs black, 50% you play black vs white). From that they can detemine a players skill overall. However, because of the influence of matchup to skill in starcraft determining real skill is not possible.

Developer for http://mtgfiddle.com
vanick
Profile Joined August 2010
United States53 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-17 04:02:56
November 17 2010 04:02 GMT
#364
First off, for clarification: Blizzard does not use TrueSkill. Blizzard uses a bayesian inference system which is naturally related to other bayesian inference systems. Your final paragraph is also ambiguous because you mention player skill but the opening sentence references the probability distribution of racial expected win %. That's okay because your conclusion is not correct in either case.

If you meant player skill (which I think you probably did not) then you're saying bayesian inference systems are not good at approximating skill which is pretty demonstrably not the case.

If you meant the racial win % then what it seems like you're saying is that since most players only play a single race that skews things because their performance is not constant against various opponents. That is, Player A usually plays Terran, and is better in TvP than in TvZ. So what you're saying then is that because different players each have this difference (and some more than others) that completely confounds the calculations Blizzard does.

This is incorrect for a couple reasons. First of all, if this pattern existed then Blizzard would have the data to model it and control for it. Second of all, if this pattern existed strongly in aggregate (if most terrans were better at TvP than at TvZ, say) then that would also show up in the win percentages, because the TvP win % would be higher than it ought to be.
ipwnN00bz
Profile Joined October 2010
United States42 Posts
November 20 2010 00:26 GMT
#365
If i had to guess as to the reason behind the "needing to loose to rank up" phenomenon i would say that it doesnt have anything to do with a "moving average" but that the system is getting stuck at a local minimum.

Im sure Idra played a ton of games, and likely the system got very "sure" (ie the sigma value approached 0) that he belonged in whatever league he was trying to get out of - maybe because of the ranks of the people he was up against, etc. This is a common problem in learning machines that use a momentum factor. Without time taken into account i dont think the system you are describing can be guaranteed to converge.

The easiest solution to this would be to let uncertainty build up over time, then become more accurate, and repeat this in cycles (ie simmulated annealing).Losing games would raise the uncertainty (probably more rapidly than letting it build up over time) and allow you to move out of the local minimum.

It would negatively affect your MMR but you could "move around" more easily as the system becomes more uncertain.

Basically if you play 18 hours a day and run your sigma up, loosing is probably faster than waiting for it to go back down over time.

Just a guess.
Excalibur_Z
Profile Joined October 2002
United States12244 Posts
November 20 2010 00:45 GMT
#366
On November 20 2010 09:26 ipwnN00bz wrote:
If i had to guess as to the reason behind the "needing to loose to rank up" phenomenon i would say that it doesnt have anything to do with a "moving average" but that the system is getting stuck at a local minimum.

Im sure Idra played a ton of games, and likely the system got very "sure" (ie the sigma value approached 0) that he belonged in whatever league he was trying to get out of - maybe because of the ranks of the people he was up against, etc. This is a common problem in learning machines that use a momentum factor. Without time taken into account i dont think the system you are describing can be guaranteed to converge.

The easiest solution to this would be to let uncertainty build up over time, then become more accurate, and repeat this in cycles (ie simmulated annealing).Losing games would raise the uncertainty (probably more rapidly than letting it build up over time) and allow you to move out of the local minimum.

It would negatively affect your MMR but you could "move around" more easily as the system becomes more uncertain.

Basically if you play 18 hours a day and run your sigma up, loosing is probably faster than waiting for it to go back down over time.

Just a guess.


It's definitely a moving average, we had that confirmed at Blizzcon. Your post basically outlines something similar to our initial theory, which was that it's much closer to TrueSkill. That's actually not the case, and sigma actually never shrinks that much in SC2. We were proven wrong at Blizzcon and adjusted the OP accordingly.
Moderator
sqrt
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
1210 Posts
November 21 2010 11:18 GMT
#367
Wait so...if I am Bronze in Team and Platnum in 1v1, does my team rating affect my solo performance?
@
Nimic
Profile Joined September 2010
Norway1360 Posts
November 21 2010 11:31 GMT
#368
On November 21 2010 20:18 sqrt wrote:
Wait so...if I am Bronze in Team and Platnum in 1v1, does my team rating affect my solo performance?


I have no real knowledge of this, but it seemed like it to me particularly at one point. I'm Platinum 1v1, not really having played much, very low on points. At the same time I'm Diamond 2v2, decently high rated, as 2v2 goes.

At one point my 2v2 did very well over a couple of nights gaming, and the next time I played 1v1 I seemed to be put up against higher ranked people than I would otherwise be. I was maybe 500 Platinum at the time, and was put up against 1100-1500 diamonds (and some Plats). I met some pretty good people and had a pretty bad streak, and suddenly it felt like we were facing easier opponents in 2v2.

Of course, I can very much see the possibility that this is just something I've made up in my head, and made the events fit better and have more of a connection (if any) than they really do. Damn you, human brain...

So you could take my anecdotal and admittedly uncertain story, or get a straight answer from someone who actually knows. Let's hope for the second one.
sqrt
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
1210 Posts
November 21 2010 11:36 GMT
#369
On November 21 2010 20:31 Nimic wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 21 2010 20:18 sqrt wrote:
Wait so...if I am Bronze in Team and Platnum in 1v1, does my team rating affect my solo performance?


I have no real knowledge of this, but it seemed like it to me particularly at one point. I'm Platinum 1v1, not really having played much, very low on points. At the same time I'm Diamond 2v2, decently high rated, as 2v2 goes.

At one point my 2v2 did very well over a couple of nights gaming, and the next time I played 1v1 I seemed to be put up against higher ranked people than I would otherwise be. I was maybe 500 Platinum at the time, and was put up against 1100-1500 diamonds (and some Plats). I met some pretty good people and had a pretty bad streak, and suddenly it felt like we were facing easier opponents in 2v2.

Of course, I can very much see the possibility that this is just something I've made up in my head, and made the events fit better and have more of a connection (if any) than they really do. Damn you, human brain...

So you could take my anecdotal and admittedly uncertain story, or get a straight answer from someone who actually knows. Let's hope for the second one.


Well, my 2v2 partner may be looking for another person then.
@
Excalibur_Z
Profile Joined October 2002
United States12244 Posts
November 21 2010 17:21 GMT
#370
On November 21 2010 20:18 sqrt wrote:
Wait so...if I am Bronze in Team and Platnum in 1v1, does my team rating affect my solo performance?


Only for the first placement match in a new team or bracket. For example, Vanick and I were in a Diamond 2v2 team but I hadn't played any 1v1. When I did start 1v1, I was put against Diamond-strength opponents from the very beginning, and that's because it was carrying over my 2v2 performance into 1v1. After the first placement match, the MMRs are completely separate.
Moderator
neo_rtr
Profile Joined October 2010
Sweden70 Posts
November 22 2010 09:50 GMT
#371
i am still in bronze. I noticed that after getting several wins with +28, +22, +28, +22 points all of my following games where with silver and diamond players. So i hope soon to be my turn.
Some stats, iam 1 or 2 on my division 391 won, 357 lost, ratio of 52.27%
ipwnN00bz
Profile Joined October 2010
United States42 Posts
November 22 2010 16:00 GMT
#372
I watched the video of the Blizzcon discussion (including your question)- the bit about the "moving average" was ambiguous at best- it could have just been simplifying what is essentiall a graduate level computer science topic to a more approachable concept.
ipwnN00bz
Profile Joined October 2010
United States42 Posts
November 22 2010 16:32 GMT
#373
To be clear, what i was suggesting is something more along the lines of the wayTDGammon estimates who will win a backgammon game (http://www.research.ibm.com/massive/tdl.html) as opposed to trueskill.
Excalibur_Z
Profile Joined October 2002
United States12244 Posts
November 22 2010 19:41 GMT
#374
On November 23 2010 01:00 ipwnN00bz wrote:
I watched the video of the Blizzcon discussion (including your question)- the bit about the "moving average" was ambiguous at best- it could have just been simplifying what is essentiall a graduate level computer science topic to a more approachable concept.


Considering the subject matter and the depth that we were discussing with him after the panel ended, I don't think this is the case.
Moderator
iamtheone
Profile Joined November 2010
15 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-23 04:46:58
November 23 2010 04:41 GMT
#375
I am getting sick of still not being promoted. Out of the last 50 games I have played in Bronze 1v1, I have won 40. My w/l ratio in total stands at 90W 60L.

I clearly no longer belong in Bronze.

I'm still stuck here I think it might have something to do with being crap in 1v1 at the beginning. I honed my skills in 4v4, went back to 1v1 and started slaughtering most opponents.
ThaZenith
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada3116 Posts
November 27 2010 02:28 GMT
#376
I can almost guarantee that your rating in team matches like 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, have an impact on your 1v1 matchmaking.

He was in his third placement match in 1v1, and was "favored" even though he has lost his first 2 matches. He was gold in 2v2 with 200+ games played.

A 0-2 player favored over a maybe 30-13 (at the time) player seems silly otherwise.
Excalibur_Z
Profile Joined October 2002
United States12244 Posts
November 27 2010 02:47 GMT
#377
On November 27 2010 11:28 ThaZenith wrote:
I can almost guarantee that your rating in team matches like 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, have an impact on your 1v1 matchmaking.

He was in his third placement match in 1v1, and was "favored" even though he has lost his first 2 matches. He was gold in 2v2 with 200+ games played.

A 0-2 player favored over a maybe 30-13 (at the time) player seems silly otherwise.


We knew that already. When you start a new team or bracket it uses data from your other brackets as a starting point.
Moderator
iamtheone
Profile Joined November 2010
15 Posts
November 29 2010 00:30 GMT
#378
I have a problem. Basically I'm up for promotion so they put me against a silver league player or at least someone more favoured. Basically for each loss against say slightly favoured, it takes another 5 wins at even to get back up there.

It would be better if I was to consistently play against better players and consistently lose and improve my skill, rather than play a better player, lose the win the next couple of matches because I'm better than the next batch it sets me up against.

Thoughts?
theSAiNT
Profile Joined July 2009
United States726 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-01 17:57:42
December 01 2010 17:55 GMT
#379
Oops. Mistake.
DMac4400
Profile Joined December 2010
Canada1 Post
December 08 2010 01:07 GMT
#380
Sooo question.
I bought the game and really had no idea what was going on. I lost all my preliminary matchups and than lost nine straight games. I got some help from friends and really picked up my game play. I am now 37 - 25 in a Bronze league playing and beating Silver League players.I have now won 15 in a row. Am I looking at a promotion or am I winning too much for the sigma to catch up?
Prev 1 17 18 19 20 21 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Replay Cast
00:00
PiGosaur Cup #68
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RuFF_SC2 185
ProTech121
CosmosSc2 51
StarCraft: Brood War
GuemChi 5861
Artosis 588
NaDa 30
Terrorterran 16
Sea 0
Dota 2
monkeys_forever491
NeuroSwarm209
League of Legends
JimRising 630
Super Smash Bros
AZ_Axe190
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor121
Other Games
summit1g9395
C9.Mang0563
Day[9].tv409
PiGStarcraft265
Maynarde110
SpeCial68
minikerr7
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick895
BasetradeTV239
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream160
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH232
• Hupsaiya 74
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Azhi_Dahaki3
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Lourlo212
Other Games
• Scarra2210
• Day9tv409
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
6h 44m
Afreeca Starleague
7h 44m
Leta vs YSC
GSL
1d 7h
Rogue vs Percival
Zoun vs Solar
Replay Cast
1d 21h
GSL
2 days
Cure vs TriGGeR
ByuN vs Bunny
The PondCast
2 days
KCM Race Survival
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Escore
3 days
[ Show More ]
OSC
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
IPSL
4 days
Ret vs Art_Of_Turtle
Radley vs TBD
BSL
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
5 days
BSL
5 days
IPSL
5 days
eOnzErG vs TBD
G5 vs Nesh
Replay Cast
6 days
Wardi Open
6 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
Jaedong vs Light
Monday Night Weeklies
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S2: W4
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S2: W5
KK 2v2 League Season 1
Acropolis #4
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.