Guild Wars 2

Recently, I’ve been climbing Ruby tier and was close to Diamond. Went on a small win streak that gave me hope to break into the next tier this season. Welp, that’s when Solo Q matchmaking decided to pair me with more and more Diamonds. Then my teams ran me right into a brick wall. Losing streak ensued, and I’m now back to low-mid Ruby.

I was confused. I thought that the higher you got, the more skilled players there would be. Being in Diamond must mean you know simple things like rotations and having map awareness. Nope. It honestly felt like people were throwing the match. Close games turned into blowouts because players decided to 1 v 1 in the middle of maps, and my team decided to all jump in to do some 4 v 2, while the other team capped. Or like how both teams are tied at 470 on Temple, and the entire team decides the alter is more important than decapping an empty point. Oddly enough, the only game I won was when I was paired with a 4-man premade.

At this point, am I right to assume that Ruby tier players are more serious about PvP? It just seems like Rubies try harder because Diamond tier seems like an achievable goal. Some of the Diamonds I’ve been playing with just don’t care as much to the point where I think they lose on purpose.

Has anyone else felt a discrepancy between Ruby and Diamond Solo Q?

Well In season 1, I got to diamond easily and pretty quickly solo queueing, but after I got to diamond I couldn’t hardly win anymore, which apparently tanked my mmr to the point that I couldn’t win any more in the next season either. So yea in my case there is something up with diamond not sure what it is though but it’s hard or impossible to win once you get there or at least in my case anyways. (I think it’s because I’m a solo player and most of the enemy teams were organized premades)

So unless you’re lucky in Solo Q, or have a premade, Diamond tier represents the ceiling for a majority of Solo Q players?

Well, I can only speak for myself and I’d say yes, and from what I’ve been reading some people don’t even make it to diamond without a premade. All I can say is try until you don’t feel like trying anymore and see what happens, but having an organized premade does greatly raise your chances of winning especially in higher divisions.

it is the same for all divisions when you are almost about to graduate into the next division. why ?

if you are
amber, almost emerald, maybe some low tiers emerald may not try that hard to win
emerald, almost sapphire, some low tiers sapphires may not care much
sapphire, almost ruby, many low tier rubies may be happy in ruby and not try hard
ruby, almost diamond, even more low tier diamonds are contented in low diamond
diamond, almost legendary, i daresay most casual legends do not bother

well you get the idea right ?

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

it is the same for all divisions when you are almost about to graduate into the next division. why ?

if you are
amber, almost emerald, maybe some low tiers emerald may not try that hard to win
emerald, almost sapphire, some low tiers sapphires may not care much
sapphire, almost ruby, many low tier rubies may be happy in ruby and not try hard
ruby, almost diamond, even more low tier diamonds are contented in low diamond
diamond, almost legendary, i daresay most casual legends do not bother

well you get the idea right ?

I kinda don’t believe that, if they aren’t gonna bother trying why even play in ranked when unranked exists?
I do agree though that people stop trying whenever it’s obvious that they have absolutely no chance of winning a match & get tired of being slaughtered, but not just in certain tiers or whatever, but pretty much in every match in ranked and unranked.

Ellie.5913:

I kinda don’t believe that, if they aren’t gonna bother trying why even play in ranked when unranked exists?

For the achievements or because they enjoy playing ranked, or they wanna play with friends who want to play ranked.
It’s pretty obvious that, if your goal was to get to diamond, and you achieved it, you won’t tryhard in early diamond. Wether you win or lose, you already had what you came for.
And even if you want to climb to legendary, and you are early diamond, it’s the perfect spot to just play and chill before you re enter tryhard mode. You don’t have much to lose anyway.

Spoichiche.1290:

Ellie.5913:

I kinda don’t believe that, if they aren’t gonna bother trying why even play in ranked when unranked exists?

For the achievements or because they enjoy playing ranked, or they wanna play with friends who want to play ranked.
It’s pretty obvious that, if your goal was to get to diamond, and you achieved it, you won’t tryhard in early diamond. Wether you win or lose, you already had what you came for.
And even if you want to climb to legendary, and you are early diamond, it’s the perfect spot to just play and chill before you re enter tryhard mode. You don’t have much to lose anyway.

Well I see a lot of people in unranked who got their wings already and got tired of trying hard in ranked so it just seems everyone who doesn’t wanna try that hard anymore would just play in unranked since it’s more easy going there, and losing in ranked is gonna tank your mmr and give you worse teammates if you’re a solo player. ( but maybe these people presumingly not trying in ranked have a premade, in that case it would make sense, and just another reason why they should split premades from solo players)

The point is :
There are players who don’t bother tryharding anymore to get to a higher division that they are curently in, and still play ranked for the achievements or because they find the ranked matchmaking more enjoyable than the unranked one. And this kind of player are more likely to be in the first tiers of every division.

You also have players like me, who’d rather play casually up to mid division, and then enter tryhard mode to quickly get to the next division. (and really, couldn’t care less about tanking their mmr, they’ll just get it back while tryharding)

GW2 ranked is a progression system, not a skill system. While better players are more likely to progress farther, worse players can still grind higher.

What also happens with Diamond, Ruby, and Legendary is that the people who got there through grinding or just don’t care anymore conglomerate at the bottom of the tier since they can’t go any lower. That’s why you often have a better chance of a crossing a tier when paired with people in the lower tier (they’re near the top of that tier and usually trying to progress) than people in the next higher tier.

Have a theory here, so its a matter to see if time proves it out.

The starting tiers of any division will hold the players that are having the worst time of it for any reason. Be that they are placed higher than they should be for whatever reason that got them there. Since the safety points are in place that prevents people from falling back in division the starting tiers act as these basins for people to fall into. You get enough of them there and then its a matter of fighting your way thru them and then you seem to into better matches.

So in this case as you approached the top of one tier you are now encountering the bottom of another which has a higher odds of holding people that should have been allowed to fall lower but were caught. I think that’s where the MMR hell bits come into play as well for some people if they encountered one.

So to get away from those spots your play needs to be on point or better, or you need people to queue with, or you play the lottery of a solo queuer and adjust to your team makeup to compensate for match imbalances.

Again theory, but I wonder when people found themselves on teams that seemed off, was it in the same final tier/first/second tier of divisions. Personally its seemed that teams had better balance in those mid tier matches then around the edges between divisions.

@ TheGrimm.5624

Pretty much spot-on.

Ruby 2-3 here. The higher I get, the more laid-back attitude i get from my teammates. My opponents, however, do not do that, on the opposite, they become more hard to play against. No idea how that happens.

My goal this season was ruby (i would need legendary for reaching the wings this season and i know i won’t reach that except with a lot of stress and a lot of time) that’s why i started playing ranked just for fun and gaining a few achiefment points (winning with classes i haven’t so far) and get the wings easily next season – i mean free achiefment points, why shouldn’t i take them if i play pvp anyway

Smooth Penguin.5294:

I thought that the higher you got, the more skilled players there would be. Being in Diamond must mean you know simple things like rotations and having map awareness. Nope. It honestly felt like people were throwing the match.

The higher you get the more skilled players there would be in general yes. But that also means the opponent is more skilled.

Chances are you’re just not in sync with players in Diamond in terms of rotations and map awareness.

There’s lots of “rules” and “guidelines” that many lower-tier players follow that higher tier players don’t always abide by. Things like how/when to watch a node. Where to rotate and why. roadfighting etc.

To a lower-skilled player who isn’t used to this sort of play, it may look like throwing because you just don’t understand.

Reikou.7068:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

I thought that the higher you got, the more skilled players there would be. Being in Diamond must mean you know simple things like rotations and having map awareness. Nope. It honestly felt like people were throwing the match.

The higher you get the more skilled players there would be in general yes. But that also means the opponent is more skilled.

Chances are you’re just not in sync with players in Diamond in terms of rotations and map awareness.

There’s lots of “rules” and “guidelines” that many lower-tier players follow that higher tier players don’t always abide by. Things like how/when to watch a node. Where to rotate and why. roadfighting etc.

To a lower-skilled player who isn’t used to this sort of play, it may look like throwing because you just don’t understand.

Like engaging a guardian or necro on the way to a node to avoid their marks or traps being stronger (from a positional standpoint as their mere presence on a node means they get free decap progress) as you could work around them without effecting the point?