I have been contacted a lot, both by mean trolls (I know, I suck) and kind souls and also by people who understand the system is defective and punishing to solo que players. So I will address what you have stated above madvisions in your effort to not be unkind.
I took the advice of many and made a free alt char on a HoT account and immediately went into spvp. In one day, I am in sapphire, caught on the winning side tide. How is this possible? How can I be a sapphire player on one account in one day on an alt char playing the same exact build as I did on day one with my main. What’s the difference? How is this possible? Did my skill really improve dramatically in 6 days (despite the fact that I purportedly suck on my other character after nearly 3 years of pvping on it). The only difference I see is the playing field.
I would point out to every naysayer out there, the system is flawed and abusively punishing – not against skilled/non-skilled players but against losing players.
I would like to remind everyone you can lose for any reason, sometimes your fault, but sometimes totally beyond your control (lag, dc, etc) and sometimes the fault of your teammates who might be close to you in rank when first joined for whatever reason (such as they don’t play much or they advanced in seas 1 for unscrupulous reasons or whatever), but whom are unskilled or simply pvp inexperienced as to strategy, hidey holes (to avoid fire), rez skills, etc. etc. Sometimes these people think being the high scorer makes them skilled at pvp, and you can never convince them otherwise.
Believe me, as it should be patently obvious to everyone by now, I scrutinize my own play pretty harshly. If I have screwed up, I am the first to admit it and attempt to correct it. I play because I like strong competition. It is the best part of the game.
However, I would like to remind people of a few facts:
1) I play a lot. Yes a lot. I mean really a lot.
2) On day 1 I played a lot. On day 1 there were numerous factors present that day, all day, that are not so prevalent in spvp currently (and for that matter, since the day after until currently). For example – there were many people playing that day who still thought it was a good idea to lose a bunch of games since they thought, since they hadn’t bothered to read patch notes or forums, that it was still a good idea for them to not play as much as would normally be expected in a true competition, like as in afk or faux type play which was somewhat prevalent in seas 1.
Another example – many people solo qued that first day, including myself, and we were often matched in teams consisting of all other solo players or some duos, many of whom, while presumably good or average players, may not have been playing meta builds or may have been weaker classes (mes, war, etc) and all of whom were definitely not on ts. Unfortunately these random solo teams were inexplicably pitted against 4 man pre-made teams from the pro-leagues with set/gimmicky op builds, ts, rerolls and stomp tactics. Many of these games ended in 500 to 20 losses etc.
Because I played a lot that day, I encountered it a lot that day. What is to be done in that situation? What should I have done differently against a premade team on ts w/ coordinated builds? Especially when most of us were surprised that was being allowed. Were these pro players better? I honestly cannot say – presumably because we got trounced I would assume so. But honestly, how would I know for sure? It was hardly fair. We were hardly on a level playing field. No, not because of skill (though I presume they are all better), but because we were not coordinated. We were not on ts. We did not have set builds with set strategic coordinated pounce tactics. So consequently, as much as I would like to listen to the elite pvpers, it was off of my back that they breezed thru the first day of pvp and rose in ranks quickly.
By contrast, in addition to being matched w/ potentially less skilled players, the fact that many of us got trounced that day by pros, which was intended because seas 2 was designed to push the pros to the top quickly and reduce their wait times for matches and to quickly get a little bigger pool of potential players for them in diamond or up, it was done at my expense, and the expense of others like me. My mmr was driven into the ground, and rapidly. Was it my fault? Am I a bad player? I don’t even know anymore. I thought I was good. Now I am at the bottom because my mmr was tanked at the end of day one.
3) Once your mmr slips below a magic number (presumably 49% win/loss which is probably a losing streak of about 20 games give or take) the coding mechanisms kick in. The fallacy here is that the software coding actually takes into account certain variables to determine your individual skill. But that is not the case. The only thing it takes into account is win/lose. You’re either a winner or a loser. If a loser, and loser enough (for whatever reason) you will get stuck. If a winner, you will win, until finally you plateau, and you begin to lose, and then you are a loser, and then you get stuck. The sad fact is, many people who were eager to play the first day, who played a lot, were subjected to play that is not present in the matchups today. The pros are already out of there. And they are out of there because of me and others like me. Their wins are represented by my losses. These are pros on coordinated teams with ts. Why didn’t someone warn me not to press the hotjoin/solo q button that first day? Why didn’t someone warn me that if I did that, the one game I love, and the one activity I loved the best in the game, would be ruined for me forever.
4) Once you have lost enough games, you will keep getting matched with poorer and poorer players. Since I did a tremendous amount of playing that first day, I kept encountering numerous variables that had nothing to do with my skill. Try as I might, and play as hard as I might, I couldn’t convince people to not go afk, I couldn’t control lag, I couldn’t beg pro leagues to not stomp us. Is it my fault? Everyone keeps telling me it is. I get it, I suck. In any event, I made it to emerald, but couldn’t make it past that because of an unfortunate losing streak. Now, because the deck is stacked against me, since the coding intends for me to lose 66% of the time, and since I am paired with poor or new players, I am forced to play in a continuous loop of losses with a couple of spikes of wins.
5) One person, no matter how skilled, cannot carry a whole team. One person, no matter how skilled, cannot coordinate with random people to effectuate strategy, especially if against legendaries on ts.
6) Contrary to what so many people assert and believe, your mmr is not calculated based on your skill. It is only based, for you, on your wins/losses experienced by your entire team. Does it mean if you lost a game, or a whole series of games, that you lost because of you? Possibly. Does it always mean that? Possibly. However, equally possible is the fact that you yourself experienced a loss which might have been due to player #3 one game, player #4 the next game, pro elite opposition next game, afker next game, lag or dc next game, your fault next game, close game/good game next game which you lose, player #2’s fault next game, etc. You get the point. Its your win/loss ratio that is being evaluated and only that. It is not your personal skill, kitten many people have suggested and insist (presumably because they are still riding the win wave).
7) Teams in sapphire or ruby do not want to “carry” me to a win to raise my mmr. They do not want to jeopardize their mmr or have a loss. Perhaps there is a kind pro team of 4 willing to do this for me, especially since they blitzed thru day 1 lower tiers off of my back (and the backs of my teammates). Most of my teammates have quit. I am still hanging in, tho I am feeling very demoralized and sad that I have lost a game and activity I love, and if these elite players are so confident and happy with their skills and play, I would really appreciate it if they would step up to the plate and offer to help me out. What could it hurt them? They have already gotten where they want to be because of people like me. Where is their conscience? Where is their benevolence?
So that is why I think my experience may have been different from many others. I know that quite a few hardcore players that were playing that first day quit the game in disgust. I watched some guy in Lions Arch giving all of his stuff away. I will probably go out the same way, though people are telling me to hang in, to play on my alt, and to wait it out until seas 3, when hopefully I wont continue to be penalized for what has happened. As it now stands, I will never claw my way out of emerald 1st tier, earned that first day and on which I suffered my losing streak which brought me below 49%. I have since played the same meta reaper/meta rev/dh builds for 6 days straight for 10 hrs or more a day, and without help, it cannot be done. Am I that poor a player? Is anyone this bad a player? I am currently probably at around 200 games lost and about 20 wins (about a 10% win rate, which appears to be pretty equivalent to most of those in the “loss” cycle.) My alt would suggest otherwise. My experiences thus far with playing with others would suggest not (many I have played with or against have been quite supportive of my skill and have told me I am a good player, and I have not solicited their input).
So decide for yourself whatever you want to think, just as I am grappling with my decision whether to quit gw after 14 yrs or not. In the meantime, I welcome any top tier players to help me out. You just might find out, I am really not that bad. Or perhaps I will find I am. Either way, I don’t see it as a risk to anyone, just a small investiture of some time and some kindness.
at least not as fast.