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Is the ladder getting harder?

Forum Index > SC2 General
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DinoMight
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States3725 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-12-18 18:18:55
November 20 2013 07:47 GMT
#1
UPDATE - http://us.battle.net//sc2/en/blog/12055065
Blizzard is aware of the issue and is going to fix it.

__________________________

Hello all,

About last year I was promoted to Diamond. I had been practicing my ass off and watching pros play a lot and I improved a lot over the course of a month or so. I was in Diamond until HotS came out. HotS really caters to my play style more and I was destroying people. So I eventually made it into Masters.

I stopped playing for a few weeks. Then got demoted twice. Then worked my way back up to Diamond. Then stopped playing for a few weeks and now I'm in Platinum again. Except it seems like the ladder has gotten WAY WAY WAY harder.

I'm watching the most pro StarCraft I've ever watched. My APM is the highest it's ever been (I averaged 160 in a 20+ min game the other day vs Z). Yet I'm struggling to get barely a 50% win ratio.

I just finished a PvP against a guy who seemed way better than Platinum. Indeed after I talked to him, I found out he used to be in Masters. Finished 5 Seasons in Masters too. Now he's Plat.

Have a few other friends who were Masters now Diamond, some Diamond now Plat, and some Plats who are now Gold.

Has anyone else noticed the ladder getting way harder recently or am I just hallucinating something?

EDIT - I should clarify I am playing on NA.
"Wtf I come back and find myself in camp DinoMight all of a sudden, feels weird man." -Wombat_NI
CuSToM
Profile Joined October 2010
United States1478 Posts
November 20 2013 07:48 GMT
#2
well it is % based and all the newbs who couldn't handle the pressure and were only playing cause it was a new game/expansion quit. soooo yeah
Team SCV Life #1
Joneleth
Profile Joined July 2012
Denmark90 Posts
November 20 2013 07:50 GMT
#3
Theres no difference in master league.
Rape is such an ugly word, lets call it surprise sex!
Psychobabas
Profile Blog Joined March 2006
2531 Posts
November 20 2013 07:52 GMT
#4
If you are playing on NA, there is a great deal of Korean and EU smurfs there. Not so much on EU server as the lag between Europe and Korea is too much.
Figgy
Profile Joined February 2011
Canada1788 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-11-20 07:58:22
November 20 2013 07:57 GMT
#5
The more bronze players that quit, the more people drop down into bronze ect.

Seeing how worse people are more likely to quit than better people, the diminishing player pool means it's harder for everyone except those already at the highest of ranks.

There also is no more influx of noobs to help bolster your ranks.
Bug Fixes Fixed an issue where, when facing a SlayerS terran, completing a hatchery would cause a medivac and 8 marines to randomly spawn nearby and attack it.
DinoMight
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States3725 Posts
November 20 2013 07:59 GMT
#6
Could it also be the "MMR decay" being a bit too aggressive? Someone takes a couple of weeks off and they come back 1-2 league lower, but still at like 90% of their former skill? So they just destroy everyone?

My buddy who used to be consistently high diamond is now getting ROFLstomped in Plat by guys who are all like 10x Masters in previous seasons.
"Wtf I come back and find myself in camp DinoMight all of a sudden, feels weird man." -Wombat_NI
Meavis
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
Netherlands1300 Posts
November 20 2013 08:01 GMT
#7
On November 20 2013 16:59 DinoMight wrote:
Could it also be the "MMR decay" being a bit too aggressive? Someone takes a couple of weeks off and they come back 1-2 league lower, but still at like 90% of their former skill? So they just destroy everyone?

My buddy who used to be consistently high diamond is now getting ROFLstomped in Plat by guys who are all like 10x Masters in previous seasons.


this quite a bit yeah, being masters since forever I can still stomp over masters, but it takes a lot of games to get into masters after decay has kicked me out every season again.
"Not you."
arcane1129
Profile Joined January 2011
United States270 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-11-20 08:02:56
November 20 2013 08:01 GMT
#8
On November 20 2013 16:57 Figgy wrote:
The more bronze players that quit, the more people drop down into bronze ect.

Seeing how worse people are more likely to quit than better people, the diminishing player pool means it's harder for everyone except those already at the highest of ranks.

There also is no more influx of noobs to help bolster your ranks.


It's this. I have a plat NA account I offrace on and 9/10 people I play are ex multi-time diamond or masters players now currently in plat and the other 1/10 is a plat account with 20 career games that destroys me so hard I can only assume it's a korea gm trolling me.

dreamseller
Profile Blog Joined August 2006
Australia914 Posts
November 20 2013 08:07 GMT
#9
i played a bunch of games right before season reset and a bunch after, and all i noticed was that all-in strategies were a lot more popular directly after the season reset. sample size was about 100 games.
PGtour admin
b0rt_
Profile Joined October 2011
Norway931 Posts
November 20 2013 10:24 GMT
#10
Don't be like me and not realise you're playing on U.S for an entire season.
virpi
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Germany3598 Posts
November 20 2013 10:32 GMT
#11
The worse players are quitting the game, that's why the lower leagues are being flooded by players who have been in diamond or masters. (the mmr decay also helps with that.)
it's just a natural thing. the longer the game is out, the harder the ladder gets. there are basically no complete noobs left. (except in the depths of bronze league or in some team games)

just think of broodwar in its later years.
first we make expand, then we defense it.
rafaliusz
Profile Joined December 2009
Poland482 Posts
November 20 2013 10:44 GMT
#12
Nope, it's easier. Getting into GM on any server these days is easier than ever before. It's just you've gotten worse.
ZAiNs
Profile Joined July 2010
United Kingdom6525 Posts
November 20 2013 10:44 GMT
#13
On November 20 2013 16:52 Psychobabas wrote:
If you are playing on NA, there is a great deal of Korean and EU smurfs there. Not so much on EU server as the lag between Europe and Korea is too much.

You aren't going to play vs Korean pro smurfs in Platinum lol.
TigerKarl
Profile Joined November 2010
1757 Posts
November 20 2013 10:56 GMT
#14
Sure it's getting harder. Who else is playing this dead game nowadays, besides the try hards?


User was warned for this post
aka_star
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United Kingdom1546 Posts
November 20 2013 11:11 GMT
#15
Why would the ladder get easier?
FlashDave.999 aka Star
Killmouse
Profile Joined August 2010
Austria5700 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-11-20 11:32:22
November 20 2013 11:15 GMT
#16
On November 20 2013 19:56 TigerKarl wrote:
Sure it's getting harder. Who else is playing this dead game nowadays, besides the try hards?


Bye


Btw I have played a lot of bw and after a while I took a break and came back after some months eventhou the game wasn't as lively anymore ( in the foreign scene atleast) , same with sc2 but sc2 still have a1000 times bigger foreign community than bw, u don't play a game based on popularity u play cauz it's fun
yo
blackone
Profile Joined November 2010
Germany1314 Posts
November 20 2013 11:26 GMT
#17
The ladder is always getting harder, especially in the lower parts. Players who quit will more likely be bad and good; and those who continue playing will get better (with some exceptions.) The only times when it gets easier are when there's a huge influx of new players, such as the start of an expansion.
Lorch
Profile Joined June 2011
Germany3682 Posts
November 20 2013 11:33 GMT
#18
On November 20 2013 19:44 ZAiNs wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 20 2013 16:52 Psychobabas wrote:
If you are playing on NA, there is a great deal of Korean and EU smurfs there. Not so much on EU server as the lag between Europe and Korea is too much.

You aren't going to play vs Korean pro smurfs in Platinum lol.


The people who would have the ranks those koreans hold will get lower ranks though, which means that those people will also get lower ranks etc. pp. and eventually a gold leaguer will play someone who should be plat.
graNite
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Germany4434 Posts
November 20 2013 11:36 GMT
#19
They also made the master league so much smaller, from 20% when it was introduced to 2,5% now...
"Oink oink, bitches" - Tasteless on Pigbaby winning a map against Flash
followZeRoX
Profile Joined March 2011
Serbia1449 Posts
November 20 2013 11:43 GMT
#20
I dont think its getting harder, just you didnt played very active and you need a couple of months of consistant playing to get back into the shape. I was demoted to diamond also because of inactivity and it requires some games to get back.
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