Some of you here may know I warned before the release of the new ladder system that there are problems with it. Many noob posters back then were arrogant enough to accuse me that I speak nonsense. Now that a month has passed and I have hundreds of matches in legend and high legend I will share one more time how the ranking system works, its flaws, how it can be tricked by us and how it could get improved.
1. There is no real rank matching anymore, there is only MMR matching
Q: How does matchmaking work for each season? A: There are two matchmaking pools: matchmaking by rating (aka. MMR) and by rank. When your star bonus multiplier is bigger than 1, or you are in Legend rank, you are (generally) in the first matchmaking pool; when your star bonus drops to 1, you are in the second pool.
However, this is either:
Not properly explained in the FAQ OR
Not working as intended OR
A lie
Since people with star bonus multiplier 1 (SBM 1) get matched with such from OTHER RANKS.
Many players from all kind of ranks get matched with legend players (when you are a legend player your opponent's rank is always shown to you) since the MMRs of both players are similar. There are two problems with this:
1.1. A player in one of the lower leagues can raise his MMR very quickly (only by winning a couple of matches) to the legend-level MMR pool. This means the probability of facing a legend player until you reach D5 with SBM 1 is very close to 100%.
1.2. If a player raises his MMR to the legend-level why is he not promoted to the legend-level? The ranking system design simply says: Well, you don't have to only raise your MMR to the legend-level, you have to keep it there for at least 20 matches to be promoted to legend. Okay, but what if I play 19 matches, reach D1 rank and stop there, am I really not worthy of being legend? Well, yes, that's how it works - one more win could place you in top 200 legend, but if you don't make it you won't be even in top 20k legend. But this doesn't seem logical? Well, sorry, but that's how the system works.
2. Fastest way to climb while with the SBM is by adopting concede and MMR tanking
While having a SBM it is bad (real time wise) to play matches taking longer than 5 minutes. This means choosing an aggro deck heavily favored against certain classes and heavily unfavored against others is the fastest way to climb since one can simply concede on the unfavored matches and climb faster despite the losses from concede due to the SBM. One can also tank his MMR on safe floors so that he is matched with easier opponents in next matches (this works only during the Season in question and won't transfer your weak MMR to next Season).
Moreover when players realize the concede potential they can start "co-oping" with the first to play auto-conceding and this would become the fastest way to climb with the SBM since the time spent between matches will be less than 30 seconds.
3. How to improve the ranking system and make it logical
The matching by MMR-only is good and has to stay. The problem is that the players are not properly rewarded based on their final MMR rank, but are rewarded based on the league they reached. Thus we have the following absurd cases:
- Very skilled players being matched only by MMR during climbing to legend with high legend players not making legend
- Noob players who got lucky making legend rank early in the month and stopped playing after (falling beyond 20k) would get far greater rewards than people who grinded a lot during the Season, but couldn't make legend due to the MMR matching with active high-legend players
I am observing this regularly in high legend (top 500) - very skilled players from rank D4- being matched with me without knowing they are playing versus a high legend player may not reach legend at all since there is still a lot of grind from D4 to legend when the system matches you with high legend players (it's the same as the system forcing someone from legend 1k+ to reach legend 500-). This means some of those skilled guys won't make legend rank not because of something else, but because of how the ranking system currently works.
However, the solution to this whole mess is very simple and could be done in stages:
3.1. The first thing that has to be done is excluding the top 20% of the legend players from the matchmaking with OTHER POOLS. These have to be in their own pool so that they are not matched against people who climb.
3.2. MMR gains during lower ranks has to be smaller so that people who win 3-4 matches in a row due to luck aren't matched with legend pool players right away in the next games.
3.3. Moreover, I suggest getting rid of the leagues completely and transforming the whole ranking system like the current legend experience - everyone has a number to his name signifying his rank in the system. In such ladder the players' MMR-ranks won't be changed from one month to another and the rewards at the end of each Season would be given based on in which percent of players one has finished. Such system could have heavy MMR decays for those that decide not to play for longer period of time to keep their current "lucky" rank.
3.4. Make the SBM that is determined depending on one's placement/MMR in previous month the minimum SBM. The current SBM after each game should be determined based on the higher value of your minimum SBM or your opponents minimum SBM in case you won the game.
Great post. You covered a lot here, and I may be missing something, but I think the solution is relatively “simple”. They need to make it so legend players only play other legend players. If the event occurs where there is very few players remaining in a certain MMR ranking (ie 90% of players have already attained legend) than those players would face opponents in the MMR rank below them.
What a retarded system. Matchmaking should only be based on rank. If you're in Gold, you only play against players in Gold and so on. That way, the good players will easily make it to higher divisions, and the bad players can work on their skills in the lower divisions. And for the Legend fellows, if they can't find a match, they can be paired with someone one division or two below them. Problem solved.
What a ******** system. Matchmaking should only be based on rank. If you're in Gold, you only play against players in Gold and so on. That way, the good players will easily make it to higher divisions, and the bad players can work on their skills in the lower divisions. And for the Legend fellows, if they can't find a match, they can be paired with someone one division or two below them. Problem solved.
You are implying "gold" players are better than "silver" players. There are no "good" HS players; game is simple and not very deep ( not to mention the luck factor ) so there's not much skill involved.
Legend players just had more time at their disposal for grinding.
What a ******** system. Matchmaking should only be based on rank. If you're in Gold, you only play against players in Gold and so on. That way, the good players will easily make it to higher divisions, and the bad players can work on their skills in the lower divisions. And for the Legend fellows, if they can't find a match, they can be paired with someone one division or two below them. Problem solved.
You are implying "gold" players are better than "silver" players. There are no "good" HS players; game is simple and not very deep ( not to mention the luck factor ) so there's not much skill involved.
Legend players just had more time at their disposal for grinding.
Not really true. If everyone starts at 0, the better players will climb the ladder faster. Once the good players are clogging up diamond and platinum, it'll become much more difficult for the meta-chasing netdeckers to climb any higher. Seems like it'd work as it should. The way it is now just makes it harder to climb the ladder for no reason. Gold players playing against people in Legend? What a joke.
Yes, this ranking system is absolutely awful, and I hope they change it asap. Some additional problems:
-Already at they beginning, they don't let you see the rank of your opponent anymore. NOT EVEN BRONZE/DIAMOND BORDER! This is because they ranking system is so terribly designed you can get a Gold league player one game, followed by a diamond the next and then a and then a R20k legend, and they do not want you to see it. Sorry, Blizzard, this is just not good enough.
-The way the DOUBLE bonus star system works (who the heck came up with this mess?) you are supposed to breeze through the ranks rather than get placed where you belong. The ranking showed next to your name is even more an indication of how many games you played this season than how good you are at the game.
-I was afraid changed demotions would clog up legend ranks, but it did not happen as the sheer grind getting from old R5 and up was too much for most players. Not anymore! Imagine if every player reaching R2 with 1 star AT ANY POINT with the old system got to legend. This is where we are now. I have not done the math, but saying the climb is twice as easy now is probably not an exaggeration, also because the old climb from R2 to legend was the toughest part.
-They SAY MMR tanking is not a way to exploit the system, but they lie. You get your bonus stars for next season based on mmr OR rank, whichever gives the highest number. Tanking your MMR and getting easier matchups up to legend is perfectly possible. The only drawback is that you will be placed way down in dumpster legend once you get there, but most don't care. Many will do the same, so it is hard to have the very lowest MMR anyway.
Getting rid of the MMR based matchmaking up to legend ranks and show the rank of the opponent is the way to go, so your rank will actually mean something again. Also please get rid of those redicolous new bonus stars, and axe the endseason dropback instead. I think they were actually on to something good in the previous system, and I am pissed they changed it for the worse.
I think they underestimated the playerbase. Moving quickly up the ranks like this will not be fun for very long.
They SAY MMR tanking is not a way to exploit the system, but they lie.
MMR tanking works only for the current Season and climbing with it is faster. What they mean in FAQ is that it is not possible to say hit legend, tank MMR with 20 losses in a row and have a lower than 10 star bonus multiplier for next Season (even that your MMR would be lower than that of a D5+ player after the losses).
They SAY MMR tanking is not a way to exploit the system, but they lie.
MMR tanking works only for the current Season and climbing with it is faster. What they mean in FAQ is that it is not possible to say hit legend, tank MMR with 20 losses in a row and have a lower than 10 star bonus multiplier for next Season (even that your MMR would be lower than that of a D5+ player after the losses).
I would go like this:
-Get my bonus multiplier stars from last season.
-Tank MMR at bronze rank.
-Climb quickly with easier opponents, maybe tanking even more on rank floors.
-If I actually like the game and have the time, play a strong deck at legend and get the MMR back.
The big question is if I do not get the MMR back, how many multiplier stars will I lose, and will that be worse than climbing with a lower MMR?
If you hit legend or some of the other safe rank floors your star multiplier gets a minimum value. Even if you go to the very bottom of the MMR, you can't lose your star multiplier when you hit a safe floor.
Bronze 10
2
Bronze 5
2
Silver 10
2
Silver 5
3
Gold 10
4
Gold 5
5
Platinum 10
6
Platinum 5
7
Diamond 10
8
Diamond 5
9
Legend
10
The only way to receive a star multiplier of 2 (when you had say 10 last Season) would be to not win a single game in ranked mode a whole month and have say 100 losses. But even such scenario could be prevented (this line is just a theory; if someone wants could test it on an alt account) from some global account MMR based on all account history (we don't know whether such thing exists with the idea to prevent a legend player from losing his star multiplier on purpose).
Make the star bonus multiplier (SBM) that is determined depending on one's placement/MMR in previous month the minimum SBM. The current SBM after each game should be determined based on the higher value of your minimum SBM or your opponents minimum SBM in case you won the game.
This would mean a returning player who skipped a few months and which SBM dropped to 6 for example will receive 10 SBM bonus after being matched with a legendary player and beating him.
How are you supposed to manipulate your MMR like REALLY? I mean, conceding long games and unfavorable match-ups, while playing an aggro deck was always the case and has nothing to do with MMR.
On the other hand conceding games just to have easier opponents will hardly make you break even. From my experience you'd need to lose like 3 games in a row to get an opponent you are supposed to crush easily. And after this win your MMR is elevated back, so that you will probably face an opponent with a similar one to yours. I guess this method would make you concede more than win, which isn't really a way to climb.
What a ******** system. Matchmaking should only be based on rank. If you're in Gold, you only play against players in Gold and so on. That way, the good players will easily make it to higher divisions, and the bad players can work on their skills in the lower divisions. And for the Legend fellows, if they can't find a match, they can be paired with someone one division or two below them. Problem solved.
You are implying "gold" players are better than "silver" players. There are no "good" HS players; game is simple and not very deep ( not to mention the luck factor ) so there's not much skill involved.
Legend players just had more time at their disposal for grinding.
Nonsense. On day 1 there were around 500 people in legend across the 3 servers. I made legend in both Europe and the Americas yesterday, which was day 2. The time you put in doesn’t matter, unless you’re trying for a top16 finish. I am not saying everybody should be able to do that in 1 or 2 days but if you’re stuck at silver or gold for the entire month it’s very safe to say you aren’t a good player -which is fine, maybe you’re new to the game or just not good at card games in general- and telling yourself you have been unlucky will not make you a better one.
I am an absolute nobody but stating that the game is not complex with not much skill involved and that there are no ‘good’ players when there’s tons of people that make a living out of this game is rubbish. Especially when people like Thijs, Kolento and Rdu have been up there for YEARS.
And yet you’ve probably been watching them play this luck-based game for years. How sad.
I only play one day, reach diamond 5 and that's enough Heartstone for me for the whole month. Then I only do dailies. Nobody said "I'm struck in silver/gold" around here. I repeat, game is shallow, not complex and RNGfiesta and anyone can reach legend if playing many games. Thijs, Kolento and the others only have much time at their disposal to play the game, that's it.
sorry for you, but this game is indeed low skilled. most of the times it comes down to some lucky top deck turnarounds or insane rng outcomes to seal a game even if you completely outplayed the opponent.
insane rng outcomes to seal a game even if you completely outplayed the opponent.
so there is skill involved, if you outplayed your opponent. rng is part of the game, but you can still win games with good plays, even if rng is against you
insane rng outcomes to seal a game even if you completely outplayed the opponent.
so there is skill involved, if you outplayed your opponent. rng is part of the game, but you can still win games with good plays, even if rng is against you
outplaying in hearthstone doesnt mean skill actually. drawing the right answers and using them is the same as playing on curve and so on.
A player in one of the lower leagues can raise his MMR very quickly (only by winning a couple of matches) to the legend-level MMR poolThis means the probability of facing a legend player until you reach D5 with SBM 1 is very close to 100%.
Here I think you are wrong. Players of low MMR should never be matched with players 1000s of points above them. If Hearthstone MMR works remotely close to the ones in Battlegrounds or StarCraft 2, you can absolutely NOT reach Legend MMR quickly.
The HSreplay matches actually often show the ranks of players. Some matchups are close, others are several leagues apart. Has this site figured out how the MMR is calculated so you can know where you are at yet? It has been done for other games and should not be that complicated.
I only play one day, reach diamond 5 and that's enough Heartstone for me for the whole month. Then I only do dailies. Nobody said "I'm struck in silver/gold" around here. I repeat, game is shallow, not complex and RNGfiesta and anyone can reach legend if playing many games. Thijs, Kolento and the others only have much time at their disposal to play the game, that's it.
Dude do you realise your entire post is a massive contradiction?
I understand not everybody plays to try and get to legend and/or top 16 if you find the game shallow why do you bother playing it?
There’s plenty of games out there. I’m sure there’s more rewarding ones around.
If you play to Diamond 5 and do your dailies to accumulate rewards, why not make it to legend then? It’s literally just a few extra wins, especially with the multiplier and you get an extra pack and a free legendary the first time.
Not everyone can reach legend. That is a fact. Some people are just bad at the game, period. And as I have mentioned there is nothing wrong or bad with that, especially if you do not wish to be competitive and just genuinely like the game.
I know people that have been playing for 5-6 years (some of them on and off, some of them consistently) and still struggle to make legend (some of them never even made it) whilst there’s people that picked up the game in the past year or so and are now playing at Masters/Grandmasters level. Explain to me how that is not evidence that time doesn’t have anything to do with it?
Every competitive game has got a bit of a luck factor, apart from chess and go on top of my head. When it comes to card games especially the fact that you draw a RANDOM card every turn is rng by itself but I bet you have never even entertained the possibility that the top players that are consistently doing well do so by CONSISTENTLY playing better than the rest. Yes they get lucky at some points or extremely unlucky at others but as long as their winrate stays high enough to be up there that doesn’t matter.
If you play to Diamond 5 and do your dailies to accumulate rewards, why not make it to legend then? It’s literally just a few extra wins, especially with the multiplier and you get an extra pack and a free legendary the first time.
Because bonus stars tend to have dried up at that point, and even 15 wins over losses can take a considerable amount of hours when you play against opponents at your MMR level.
Some of you here may know I warned before the release of the new ladder system that there are problems with it. Many noob posters back then were arrogant enough to accuse me that I speak nonsense. Now that a month has passed and I have hundreds of matches in legend and high legend I will share one more time how the ranking system works, its flaws, how it can be tricked by us and how it could get improved.
1. There is no real rank matching anymore, there is only MMR matching
From the FAQ they released we know this:
Q: How does matchmaking work for each season? A: There are two matchmaking pools: matchmaking by rating (aka. MMR) and by rank. When your star bonus multiplier is bigger than 1, or you are in Legend rank, you are (generally) in the first matchmaking pool; when your star bonus drops to 1, you are in the second pool.
However, this is either:
OR
OR
Since people with star bonus multiplier 1 (SBM 1) get matched with such from OTHER RANKS.
Many players from all kind of ranks get matched with legend players (when you are a legend player your opponent's rank is always shown to you) since the MMRs of both players are similar. There are two problems with this:
1.1. A player in one of the lower leagues can raise his MMR very quickly (only by winning a couple of matches) to the legend-level MMR pool. This means the probability of facing a legend player until you reach D5 with SBM 1 is very close to 100%.
1.2. If a player raises his MMR to the legend-level why is he not promoted to the legend-level? The ranking system design simply says: Well, you don't have to only raise your MMR to the legend-level, you have to keep it there for at least 20 matches to be promoted to legend. Okay, but what if I play 19 matches, reach D1 rank and stop there, am I really not worthy of being legend? Well, yes, that's how it works - one more win could place you in top 200 legend, but if you don't make it you won't be even in top 20k legend. But this doesn't seem logical? Well, sorry, but that's how the system works.
2. Fastest way to climb while with the SBM is by adopting concede and MMR tanking
While having a SBM it is bad (real time wise) to play matches taking longer than 5 minutes. This means choosing an aggro deck heavily favored against certain classes and heavily unfavored against others is the fastest way to climb since one can simply concede on the unfavored matches and climb faster despite the losses from concede due to the SBM. One can also tank his MMR on safe floors so that he is matched with easier opponents in next matches (this works only during the Season in question and won't transfer your weak MMR to next Season).
Moreover when players realize the concede potential they can start "co-oping" with the first to play auto-conceding and this would become the fastest way to climb with the SBM since the time spent between matches will be less than 30 seconds.
3. How to improve the ranking system and make it logical
The matching by MMR-only is good and has to stay. The problem is that the players are not properly rewarded based on their final MMR rank, but are rewarded based on the league they reached. Thus we have the following absurd cases:
- Very skilled players being matched only by MMR during climbing to legend with high legend players not making legend
- Noob players who got lucky making legend rank early in the month and stopped playing after (falling beyond 20k) would get far greater rewards than people who grinded a lot during the Season, but couldn't make legend due to the MMR matching with active high-legend players
I am observing this regularly in high legend (top 500) - very skilled players from rank D4- being matched with me without knowing they are playing versus a high legend player may not reach legend at all since there is still a lot of grind from D4 to legend when the system matches you with high legend players (it's the same as the system forcing someone from legend 1k+ to reach legend 500-). This means some of those skilled guys won't make legend rank not because of something else, but because of how the ranking system currently works.
However, the solution to this whole mess is very simple and could be done in stages:
3.1. The first thing that has to be done is excluding the top 20% of the legend players from the matchmaking with OTHER POOLS. These have to be in their own pool so that they are not matched against people who climb.
3.2. MMR gains during lower ranks has to be smaller so that people who win 3-4 matches in a row due to luck aren't matched with legend pool players right away in the next games.
3.3. Moreover, I suggest getting rid of the leagues completely and transforming the whole ranking system like the current legend experience - everyone has a number to his name signifying his rank in the system. In such ladder the players' MMR-ranks won't be changed from one month to another and the rewards at the end of each Season would be given based on in which percent of players one has finished. Such system could have heavy MMR decays for those that decide not to play for longer period of time to keep their current "lucky" rank.
3.4. Make the SBM that is determined depending on one's placement/MMR in previous month the minimum SBM. The current SBM after each game should be determined based on the higher value of your minimum SBM or your opponents minimum SBM in case you won the game.
Great post. You covered a lot here, and I may be missing something, but I think the solution is relatively “simple”. They need to make it so legend players only play other legend players. If the event occurs where there is very few players remaining in a certain MMR ranking (ie 90% of players have already attained legend) than those players would face opponents in the MMR rank below them.
What a retarded system. Matchmaking should only be based on rank. If you're in Gold, you only play against players in Gold and so on. That way, the good players will easily make it to higher divisions, and the bad players can work on their skills in the lower divisions. And for the Legend fellows, if they can't find a match, they can be paired with someone one division or two below them. Problem solved.
You are implying "gold" players are better than "silver" players. There are no "good" HS players; game is simple and not very deep ( not to mention the luck factor ) so there's not much skill involved.
Legend players just had more time at their disposal for grinding.
Not really true. If everyone starts at 0, the better players will climb the ladder faster. Once the good players are clogging up diamond and platinum, it'll become much more difficult for the meta-chasing netdeckers to climb any higher. Seems like it'd work as it should. The way it is now just makes it harder to climb the ladder for no reason. Gold players playing against people in Legend? What a joke.
Yes, this ranking system is absolutely awful, and I hope they change it asap. Some additional problems:
-Already at they beginning, they don't let you see the rank of your opponent anymore. NOT EVEN BRONZE/DIAMOND BORDER! This is because they ranking system is so terribly designed you can get a Gold league player one game, followed by a diamond the next and then a and then a R20k legend, and they do not want you to see it. Sorry, Blizzard, this is just not good enough.
-The way the DOUBLE bonus star system works (who the heck came up with this mess?) you are supposed to breeze through the ranks rather than get placed where you belong. The ranking showed next to your name is even more an indication of how many games you played this season than how good you are at the game.
-I was afraid changed demotions would clog up legend ranks, but it did not happen as the sheer grind getting from old R5 and up was too much for most players. Not anymore! Imagine if every player reaching R2 with 1 star AT ANY POINT with the old system got to legend. This is where we are now. I have not done the math, but saying the climb is twice as easy now is probably not an exaggeration, also because the old climb from R2 to legend was the toughest part.
-They SAY MMR tanking is not a way to exploit the system, but they lie. You get your bonus stars for next season based on mmr OR rank, whichever gives the highest number. Tanking your MMR and getting easier matchups up to legend is perfectly possible. The only drawback is that you will be placed way down in dumpster legend once you get there, but most don't care. Many will do the same, so it is hard to have the very lowest MMR anyway.
Getting rid of the MMR based matchmaking up to legend ranks and show the rank of the opponent is the way to go, so your rank will actually mean something again. Also please get rid of those redicolous new bonus stars, and axe the endseason dropback instead. I think they were actually on to something good in the previous system, and I am pissed they changed it for the worse.
I think they underestimated the playerbase. Moving quickly up the ranks like this will not be fun for very long.
Editor of the Heartpwn Legendary Crafting Guide:
https://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/card-discussion/205920-legendary-tier-list-crafting-guide
MMR tanking works only for the current Season and climbing with it is faster. What they mean in FAQ is that it is not possible to say hit legend, tank MMR with 20 losses in a row and have a lower than 10 star bonus multiplier for next Season (even that your MMR would be lower than that of a D5+ player after the losses).
I would go like this:
-Get my bonus multiplier stars from last season.
-Tank MMR at bronze rank.
-Climb quickly with easier opponents, maybe tanking even more on rank floors.
-If I actually like the game and have the time, play a strong deck at legend and get the MMR back.
The big question is if I do not get the MMR back, how many multiplier stars will I lose, and will that be worse than climbing with a lower MMR?
Editor of the Heartpwn Legendary Crafting Guide:
https://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/card-discussion/205920-legendary-tier-list-crafting-guide
If you hit legend or some of the other safe rank floors your star multiplier gets a minimum value. Even if you go to the very bottom of the MMR, you can't lose your star multiplier when you hit a safe floor.
The only way to receive a star multiplier of 2 (when you had say 10 last Season) would be to not win a single game in ranked mode a whole month and have say 100 losses. But even such scenario could be prevented (this line is just a theory; if someone wants could test it on an alt account) from some global account MMR based on all account history (we don't know whether such thing exists with the idea to prevent a legend player from losing his star multiplier on purpose).
I have one more suggestion also:
Make the star bonus multiplier (SBM) that is determined depending on one's placement/MMR in previous month the minimum SBM. The current SBM after each game should be determined based on the higher value of your minimum SBM or your opponents minimum SBM in case you won the game.
This would mean a returning player who skipped a few months and which SBM dropped to 6 for example will receive 10 SBM bonus after being matched with a legendary player and beating him.
How are you supposed to manipulate your MMR like REALLY? I mean, conceding long games and unfavorable match-ups, while playing an aggro deck was always the case and has nothing to do with MMR.
On the other hand conceding games just to have easier opponents will hardly make you break even. From my experience you'd need to lose like 3 games in a row to get an opponent you are supposed to crush easily. And after this win your MMR is elevated back, so that you will probably face an opponent with a similar one to yours. I guess this method would make you concede more than win, which isn't really a way to climb.
Nonsense. On day 1 there were around 500 people in legend across the 3 servers. I made legend in both Europe and the Americas yesterday, which was day 2. The time you put in doesn’t matter, unless you’re trying for a top16 finish. I am not saying everybody should be able to do that in 1 or 2 days but if you’re stuck at silver or gold for the entire month it’s very safe to say you aren’t a good player -which is fine, maybe you’re new to the game or just not good at card games in general- and telling yourself you have been unlucky will not make you a better one.
I am an absolute nobody but stating that the game is not complex with not much skill involved and that there are no ‘good’ players when there’s tons of people that make a living out of this game is rubbish. Especially when people like Thijs, Kolento and Rdu have been up there for YEARS.
And yet you’ve probably been watching them play this luck-based game for years. How sad.
I only play one day, reach diamond 5 and that's enough Heartstone for me for the whole month. Then I only do dailies. Nobody said "I'm struck in silver/gold" around here. I repeat, game is shallow, not complex and RNGfiesta and anyone can reach legend if playing many games. Thijs, Kolento and the others only have much time at their disposal to play the game, that's it.
sorry for you, but this game is indeed low skilled. most of the times it comes down to some lucky top deck turnarounds or insane rng outcomes to seal a game even if you completely outplayed the opponent.
so there is skill involved, if you outplayed your opponent. rng is part of the game, but you can still win games with good plays, even if rng is against you
outplaying in hearthstone doesnt mean skill actually. drawing the right answers and using them is the same as playing on curve and so on.
Here I think you are wrong. Players of low MMR should never be matched with players 1000s of points above them. If Hearthstone MMR works remotely close to the ones in Battlegrounds or StarCraft 2, you can absolutely NOT reach Legend MMR quickly.
The HSreplay matches actually often show the ranks of players. Some matchups are close, others are several leagues apart. Has this site figured out how the MMR is calculated so you can know where you are at yet? It has been done for other games and should not be that complicated.
Editor of the Heartpwn Legendary Crafting Guide:
https://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/card-discussion/205920-legendary-tier-list-crafting-guide
Dude do you realise your entire post is a massive contradiction?
I understand not everybody plays to try and get to legend and/or top 16 if you find the game shallow why do you bother playing it?
There’s plenty of games out there. I’m sure there’s more rewarding ones around.
If you play to Diamond 5 and do your dailies to accumulate rewards, why not make it to legend then? It’s literally just a few extra wins, especially with the multiplier and you get an extra pack and a free legendary the first time.
Not everyone can reach legend. That is a fact. Some people are just bad at the game, period. And as I have mentioned there is nothing wrong or bad with that, especially if you do not wish to be competitive and just genuinely like the game.
I know people that have been playing for 5-6 years (some of them on and off, some of them consistently) and still struggle to make legend (some of them never even made it) whilst there’s people that picked up the game in the past year or so and are now playing at Masters/Grandmasters level. Explain to me how that is not evidence that time doesn’t have anything to do with it?
Every competitive game has got a bit of a luck factor, apart from chess and go on top of my head. When it comes to card games especially the fact that you draw a RANDOM card every turn is rng by itself but I bet you have never even entertained the possibility that the top players that are consistently doing well do so by CONSISTENTLY playing better than the rest. Yes they get lucky at some points or extremely unlucky at others but as long as their winrate stays high enough to be up there that doesn’t matter.
...than people who grinded a lot during the Season, but couldn't make legend due to the MMR matching with active high-legend players.
^^ it's about me.
Because bonus stars tend to have dried up at that point, and even 15 wins over losses can take a considerable amount of hours when you play against opponents at your MMR level.
Btw, I did get my free legendary.
Editor of the Heartpwn Legendary Crafting Guide:
https://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/card-discussion/205920-legendary-tier-list-crafting-guide