EPTOn February 12 2015 04:28 Excalibur_Z wrote:
Being 1000 now and 1300 then doesn't mean you're 1000/1300 of your true skill, that's not how rating is read. Dropping from 600 to 300 doesn't mean you're half as good as you used to be. A 200 player is not twice as good as a 100 player, a 2000 player is not twice as good as a 1000 player. It is the distance between two values that translates to an expected win percentage, not the values themselves. If 1000 vs 1300 meant that you have a 25% chance to win, 1000 vs 700 would then mean that you have a 75% chance to win, just as a 700 player would have a 75% chance to win against a 400 player, and a 400 player has a 75% chance to win against a 100 player. As you get near the very top of the ladder and even matches are found less frequently, meaning you earn fewer rating for beating those lower than you, then obviously a 300 rating difference becomes difficult to maintain because your win rate has to be that much higher.
Revealing MMR would indeed be very helpful. However, it doesn't address the root problem caused by decay, which is why other things would need to happen in order to restore the ladder.
Being 1000 now and 1300 then doesn't mean you're 1000/1300 of your true skill, that's not how rating is read. Dropping from 600 to 300 doesn't mean you're half as good as you used to be. A 200 player is not twice as good as a 100 player, a 2000 player is not twice as good as a 1000 player. It is the distance between two values that translates to an expected win percentage, not the values themselves. If 1000 vs 1300 meant that you have a 25% chance to win, 1000 vs 700 would then mean that you have a 75% chance to win, just as a 700 player would have a 75% chance to win against a 400 player, and a 400 player has a 75% chance to win against a 100 player. As you get near the very top of the ladder and even matches are found less frequently, meaning you earn fewer rating for beating those lower than you, then obviously a 300 rating difference becomes difficult to maintain because your win rate has to be that much higher.
Revealing MMR would indeed be very helpful. However, it doesn't address the root problem caused by decay, which is why other things would need to happen in order to restore the ladder.
Indeed. Decay is what drove me away from the game. It got to the point where I felt like I was solely fighting decay and never progressing. Once in a while, school would prevent me from playing for a month or two and when I came back I'd have to play a bunch of uneven games just to get back to having some semblance of competition in my games. Sure, the first time it was amusing to have a huge win streak, but eventually it simply turned into a time sink getting back to where I was, plus I can't imagine it being fun for the person I was matched against. Just like it isn't fun for me to be matched with someone who massively outclasses me.
You don't go from being a master or diamond level player to a gold or platinum level player if you don't play for two months. That's the issue. The system seems to assume you do.
If they removed decay once and for all, I'd be back in a heartbeat. But as it stands, I simply can't commit myself to playing that much right now so I would likely end up fighting decay again, and that's not worth my time.
