Blizzard aborde la refonte du ladder et des ligues sur StarCraft II
Comme ils l'ont fait régulièrement pendant la beta de Legacy of the Void, les développeurs de StarCraft II ont pris la parole sur les forums officiels pour parler de certains éléments qui font actuellement débat au sein de la communauté. Voici leur avis sur plusieurs sujets, du revamp du ladder aux différentes ligues, en passant par l'équilibrage.
Legacy of the Void is now live! Between the game’s release and our many discussion topics at BlizzCon, we have a wealth of things to talk about so let’s get to it!
Ladder Revamp league percentages
We talked about the high level goals, many specifics, and the general direction we’re currently thinking about for the ladder revamp next year. Although many things need to be worked out (especially from the implementations end) and the feature will not be ready any time soon, we wanted to begin discussions with you all as our internal conversations on this topic happen so that everyone can be looped as closely into the details of what we’re considering as we get started on this feature. We believe that we can achieve the best possible design by having everyone looped into even the detailed discussions from as early as possible.
For those of you who aren’t currently aware of the big picture, you should definitely check out the Ladder Revamp section of the Multiplayer panel to get up to speed before continuing forward, so that we’re on the same page. Like we stated in the panel, none of the things we discussed are 100% finalized, and we can definitely discuss/work through any of those topics as well. Please share your thoughts with us.
This week, we’d like to discuss percentages per league. Here are our goals and what we’re currently thinking at the moment:
Grand Master league
The goal here is to have only the “pro level” players in this league. By “pro level,” we don’t mean that only pros should be up there, but players who can be competitive at the pro level should be well represented by the GM league portrait border. We currently believe the 200 number is good for this league and don’t see the need to change this number with the ladder revamp. But we would still love to hear your thoughts, especially if you are often times seeing pro level players not being able to score top 200 on the ladder.
Master league
The goal here is to have the very best players represented. We want to be able to capture as many players in this bracket as possible without losing the value and the meaning of Master league.
What we mean by that is this:
We’ve explored percentages in the past on this side ranging from 2% to 8~9%. When the number got to 8~9%, we definitely agreed with your feedback in that it felt like “anyone” can get into Master league, and the meaning and value of being a Master was heavily diminished. On the other hand, when we had this number at 4~5%, it definitely felt like the very best players who are slightly outside of the pro level are in Master. When we had it at 2%, Master league felt similarly valuable. Another important thing to keep in mind is that at the top of the top and bottom of bottom of any ladder system, there’s the biggest skill gap, and we’d like Master League to really point out how much better that player is compared to an average Diamond level player.
Therefore, we’re currently thinking 3 or 4% would be the most optimal number here. This would keep Master league prestigious where the semi-pro level players are well represented on this end, and the skill gap at the top 4% is clearly much higher than an average Diamond.
Diamond/Platinum/Gold/Silver Leagues
As we mentioned at the panel, this is where majority of the players live. The skill gap is much smaller in these divisions compared to the top of the top, and the bottom of the bottom. The current thought is to evenly divide each league into subdivisions here, so that a player’s rank moving can be as accurately portrayed as possible. The issue we see with the current percentages is that because Gold is much bigger than any other league, it can be quite confusing in term of gauging how much better a player has gotten while moving up through our system.
Bronze League
Just like the top of the ladder, the bottom of the ladder skill gap is huge as well. Just as we want to make Master have clear meaning in terms of having the clear, meaningful differentiation with an average Diamond player, the same sort of idea applies to Bronze. Therefore, we want to match the size of Bronze with Master to correctly represent this wide skill gap.
Another option here is to mimic what some other games in that, because it feels bad to be in Bronze, we could just push everyone out of Bronze if they play enough. However, we don’t think this is correct for StarCraft 2. While other games definitely benefit from having a grind-based bottom like this, we believe this strongly goes against what StarCraft 2 is. Plus, we believe that if someone really worked at it by practicing the training mode, it will be possible to get out of Bronze by actually improving at the game. We believe this should be at the core of the StarCraft 2 ranked play experience, and the ladder system should allow players to know exactly how much he or she has gotten better as one progresses through the system.
In summary, it would look something like this:
GM top 200
Master 4%
Diamond 23%
Platinum 23%
Gold 23%
Silver 23%
Bronze 4%
We’d also like to ask you guys one question that we ask ourselves often. Instead of Grand Master and Master, would it be cooler to just call these leagues Pro and Semi pro? Our argument for this change would be that GM/Master don’t really have clear meaning in terms of what the fantasy of being one of the best players in the world in SC2, whereas Pro/Semi pro are the terms heavily used in StarCraft that definitely has crystal clear meaning and prestige. An argument against the change could be that we’ve been using GM/Master for so long that that’s just what players are used to, and there now exists a strong correlation between GM and pro-level. We don’t have a good answer yet and we definitely won’t change something that’s been this way for so long unless there are very strong reasons for it, but we wanted to hear your thoughts on this area as well.
LotV launch and balance
It’s still too early to talk about balance, but we did add a few more things to our list of things to watch out for internally based on both pro and community feedback. Let’s talk about issues as we see them come up in the coming weeks.
Summary
The end of HotS and the LotV launch went incredibly well - as many of you have also pointed out. We wanted to mention lots of things here, but just to name a few things:
- It was awesome for us to meet and interact with LotV beta streamers who have been so helpful throughout the beta such as: neuro, lowko, livibee, htomario, kaitlyn, winter, Rifkin, Zombiegrub, etc. We hope to see you guys again next year~
- $o$ vs. Life finals was so amazing, and these types of constant action + build order/strategic diversity per game to game is what we hope to happen in LotV as well.
- Congrats to TakeTV for running such a long and dedicated event!
- Thanks to many of you who jumped in to stream right from the launch of LotV! It was fun seeing so many different players, casters, personalities, and even the streamers of other games taking their play sessions online.
- We wish the best for Nada and his wife.
- Many of us on our team were looking at how many people are playing LotV, and we had a blast and it’s been so cool to see such high numbers even compared to other top-tier Blizzard games.
- Congratulations to everyone out there that worked so hard to make LotV so awesome. We truly believe the biggest win for StarCraft 2 was the heavily collaboration with everyone in the community.
Overall, there were just so many things that happened this past week between BlizzCon and the game launch that we can’t call out everything, but we wanted to say congratulations to everyone who worked towards having the best possible LotV before the release of the game. Let’s continue working together going forward as well! Thank you.
Ladder Revamp league percentages
We talked about the high level goals, many specifics, and the general direction we’re currently thinking about for the ladder revamp next year. Although many things need to be worked out (especially from the implementations end) and the feature will not be ready any time soon, we wanted to begin discussions with you all as our internal conversations on this topic happen so that everyone can be looped as closely into the details of what we’re considering as we get started on this feature. We believe that we can achieve the best possible design by having everyone looped into even the detailed discussions from as early as possible.
For those of you who aren’t currently aware of the big picture, you should definitely check out the Ladder Revamp section of the Multiplayer panel to get up to speed before continuing forward, so that we’re on the same page. Like we stated in the panel, none of the things we discussed are 100% finalized, and we can definitely discuss/work through any of those topics as well. Please share your thoughts with us.
This week, we’d like to discuss percentages per league. Here are our goals and what we’re currently thinking at the moment:
Grand Master league
The goal here is to have only the “pro level” players in this league. By “pro level,” we don’t mean that only pros should be up there, but players who can be competitive at the pro level should be well represented by the GM league portrait border. We currently believe the 200 number is good for this league and don’t see the need to change this number with the ladder revamp. But we would still love to hear your thoughts, especially if you are often times seeing pro level players not being able to score top 200 on the ladder.
Master league
The goal here is to have the very best players represented. We want to be able to capture as many players in this bracket as possible without losing the value and the meaning of Master league.
What we mean by that is this:
We’ve explored percentages in the past on this side ranging from 2% to 8~9%. When the number got to 8~9%, we definitely agreed with your feedback in that it felt like “anyone” can get into Master league, and the meaning and value of being a Master was heavily diminished. On the other hand, when we had this number at 4~5%, it definitely felt like the very best players who are slightly outside of the pro level are in Master. When we had it at 2%, Master league felt similarly valuable. Another important thing to keep in mind is that at the top of the top and bottom of bottom of any ladder system, there’s the biggest skill gap, and we’d like Master League to really point out how much better that player is compared to an average Diamond level player.
Therefore, we’re currently thinking 3 or 4% would be the most optimal number here. This would keep Master league prestigious where the semi-pro level players are well represented on this end, and the skill gap at the top 4% is clearly much higher than an average Diamond.
Diamond/Platinum/Gold/Silver Leagues
As we mentioned at the panel, this is where majority of the players live. The skill gap is much smaller in these divisions compared to the top of the top, and the bottom of the bottom. The current thought is to evenly divide each league into subdivisions here, so that a player’s rank moving can be as accurately portrayed as possible. The issue we see with the current percentages is that because Gold is much bigger than any other league, it can be quite confusing in term of gauging how much better a player has gotten while moving up through our system.
Bronze League
Just like the top of the ladder, the bottom of the ladder skill gap is huge as well. Just as we want to make Master have clear meaning in terms of having the clear, meaningful differentiation with an average Diamond player, the same sort of idea applies to Bronze. Therefore, we want to match the size of Bronze with Master to correctly represent this wide skill gap.
Another option here is to mimic what some other games in that, because it feels bad to be in Bronze, we could just push everyone out of Bronze if they play enough. However, we don’t think this is correct for StarCraft 2. While other games definitely benefit from having a grind-based bottom like this, we believe this strongly goes against what StarCraft 2 is. Plus, we believe that if someone really worked at it by practicing the training mode, it will be possible to get out of Bronze by actually improving at the game. We believe this should be at the core of the StarCraft 2 ranked play experience, and the ladder system should allow players to know exactly how much he or she has gotten better as one progresses through the system.
In summary, it would look something like this:
GM top 200
Master 4%
Diamond 23%
Platinum 23%
Gold 23%
Silver 23%
Bronze 4%
We’d also like to ask you guys one question that we ask ourselves often. Instead of Grand Master and Master, would it be cooler to just call these leagues Pro and Semi pro? Our argument for this change would be that GM/Master don’t really have clear meaning in terms of what the fantasy of being one of the best players in the world in SC2, whereas Pro/Semi pro are the terms heavily used in StarCraft that definitely has crystal clear meaning and prestige. An argument against the change could be that we’ve been using GM/Master for so long that that’s just what players are used to, and there now exists a strong correlation between GM and pro-level. We don’t have a good answer yet and we definitely won’t change something that’s been this way for so long unless there are very strong reasons for it, but we wanted to hear your thoughts on this area as well.
LotV launch and balance
It’s still too early to talk about balance, but we did add a few more things to our list of things to watch out for internally based on both pro and community feedback. Let’s talk about issues as we see them come up in the coming weeks.
Summary
The end of HotS and the LotV launch went incredibly well - as many of you have also pointed out. We wanted to mention lots of things here, but just to name a few things:
- It was awesome for us to meet and interact with LotV beta streamers who have been so helpful throughout the beta such as: neuro, lowko, livibee, htomario, kaitlyn, winter, Rifkin, Zombiegrub, etc. We hope to see you guys again next year~
- $o$ vs. Life finals was so amazing, and these types of constant action + build order/strategic diversity per game to game is what we hope to happen in LotV as well.
- Congrats to TakeTV for running such a long and dedicated event!
- Thanks to many of you who jumped in to stream right from the launch of LotV! It was fun seeing so many different players, casters, personalities, and even the streamers of other games taking their play sessions online.
- We wish the best for Nada and his wife.
- Many of us on our team were looking at how many people are playing LotV, and we had a blast and it’s been so cool to see such high numbers even compared to other top-tier Blizzard games.
- Congratulations to everyone out there that worked so hard to make LotV so awesome. We truly believe the biggest win for StarCraft 2 was the heavily collaboration with everyone in the community.
Overall, there were just so many things that happened this past week between BlizzCon and the game launch that we can’t call out everything, but we wanted to say congratulations to everyone who worked towards having the best possible LotV before the release of the game. Let’s continue working together going forward as well! Thank you.
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