This topic feels really obvious to me, but I could not find another thread on the same subject after 5 minutes of searching so sorry in advance if this is just a duplicate.
Ladder Fear. I am sure you have all heard of it or felt it a couple of times before. And the fact of the matter is there are a large number of people out there unable to play on the ladder because of this fear. Now mix that with the fact a number of people don't actually have many friends on the same skill level as them playing SC2, this creates a situation where there is a proportion of people unable to play 1v1's. (except custom games against random opponents, but the majority of the time there is a huge skill gap in these games).
I feel like this is a problem that although is not of huge significance, could potentially damage the casual starcraft 2 scene, and that has a pretty easy fix. The first idea that comes into my head would be to allow people to turn of ladder ranking. So they can still play against ladder opponents, and their rating (ELO/MMR or what ever it is called) would adjust just like normal, but they would not have a rank or be in a division. This would allow people to easily play games against opponents of the same skill level without having to fight the "Ladder Fear".
So what do you think? Is this a problem that affects you? Can you see any problems with allowing people to turn of ladder ranking?
No, theres nothing wrong with it; if u are scared of ladder but willing to do a random custom 1v1 and then compain of the skill gap, then just play ladder which is slotting you as best as it can. It's designed to be 50:50 win rate, so expect losing streaks and winning streaks... If you dont wanna 1v1 just do 2v2's 3v3's 4v4's random, a lot less pressure and more freedom to have a good time without trying to be competitive..
Eventually you'll run into a few of the same faces in team randoms, or even have just one good random team and end up inviting to play together, eventually you can start customs with them and build up your self confidence. Ladder is the best thing for casual imo...
Not a problem that I personally have, but no I disagree. The ladder is great for sc2. Remember when Broodwar had a ladder system, and how hard that failed? Warcraft 3's leveling up and experience system made people ladder and helped encourage people to climb the ladder.
If there was no ladder, or a hidden ranking, there would be no incentive to continue to play and grow. So instead of your "ladder fear," in truth I think the there is a ladder affinity in that people want to improve, rank higher, and get promoted to higher divisions, etc.
This just masks the problem, it doesn't solve it. At what point will the player who has turned off ladder ranking be unafraid? Let's say a bronze player turns it off and plays until his mmr is diamond. Okay... now what? He's been afraid of losing this entire time, and now he's in a higher league and likely still afraid of losing. In essence, you will have created a separate unranked ladder that doesn't display win/loss. Which is exactly what Blizzard already gave you - any "casual" gamer under Master's league already doesn't have win/loss showing, so what's the point of this?
If they don't want to play it's their problem. It might hurt the casual scene but the people who actually care about the game and want to get better aren't effected by it, and that's all that matters.
I don't feel ladder fear, no one cares about my profile because I'm not a pro gamer. To me it feels like ladder fear is for little fairy boys, Blizzard designed ladder for a reason it's so people get better.
it has nothing to do with ladder. if I wanted to be matched randomly with someone, I'd prefer it to be someone that is considered to have similar skill as me. I'd consider it far worse if there was no ladder match making system and I had no idea of the relative skill of my opponent.
No. It's the player's fault for making to big a deal of it. I know I suffer from that haha I never ladder. If you listen to pros when they talk about ladder they do it just without even thinking like they are just drilling something out for the 10,000th time
Ladder ranking is the only thing most of us have. For the average player that will never be in tournaments the ladder is the only way we have of measuring our progress as we get better. I deal with ladder anxiety a lot, but I was angry when Blizzard removed losses from my profile because now I can't accurately see how I am faring. Allowing people to turn this off is just more babying by Blizzard, if you want to play a competitive game, you should have to have some way of seeing where you rank, you can't make this optional.
On May 28 2011 01:35 Rasun wrote: Ladder ranking is the only thing most of us have. For the average player that will never be in tournaments the ladder is the only way we have of measuring our progress as we get better. I deal with ladder anxiety a lot, but I was angry when Blizzard removed losses from my profile because now I can't accurately see how I am faring. Allowing people to turn this off is just more babying by Blizzard, if you want to play a competitive game, you should have to have some way of seeing where you rank, you can't make this optional.
reddit ( some random site? ) has tournaments for anyone to play in so as long as they sign up they split people into different groups
Ladder fear was severely mitigated when they took out the losses from the ladder stats, so there shouldn't be any problem. But, if people are still having problems just realize: if you don't play due to fear of losing, you are going to lose more games in the long run as you won't have the experience to win. If you, however, force yourself to play through the fear, then you will be getting more practice and will soon see that you're confidence in your play will increase and you'll start winning more games. It's more important to understand that it is just a game though and not all of us are going to be progamers, so you might as well take it easy.
On May 28 2011 01:31 elitesniper420 wrote: I don't feel ladder fear, no one cares about my profile because I'm not a pro gamer. To me it feels like ladder fear is for little fairy boys, Blizzard designed ladder for a reason it's so people get better.
Fairy boys, really?
As for OP, it's kind of hard to blame this on Blizzard. They give you the option of playing against similarly skilled players OR to play random people OR to play people you know and have the same approximate skill level. You can also play 2v2's, 3v3's and 4v4's if you don't like the pressure 1v1 gives you.
Best solution would be to just play whatever though, just start a game and do something silly. It's a fear you need to overcome regardless, can't expect Blizzard to fix everything.
This affects me alot, im not neccesarily scared of ladder 1v1, but rather Im more frustrated with it. It is a frustrating experience, getting cheesed(Even at master level) or losing to stupid random shit.
The worst thing though is that this game is not everything I do. I work have a band and have a GF. Im always busy so when I come to the computer to play im usually tired/stressed/ or just in a I want to have fun mode. The last thing i want to do is watch my record plummet and go to shit (im 41-46 right now) while I get frustrated.
I find about 10x the enjoyment of ladder by just finding random people in the TL chat room of similair skill level and 1v1ing them multiple times on different maps( Ala BW) This is care free, good practice and ensures im finding people that are generally of the same skill level. I get to choose my MU's and make new friends that I can actully talk to online without getting "FUCK YOU NEWB, YOUR TERRIBLE I DESERVED THIS WIN."
They could implement a practice blank ladder, where you are matched with people of your MMR except the game doesn't count as rating. But more seriously, the curent ladder system makes it that you will have a 50% ratio no matter what's your skill. I think some people aren't okay with the fact that they'll lose half of the time.
I am so affected by this. I always think of something else to do other than going on the ladder. Right now I am finishing up all the achievements on the campaign but really I prefer going 1v1 other than anything else.
It's just that fear. I feel I am not enough in control when I play a game. I am sure it's just because I lack practice. None of my friends are at my level (they are all bronze) so I have no one to practice with.
Now I told myself that tomorrow all is done with the campaign and I will force myself to play at least 2-3 1v1 a day. I am not doing bad really I win 2/3 of my matches in Gold league and beating Plat guys no problem.
Again.. it's just that fear of the "search" button................. WHY WHY WHY
EPT
WHY WHY WHY
