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1. Pause/Load Screen Countdown Timer
This one is a no-brainer but is listed first for a reason: it's essential in maintaining fair, concise, and consistent gameplay. If you're unsure what exactly I mean as to a Pause and Load Screen Countdown Timer allow me to explain: it is a small 3-5 second countdown that occurs as the game loads initially and when a player pauses and unpauses a game. If the necessity of this escapes you, it's probably because you're either new to the competitive scene or have never experienced the simplistic joy of a warning that a pause is incoming which could potentially impact your play.
More important than a pause countdown (which is often premeditated with a "pp" or "sec") is the initial countdown which would occur after a game has loaded in. This is even more crucial in custom games which may contain several observers that may hold up the loading time. This will allow players a small window to prepare mouses properly for worker splitting and acknowledge their spawning position. Further detail in regards to the necessity of a Pause/Load Screen countdown would be wasteful. This is an invaluable component that would only enhance competitive play.
2. Enhanced Custom Game Lobby Settings
As someone who hosts, runs, administrates, and casts online tournaments several times a week the custom game lobby settings leave a lot to be desired in terms of efficiency. First off, I'd like to see specific slots for players, casters, observers (like ST.Legend and Adebisi), and spectators. Akin to the Pause/Load Screen countdown, the reasoning is painfully obvious. Player, observer, and caster slots would include a "Ready" option which must be checked in order for the match to begin (a warning would continuously flash to those in the player, observer, and caster slots). I cannot list the number of times matches have been delayed by several minutes because a player was not ready and the Lobby Host clicked start game and thus it had to be remade. It is just wasted time and is inconvenient to tournament hosts and viewers alike. Moreover when working with non-English speaking players, having a universal way of letting others know that you are ready to play the game is crucial. Obviously it's not a perfect resolution to a come problem with online tournaments but it is certainly better then what is currently offered.
Second, a Locked Lobby option would be fantastic. Since I host online tournaments we have very strict observer rules in place to prevent any kind of cheating and/or game slow downs. The problem is that anyone who is a Real ID friend of anyone in the lobby can join the game of their own accord. Having a Locked Lobby (or invite online) would allow only those directly invited by the Lobby Host to join. Again, the reasoning is obvious. The number of times I have begun games and had to either quickly kick an uninvited guest or ask the guest to leave (which they don't always oblige) is numerous and frustrating.
Finally, a few aesthetic features that would help players and casters alike. A league rank icon next to the player's name which when hovered over will give Rank and Wins/Losses. The map expands to full screen with the ability to be drawn on which allows for casters to discuss the map and possible strategies while waiting for players to ready-up. An "allow re-join" option as well. This would allow re-join if a player disconnects (and if Blizzard provides us the technology to do so).
3. Player Rank by Race, Win/Loss Ratio, Win/Loss Percentage, and Game History Improvements
Perhaps the most suggested enhancement that Battle.net could have. Every player would have a ranking per individual race. Whether or not it partially factors in MMR from other races (I think it shouldn't because not everyone plays each race at the same level of play) is not entirely important but I can see how it would be useful if diligently implemented. Being able to play all three races is what StarCraft is about! Why should I have to buy another account to play an off-race on ladder and experience the game to its fullest extent (possibly not its intention)? If I am a Masters Zerg and my Protoss is only at a Platinum level, it is going to destroy my Masters League MMR and not allow me to improve as a Protoss player! I do not want to appear as if I am jumping to conclusions but it seems like it is an easy way for Blizzard to acquire more money from its fan base (like the lack of name changes, but more on that later).
The return of Wins and Losses for EVERY rank other than Masters and Grandmaster. I understand why Blizzard took this away. I truly do. However, I do not agree with such an asinine and unnecessary change. It belittles the lower league players who are striving to improve. To me, it is like Blizzard is implying "your wins are more important than anything else." This is the most erroneous implication I have ever interpreted. We all know “More GG, More Skill” is probably the truest statement ever made by any professional player past and present. While we winning feels great, it is when we lose that we gain the most insight into our weaknesses and strengths as well as our opponent's. Knowing how many losses a player has allows that player to ask himself/herself: "Why am I losing so much? What do I need to improve on?" And most importantly: "What is my worse match up and on what maps?" which leads me to my next point.
Win Ratio for each match up for each race and each map. It is a bit more involved than your typical, PvT, PvZ, and TvZ, listings. It will show how many times you have won and lost for each match-up as each race on each and every map. Quantifying this kind of data cannot be easy from a technological standpoint and it is undeniably extraneous, but just imagine the amount of content this could deliver! Players will be to pinpoint their weaknesses and work to correct them with prompt direction.
Another commonly mentioned improvement is adding player rank and league as well as the option to download the replay from the Game History menu of a player's profile. It is a simple implementation made for the sake of easy browsing and obtaining replays. Players can easily check the "do not make replay public" option on their profiles if they wish. This would force the replay to be unobtainable from either player's profile. Not an ideal solution but I understand the need for some professional players' desires to keep their replays unavailable to the public.
4. Name Changes and MMR Resets.
Here is something we were all promised but never given. Like the game console you were supposed to receive on Christmas but never got: Name changes - paid or unpaid - are not available unless Blizzard randomly decides to gives us one or we purchase an entirely new account. Most of the time the account is rarely purchased for the sake of changing the name so as much as attaining a fresh MMR. So here is my solution: allow for name changes in the same way that Steam does. Give us a single username with a modifiable display name. The username can be hidden if so desired but would be essential for adding people. Allowing us to customize our display names would be beneficial to players who change their handles or teams and it is always nice to play under different hidden aliases (see: IIIIIIIIII).
Now as for resetting MMR, which is in my opinion the larger reason people purchase new accounts, can be paid for. Blizzard can charged whatever they would for this, but I would deem $30-$50 as reasonable. It would reset everything on the account back to day 1 (sans achievements and campaign progress). It will be just like having a new account without the hassle of creating (and remembering) another e-mail. I think making people pay to simply troll lower league players gets a point across: you are not funny and your actions are deplorable.
It is time to make due on a promise, Blizzard. Cough it up. Our patience is wearing dramatically thin.
5. In-Game Observer Enhancements and Improvements.
This is a caster's dream section. Since I've been casting for a little over 8 months I have to come to realize that while Blizzard offers a plethora of information via in-game observing, it could offer so much more. Turning to Valve's Defense of the Ancients 2 (DotA 2) as an example, it offers something called a real-time experience and gold graph. It displays the influx of experience and gold as a single wave (line) from the beginning of the game to the present time on a chart dipping and cresting to either portion of the graph as it responds to a specifics team's accomplishments and defeats. The beauty of this simple yet extremely telling graph is it gives viewers as well as casters a strong idea of who is ahead and who is behind and where they can play catch-up.
Blizzard has already implemented something similar with the income and resources lost tabs but numbers are hard to interpret and physical manifestations of such information always receives a better response and more intuitive explication. Having real-time graphs allow casters to tell stories. It allows casters to expand on information about each player's economic position relative to one another. I believe this is something that can easily implemented as it is simply taking numerical information and turning it into graphical representation.
The Unit Counting Station. A true godsend coming from Brood War. It tells you how many units are on the field at any given time. Yet, I feel that it falls short. It should let us know many units are on the field presently, how many total units of that kind has been made (I can see this being a problem as some games make nearly every single unit possible and the graphic can get quite large), and how many units have been killed. Again, more information for casters to interpret and work with. Seeing that someone has produced a total of 350 marines in a single 25 minute game is incredibly telling of a players macro (or lack there of) as well as the way unit works in conflicts (it's relatively expendable). I know it seems like hardcore information for hardcore fans but a lot of simple facts can be implicated by casters by having this information and thus appealing and informing audiences who understand less.
The ability to draw on the map and minimap. God damn this is probably the most requested caster/observer improvement that anyone could ask for. Someone even made a program to perform such a task (Check out SC2 Tactician, you will need to be granted beta access but it is amazing). We see this done in almost every single professional athletic sport out there. It is a fundamental tool for teaching and letting viewers know what exactly you are talking about. Multiple colors included, this is a must have feature for Heart of the Swarm. I'd like to make this number one if I could but I'm afraid because of the lack benefit it has for the game as a whole I'll leave it at a safe number five.
I could continue on for pages about observer improvements but I think these three points are the main ingredients in creating a comprehensible and infinitely more useful model. As a small side note, Building Counting Station would be an awesome edition as well.
6. Modded, Customized, and Tournament Linked Battle.net Channels
How many times have you been in a tournament channel (Playhem, Z33K, Binary Beast, etc.) and have been unable to find or contact an admin because of the endless stream of nonsensical chatter and spamming? Or you are unable to find the bracket quickly because you accidentally closed out of your browser? Then why not allow for modded chats with dedicated tournament compatibility? Have the bracket link in the channel along with a dedicated section in the user list that allows you to contact an admin directly. Oh you want to improve upon eSports? Add a direct stream into the channel as well! You could easily toggle this on and off as a user. I'm sure a ton of tournament leagues (myself included) would happily pay a monthly fee for this. It is a great way for Blizzard to make money while helping the community grow.
The ability to have a moderated channel is necessity that I am quite surprised has gone overlooked. The countless number of times I have had spammers in my channel advertising other events or some other nonsense, and having only the ability to politely (or impolitely) ask them to leave, is becoming not only frustrating but disappointing. This should be fairly easy to implement into Heart of the Swarm and another key step into improving the interaction within the community.
7. The Ability to Drop in and out of a Game as a Player and Spectator.
While this may be the most requested for some, it is relatively low on my list due to the sheer technical difficult of implementing such a system. As we are all well aware, having a player disconnect in the middle of a game (whether at a live tournament or on the ladder) is a pain to deal with. Sometimes it happens because a player's internet crashes, or the power flickers our momentarily, or because someone hates losing and pulls out the router. Regardless, the ability to reconnect to a game, similar to DotA 2 would make Heart of the Swarm truly complete.
Blizzard has openly stated that they are looking into substitutes for replacing the fabled LAN option. The seemingly only viable option would be a reconnect system which allows a player x amount of time to reconnect to the game. Custom designed maps like SALT have walked the line of legality due to the way it “breaks” the game. However, SALT has given us a place to start and hopefully Blizzard can explore that route.
The ability to spectate games that are currently playing would be amazing. It would perhaps cut into the viewership of streams or maybe even enhance it. If players prefer to stream simply allow for an option to deny the ability to observe your games. You may be wondering: “but won't this allow people to cheat?” Well, yes you're right, but like DotA 2, simply rewind the clock back a few minutes and what was relevant 5-10 minutes ago is no longer relevant in game's real time. And I do feel a bit weary that I've referred to DotA 2 so often in this post but Valve is doing a lot of things right!
At the very least we should be given the option to spectate a friend's game at any time so long as he/she and their opponent have allowed for spectating. This would be a great way to kill that 10-20 minutes you would be waiting for your friend(s) to get out of a game so you can play with them.
8. Miscellaneous and Conclusion
There are a number of small inclusions that I think would benefit the community and usefulness of Battle.net as infinitely accessible hub of StarCraft II and I'm going to list them here in a list. Some are rather frivolous but would be nice to have, others would be sought after by a select few with deep thirst:
- Friends List Groups - Much like AIM or Skype, you're allowed to create user defined groups and drag and drop your friends into them.
- Allowed to select your race color from a HEX chart for custom games and ladder.
- Timer in Real Time. It is not that big of a deal to me but to some it matters a lot. I can see reasoning for both yes and no on this.
- Home Page displaying current tournaments and streams. Similar to the way Team Liquid has it set up. Players and Tournament leagues would have to apply to appear on Battle.net. I feel that this may usurp Team Liquid in a sense but I doubt Blizzard would ever commit to such a thing.
- Deeper Facebook integration including Team and Player Pages which allows players to access the same information they would from a web browser.
In essence, Heart of the Swarm needs to evolve into an entirely new breed to UI and community. Battle.net 2.0 was a farce and the community knows it. Yes, the world has evolved and certain limitations must be implemented for the sake of preserving a game's integrity (legal and otherwise) there are certain changes that just didn't make any sense.
So Blizzard, here it is. Your chance to, in my opinion, reinvent or completely destroy eSports. Hopefully MLG and GOMTV have been whispering in your ears of all the cool things they'd like to see added for when Heart of the Swarm arrives. And even more hopefully, you have been listening to your loyal community.
 
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good ideas. just gonna bounce a bit of feedback.
i love your ideas about more detailed and useful stats. i use sc2gears to get my own stats but to view other players would be cool. and yes GRAPHS.
the part about casting though i am unsure. keep in mind i am not a caster, but i do watch alot of sc2. casters seem to have enough going on already. some of your ideas like total units etc though would be nice at the end game screen but during the game seems like too much for casters to handle. while it may be hard for a complete noobie to the scene to interpret the units and resources lost tab, anyone who has played or watched for a week can get valuable info from those tabs.
also alot of your ideas seem to require bandwidth or technology that im not sure we are ready for. would it be awesome to watch any players replay from their profile if they allow it? absolutely but how? either all replays have to be stored server side on a cloud somewhere or someone has to physically connect to my hard drive. i doubt blizzard wants option 1 and i certainly dont want option 2.
same with being able to view a friend game on the fly. love the idea but how do u implement it without too many negative side effects?
youre a dreamer, i like that. but i fail to see blizzard implementing alot of these because it is too inefficient or just not conducive to their overall picture.
and for the love of god blizzard touraments PLEASE. your idea about supporting third party tourneys is good but what just scheduled blizz tourneys across various skill levels depending on demand? also anyone familiar with online poker knows what a sit n go tourney is. ladder gets boring now and then lets admit. why not be able to just queue up in the sit n go at a given skill level and as soon as 8 or 16 or however many people queue up a basic bracket is created and the tourney begins. scoring could be as simple as having to wager ladder points (everyone throws in 10 to play the tourney the winner comes out with 80) or just earning a "medal" that counts towards achievements or ladder points and is visible on profile. it doesnt have to be anything spectacular just something to take away the monotony of random laddering. youre still just playing games against simliar players, its just not random and you can have bo3 or whatever and there is a sense of accomplishment and end-goal, as there is sometimes not on the ladder.
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Your ideas are well conveyed and I appreciate the amount of time you obviously put in to this post. I agree with all of your points except one, casting/observing tools. While I think the features youre asking for are reasonable and achievable, I don't think they're going to have the desired effect. In my opinion, the most successful casters are those who tell a story that the viewer can invest in and create drama and emotions that flow with the game. The more scientific you make the game, the viewer starts to care more about the numbers and less about the story.
For example, say the game has been going back and forth with each player trading armies. It is clear to most viewers that Player A has been gaining a steady advantage after each engagement, and a competent caster will acknowledge this and use it to drive part of the story, where Player B really needs to get his shit in gear in order to pull off the comeback.
However, a lot of the time when you start to add numbers and concrete scientific data, ex: Player A is a Terran with 160 supply vs the Zerg Player B with 115 supply, anyone can simply look at that number and tell you with near certainty that the Terran player is going to win, the Zerg should have gg'd by now. If you take away those supply numbers and merely watch the game, it is much easier for both the caster and spectator to believe that a comeback is still possible.
Another fault of having too many tools during the game might be that it then becomes too easy (and too tempting) to point out every little flaw or misstep in a player's game, which isn't what I want to hear about DURING the game. These tools should be made available after the game in a replay or endscreen.
Perhaps if they were to be made available during the game as you suggest - casters would be wise enough to only use them sparingly in appropriate situations, if at all, in order to preserve some of the mystery and drama of live competition.
TL;DR, additional observer stats would only serve as crutches for casters and take away from the game more than they would add.
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I'm by no means a Valve fanboy but they add features like these on what seems like a weekly basis. Blizzard should be ashamed of themselves.
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On August 01 2012 04:09 Yacobs wrote:
I'm by no means a Valve fanboy but they add features like these on what seems like a weekly basis. Blizzard should be ashamed of themselves.
The thing is, I was seeing so many things valve has done in that blog xD. Tobi asked for drawing on screen, he received, both on minimap and terrain.
Valve may not "encourage" competitive play except TI, but they listen to the community.
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I'll bet you $100 that you will still buy HotS even if none of this is in there.
I've got the balls to boycott Actiblizz for their deplorable support. Do you?
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On August 01 2012 08:00 iGrok wrote:
I'll bet you $100 that you will still buy HotS even if none of this is in there.
I've got the balls to boycott Actiblizz for their deplorable support. Do you?
Ah, hi iGrok. Nice to see you here. No, I don't have the balls, but seeing you here reminds me of a great point. HotS needs better maps  Maybe even lowered resources maps (6min/1gas expos)
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1, 2, 4 and 5 are unnecessary.
1. is not needed because you should be able to near instantly recognize spawning location, and adding in a countdown will have no effect on gameplay. A countdown timer for unpausing is unnecessary and just makes it more annoying when angry people pause spam.
2. the only thing that would be nice is to keep it closed to everybody, even realid friends... making it invite only.
4. more frequent name changes from blizz would be nice, but not necessary. MMR reset is entirely unnecessary, especially if each race has its own MMR like you suggest.
5. all of that is unnecessary. The game already has enough information to present who is ahead/behind. It is up to the caster to point those things out. A graph showing past income is not necessarily relevant if hes on 4 bases and ahead in army supply now. Also the ability to draw on the minimap would not be used frequently, outside of maybe in the lobby. Most leagues have the caster not observing at the same time, so they dont even have the ability to draw on the minimap as a caster.
6, 7, and 8 are all nice conveniences.
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This is a very well thought out post. You had some really good insight for #5 and how improved in-game observering can improve casting (which I agree) as well as #2 for improving custom games. Your ideas for #1 and # 7 are espcially ingenious.Never the less, I havel qualms with points 3 and 4.
First, with #3, you give the same argument that every serious Starcraft 2 player always gives--show win/loss for all leagues. It won't happen. I do agree with your argument that people learn from their losses. But whether people see their losses or not will not change the fact that they will still lose. Unless people are the very best on the ladder (top of GM) or at the bottom of the ladder (low bronze), their win ration will always be at 45% to 55%. Always. If someone gets a 10 win streak and thinks they are amazing, do you know what happens? At some point, they will be off tilt and lose 10 games in a row. It is inevitable. People don't need to see their losses to know this fact. In fact, I believe many people will see their 50% win ratio and think "Wow, I am not improving at all. I must be bad." People are improving, but they wouldn't see it because their opponents are improving as well.
Most of all, most people in the lower leagues are casual gamers. They want to play for fun. Blizzard does not want this casual gamers playing for more wins and losses. Their goal is to have people play on the ladder knowing that if they consistently play and lower their bonus pool, they will be at the top of their league and feel accomplished. Getting rid of wins/losses may hurt the serious gamer, but it helps the casual gamer. And sadly, there are more casual gamers than serious gamers, and Blizzard will always side with the masses.
However, as for the rest of #3, I agree with it somewhat. As for player rank by race, it is a good suggestion, but I don't feel Blizzard would do it for free. They would lose money by allowing people to play with 3 races on one system. I heard Blizzard was having a non-ranked ladder system where people could play for fun. People could try learning a race there. As for win/loss for races and maps, I think that information can already be found on SC Gears.
Finally, with #4, I do not agree with the MMR reset. This can be abused in so many ways. First, it will drastically increase smurfing. So many bored masters players will just reset their MMR so they can go to the bronze league. Then, after having their fun, they will just reset it again, win their 5 placement matches, and be right back in Diamond and close to Master league. Furthermore, many people, desperate to be higher on the ladder, will reset their MMR over and over again just so they get lucky once and win their placement matches. Then, many people will be displaced in a league where they don't belong.
Sorry that my post is long. I just want to reinforce that I do agree with most of your post. You have some great ideas. I just feel that some of your ideas just wouldn't work. Again, great post  .
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United States9925 Posts
All i want is for the B.net system to be like the same as the BW system, but modified. once you hit that ladder button, you'd enter into a game, but you'd be allowed to change your race to stuff (race pickers ftw) (you could have a setting before that that would auto-lock your race if you main one only). 15 seconds for picking your race, then game will start. you can't back out. if you do, you lose ladder points and the other person would get ladder points. making it so itd be like the same as the sc2 current b.net.
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And I do feel a bit weary that I've referred to DotA 2 so often in this post but Valve is doing a lot of things right!
Should be "wary". Nice post so far! Not done reading yet.
These all sound so nice. I really hope blizzard decides to be the company they can/should be and step it up. The possibility is there.
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also get rid of the shitty custom game implementation
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Okay here it goes, my long list of replies that I've been too busy to answer. Sorry it took me a few days.
On August 01 2012 02:52 ParkwayDrive wrote:
the part about casting though i am unsure. keep in mind i am not a caster, but i do watch alot of sc2. casters seem to have enough going on already. some of your ideas like total units etc though would be nice at the end game screen but during the game seems like too much for casters to handle. while it may be hard for a complete noobie to the scene to interpret the units and resources lost tab, anyone who has played or watched for a week can get valuable info from those tabs.
also alot of your ideas seem to require bandwidth or technology that im not sure we are ready for. would it be awesome to watch any players replay from their profile if they allow it? absolutely but how? either all replays have to be stored server side on a cloud somewhere or someone has to physically connect to my hard drive. i doubt blizzard wants option 1 and i certainly dont want option 2.
same with being able to view a friend game on the fly. love the idea but how do u implement it without too many negative side effects?
youre a dreamer, i like that. but i fail to see blizzard implementing alot of these because it is too inefficient or just not conducive to their overall picture.
and for the love of god blizzard touraments PLEASE. your idea about supporting third party tourneys is good but what just scheduled blizz tourneys across various skill levels depending on demand? also anyone familiar with online poker knows what a sit n go tourney is. ladder gets boring now and then lets admit. why not be able to just queue up in the sit n go at a given skill level and as soon as 8 or 16 or however many people queue up a basic bracket is created and the tourney begins. scoring could be as simple as having to wager ladder points (everyone throws in 10 to play the tourney the winner comes out with 80) or just earning a "medal" that counts towards achievements or ladder points and is visible on profile. it doesnt have to be anything spectacular just something to take away the monotony of random laddering. youre still just playing games against simliar players, its just not random and you can have bo3 or whatever and there is a sense of accomplishment and end-goal, as there is sometimes not on the ladder.
Perhaps I was taking it from an overly analytical perspective but I do agree with you. It may be overwhelming for any caster to process the amount of information that would be provided to them. However, it could easily be used for more analytic approaches to the game. It would allow players, coaches, and casters like Day[9] to use the information provided to the heighten the quality of the content.
Yes, I agree, the availability to download the replay is a bit lofty and I'm no expert in cloud/server data usage so I'm not sure how the technical end would be handled. Still, I think it would be a great addition.
I appreciate that you appreciate my dreaminess.
And the idea of third party support for tournaments is necessary for the bettering and progress of eSports. Plenty of other competitive games pay homage (in game and out) to the highest level of competitors and it's time Blizzard does the same.
On August 01 2012 03:54 spbelky wrote:
TL;DR, additional observer stats would only serve as crutches for casters and take away from the game more than they would add.
I'm only replying to your TL;DR for the sake of space. I absolutely agree with you. As I said with my response to ParkwayDrive: an over abundance may inhibit poor casting quality in terms of "telling a story" and expressing the drama of conflict. Still, I want to be persistent in their inclusion for the sake of an analytic approach. The usefulness for players who like to review their replays will be able to expand their strategies and command better understanding of the game.
On August 01 2012 09:48 TheRabidDeer wrote:
1, 2, 4 and 5 are unnecessary.
1. is not needed because you should be able to near instantly recognize spawning location, and adding in a countdown will have no effect on gameplay. A countdown timer for unpausing is unnecessary and just makes it more annoying when angry people pause spam.
4. more frequent name changes from blizz would be nice, but not necessary. MMR reset is entirely unnecessary, especially if each race has its own MMR like you suggest.
5. all of that is unnecessary. The game already has enough information to present who is ahead/behind. It is up to the caster to point those things out. A graph showing past income is not necessarily relevant if hes on 4 bases and ahead in army supply now. Also the ability to draw on the minimap would not be used frequently, outside of maybe in the lobby. Most leagues have the caster not observing at the same time, so they dont even have the ability to draw on the minimap as a caster.
6, 7, and 8 are all nice conveniences.
While I am never one to say anyone is right or wrong, I have to aggressively disagree with the lack of necessity for a pause and load screen countdown. All too often games have been affected by the use of a pause. Whether it is proper, bad mannered, or even worse, tactical, it does in some way directly effect the game. A simple 3 second countdown followed by a cool-down will on pausing (meaning they can't pause for X amount of seconds) result in more consistent flow to the game.
Perhaps you are right, one thing may cancel out the other. I just hate the idea of people changing names for $50. That should be free. It's a name, it's an identity. Buying a new account for the sake of an MMR reset is understandable. Why not just offer that from the outset?
Again, I refer to my previous responses regarding the availability of information to casters. I think that it is entirely reasonable to have such tools available for analysis.
On August 01 2012 10:39 TheBigO wrote:
This is a very well thought out post. You had some really good insight for #5 and how improved in-game observering can improve casting (which I agree) as well as #2 for improving custom games. Your ideas for #1 and # 7 are espcially ingenious.Never the less, I havel qualms with points 3 and 4.
First, with #3, you give the same argument that every serious Starcraft 2 player always gives--show win/loss for all leagues. It won't happen. I do agree with your argument that people learn from their losses. But whether people see their losses or not will not change the fact that they will still lose. Unless people are the very best on the ladder (top of GM) or at the bottom of the ladder (low bronze), their win ration will always be at 45% to 55%. Always. If someone gets a 10 win streak and thinks they are amazing, do you know what happens? At some point, they will be off tilt and lose 10 games in a row. It is inevitable. People don't need to see their losses to know this fact. In fact, I believe many people will see their 50% win ratio and think "Wow, I am not improving at all. I must be bad." People are improving, but they wouldn't see it because their opponents are improving as well.
Most of all, most people in the lower leagues are casual gamers. They want to play for fun. Blizzard does not want this casual gamers playing for more wins and losses. Their goal is to have people play on the ladder knowing that if they consistently play and lower their bonus pool, they will be at the top of their league and feel accomplished. Getting rid of wins/losses may hurt the serious gamer, but it helps the casual gamer. And sadly, there are more casual gamers than serious gamers, and Blizzard will always side with the masses.
However, as for the rest of #3, I agree with it somewhat. As for player rank by race, it is a good suggestion, but I don't feel Blizzard would do it for free. They would lose money by allowing people to play with 3 races on one system. I heard Blizzard was having a non-ranked ladder system where people could play for fun. People could try learning a race there. As for win/loss for races and maps, I think that information can already be found on SC Gears.
Finally, with #4, I do not agree with the MMR reset. This can be abused in so many ways. First, it will drastically increase smurfing. So many bored masters players will just reset their MMR so they can go to the bronze league. Then, after having their fun, they will just reset it again, win their 5 placement matches, and be right back in Diamond and close to Master league. Furthermore, many people, desperate to be higher on the ladder, will reset their MMR over and over again just so they get lucky once and win their placement matches. Then, many people will be displaced in a league where they don't belong.
Thank you for the compliment. And as I explained in the post, I completely understand Blizzard's reasoning. I just wish they would give those wishing to improve, to the option to have access to their wins and losses without using a third party site or software. It is hard to argue with business/financial decisions because the company wouldn't exist without making decisions that have a deliberate effect on the community (negative or positive).
My idea for the MMR reset came mostly as a substitute for those who buy new accounts for the sake of an MMR reset. If you think it about, paying $50 to reset your MMR is just like buying a new account without the hassle. What is stopping players from smurfing/bronzing doing it now? It doesn't take that long to set up a new account. Why not just simplify the process for those who want to waste their money? There's always for abuse within the system. Simplifying the way it is abused can sometimes deter it.
On August 01 2012 15:52 galtdunn wrote:Show nested quote +And I do feel a bit weary that I've referred to DotA 2 so often in this post but Valve is doing a lot of things right! Should be "wary". Nice post so far! Not done reading yet. These all sound so nice. I really hope blizzard decides to be the company they can/should be and step it up. The possibility is there.
Nope, I meant weary: as in I grew tired of referencing them. Thank you though.
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