So... who do you think is going to be on top? I'm dying to know!

I would hope that you would be somewhere near the top :)

I'm not so sure. I've been on a big losing streak lately.

how is it weighted?

Check the blog: http://blog.warlight.net/index.php/2011/02/announcing-the-warlight-ladder-part-1-of-2/

none of us "lower" players could even venture a guess because all the "Elite" players only play games against each other

does that make me one of the elite cause I've played with the "elite" players?

i have played a few games with them, but 9/10 of their games seem to be invite only, and only among themselves

Try creating games with them directly. I'm sure they won't refuse. And if you can put up a good fight I'm sure you'll start seeing some tournament invites - I've already seen this happen with several people.

I think the problem is that the only way to play tournaments is to invite people, so it's hard for new players to get noticed. The ladder will fix all of this, since it's a single global stage and nobody will be turned away.

I'm going to say anyone that is mentioned in this thread:

http://warlight.net/Forum/Thread.aspx?ThreadID=920

To summarize: The Impaller, Duke, Ruthless, Gaia, Blue Precision, Fizzer, Waya, Pinkbladder, TeddyFSB, Doushibag, Chas, Eitz, Troll, Barney Stinson, Grundie, DAMP, Warrokie, WSUPapaSmurf, Perrin3088, willkay98. Those are just a few I rattled off the top of my head. I know there is a LOT more that we play with and I'm sorry if I left you out.

We tend to only play with each other because we like playing with people we have gotten to know over some time. We've played a bunch of 1v1 together and then big FFA games get created with the collective whole. We just like to try out new variants, talk strategy, and overall have a good time. One thing consistent with our group is that there is barely EVER a time when someone is booted. We tend to take our moves slowly at points and it's more at a leisurely pace.

Like Randy said, just try creating some games with us and challenging us 1v1. A lot of us have our preferred settings on our profile and if we don't, we'll play a game with your favorite settings then trade to ours. Thats what pretty much everyone in that 'class' has done to be a regular. You just have to make a name for yourself by playing with a lot of us over time.

Thanks for the tips Ruthless. and just so you know, I wan't saying that there was anything wrong with you guys mostly only playing each other, just that because you do a lot of us have never seen you guys, and therefore it is hard to judge who is best and so forth

I played a hundred plus games against random opponants with more than 100 completed 1x1 games and above 50% win percentages in 1x1 matches. Whenever I see someone with those basic stats I usually add them for the next 1x1 tournament. I remove people from the invite list if they get booted for excessive delays, but that's the only reason I remove people (once we have autobooting in tournaments I won't bother). It's not easy to quickly fill a 64 person tournament so I'm always happy to have more players on the list. I usually scan player profiles on big tournaments and add people in batches.

Unfortunately for a lot of players, they haven't played that much or haven't won the majority of their games. It's not fun for them to lose quickly and it's not much fun to crush a newbie, so I exclude them. Most tournaments now have 64 very strong players and at least half have a decent shot at making it to the final four.

3A6 - You've played 64 1x1 games and won 41%. You probably wouldn't have a chance against the top 1x1 players. I'd look at games on their profiles, look at starting picks and how they expand. Then practice in open 1x1 games with a filter too avoid beginners(strategic settings on full earth is very popular for tournaments and 1x1). Play 30-40 more times and get your win percentage up. Then you'll be able to hang in the tournaments.

I predict autoboot will cause a significant percentage of the top 40 players to dop in the rankings :)

Yeah, I know what you mean, my 1v1 is rising pretty fast, I started out and wasn't that good, I haven't been around that long. I bit off more than I could chew and lost a lot of games because of it. But like I said, my stats are rising pretty good

I' going to LOVE autoboot. no more listening to people bitch when I boot them after 5 days inactive.

I really only skimmed through those pages cause I've been in leagues for other games that work exactly the same. But they've been leagues from the start where stats were always at zero from the start. So, I'm curious will our wins and losses we've obtained before the ladder be reflected in our skill rating when we join the ladder? Or will only wins and losses we gain once joining the ladder and so forth be counted? Sorry if this was mentioned before. I hate reading walls of text ^_^

Points will be only counted in automatically-created ladder matches.

What you accomplish before the latter will not count. From my understanding, Ladder games will be separate from your regular list of games. For instance, if you just create a 1v1 game with another player who is also on the ladder, that game won't count towards the ladder. There will be a standard setting for which ladder games will use. I'm assuming it's going to be similar to the Strategic 1v1 settings but with a new card added to the standard set. It also will be on Medium Earth.

Plus, it wouldn't be fair because I have 1v1 games that go back 2 years. 2 years ago I was horrible and I don't want them to count and I want them to be of my current skill. Also, taking games from the past would mean it would take in those win's/loss's from other settings/maps which wouldn't be fair. I think the way that Randy has set up the standard settings will produce the most accurate results.

I hate the medium earth map -- I prefer the old strategic or the default 4 picks game.

The ladder should be a rotating 1x1 challenge with different maps/set-ups. Changing every month or two.

That would be a truer representation fo skill.

Hopefully I'll find myself a spot in some of these tourneys with y'all :) I'm REALLY excited for a 2v2 ladder though, is that coming too? I've always been more partial to team games than FFA's or 1v1s..