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Is the ladder getting harder? - Page 3

Forum Index > SC2 General
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WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland25159 Posts
November 20 2013 13:25 GMT
#41
SC2 is a game where knowledge of builds and responses is of critical importance. Unlike say, FPS you can't coast on latent mechanical skill.

I definitely feel it's harder to come back from inactivity for this reason especially. I don't see players who are better mechanically since I came back to playing, but it's super hard to deal with a ton of the allins that require really specific responses if you're at all rusty.
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
sertman
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
United States540 Posts
November 20 2013 13:27 GMT
#42
a lot of people like me quit with masters mechanics and got decayed down to gold/plat/dia

i dodge every game with a protoss in it so that might be why too
ffadicted
Profile Joined January 2011
United States3545 Posts
November 20 2013 13:27 GMT
#43
My post from the comprehensive ladder guide:

Ya I don't think it's as bad as they're making it out to be, but it definitely does seem weird. I was Masters essentially all of WoL since the league was created, then masters for the first few season of HotS before I took an extended break. I do remember the day you could create an account and within 15-25 games you'd be in diamond well into playing masters only... Now I can't seem to get out of platinum hahaha All the plat players now are actually really good (granted, I'm bad compared to before, but no where near what level of bad plat used to be). You definitely see every single player with 150+apm and hitting crisp timings, I am almost amazed to say that sometimes when I watch my replays I'm actually IMPRESSED by things my opponents do... I'm impressed by plats lol

Also they're all ex-masters haha Like every single person I face in plat was ex-masters, and if they weren't, I just roll with no effort lol Was everyone and their mom masters at some point in time?
SooYoung-Noona!
Fhiz
Profile Joined October 2013
361 Posts
November 20 2013 13:31 GMT
#44
From my experience (very low level, started playing part way through last season) last season I got to gold (high gold) and then this season placed into silver, no big deal I never really lost to many silver's. Or so I thought, the definition of a silver now is apparently like 70% plat or higher players and 30% real silvers. So naturally I am not doing very well in silver sitting around 50-55 or something. Some of you are saying things like, 'players are getting better' which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, why would all of a sudden a new season starts and then boom everyone learned to macro micro and multitask a hell of a lot better. If you were talking about the difference from 2-3 years ago compared to now, then I would agree with you. But you're not.

If you look at the stats on sc2ranks you will see that 83% of people are in bronze-gold. You can't tell me that it has always been like that.. (I dont know for sure because I myself am very new). So therefore people who don't deserve to be in bronze-gold are therefore making these leagues harder? So in reply to the original question it looks like they are harder..

So what I am wondering is, why exactly is this happening? I understand MMR decay and whatnot but isn't a week enough for players to earn their way back up? Well not for me at least.. Is it always like this at the start of a new season, or am I missing something?
girls generation make u feel da heat
Pirfiktshon
Profile Joined June 2013
United States1072 Posts
November 20 2013 13:33 GMT
#45
Also they're all ex-masters haha Like every single person I face in plat was ex-masters, and if they weren't, I just roll with no effort lol Was everyone and their mom masters at some point in time?


Yea when back in the day all it took was have good macro and as stated before it was 20% not 2.5%.
Phizzik
Profile Joined November 2010
United States77 Posts
November 20 2013 13:38 GMT
#46
I am certainly finding it much harder. It is somewhat frustrating but at the same time making me have to play better to stay a float. I would say 80% of my opponents this season (after getting demoted to Gold from top 5 plat/low diamond) are former Masters and high Diamond players who are now in gold.

I do think this will level out after a full season or two but it is much harder than its ever been IMO. Maybe this is the challenge I need to break through to consistent Diamond form :D
"Live free or die."
peidongyang
Profile Joined January 2009
Canada2084 Posts
November 20 2013 13:46 GMT
#47
it's ok, you definitely get less bad players though now in high masters
the throws never bothered me anyway
Psychobabas
Profile Blog Joined March 2006
2531 Posts
November 20 2013 13:48 GMT
#48
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.


never said pro. just lots of smurfs in every league.
Striker.superfreunde
Profile Joined May 2010
Germany1119 Posts
November 20 2013 13:51 GMT
#49
On November 20 2013 22:14 TheSayo182 wrote:
Imho Everything started when they denied the possibilty of demotion, and if i recall correctly it was more or less when hots was released, so when we had a lot of new players,


That's a good point too. Maybe all those thinks combined, just gotten out of hand.
The currently annouenced "free to play starter edtion' may could be a reaction regarding 'active players'.

All in all i don't have a good feeling about this all. (Nope, i do not want to jump a certain, negative hype writing this)

I wonder what conclusion Excalibur_Z would have on this. Unfourtunatly, his ladder and league guide somehow overflow me. And allways will.
'Your ak is pretty... uhm... dank!'
SnuggleZhenya
Profile Joined July 2010
596 Posts
November 20 2013 13:54 GMT
#50
As long as it's matching me against players who are roughly equal to me, I don't care what my league is. I have no illusions that I'm a pro, so does it really matter if the border on my portrait is platinum or diamond?

It seems that with the introduction of unranked a lot of people stopped playing ranked, but the remaining players are spread out across the same leagues as ever - which means some people (like myself!) will be a league lower than they used to be.
You'll never get better being an angry nerd sitting alone in your room.
Grobyc
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Canada18410 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-11-20 13:59:40
November 20 2013 13:59 GMT
#51
Could be. After not laddering the last couple seasons I'm in diamond now, previous masters for every season I've laddered consistently, and while I have a very good record so far, many of the games were actually pretty close to my surprise. I don't think I should have too much trouble getting promoted but compared to the beginning of the year I don't remember diamond giving me this much grief.
If you watch Godzilla backwards it's about a benevolent lizard who helps rebuild a city and then moonwalks into the ocean.
TRaFFiC
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Canada1448 Posts
November 20 2013 14:00 GMT
#52
On November 20 2013 22:48 Psychobabas wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 20 2013 19:44 ZAiNs wrote:
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.


never said pro. just lots of smurfs in every league.

I've matched dragon in plat. He was 38-2 or something equally ridiculous and I won. ;d

2v2, 1v1, Zerg, Terran http://www.twitch.tv/trafficsc2
MonkeyBot
Profile Joined June 2013
United States125 Posts
November 20 2013 14:08 GMT
#53
Agreed, ladder is pretty tough now. I got into gold just after HotS came out, now I'm down to silver again, though my play is better than ever. Casual players falling out makes sense as a reason why. I've got a goal to make it back into gold this season, and I think it will be tough.
Striker.superfreunde
Profile Joined May 2010
Germany1119 Posts
November 20 2013 14:18 GMT
#54
On November 20 2013 22:54 SnuggleZhenya wrote:
As long as it's matching me against players who are roughly equal to me, I don't care what my league is. I have no illusions that I'm a pro, so does it really matter if the border on my portrait is platinum or diamond?


To play ladder is like beeing a hobbit. One wants to go after his usual business, among themselves.
You don't want that gandalf guy that throws you out into a world of mystery and dangerous.

It's: get roflstomped, or steamroll yourself.
'Your ak is pretty... uhm... dank!'
korona
Profile Joined October 2009
1098 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-11-20 14:23:09
November 20 2013 14:22 GMT
#55
Yes. Ladder is getting harder for lower leagues mainly due MMR decay. Players typically belonging to higher leagues have had their MMR dropped after they have been inactive for 2 weeks or more. The decay happens fast and is considerable. And it takes lots of games to overcome the maximum decay. Many do not overcome the decay before going back to hiatus. And when they come back, they are dropped even lower.

More information regarding MMR decay and its effects is available from http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=429734
GizmoPT
Profile Joined May 2010
Portugal3040 Posts
November 20 2013 14:25 GMT
#56
On November 20 2013 23:22 korona wrote:
Yes. Ladder is getting harder for lower leagues mainly due MMR decay. Players typically belonging to higher leagues have had their MMR dropped after they have been inactive for 2 weeks or more. The decay happens fast and is considerable. And it takes lots of games to overcome the maximum decay. Many do not overcome the decay before going back to hiatus. And when they come back, they are dropped even lower.

More information regarding MMR decay and its effects is available from http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=429734


ye i just make like 10 games or less per season (im more of a arcade maps player) got into plat stop playing then next season got placed into silver so ye it can be that
Snipers Promod & Micro Arena Creator in SC2 Arcade - Portuguese Community Admin for SC2, HotS and Overwatch - Ex-Portugal SC2 Team Manager, Ex- Copenhagen Wolves and Grow uP Gaming Manager in SC2. Just Playing games now!
DusTerr
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
2520 Posts
November 20 2013 14:25 GMT
#57
better players are in lower leagues now (due to mmr decay and shifting player base). Plat is the new diamond. Most of masters is now diamond.
EnPo
Profile Joined June 2012
Finland411 Posts
November 20 2013 14:31 GMT
#58
People are constantly improving, so yeah, I think that it is harder. I was first 2 HoTS seasons master, then dia and only now got back to masters with crazy practice. But you are getting better, so it should compensate.
"Enpo has good builds and is good at executing those" -Serral 2018
korona
Profile Joined October 2009
1098 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-11-20 14:34:01
November 20 2013 14:33 GMT
#59
On November 20 2013 23:25 GizmoPT wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 20 2013 23:22 korona wrote:
Yes. Ladder is getting harder for lower leagues mainly due MMR decay. Players typically belonging to higher leagues have had their MMR dropped after they have been inactive for 2 weeks or more. The decay happens fast and is considerable. And it takes lots of games to overcome the maximum decay. Many do not overcome the decay before going back to hiatus. And when they come back, they are dropped even lower.

More information regarding MMR decay and its effects is available from http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=429734


ye i just make like 10 games or less per season (im more of a arcade maps player) got into plat stop playing then next season got placed into silver so ye it can be that

It is possible to avoid the current MMR decay mechanism as it only activates after 2 weeks of inactivity. If you don't have time to play during longer period, then make sure you have 1 game played during each less than 2 weeks period. Then MMR decay does not activate in that game mode for you.

Of course this helps only regarding your account. Lots of your opponents still have faced the decay.
Incanus
Profile Joined October 2009
Canada695 Posts
November 20 2013 14:34 GMT
#60
On November 20 2013 23:22 korona wrote:
Yes. Ladder is getting harder for lower leagues mainly due MMR decay. Players typically belonging to higher leagues have had their MMR dropped after they have been inactive for 2 weeks or more. The decay happens fast and is considerable. And it takes lots of games to overcome the maximum decay. Many do not overcome the decay before going back to hiatus. And when they come back, they are dropped even lower.

More information regarding MMR decay and its effects is available from http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=429734

Very interesting. In early/mid WoL I was a "high diamond" player. Nowadays I play a couple games a season, sometimes taking a break for a season or more. This season I was placed into bronze. Of course, a large part of that is that I don't know any build... and people in general have gotten better mechanically and otherwise.
Flash: "Why am I so good?" *sob sob*
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