How different is the skill level between Leagues?

[GRUNT]

Also, I want to ask about the matchmaking a bit.

I'm just going by my personal experience . I'm currently in the Silver League and #4 in my division. However, I still encounter Bronze-League players who give me a run for my money. Conversely, I also encounter Silver-League players who make horrible mistakes like not building a Queen as Zerg.

So my question is: just how big of a difference is there between a League and the one immediately above and below it? Anybody else have an experience like mine whereby you find people from a League above you (or in your current league) to be not particularly more skilled than you, or people from a league below you schooling you?

My theory is that between something like Bronze and Silver, there isn't much difference at all. But when you're two Leagues ahead (like Bronze and Gold), then there is a distinct difference.

[Santrega]

What Division are you in?

I think the gold players play significantly better than low silver, but high silver and low gold are close in skill... This would be true for every league... So high bronze and low silver would be close in skill as well.

I agree with your assessment on two leagues ahead being more noticeable.

On the 2v2 side of things, I think its a lot more difficult to evenly match the two teams with such a small pool of players... I think 3-4k on the game at a time is good for solo matchmaking, but thats about it...

[Flatus]

If I've understood right, the 10 games that put you to some league are not that good indicator of one's skill, as it can put you against like either 10 uberskilled players or 10 total newbies that hardly have ever played RTS games, just to give extreme examples. And let's not talk about when one loses on purpose(to get to lower league and pwn all noobs for lulz, there's lot of that kind of people, dunno if in sc2beta but in general).

So to get to point where you really get opponents that match your skill-level, battle.net needs to evolve and learn as people play more and more, which it does

But this is just what I've understood from watching livestreams and youtube videos, no facts here.

Also, it's beta! :3

[Santrega]

If I've understood right, the 10 games that put you to some league are not that good indicator of one's skill, as it can put you against like either 10 uberskilled players or 10 total newbies that hardly have ever played RTS games, just to give extreme examples. And let's not talk about when one loses on purpose(to get to lower league and pwn all noobs for lulz, there's lot of that kind of people, dunno if in sc2beta but in general).

So to get to point where you really get opponents that match your skill-level, battle.net needs to evolve and learn as people play more and more, which it does

But this is just what I've understood from watching livestreams and youtube videos, no facts here.

Also, it's beta! :3

Yes, it places you badly. I agree with that... However, you also gain very little points for wins when you play badly, and lose a lot of points when you lose. This will eventually get you down to the level you belong.

I have seen this go both ways... I have seen someone placed in gold that should have been in low silver, and it took quite a while to get down to the correct level. Also, if you havent played the game in a while you'll return to be at a lower level as well.

Basically, this will keep casual players playing casual players... It will work better in the real game though... most people with beta are going to play like crazy people...

[Islandsnake]

We are having a freaking epic battle for the top of my Silver division - the people that I face that are in gold are usually a bit worse, but all around the same skill level.

Keep in mind, currently the only difference for the most part is who understands the game more - so "skill" level really just means who knows the build orders.

I enjoy this matchmaking, I havent got a complete moron in awhile!

[PosImpos]

Beta is still very small so I'm guessing the difference between divisions won't be very large right now.

Once the game comes out though, there will probably be a very large difference.

[limE]

Question: How many players are in the different leagues?

And won't it be too many players in every league when the real game is out?

[Nicol Bolas]

And won't it be too many players in every league when the real game is out?

The number of players in a league is irrelevant. Players in a league are separated into divisions, each of which holds only 100 players.

[limE]

Aaaah, thnx!

[Hammy]

I think the difference is very slim, except at the top of platinum since all the hardcore players will innevitably be there. As for the casual player, or the guy who's never played an RTS in his life but just happened to be on vacation during the past week, I think some just get more luck than others in the placement matches.

Rank often doesn't make any sense either. Here's a hypothetical way to get #1 in platinum if you're an average platinum player:
-Pair up with a friend who's also at that skill level
-Lose all of your placement matches
==> copper league
-Grind like crazy with an all-in rush, and you won't lose any games for a long time
-By the time you reach platinum, you won't have lost too many games because of your strat, but you'll have INSANE ELO, since you keep your ELO from one league to another
===> #1 Platinum in 2v2
You just have to watch out not to lose against people from lower leagues, because that will kill your elo very quickly

I haven't tried this at all, but based on what I've seen of the system, I'm sure it would work pretty well.