Is Blizzard's League system going to keep non-hardcore players in the game?

[GRUNT]

The whole point of the League system was to encourage players of all skill levels to play. I believe Blizzard was under the impression that Bnet can be an intimidating environment for a relatively unskilled player, and so casual players tend to shy away from it.

By dividing people into Leagues based on skill, Blizzard hopes to encourage even mediocre players to play competitively, since they'll be ranked against people of their skill level.

However (and I hope you don't mind using this as an example, LyLunah!), LyLunah just said in her thread:

ya I lsot all my 1v1 placement matches.. I'm in the copper rank.. v.v

I need to cheer up a bit.. that's got me quite pissed. I'm going to play La Tale.

I'm not trying to belittle LyLunah - I think that anyone who wants to play the game is great. The problem is that despite these measures to make the game less intimidating for newbies, it still seems to be kinda psychologically discouraging to lose all your placement matches, or even to just be in the Copper league. I'm sure some players would quit trying to play competitively altogether rather than try to get better.

Also, it seems as though Blizzard has done quite a few waves of Beta invites, even after their initial attempt to keep numbers around 10,000. I get the impression that people are dropping off, and this is worrying because it's the beta! Entry at the moment is by invitation-only, so you'd think that the people who get in would be people who really want to play the game, and yet Blizzard still seems to need to invite more folks to maintain the population size that they want.

Despite the League system, I can't help but worry that in the end, the casual and less-skilled players are going to drop off as comparatively fast as WarCraft 3's casual crowd.

[rdragon87]

I think losing all your matches is discouraging period, stupid non-ranked matches. Seriously, a few days ago I decided to warm up in a few non-ranked matches. All I got was Gold/Platinum ranked players, I'm only Silver. Only won one match that day.

I think there might be less of a problem with being in lower ranks, up until people start discriminating based on rank. Things like you don't know what you're talking about, you are only in Copper rank or You're bad, you are only in Copper rank.

I also don't expect casual players to participate in the Ladder system anyways, I expect them to play Custom matches with their friends for the most part.

[Raif]

I don't think you need to worry about people dropping off the beta, I mean it got allot of wow, old diablo and single playing SC1 players, going hay lets try this hype stuff.
And it is not a newbie friendly environment as of now, the ladder doesn’t work properly, and there are no tutorial and only a really easy computer to beat.
And on top of that, when I read though the B.net forums I seam to see a lot of people don’t quiet getting that it is a beta, and that it has flaws.

[DeathsAngel]

Seriously, a few days ago I decided to warm up in a few non-ranked matches

Out of subject : But how can you do unranked match oO to warn up?! I thought you couldn't.

[After7days]

if they fix so there is a lobby "like" system, so they can hang out and go play, chat and relax on battlenet. then i think the system will work just fine.
in my oppinion

Why, is lobby important, well currently we are playing in a big void, just whispering our m8s. like talking with your eyes closed, its not that fun after the first 5minutes.

[Hav0x]

if they fix so there is a lobby "like" system, so they can hang out and go play, chat and relax on battlenet. then i think the system will work just fine.
in my oppinion

Why, is lobby important, well currently we are playing in a big void, just whispering our m8s. like talking with your eyes closed, its not that fun after the first 5minutes.

Form a party. And this has nothing to do with losing games.

[rdragon87]

Out of subject : But how can you do unranked match oO to warn up?! I thought you couldn't.

It's on the right side of the screen it'll be Join/Create game. It says Custom games are not ranked. Just hit Join game, it'll dump you in a lobby or create a lobby for you. Just becareful, it will put you up against anyone available.

[Islandsnake]

Despite the League system, I can't help but worry that in the end, the casual and less-skilled players are going to drop off as comparatively fast as WarCraft 3's casual crowd.

I couldn't disagree more, I have friends in most of the divions and its so cool to see people attualy exited to raise there rank even if there in copper or bronze, plus it gives them achievable goals! (and a tournament within there grasp)

What more do you want! I love it.

I'm not trying to belittle LyLunah - I think that anyone who wants to play the game is great. The problem is that despite these measures to make the game less intimidating for newbies, it still seems to be kinda psychologically discouraging to lose all your placement matches, or even to just be in the Copper league. I'm sure some players would quit trying to play competitively altogether rather than try to get better.

I think that the placement matches will be better balenced, even now if you select the middle option when it asked you how much you've played you wont play the platinum players. But my point is bassicaly right now matchmaking is tuned to GIVE you a game asap not match it the best. When the game come out there going to have those multi-player tutorials plus the better placement matches.


I mean im sure some people will be "sad" that they got creamed in placement but if they really do give up that easily theres not much they can do, the reason the placement matches exist is to match you based on your skill!

I think it will be fine, much better than taking the leap into war3 ladder or something. I think the league system will make them feel not so behind, being rank 50 in copper is much better than being rank 5600.

Plus I think most new players will be coming into the game will have friends to practice with at first( specially the WoW players). And they can play custom games, im sure they'll be a ton of games that are like "1v1 Newbs only" the first few days :d.

I woulnd't worry about the 10k players problem (right now theres 10.3k people on the USA server alone) the reactions to this game seem really good, and beta is not as new player friend as the release will be (as i said above)

[BusinessMonkey]

Well, I can only base my comments on having played 2-3 days in the beta, after a friend of mine who received a key from the first wave, who hasn't played ANY ranked matches during that time, and only plays with his friends, decided to let me go and have a go at the real testing of this game.

I'm not a good player, but I agree that the ranked matches and their matchmaking system can be frightening for new players. I really got pwnd the first two days.
BUT, today I played better - I guess I'm getting used to playing terran - and since I'd gotten up to 5th in the Copper League, I really want to get in the top 10 now that I'm more less stuck in the 10-20s. Anyhoo. It would seem that the matchmaking system gets better the more you play, so it's just a question of keeping "casual" players enough 'till they get comfortable and the system gets to work better.

But then again. Need to test more.

[TWD]

Newbies will love the new ladder system. A lot of people I knew stopped playing the original StarCraft because they could play all day and not win once. The new ladder completely solves this issue. In fact I feel that the new ladder system is extremely prone to under ranking you. People don't really get a real handle on the game until about game 20. So many aren't figuring it out until after they've been ranked.

The only real problem is that new players just seem to take it too seriously. They don't want to put themselves out there until they're ready, because it's supposed to be a competitive thing. If they lose it's like a serious hit to their pride. That's why I like how the ladder system has been given such a prominent position. If you enjoy playing the game you'll just plow through that. You'll quickly realize that it's just not a big deal, and is really just there to help you find worthy opponents.

Also the 5 matches they did this time around just isn't enough. I didn't feel I really got a handle on the game until about match 20, and that was only by carefully studying replays.
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