Just rejoined the ladder last week. First two games were against fellow unranked players and were victories. In the next 5 games I am given a long-inactive account, the #8, the #6 and #3 ranked players.

Did the ladder matching system change dramatically? Last time I joined the ladder I never came close to seeing such competition.

When you first join or rejoin, it doesn't assume that you are at any particular level of skill, so you get matched all over the place. In the 15(?) games you need to get ranked, you start out against some of the best and some of the worst, then it narrows down as you get closer to your total needed games for a rank.

Once you are ranked, you don't get matched outside of the built in range.

It's an attempt at allowing people to start at or near their actual skill level, rather than having to fight their way up. The best player ever shouldn't have to win 40 matches in a row against low ranked people just to play against higher ranked, for example.

Duke, thanks for the the input... makes sense that you should face a wide range of players. I just didn't experience that with my first entrance so I was surprised.

I would imagine your play in the first couple games still has an impact on who you get to play even in the unranked stages. I likely didn't fare as well in my first two games last go round to justify getting the top competitors. Still surprises me a bit though as it must get old for the top ladder players to constantly be handed such fodder instead of challenging matches.

Well, when I joined the ladder, I first beat a fellow unranked player and was then paired against HeyHeuHei...
I've seen many players get similar games, so it's not uncommon.


The way I gathered it works, is that if you win your first 2 games or so, your (virtual) rating can get real high, so naturally you get paired against the better players.
After a few games, your rank will closer approach your real skill, and you'll get opponents closer to your level.

I think that there is a built in rule that your first game must be against someone else who doesn't have a rating, which frequently results in playing poorer opponents. That explains why some people will go several days before having their first match.

After that, then yeah, you get released to the public, and frequently have a higher rating than you might get naturally, since the system can't tell how skillful you are, having only gotten results against unranked people. The more games you play, the less your rating moves around, and then once you get a ranking, you use your ranking to decide which players you can play against.

I feel that I heard it was something like 30 ranks of your position, so ranked 30 you can play up to #1 and down to #60. Ranked at 120, you play up to 90. I'm not sure if that is the current spread, or if that was an older one, which has since been replaced.

Just out of curiosity, what rating are you given to begin with, when first joining?

It appears to baseline at 1700. After your first game (two players without ratings), one gets a 1600ish rating, and the other gets like 1750.

baseline is 1500

http://wiki.warlight.net/index.php/Ladder_Ranks_and_Ratings#Run_your_own_Ladder_Simulations


here it shows you how to run your own ladder simulations...
one of the things it includes is a notepad showing the current ladder input.

note in the last section of this it says "offset 1500" base ELO is 0, in order to try to prevent there from being negative numbers shown, all players are effectively 'given' 1500 pts.

The trolling has continued... facing 5 of the top 10 inside my first 12 games. Lowest score I have faced after my opening two wins is 1670. Needless to say I haven't won any.

Ironic since one of the two I beat now has a higher score than me despite playing far lesser opponents. Don't get me wrong, I realize it will balance out, just amuses me that I appear to be being trolled by the ladder.

Same here.

Hate to break it to you Blue but you were the opponent I was referencing. You have the higher score despite my beating you and you playing far inferior opposition.

It's most likely because those are quick players. If the ladder gets a chance, it'll pair them with someone they haven't played before and there won't be many who haven't played HHH and Rubik.

That makes sense. I was paired with both of them.