so im new to the mode, went on holiday for a few weeks around when it dropped but having 2 entire ranks where losses mean literally nothing seems like a strange choice. 1 rank? sure, but why 2? it just means I have to grind before I get to play games where the outcome actually matters.
I dont get it
edit: 3 hours later, I’m 12 and 3 and I’m contender 1. constant stream of +175, this is not engaging.
edit 2: first loss where I actually lose sr, I lost 25. after 15 games where I either gained 175 or lost nothing, I finally lost sr and its -25. what a joke of a system
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Probably a psychological trick to make people feel good about themselves.
My guess is that they want to ease the impact of defeats during the first dozen games, so that people don’t hate the game mode.
Not sure if this feature will persist in the future.
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apex used to do something similar (maybe still do idk I stopped playing a couple of years ago), the first rank was the same as stadium losses didnt result in a sr deduction but 2 ranks is just dumb.
I am currently 6 and 2 and novice 1. luckily the calibration seems to be working well enough but thats 8 games that didnt mean a thing. its just boring.
what makes it worse imo is that they chose not to use some of the 8 years of ranked data they have on me and place us accordingly. not asking to be placed the equivalent of masters but like, they know im at least half decent at the game
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To keep player engagement.
Especially since majority of players don’t care about rank anyway.
There is no upside into making Stadium have hardcore rank scoring system. They didn’t even have placements so no reason to make it a strict mode.
Stadium is just Total Mayhem with extra steps
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does it keep player engagement though? the casual player might find it engaging until they hit the point where the losses start meaning something. after that though?
I dont care about rank, I just want games that arent both meaningless and incredibly easy.
it has one though… just after the first 2 ranks.
they should have.
idk about that one man
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I wouldn’t know if it keeps player engagement. Haven’t followed the player numbers.
Ow 2 player numbers are up compared to last season.
I don’t care about rank. But there are people that do. And Stadium used a ranked scoring competitive system.
If you make losses more forgiving that is a player engagement/encouragement design to make losing more casual-friendly.
Tell me how are Stadium and Total Mayhem are that different in concept.
Your hero gets a godly amount of power which makes fights and team fights extend for way longer than a regular ow match.
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Because it’s a ranked ladder and not a competitive mode.
It’s completely normal for most games to do this.
It’s a way where you really don’t need a play queue and a competitive queue and everyone gets a little bit of the competitive experience and better matchmaking but then at high levels things like your actual rank start to matter. But early on it’s simple progression.
Best I can explain it is in the arena version of magic the gathering.
There is a ranked ladder.
Every rotation you are knocked down a couple ranks so you can climb again. Those early ranks where losses don’t count are where some people stay. Many people don’t even get knocked back down to them ever.
For instance when I play I’m a high mythic ranked player so it goes like this.
Say the end of the rotation I hit rank 100 or something and I’m in the mythic rank.
When it ends I’ll get knocked down two ranks with everyone else who was in mythic and we start the climb again and it’s general 1 win vs 1 lose equal up and down like a ladder. So I’ll start platinum then go up to diamond and then back into mythic.
Below platinum is gold also a 1:1 up down. Below that is bronze and silver and they do up 2 down 1, some do up 1 down none. It’s similar.
But then you are rewarded based on your rank at the end of the season. You play against people in your rank. When you make it to mythic you are actually playing for direct MMR your actual score is relative to who you are beating and who you are losing too. But because in reality competitive gaming does not matter until you hit this high level there is no reason to add the MMR stress and feels bad to any of the other ranks its basically only a negative.
With mtg I’ve hit as high as top 50 in the world when I queue up I never get anyone below like 1200 it’s kinda a sweat fest. Once every couple months it’s very rewarding to climb back up and it also keeps people from being gate kept out of it. It’s a much much better system than what they use for comp, but they still as a company do not truly understand competitive gaming. They can pretend and things like owl can make them millions but it’s still a very bad system in reality.
This kind gives more buy in, and less feels bad at the same time. It’s very good but a lot of people from fps gaming aren’t familiar with this more legacy form of ranking so it’s a little confusing.
It seems blizzard doesn’t really understand it either and it’s toying with the idea of a QP mode which kind of defeats the entire purpose.
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we dont have numbers for stadium.
this contradicts this
its not about more forgiving, its losses mean literally nothing.
you mean like other than the fact that its significantly longer, has build variety and is a completely different format?
a ranked ladder is a form of competitive mode.
so ive read the whole post, you seem to be missing the point. I know its a ladder, I get how ladders work my only issue is that its 2 entire ranks where nothing matters.
why is there 2 entire ranks where if I lose, nothing happens?
its a needless grind that only serves to make bad players frustrated when they win enough games to be out of the babysitting brackets and constantly pinned at contender 5. why do I have to grind for 3 hours before my losses mean something?
one rank? sure, let people get used to the mode, but 2 is just dumb.
if there’s a season 2 and it doesn’t start everyone at the literal bottom then it’ll probably be fine but im gonna be honest, I dont know if I want to put the hours in when I am effectively smurfing in the majority of the games.
edit: unrelated but
im pretty sure owl died because it wasn’t profitable
So you’re not punished for jumping into a wildly different game mode and trying to figure out the lay of the land. First 2 divisions are also where people can try to get their MVP title so they shouldn’t gain a loss for trying to get this achievement, especially if it means playing heroes they don’t normally play. Otherwise they take everyone else down with them.
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It probably does. Other games do the same exact thing in modes where rank really isn’t meant to be that serious. It’s more of a progression system for players than a truly accurate measure of skill.
Activision and Blizzard have their share of data when it comes to ranks and player engagement. It’s a data driven decision that is still very new. If it doesnt work out they can change it later
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