It's been broken, too. But yeah, I've been saying this whole time that Blizzard has no idea how they want to do Ranked. No matter what they do, the community hates it :P
The ranked limits for your party are at least an attempt to keep people from complaining about the system.
Only other thing that makes this an "improvement" over 2015 ranked is I imagine a lot of players who are trying to climb in ranks have left or realize they don't play enough games to actually climb, regardless of skill level.
PSN SeGaTai
0
The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
I don't mean this to be as ad hominem as it sounds, but I genuinely think you should think twice about responding to the concerns of people who's complaint is "your system doesn't work for me because I have no friends"
I wouldn't have minded the HL changes if TL wasn't so restrictive (back then). All along it should've been 'solo queue (HL)' and 'any size you want queue (TL)'. The reddit mob would've been appeased and I could still play with my friends no matter how big our group was for any given play session.
The results probably would've been what we're seeing now, though - HL being a ghost town while everyone played TL since the reddit echo chamber is the minority voice.
I wouldn't have minded the HL changes if TL wasn't so restrictive (back then). All along it should've been 'solo queue (HL)' and 'any size you want queue (TL)'. The reddit mob would've been appeased and I could still play with my friends no matter how big our group was for any given play session.
The results probably would've been what we're seeing now, though - HL being a ghost town while everyone played TL since the reddit echo chamber is the minority voice.
I'm 95% sure they've done that implementation and it also has complaints. In fact... isn't that basically what they have now?
I wouldn't have minded the HL changes if TL wasn't so restrictive (back then). All along it should've been 'solo queue (HL)' and 'any size you want queue (TL)'. The reddit mob would've been appeased and I could still play with my friends no matter how big our group was for any given play session.
The results probably would've been what we're seeing now, though - HL being a ghost town while everyone played TL since the reddit echo chamber is the minority voice.
I'm 95% sure they've done that implementation and it also has complaints. In fact... isn't that basically what they have now?
It is literally what we have now. HL is a ghost town and TL is full of boosters/smurfs.
I wouldn't have minded the HL changes if TL wasn't so restrictive (back then). All along it should've been 'solo queue (HL)' and 'any size you want queue (TL)'. The reddit mob would've been appeased and I could still play with my friends no matter how big our group was for any given play session.
The results probably would've been what we're seeing now, though - HL being a ghost town while everyone played TL since the reddit echo chamber is the minority voice.
I'm 95% sure they've done that implementation and it also has complaints. In fact... isn't that basically what they have now?
Yep. I mean, everything they've tried has had problems, I personally was just upset that it created a barrier to play ranked with my friends.
HL was super lame because it was all people exploiting 2 player mmr groupings.
The system was broken when they changed it, just because they’re trying the same framework again mostly to unify the queues in a game with less players doesn’t mean that the idea was bad in the first place.
The only time ranked was ever good was the window after the solo only changes to when they broke mmr that one season after 2.0 came out (which I do think was devastating to the game).
you used to be able to queue for ranked with a group of any size, right. then people complained it was too unfair going up against 3/4/5-stacks (despite the fact that, yknow, they too could queue into 3/4-stacks on their own team....) so blizz was like yeah okay fine fine and they cut HL down to duos and introduced TL as full 5-stacks.
but no one played TL cause that was insane so they opened it up to 2/3/5 and cut HL down to solo. no one played TL still cause it was a bit of work still trying to get that many people in so they opened up TL to any size queues incl solo. so now EVERYONE started playing TL and no one played HL because literally why bother with HL when you can solo queue for TL??
BUT NOW HL/TL are a fucking mess and the small ranked population has been split between these two queues so they need a solution, right. so, they're going to fucking merge HL/TL together and just have a single individual Ranked queue, where people can queue up solo or in a party of any size--
BUT WAIT
THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR???
Initial implementation for Hero League, the first Ranked Play mode in Heroes of the Storm, has been added to the game!
With Hero League, players will be able to queue up alone, or in a party of any size, for ranked, competitive matches against others of similar skill and party size.
this little snippet is all the way back from fucking January 13, 2015
twenty fifteen, y'all
we've come full fucking circle in fixing something that was never broken to begin with ALL BECAUSE BLIZZ LISTENED TO THE REDDIT COMPLAINERS
holy fuckin' shit that really steams my goddamn hams
how long before we start seeing "weeeeeeh it's unfair queuing into 3/4/5 stacks blozzarddddd WEEEHHHH"
Yes, but you just realized this now? :P
Officially the unluckiest CCG player ever.
+1
The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
you used to be able to queue for ranked with a group of any size, right. then people complained it was too unfair going up against 3/4/5-stacks (despite the fact that, yknow, they too could queue into 3/4-stacks on their own team....) so blizz was like yeah okay fine fine and they cut HL down to duos and introduced TL as full 5-stacks.
but no one played TL cause that was insane so they opened it up to 2/3/5 and cut HL down to solo. no one played TL still cause it was a bit of work still trying to get that many people in so they opened up TL to any size queues incl solo. so now EVERYONE started playing TL and no one played HL because literally why bother with HL when you can solo queue for TL??
BUT NOW HL/TL are a fucking mess and the small ranked population has been split between these two queues so they need a solution, right. so, they're going to fucking merge HL/TL together and just have a single individual Ranked queue, where people can queue up solo or in a party of any size--
BUT WAIT
THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR???
Initial implementation for Hero League, the first Ranked Play mode in Heroes of the Storm, has been added to the game!
With Hero League, players will be able to queue up alone, or in a party of any size, for ranked, competitive matches against others of similar skill and party size.
this little snippet is all the way back from fucking January 13, 2015
twenty fifteen, y'all
we've come full fucking circle in fixing something that was never broken to begin with ALL BECAUSE BLIZZ LISTENED TO THE REDDIT COMPLAINERS
holy fuckin' shit that really steams my goddamn hams
how long before we start seeing "weeeeeeh it's unfair queuing into 3/4/5 stacks blozzarddddd WEEEHHHH"
Yes, but you just realized this now? :P
yeah wasn't this plan announced like six-eight months ago?
The only thing I'm curious about is once HL/TL is merged back into "Ranked" (or just Hero League or whatever they're going to call it), will the end of season rewards still give out a free mount like TL does today? Or will it require some sort of rank floor like HL?
you used to be able to queue for ranked with a group of any size, right. then people complained it was too unfair going up against 3/4/5-stacks (despite the fact that, yknow, they too could queue into 3/4-stacks on their own team....) so blizz was like yeah okay fine fine and they cut HL down to duos and introduced TL as full 5-stacks.
but no one played TL cause that was insane so they opened it up to 2/3/5 and cut HL down to solo. no one played TL still cause it was a bit of work still trying to get that many people in so they opened up TL to any size queues incl solo. so now EVERYONE started playing TL and no one played HL because literally why bother with HL when you can solo queue for TL??
BUT NOW HL/TL are a fucking mess and the small ranked population has been split between these two queues so they need a solution, right. so, they're going to fucking merge HL/TL together and just have a single individual Ranked queue, where people can queue up solo or in a party of any size--
BUT WAIT
THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR???
Initial implementation for Hero League, the first Ranked Play mode in Heroes of the Storm, has been added to the game!
With Hero League, players will be able to queue up alone, or in a party of any size, for ranked, competitive matches against others of similar skill and party size.
this little snippet is all the way back from fucking January 13, 2015
twenty fifteen, y'all
we've come full fucking circle in fixing something that was never broken to begin with ALL BECAUSE BLIZZ LISTENED TO THE REDDIT COMPLAINERS
holy fuckin' shit that really steams my goddamn hams
how long before we start seeing "weeeeeeh it's unfair queuing into 3/4/5 stacks blozzarddddd WEEEHHHH"
you used to be able to queue for ranked with a group of any size, right. then people complained it was too unfair going up against 3/4/5-stacks (despite the fact that, yknow, they too could queue into 3/4-stacks on their own team....) so blizz was like yeah okay fine fine and they cut HL down to duos and introduced TL as full 5-stacks.
but no one played TL cause that was insane so they opened it up to 2/3/5 and cut HL down to solo. no one played TL still cause it was a bit of work still trying to get that many people in so they opened up TL to any size queues incl solo. so now EVERYONE started playing TL and no one played HL because literally why bother with HL when you can solo queue for TL??
BUT NOW HL/TL are a fucking mess and the small ranked population has been split between these two queues so they need a solution, right. so, they're going to fucking merge HL/TL together and just have a single individual Ranked queue, where people can queue up solo or in a party of any size--
BUT WAIT
THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR???
Initial implementation for Hero League, the first Ranked Play mode in Heroes of the Storm, has been added to the game!
With Hero League, players will be able to queue up alone, or in a party of any size, for ranked, competitive matches against others of similar skill and party size.
this little snippet is all the way back from fucking January 13, 2015
twenty fifteen, y'all
we've come full fucking circle in fixing something that was never broken to begin with ALL BECAUSE BLIZZ LISTENED TO THE REDDIT COMPLAINERS
holy fuckin' shit that really steams my goddamn hams
how long before we start seeing "weeeeeeh it's unfair queuing into 3/4/5 stacks blozzarddddd WEEEHHHH"
Yes, but you just realized this now? :P
yeah wasn't this plan announced like six-eight months ago?
i didn't really think about it much at the time because i never play HL/TL and i forgot that HL used to be any sized groups
I think this "solo players keep losing to premades" problem is truly unsolvable no matter how hard you try. One big issue is that not all premades are alike. You've got your super competitive premades that coordinate heavily on Discord, and you've got your casual premades that don't really play any better than if they were solo. So MMR adjustments are always unfair to somebody. Plus many premades have wild variance in the skill of their players which messes up the algorithm. It just can't be done, you have to live with that uncertainty in an online team game.
+6
Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
The fundamental issue has always been how Blizzard approaches MMR and matchmaking.
They kept trying to do this thing where they wanted to make a competitive game mode something that casuals would play. While a laudable goal, without a functional plan in place this is what you get.
There should have always been a 50-game minimum per season for ranked modes. HL and TL should never have been split in the first place - everyone should be in the same queue. MMR decay should have always existed. There should have been a progression system that was separated from MMR entirely, based on # of games/wins. A separate board for MMR should have been used for players Diamond and above, and players could only get into Diamond with a minimum win rate, and MMR decay should be accelerated. MMR should have had a hard cap transfer threshold if they wanted to carry it over from other game modes. Your personal MMR should have always been visible to yourself. QM should always have been YOLO mode.
The fundamental error Blizzard engaged in was thinking that somehow if they made the game rewarding enough for casuals then they would migrate over and play the game more competitively. Instead, all Blizzard ended up doing was alienating a completely different population that they could've attracted while enabling people who don't want to play ranked in the first place.
You only want to play 10 games to place into Diamond and get your ranked reward? Fuck you the reward isn't for you then. You hate seeing Gold because obviously you are GM? Prove it or go play QM, otherwise here's a nice progression system where you only have to play and win games over time. You hate that people in a team-based cooperative game have an advantage when they group together? Fuck you find people to play with or accept your handicap in what is meant to be a competitive mode (P.S. - it's not that big of a handicap get over yourself you just suck). (The irony here is that it was pros who complained the most about duo queue, Blizzard knew that it wasn't a big deal, and yet to make them happy they destroyed TL instead of going for the obvious solution of combining queues.)
Why spend months making PBMMR instead of just implementing MMR transfer caps and decay? Just make people play more. If they don't want to play more then your game isn't fun. Shit like this permeates the HotS decision-making process and it's incredibly frustrating. They kept trying to shove this square peg into a round hole.
I think this "solo players keep losing to premades" problem is truly unsolvable no matter how hard you try. One big issue is that not all premades are alike. You've got your super competitive premades that coordinate heavily on Discord, and you've got your casual premades that don't really play any better than if they were solo. So MMR adjustments are always unfair to somebody. Plus many premades have wild variance in the skill of their players which messes up the algorithm. It just can't be done, you have to live with that uncertainty in an online team game.
Sometimes those are even the same premades depending on how serious they're feeling that night. Our PA NGS team (Arrogant Nephalem) has practice nights where we play the heroes we're good at and work on actual strategies and nights where we're just goofing off and we let traib go gazlo and kime go murky. (Just kidding, we never let Kime have fun).
I think this "solo players keep losing to premades" problem is truly unsolvable no matter how hard you try. One big issue is that not all premades are alike. You've got your super competitive premades that coordinate heavily on Discord, and you've got your casual premades that don't really play any better than if they were solo. So MMR adjustments are always unfair to somebody. Plus many premades have wild variance in the skill of their players which messes up the algorithm. It just can't be done, you have to live with that uncertainty in an online team game.
Sometimes those are even the same premades depending on how serious they're feeling that night. Our PA NGS team (Arrogant Nephalem) has practice nights where we play the heroes we're good at and work on actual strategies and nights where we're just goofing off and we let traib go gazlo and kime go murky. (Just kidding, we never let Kime have fun).
I resent the suggestion that the games where we have traib on gazlowe aren't serious. In fact based on his winrate I think they're the most serious games I play with you guys.
Bnet: CavilatRest#1874
Steam: CavilatRest
+7
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
"Oh it's not like traib on gazlowe is serious"
Just a sly 68% winrate, that's all.
That's not big, right?
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
+3
Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
On a whim I did a quick Google search, and the first time I mentioned the slippery slope of QM matchmaker rules was January of 2016...
"...they have clearly started going down it, and they need to be careful because these things have a tendency to snowball."
Man... Imagine how rough it’s going to be for me logging back on, I’m pretty sure Hanso I wasn’t there for, blaze, Alexandra or something. The female dragon healer... How much the game has changed... Does everyone play still or do we just sit there and hack at general steam games/anthem/overwatch/apex heroes nowadays?
I’m serious, do I order from a more local company like memory express or do I self build from newegg or something? Suggestions please so I can pull the trigger on a whim.
Warning: I have installed a cpu before, I know just enough to be dangerous, not enough to be wise. If left alone I will smear thermal puddy paste all over.
"King of Feed Mountain"
0
Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
I generally recommend just buying a prebuilt nowadays, but if you're hell-bent on making your own then @finnith is likely the only Canuck who can help you out here. =P
I generally recommend just buying a prebuilt nowadays, but if you're hell-bent on making your own then @finnith is likely the only Canuck who can help you out here. =P
Man... Imagine how rough it’s going to be for me logging back on, I’m pretty sure Hanso I wasn’t there for, blaze, Alexandra or something. The female dragon healer... How much the game has changed... Does everyone play still or do we just sit there and hack at general steam games/anthem/overwatch/apex heroes nowadays?
i still play! lotsa people here still play i think.
also you should try Hanzo, he's kinda like better Valla esp if you go the AA build
Man... Imagine how rough it’s going to be for me logging back on, I’m pretty sure Hanso I wasn’t there for, blaze, Alexandra or something. The female dragon healer... How much the game has changed... Does everyone play still or do we just sit there and hack at general steam games/anthem/overwatch/apex heroes nowadays?
I’m serious, do I order from a more local company like memory express or do I self build from newegg or something? Suggestions please so I can pull the trigger on a whim.
Warning: I have installed a cpu before, I know just enough to be dangerous, not enough to be wise. If left alone I will smear thermal puddy paste all over.
I ordered my parts from Amazon, Memory Express, and Canada Computers. Newegg.ca is also ok. I decided to build my own computer cause I had friends with experience that were able to help me. All I did was watch a few videos so that I wasn't completely useless.
As for prebuilts, I know Newegg, Memory Express and Canada Computers all offer them, and I think Memory Express and Canada Computers let you configure them (the store will then build it based on the specified parts), so maybe that's more your thing.
Bnet: CavilatRest#1874
Steam: CavilatRest
0
Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
I would strongly recommend against Newegg, but maybe that's just for the ones in the U.S.
I generally recommend just buying a prebuilt nowadays, but if you're hell-bent on making your own then @finnith is likely the only Canuck who can help you out here. =P
Where the hell do you buy prebuilts? Bestbuy?
I dunno, I bought mine online from Dell. Are there any online vendors who ship to Canada? Are there stores like Costco around? They generally have good prebuilts as well, with better prices and warranties.
I haven't had any trouble with newegg aside from their return policy not being as good as Amazons, but that only bit me because I messed up and ordered the wrong part once. The people in the aforementioned thread can give you some more in depth details, but the following PC building tips spring to mind if you do opt to build it yourself for the sake of having the satisfaction that you did it yourself.
1: Keep yourself grounded when touching your parts. It's probably worth spending the $5 to get one of those anti-static wristbands that grounds you to the metal of your case.
2: Do not use a magnetic screwdriver.
3: When buying your components, triple check that everything is compatible with each other.
4: Do not skimp on your power supply. Get a name brand, get a good efficiency rating, and get a bit more juice than you need. The modular ones are nice for keeping the interior clutter down so long as you don't misplace the cables in the attic.
5: When buying a CPU fan/heatsink, double check its dimensions to make certain that it will actually fit inside the case. Many of the highest rated heatsinks are XBAWKS HUGE and struggle to fit within a full tower case and will not fit whatsoever within a midtower case. If size is a problem, there are some self contained liquid cooling systems that are pretty easy to install. Also, many heatsinks/waterblocks these days come prepackaged with a waxy compound on them that melts to the processor to fulfill the same role as thermal paste. Generally that works good enough and it removes the threat of overapplying thermal paste. The super-serious guys who try to overclock every ounce of performance out of their machines scrape that stuff off though and stick with the paste, but it sounds like that might be good for you if you don't trust yourself with paste.
6: Get a solidstate drive for your operating system at the very least. Ideally get one big enough to put a few games on it too. This is a luxury thing but it's civilization and if you're speccing out a new machine then it's in your best interest to try to work an SSD into the system for those sweet sweet load times. You can still include a huge HDD for media storage.
I generally recommend just buying a prebuilt nowadays, but if you're hell-bent on making your own then @finnith is likely the only Canuck who can help you out here. =P
Where the hell do you buy prebuilts? Bestbuy?
I dunno, I bought mine online from Dell. Are there any online vendors who ship to Canada? Are there stores like Costco around? They generally have good prebuilts as well, with better prices and warranties.
No I mean the general fact that pre-built systems usually cost more than a system built together from the same list of parts individually purchased. The tax is generally convenience + labour costs associated with someone else building the PC.
Bnet: CavilatRest#1874
Steam: CavilatRest
0
Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
That's not a tax... >.<
0
The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
I haven't had any trouble with newegg aside from their return policy not being as good as Amazons, but that only bit me because I messed up and ordered the wrong part once. The people in the aforementioned thread can give you some more in depth details, but the following PC building tips spring to mind if you do opt to build it yourself for the sake of having the satisfaction that you did it yourself.
1: Keep yourself grounded when touching your parts. It's probably worth spending the $5 to get one of those anti-static wristbands that grounds you to the metal of your case.
2: Do not use a magnetic screwdriver.
3: When buying your components, triple check that everything is compatible with each other.
4: Do not skimp on your power supply. Get a name brand, get a good efficiency rating, and get a bit more juice than you need. The modular ones are nice for keeping the interior clutter down so long as you don't misplace the cables in the attic.
5: When buying a CPU fan/heatsink, double check its dimensions to make certain that it will actually fit inside the case. Many of the highest rated heatsinks are XBAWKS HUGE and struggle to fit within a full tower case and will not fit whatsoever within a midtower case. If size is a problem, there are some self contained liquid cooling systems that are pretty easy to install. Also, many heatsinks/waterblocks these days come prepackaged with a waxy compound on them that melts to the processor to fulfill the same role as thermal paste. Generally that works good enough and it removes the threat of overapplying thermal paste. The super-serious guys who try to overclock every ounce of performance out of their machines scrape that stuff off though and stick with the paste, but it sounds like that might be good for you if you don't trust yourself with paste.
6: Get a solidstate drive for your operating system at the very least. Ideally get one big enough to put a few games on it too. This is a luxury thing but it's civilization and if you're speccing out a new machine then it's in your best interest to try to work an SSD into the system for those sweet sweet load times. You can still include a huge HDD for media storage.
Are the magnets used by magnetic screwdrivers strong enough to do any damage? I used the one supplied by my fan and had no issues.
I haven't had any trouble with newegg aside from their return policy not being as good as Amazons, but that only bit me because I messed up and ordered the wrong part once. The people in the aforementioned thread can give you some more in depth details, but the following PC building tips spring to mind if you do opt to build it yourself for the sake of having the satisfaction that you did it yourself.
1: Keep yourself grounded when touching your parts. It's probably worth spending the $5 to get one of those anti-static wristbands that grounds you to the metal of your case.
2: Do not use a magnetic screwdriver.
3: When buying your components, triple check that everything is compatible with each other.
4: Do not skimp on your power supply. Get a name brand, get a good efficiency rating, and get a bit more juice than you need. The modular ones are nice for keeping the interior clutter down so long as you don't misplace the cables in the attic.
5: When buying a CPU fan/heatsink, double check its dimensions to make certain that it will actually fit inside the case. Many of the highest rated heatsinks are XBAWKS HUGE and struggle to fit within a full tower case and will not fit whatsoever within a midtower case. If size is a problem, there are some self contained liquid cooling systems that are pretty easy to install. Also, many heatsinks/waterblocks these days come prepackaged with a waxy compound on them that melts to the processor to fulfill the same role as thermal paste. Generally that works good enough and it removes the threat of overapplying thermal paste. The super-serious guys who try to overclock every ounce of performance out of their machines scrape that stuff off though and stick with the paste, but it sounds like that might be good for you if you don't trust yourself with paste.
6: Get a solidstate drive for your operating system at the very least. Ideally get one big enough to put a few games on it too. This is a luxury thing but it's civilization and if you're speccing out a new machine then it's in your best interest to try to work an SSD into the system for those sweet sweet load times. You can still include a huge HDD for media storage.
Are the magnets used by magnetic screwdrivers strong enough to do any damage? I used the one supplied by my fan and had no issues.
Depends on how strong the magnets in the screwdriver are and what component it ends up touching, but why not just use a regular screw driver and remove the concern entirely? You can also be fine working around inside the case ungrounded time and time again until finally one day you reach for something and zap. It doesn't inhibit you to take the precaution, so just take it.
It feels to me like the pro scene would be livelier today had Blizzard never gotten involved with it, rather than running the show and then later abandoning it.
It feels to me like the pro scene would be livelier today had Blizzard never gotten involved with it, rather than running the show and then later abandoning it.
Maybe, maybe not.
For Heroes Blizz was always leading the league.
Blizz started taking over leagues for their games mid-SC2.
At that time, IGN, MLG and NASL were losing money on their leagues.
I think Dreamhack was the only league that showed actual profits. I don't know about Kespa and the 3+ other Korean leagues but I'm sure they were banking Texa$ due to the culture there.
If I recall correctly, Blizz jumped in to save the game's pro scene at the time, mainly the NA one but it took ownership of its game at that point and just licensed the foreign leagues.
Anyway, who knows what would have been.... but this last-minute trap-door-under-your-feet a-la looney tunes was not good.
It feels to me like the pro scene would be livelier today had Blizzard never gotten involved with it, rather than running the show and then later abandoning it.
Blizzard certainly did a poor job running the league, I'd still rather they be the ones to do it because I think it makes for an easier scenario for all the players to make a salary. That guaranteed salary was maybe only close to minimum wage for the bottom teams, but a base salary you can count on is really important ( see arguments for UBI ).
Anecdotes I get from dota is only the top teams really make any money and I'm sure it's similar for a lot of games.
Combine that with anecdotal stories about orgs stiffing players out of a paycheck, because the orgs that get involved with esports are often small, not professional, etc.
Blizzard did a great job of hurting players but I have no faith in whatever free form alternative we could have had to not hurt players just as much
Posts
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
The ranked limits for your party are at least an attempt to keep people from complaining about the system.
Only other thing that makes this an "improvement" over 2015 ranked is I imagine a lot of players who are trying to climb in ranks have left or realize they don't play enough games to actually climb, regardless of skill level.
The results probably would've been what we're seeing now, though - HL being a ghost town while everyone played TL since the reddit echo chamber is the minority voice.
XBL: InvaderJims
Bnet: Pudgestomp#11153
I'm 95% sure they've done that implementation and it also has complaints. In fact... isn't that basically what they have now?
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
It is literally what we have now. HL is a ghost town and TL is full of boosters/smurfs.
Steam: CavilatRest
Yep. I mean, everything they've tried has had problems, I personally was just upset that it created a barrier to play ranked with my friends.
XBL: InvaderJims
Bnet: Pudgestomp#11153
The system was broken when they changed it, just because they’re trying the same framework again mostly to unify the queues in a game with less players doesn’t mean that the idea was bad in the first place.
The only time ranked was ever good was the window after the solo only changes to when they broke mmr that one season after 2.0 came out (which I do think was devastating to the game).
yeah wasn't this plan announced like six-eight months ago?
i didn't really think about it much at the time because i never play HL/TL and i forgot that HL used to be any sized groups
it was a literal showerthought today
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
Wah wah wah deadgaaaaaaame
They kept trying to do this thing where they wanted to make a competitive game mode something that casuals would play. While a laudable goal, without a functional plan in place this is what you get.
There should have always been a 50-game minimum per season for ranked modes. HL and TL should never have been split in the first place - everyone should be in the same queue. MMR decay should have always existed. There should have been a progression system that was separated from MMR entirely, based on # of games/wins. A separate board for MMR should have been used for players Diamond and above, and players could only get into Diamond with a minimum win rate, and MMR decay should be accelerated. MMR should have had a hard cap transfer threshold if they wanted to carry it over from other game modes. Your personal MMR should have always been visible to yourself. QM should always have been YOLO mode.
The fundamental error Blizzard engaged in was thinking that somehow if they made the game rewarding enough for casuals then they would migrate over and play the game more competitively. Instead, all Blizzard ended up doing was alienating a completely different population that they could've attracted while enabling people who don't want to play ranked in the first place.
You only want to play 10 games to place into Diamond and get your ranked reward? Fuck you the reward isn't for you then. You hate seeing Gold because obviously you are GM? Prove it or go play QM, otherwise here's a nice progression system where you only have to play and win games over time. You hate that people in a team-based cooperative game have an advantage when they group together? Fuck you find people to play with or accept your handicap in what is meant to be a competitive mode (P.S. - it's not that big of a handicap get over yourself you just suck). (The irony here is that it was pros who complained the most about duo queue, Blizzard knew that it wasn't a big deal, and yet to make them happy they destroyed TL instead of going for the obvious solution of combining queues.)
Why spend months making PBMMR instead of just implementing MMR transfer caps and decay? Just make people play more. If they don't want to play more then your game isn't fun. Shit like this permeates the HotS decision-making process and it's incredibly frustrating. They kept trying to shove this square peg into a round hole.
Sometimes those are even the same premades depending on how serious they're feeling that night. Our PA NGS team (Arrogant Nephalem) has practice nights where we play the heroes we're good at and work on actual strategies and nights where we're just goofing off and we let traib go gazlo and kime go murky. (Just kidding, we never let Kime have fun).
I resent the suggestion that the games where we have traib on gazlowe aren't serious. In fact based on his winrate I think they're the most serious games I play with you guys.
Steam: CavilatRest
Just a sly 68% winrate, that's all.
That's not big, right?
RIP new 2019 matchmaking rules
I’m serious, do I order from a more local company like memory express or do I self build from newegg or something? Suggestions please so I can pull the trigger on a whim.
Warning: I have installed a cpu before, I know just enough to be dangerous, not enough to be wise. If left alone I will smear thermal puddy paste all over.
Where the hell do you buy prebuilts? Bestbuy?
i still play! lotsa people here still play i think.
also you should try Hanzo, he's kinda like better Valla esp if you go the AA build
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
@Rynox
I ordered my parts from Amazon, Memory Express, and Canada Computers. Newegg.ca is also ok. I decided to build my own computer cause I had friends with experience that were able to help me. All I did was watch a few videos so that I wasn't completely useless.
I would ask around our own PC build thread on Penny Arcade: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/222563/pc-build-thread-its-a-weird-time-in-hardwaretown. There's more than a few Canadians on there like Aridhol who can make suggestions.
As for prebuilts, I know Newegg, Memory Express and Canada Computers all offer them, and I think Memory Express and Canada Computers let you configure them (the store will then build it based on the specified parts), so maybe that's more your thing.
Steam: CavilatRest
I dunno, I bought mine online from Dell. Are there any online vendors who ship to Canada? Are there stores like Costco around? They generally have good prebuilts as well, with better prices and warranties.
1: Keep yourself grounded when touching your parts. It's probably worth spending the $5 to get one of those anti-static wristbands that grounds you to the metal of your case.
2: Do not use a magnetic screwdriver.
3: When buying your components, triple check that everything is compatible with each other.
4: Do not skimp on your power supply. Get a name brand, get a good efficiency rating, and get a bit more juice than you need. The modular ones are nice for keeping the interior clutter down so long as you don't misplace the cables in the attic.
5: When buying a CPU fan/heatsink, double check its dimensions to make certain that it will actually fit inside the case. Many of the highest rated heatsinks are XBAWKS HUGE and struggle to fit within a full tower case and will not fit whatsoever within a midtower case. If size is a problem, there are some self contained liquid cooling systems that are pretty easy to install. Also, many heatsinks/waterblocks these days come prepackaged with a waxy compound on them that melts to the processor to fulfill the same role as thermal paste. Generally that works good enough and it removes the threat of overapplying thermal paste. The super-serious guys who try to overclock every ounce of performance out of their machines scrape that stuff off though and stick with the paste, but it sounds like that might be good for you if you don't trust yourself with paste.
6: Get a solidstate drive for your operating system at the very least. Ideally get one big enough to put a few games on it too. This is a luxury thing but it's civilization and if you're speccing out a new machine then it's in your best interest to try to work an SSD into the system for those sweet sweet load times. You can still include a huge HDD for media storage.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Dell and Costco both exist here, though i'm not sure that the latter has many gaming options available if any. You will pay a significant prebuilt tax though. Like my build pre-tax is supposed to cost around $1600-$1700 CAD. The closest prebuilt https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/desktops/new-alienware-aurora/spd/alienware-aurora-r8-desktop/daar8_f_h10ehttps://dell.com/en-ca/shop/desktops/new-alienware-aurora/spd/alienware-aurora-r8-desktop/daar8_f_h10e/Dell option is a couple hundred dollars more and feature a previous-gen CPU/GPU and no SSD. If you've got the extra cash though there's no problem with going with these desktops probably, though I would still do my research to make sure that they are properly built (i.e. with good thermals and what not)
Steam: CavilatRest
No I mean the general fact that pre-built systems usually cost more than a system built together from the same list of parts individually purchased. The tax is generally convenience + labour costs associated with someone else building the PC.
Steam: CavilatRest
Colloquial terms! Call it a convenience fee if you like.
Are the magnets used by magnetic screwdrivers strong enough to do any damage? I used the one supplied by my fan and had no issues.
Steam: CavilatRest
Yeah, people in the pro community were hit the hardest here, and in a really unfair way
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
Depends on how strong the magnets in the screwdriver are and what component it ends up touching, but why not just use a regular screw driver and remove the concern entirely? You can also be fine working around inside the case ungrounded time and time again until finally one day you reach for something and zap. It doesn't inhibit you to take the precaution, so just take it.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
It feels to me like the pro scene would be livelier today had Blizzard never gotten involved with it, rather than running the show and then later abandoning it.
Maybe, maybe not.
For Heroes Blizz was always leading the league.
Blizz started taking over leagues for their games mid-SC2.
At that time, IGN, MLG and NASL were losing money on their leagues.
I think Dreamhack was the only league that showed actual profits. I don't know about Kespa and the 3+ other Korean leagues but I'm sure they were banking Texa$ due to the culture there.
If I recall correctly, Blizz jumped in to save the game's pro scene at the time, mainly the NA one but it took ownership of its game at that point and just licensed the foreign leagues.
Anyway, who knows what would have been.... but this last-minute trap-door-under-your-feet a-la looney tunes was not good.
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wra
Steam: CavilatRest
Blizzard certainly did a poor job running the league, I'd still rather they be the ones to do it because I think it makes for an easier scenario for all the players to make a salary. That guaranteed salary was maybe only close to minimum wage for the bottom teams, but a base salary you can count on is really important ( see arguments for UBI ).
Anecdotes I get from dota is only the top teams really make any money and I'm sure it's similar for a lot of games.
Combine that with anecdotal stories about orgs stiffing players out of a paycheck, because the orgs that get involved with esports are often small, not professional, etc.
Blizzard did a great job of hurting players but I have no faith in whatever free form alternative we could have had to not hurt players just as much
Those were pretty fun.
Ultimately though leagues can make a ton of money from licensing, player / viewer fees, etc., a-la NFL.
I'm pretty sure the NFL is ridunk profitable.
The problem with vidja game leagues is that your whole base can quickly shift as we're seeing some with Fortnite.
Basically, a different more flexible model is needed.
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wra