Placement matches no longer auto-place you in the Diamond League

[Gifted]

It is the first step in many to get diamond where it deserves. Skyze, normally I find my opinion aligned right along with yours, but in this case if you think of this as "not the last change" it's a good step to get your diamond league where it belongs. By removing all those people who shouldn't be there, you significantly reduce the amount of player inflation in the diamond leagues.

I'm not saying this will be the way it happens, but imagine if there were only 4 divisions in diamond?

Also remember, the future brings leagues above diamond that will be invite only for professionals/teams. Speculation leads to believe that the only "divisions" in this are essentially league divisions. (Aka, MSL, OSL, etc)

[newcomplex]

Good stuff.

Probably on my top five list of decisions made in the beta. Sounds like they genuinely listened to the community on this one, and not just some knee jerkers but singling out quality feedback.

[Dalarsco]

its alright but doesnt solve the main issue.. Divisions are the worst idea ever.

we need a REAL ladder at least for diamond, or people lost lots of motivation to even play ladder (Ret himself said it, and I agree 100%, why should I bother to keep laddering when im always 400-500+ points ahead of #2 in my division??)

Again though, this fix was for the casual players, the ones who were saying "wah i got put in diamond and now im losing to pros"... rather than doing anything for competitive players. Typical Activision Blizzard style.

1. This is good for everyone except Diamond level players who want to curbstomp lucky noobs.
2. Blizzard has always been in favor of the "casual" player. Just look at their consistently low tech specs.

[Gradius]

Good news, now we just need the numbers of players in the leagues to be pyramidal.

[TheEconomist]

I thought it was strange that, when Battle.net was having problem, I dropped during two of my placement matches and I was still placed in high Diamond

its alright but doesnt solve the main issue.. Divisions are the worst idea ever.

we need a REAL ladder at least for diamond, or people lost lots of motivation to even play ladder (Ret himself said it, and I agree 100%, why should I bother to keep laddering when im always 400-500+ points ahead of #2 in my division??)

Again though, this fix was for the casual players, the ones who were saying "wah i got put in diamond and now im losing to pros"... rather than doing anything for competitive players. Typical Activision Blizzard style.

The pro league will remedy this as well as outside statistics. Why are pros playing on Battle.net ladder anyways? At least wait until the pro league

(Sorry for the DP, please merge this with above. I forgot I already posted in this topic )

[SinsWage]

This isn't the NFL. Pros don't keep the lights on at blizzard, or any other game developer for that matter. They'll pander to the group who ponys up the dough.

[Pick]

I watched a Live Stream of Nony doing his placement matches and first dozen or so games in Platinum. Was sad watching him destroy so many Platinum players so easily. A lot of people near my skill level getting destroyed by one of the best North American players.

Of course, he is a special case and I still agree with the no initial placement to diamond.

[MulletBen]

For the first few resets, 1 or no placement wins got you in copper, 2 in bronze, 3 in silver, 4 in gold, 5 in plat. Last reset, 1 or no got you in bronze, 2 in silver, etc. Now, 0,1, or 2 wins gets you in bronze, meaning 5 wins will only get you into platinum. Essentially, in the newest patch, Platinum is the same skill it was before the reset, and Diamond is now one higher than that. For those who think, "Why should, I continue laddering?" you now have somewhere to go. It makes Diamond more exclusive, with less players, meaning each division will hold higher level players, and being #1 in the highest league will now be significantly more challenging than it has been in any other patch, hopefully addressing some of those concerns.

Honestly, though, I think there need to be more lower leagues, like a tin for no wins and a copper for 1 win. I mean, more higher leagues are good as well, I just think there should be more leagues in general to give a better representation of where that person actually is, and get him/her in a ladder that better fits his/her skill level.

I think the main problem with divisions is that they accommodate such a wide variety of skill levels in such a small number of players. If you are 1st out of 100 people who are very different from you, what achievement is that? You would much rather be ranked against people who are closer to you. If you are ranked 1st out of a 100 people that could very easily edge you out, you feel competition against those people. I support the division system. Perhaps it's because I'm a nub, but I'd rather be 50th in silver than 183650th out of 257689, and I'd much rather move to 40th than to 183756th, even if it takes the same number of games, and I get the same number of points, and pass even more people, as the result of being in a big ladder. It's purely psychological, but if there are 5 people it looks like I could pass, I want to try and pass them. I can look in my division and say "That guy. I passed him before, now he's ahead of me. I need to get better and beat him." It's far easier to do in a ladder of 100 than 1000000.

That said, it does nothing for me if I'm at the bottom of 100 people, all of which are several hundred points ahead of me, or if I'm hundreds above the people behind me. I want to feel significant, I want to feel competition, I want to feel like the games I play on the ladder affect my place in the ladder. I don't get that feeling if I play vs. 1000's of people, and I don't get that feeling if I play against the wrong 100 people. I think there should be at least 7 leagues; 5 is not nearly enough to accommodate the wide range of skill levels.

Also, I think it's weird that Gold is 3rd out of 5. XD

[SinsWage]

Yea it is weird to think that gold is mediocre.

[Maxa]

its alright but doesnt solve the main issue.. Divisions are the worst idea ever.

we need a REAL ladder at least for diamond, or people lost lots of motivation to even play ladder (Ret himself said it, and I agree 100%, why should I bother to keep laddering when im always 400-500+ points ahead of #2 in my division??)

Again though, this fix was for the casual players, the ones who were saying "wah i got put in diamond and now im losing to pros"... rather than doing anything for competitive players. Typical Activision Blizzard style.

Yes, in the end there's no way to get around it: even a tightened placement system will never be as useful or informative as a straightforward global ranking. Medal divisions will always place priority on superficial (if attractive) distinctions over competition and accuracy. So there will always be something to be desired.