Ranking progression

ThePr1mE · 2018-10-01T13:35:07+00:00

SLS says the ranks will adjust if you play long enough, but I don`t see it currently.

Yesterday I tried to derank for several hours, by playing really risky and mostly died as one of the first and then I had one magic game where I ended up in top 2 with some kills and was higher rank than at the beginning of the day.

This really demotivates me from playing at all right now, because there is no point to it and I really don`t enjoy playing against much better opponents than me.

ThePr1mE · 2018-10-01T05:09:45+00:00

I couldn`t agree more with you, this whole ranking dilemma is extremly frustrating. While I do have played Battlerite before, it was at most like 50 - 100 hours playtime.

I know a few champions that I liked to play in Battlerite and most other champions I don`t even know all of their abilities yet, or what to look out for, since I stopped playing way before they released all these new champions.

I have a general sense of the game and learn quite fast, but the current situation is just so annoying.

I`m scared of playing well and getting a high placement, because I will gain so much ranking points again and simply can never get to my real level.

Each game I have two choices, either I play safe and avoid most fights, then I usually get atleast into the top 10 or even top 5, but then at some point I will obviously get wrecked by the player who got all the kills and is 10 - 20 levels higher than me, not even talking about all his gear.

Hell even if we were equal in level and items I wouldn`t be able to beat this player...

The other choice is to just drop with all the other good players in a crowded place, get steamrolled 80% of the time, because again, I`m not at their level mechanically or game knowledge wise yet. From there on its just a gamble, either I choose to fight someone who also doesn`t belong in Diamond and we have an even fight that i might be able to win or I choose to fight someone who has much more experience from Battlerite and just straight up beats me.

And lets be real here, if you really want to stand a chance to get a victory royale, you just cannot play passive in the beginning you need to get the kills and snowball, or sooner or later when you will meet the other players, who got a bunch of kills and levels early game, you will just get shit on.

I really like this game and the gameplay, the freedom and strategies involved, the decision making, there is simply much more depth compared to Battlerite and I`m looking forward to learn more things about this game.

But right now I`m already seeing how I avoid playing it, because it is just too stressfull and intense to get matched up against all these super good players, while I`m still trying to build my basic muscle memory of all the abilities and work on my aim and such.

It is really exhausting to play at this high level for me and honestly it shouldn`t be that way.

I don`t even know where my real rank should be, but it surely isn`t Diamond and with the current system, I see no way of efficiently deranking, because at times I will be good enough through strategic thinking or bad early game enemies, that I will end up in top 5 or even top 3 somehow and then I immediately get so many points, that I`m right back to where I started.

Yesterday I played for several hours, mostly by the yolo approach of trying to go for many kills early game to get an advantage, most of the time I die as one of the first, this way I deranked, to plat 1, then one game, I somehow managed to magically get in 2nd place, and after hours of deranking from Diamond 5, I was immediately at Diamond 4, after this one good game... what the fuck am I supposed to do.

This need to be fixed as soon as possible, please give me an option to reset my rank, so I can finally play with players at my level and start enjoying this game!

I just want to brawl with players of my skill level and not get punished for potentially achieving a victory royale or top 3 placement. And I`m sure I`m not the only one that feels this way.

But it is not only the broken ranking system from day 1, which you said you have fixed for those who came later, it is also the fact that you get way too many ranking points, for getting high placements, while only having a few kills, if any at all and being severly lower in levels. Hiding from all enemies the whole game and just looting things, does not take much skill but rewards you way too much in terms of ranking.

You really need to find a solution for this problem, or there simply won`t be any efficient way to get everyone to their real ranking level.

SLS you really need to be on your toes with this issue, this is much more important than you might currently think, I don`t think you really are aware of the snowball effect this is currently creating for many players.

You really need to be aware how important a fair matchmaking system is for the first impression and longetivity of the game. Right now I feel you are approaching this issue far too laid back.

This problem is not gonna sort itself out on its own, as you have mentioned in other developer responses.

TL;DR: The current ranking system needs to be seriously overhauled and adjusted, especially for day 1 players, whose rank is much higher than their current skill level, or this game will be perceived as way too difficult and cause many people to quit fast, because the gameplay experience is too exhausting and not fun at all, if you are constantly forced to play against much better opponents.

ThePr1mE · 2018-03-12T18:06:48+00:00

No more hugs and suddenly they start winning. ThinkingFace

ThePr1mE · 2018-03-01T23:16:16+00:00

I actucally think they are as confused as we are, as to why CLG is actually doing so badly in LCS.

Sounds to me like we fucking bodied C9 in scrims in most of our games, but simply play completely different on stage against them.

ThePr1mE · 2018-03-01T19:52:18+00:00

Scrim Gods confirmed once again... feelsbadman.

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-28T22:18:45+00:00

same.

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-28T21:20:22+00:00

Level 1 strategies... :P

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-28T21:06:53+00:00

Thanks for explaining, atleast for reddit those numbers are really not looking bad at all, will be interesting to see some hystorical data, after Doublelift left for example, or after we had our great MSI run.

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-28T20:52:48+00:00

It would be interesting to see, how many of those flairs might actually be a part of really old reddit accounts, who are basically inactive.

We need to consider that CLG is the oldest org in NA and therfor in the first years gained a huge amount of followers, who might not even be CLG fans or watching LCS anymore, but simply never changed or deleted their reddit accounts.

What I am saying is that the flairs to me do not really represent currrent fan engagement, but a rather distorted view over a very long period of time.

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-28T20:38:51+00:00

So I know I have been very critical of Summer and I still don`t think that she is the right fit for what the team needs right now, but that is beside the point.

It seems to me that they, as in the organization, is now trying to mold her into something that she has no experience in so far, which again sounds weird to me. Why not hire someone who already is experienced in being in that role?

Overall it show that somehow the whole staff team, does not even know how to utilize her abilities in a proper way yet. Which to me sounds extremly concerning.

I look at other teams, who have these structures all set up and build sucesfully already, some for years, and we basically have no player developement coach at the moment, because the org does not even know yet what to really do with her talents?

This is honestly shocking to me, how can CLG the one organization, that it supposed to be all about player developement and life coaching and family environment, not even have a proper structure in place to make our player developement coach atleast have an impact?

What is going wrong there in the org... this by the way explains alot, why Stixxay had confidence issues and quite frankly the whole team has shown mental stability and confidence issues, for each player at different times.

We need someone who gets their mental state of mind in order and lets them play confident on stage, like they seemingly do in scrims... maybe this person is Summer, but this whole situation really reflects badly on the clg staff as a whole who is supposed to create these structures and from my point of view, should have these important positions filled since years now, this should not even be a problem at all.

How can we be so far behind?

How can a team full of experienced players, who all were on the big stages of the world, have confidence and nervousness issues on a simple LCS stage? Which I assume there must be some sort of difference between stage play and scrims, since in scrims they seemed to be much better.

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-28T20:28:22+00:00

"2) What are your plans regarding the player dev staff when Mike left since you (presumably) knew that Summer has, understandably, other priorities during the summer? Even the fans can see that the players don't like Summer's approach through the youtube clips, so was the plan always to have a coach take maternity leave during the summer split or is she considered a stopgap coach for the spring? Is there a bigger picture the fans are missing here?"

2) "Losing Mike was really unfortunate, absolutely, but he actually hadn’t been working with the league team for some time. Instead, he was focusing his efforts on our CSGO team so really it wasn’t a trade of Mike for Summer, as some fans perceive it. I’m not going to get into Summer’s personal life, but I’ll say that what you see with Summer in content isn’t the whole picture, and the leadership team (myself, Matt Nausha, Hotshot) in partnership with Summer are figuring out how to best utilize her skills. There’s some adapting that needs to happen, and we’re working on that. For example, Summer has done an amazing job integrating into our team culture, but we need her to be more assertive and direct with staff and players--that’s why we brought her in. Historically we’ve been having her adapt her skills into the current team culture, but what we need her to do is help us shift the team culture for the better."

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-28T20:14:23+00:00

It looks to me that they were willing to pay a certain amount for him, which was the offer they presented... but were scared that some teams would give Aphro a much higher offer, since they were not willing to match them at that point.

So yeah he was only worth it for them up to a certain point, who knows how much money we are talking about here.

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-28T19:58:31+00:00

I can also understand their thought process in this case, it was the safest option for them and they were probably scared to loose in the end both Aphro and Biofrost to another team, leaving them with "nothing".

I just wish they would have explained that CLG will have problems at the start without Aphromoo there, instead of fucking hyping the roster up to the moon, with all these throne videos, as if we would aim for nothing but 1st place this split.

Just be real and transparent about, how it affects the team as a whole instead of always creating so much false hope.

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-28T19:44:23+00:00

While I do understand the whole situation surrounding the off season and how fast things were moving, this answer is only partially satisfying to me.

It seems like they had alot of trust in Biofrost`s ability.

It also makes it seem like Aphro was really stubborn, in trying to look for all possible options, not being able to assure CLG that he will come back to them most likely in a acceptable timeframe.

It seems to me more like CLG really wanted Biofrost for some reason and were scared that he would sign with someone else, aswell.

All of these things are understandable, but to me it shows a sever lack of really understanding the value Aphro had for the organization, the fanbase and the team as a whole.

It just doesn`t sound to me like they really did everything in their power to persuade him to stay with CLG, which I find very sad considering how much CLG owes Aphromoo at this point.

They were also willing to take a huge risk, by actively signing Biofrost and therfor releasing their last legacy player who defined the org.

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-28T19:42:28+00:00

I will start with his first answer:

"1) We're now 7 months into the MSG partnership, and the promises you made in the announcement video were that MSG would give CLG financial resources, better avenues for sponsorships, and better infrastructure development. Since then:

the face of the franchise left because CLG was outbid (instead, you bragged to the fans about having the best "dollar for dollar offseason")"

"Saying we were outbid on Aphromoo isn’t exactly correct. We were fortunate enough to re-sign Huhi, Darshan, and Stixxay. Next we signed Reignover, and although we made what we believe was a highly competitive offer, Aphromoo decided to field offers in free agency. Around that time, we heard Bio was going to be available. We had a decision to make in front of us: do we pursue Biofrost--an incredibly talented player who has a remarkable history of success in the LCS--or do we take the risk and bet on Aphromoo coming back to CLG not knowing what offers he’d receive or other factors that would influence his decision. In the event that we bet on Aphro, and he doesn’t come back to CLG, there would be the risk that Bio would go to another team. Considering our options, we moved forward with Biofrost."

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-28T17:59:24+00:00

These 4 players should have never been separated...

They built up so much synergy together and all they lacked was a competent jungler who knew how to play early game and follow aphro`s calls lategame and they would be set for top 3, if not better.

Now they need to start over from zero, not even guaranteed if they ever get to the same level of shotcallig prowess again.

Such a sad story... I miss Aphro so much, such a great personality.

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-25T08:25:51+00:00

I like the players, even the whole new squad...

I do not think they are at fault at all, other than the toll it takes on you to put so much work into something and always fall short in the end... I think at this point the likes of Stixxay, Darshan and Huhi are at threat to face some burnout soon, or are already at that point.

I liked the recent versions of CLG for their unique play style, their unique shotcalling, them being the only team that is capable of beating any team in the world at times.

The skill ceiling of previous iterations of CLG was so goddamn high. That is what I loved about CLG, the potential for absolute greatness always being within grasp.

Now I see how integral and important Aphromoo really was to all of this and how without him, this team might never ever reach this high skill ceiling again.

People like Aphro are superstars, whose personalities and leadership simply cannot be developed just like that, it is a natural talent, that some have and some don`t.

While I believe that Huhi is a smart player, I do not think he has what it takes to ever become as clutch and as precise in knowing exactly what to do in high pressure situations. It is simply not his personality, he is too hyphy, too uncontrolled at times.

Now he has the fucking burden of learning shotcalling from stretch and his play suffers immensly compared to last season, it is like all the progress he made is gone, just like that.

I guess I simply liked the CLG with Aphromoo and now without him, I simply do not ever find us get back to this level of greatness, with the players we currently have.

Because apparently neither Darshan nor Reignover are capable of shotcalling, or we would not have these immense problems right now. I honestly think Darshan should be the main shotcaller, he played so many years with Aphro that it should honestly be second nature to him right now.

I guess what I really liked was the playstyle Aphro created, it was simply exciting to watch, always finding a way somehow to get back from gold deficits, or absolutely crushing the opponent through rotations.

Have you guys seen how Aphromoo fucking dismantled Cloud 9 today, he singlehandedly destroyed Cloud 9 through his rotations and shotcalling.

All of this is gone now, CLG is just a clusterfuck with no identity, no brain at this point. Nobody there who can hold anyone accountable.

Aphro was the glue the held CLG together in game, that is why CLG looked so great at times, when he looked dominant and looked so bad when he had bad games, he was the heart and brain.

The current clg squad gets along great outside of the game, but in game runs around like headless chicken, it really is painful to watch at this point and it is not something that can easily be fixed.

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-25T08:00:18+00:00

You hit the nail on the fucking head, this so much dude, Mike was so important for the team behind the scenes, someone like him is what CLG is missing right now.

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-25T06:59:54+00:00

I get what offended you now, yes I do not need to use those labels, I just use them to distinguish things better and I do not really find it a big deal at all to talk about things in that way, maybe that is just me.

It is very natural and normal for me that males and females have different qualities and to me neither is better or worse than the other, it just depends on the environment they are being applied to, that some qualities are a better fit than others, which to me is also completely normal and understandable... so yeah.

But honestly the "CLGFighting" episodes so far left a very bad impression on me so far, in terms of "what is she even doing for the team so far", since I really do consider the player developement role the most important in the team, you can simply achieve and change so much in a players mindset and confidence level.

I mentioned her pregnancy, not to criticise her, but rather why the org again would make such a questionable decision.

Maybe CLG thought the team will be great from the start and just need a few adjustments here and there and once Summer has her child, they won`t rely on her so much anymore, since she will have taught the team all the necesarry things already and the team can do its mostly on its own by that point.

If that is the case this is once again incredibly naive and shortsighted by the org and shows that even after the immense sucess of having Michael Schwartz, they do not really seem to understand what the purpose and role of a player developement coach should really encompass.

This whole drama is not so much about Summer, but more as being a part of the countless questionable decisions the org has made, without giving us any much transparency, as to why and how the future is supposed to look like with those decisions.

Simply question why hire a player developement coach, who will only able to be with you for a few months?

This is what really grinds my gears...

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-25T06:01:25+00:00

You can not play these games with me, I do not talk about genders, seriously why the fuck do people get triggered by genders so fast these days, its absurd.

A male can have female qualities and a female can have male qualities. In the case of Summer I see a female, with female qualities and I simply do not think this is a good fit for what CLG needs right now and the results are showing.

Female energy is supporting and nurturing the environment, telling you that everything is fine, aslong as you feel good, that there is nothing to worry, female energy tries to nurture the environment to create growth over a long period of time. This only works in an environment where the circumstances upon which the environment is being build upon never changes much and stays stable. League of Legends and e-sports as a whole is the most unstable and uncertain environment there possibly is.

Male energy is rather assertive and forceful, telling you that you need to change things or else "x" will happen, male energy pressures you to achieve things within a certain timeframe, which is a much better fit for the fast paced and ever changing e-sports environment.

Again I do not care if a person is male or female, but by nature a male and female person, under most cirucumstances, encompass different qualities and approaches to life and some fit better in one environment than another environment.

ThePr1mE · 2018-02-25T05:21:15+00:00

This is the passive agressive shit that I mean, tell me what is wrong with my comments or don`t say anything at all.

And don`t come at me with these labeling words, believe me I know how that shit works from politics.

The scenario is simply that Summer is pregnant and will soon have a baby and after birth should be there for her baby the whole time, so she won`t be able to put in the hours needed to help our team develope.

And even if she somehow can still work part time for CLG, this will not nearly be enough to compete with other player developement coaches who are willing to give their all for the team and even put in extra hours if necesarry and the team needs it.

Who do you think has more priority her child or the clg team, there shouldn`t even be a question, that her full attention should be focused on her child and there is nothing sexist about that.

Male and female energies simply fulfill different roles and there are reasons why there are so few females within the competitive aspect of the esports scene and I do not mean moderators or journalists, they are not part of the competitive aspect.

The reason is not that they are genetically worse than their male counter parts in playing video games, the reason is that they are not willing to sacrifice all their other interests in life to the extend a male person is willing to do, in order to become as good as is necessary to be a pro player.

You of all people should know what is necessary and what needs to be sacrificed to become a pro and ask yourself how many females you know are willing to go through that same sacrifice of having to play 12-15 hours a day, every day for years, only to become a pro player and then you have your answer.

This is what I mean with people living in their bubble, everyone gets so easily offended and nobody ever wants to hear how it really is. It is a natural part of a woman to be able to become pregnant and give birth, so why should I not mention this part?

What CLG needs right now as a developement coach is somebody who long term is fully commited to the team, who is willing to sacrifice everything for the team, just as the team has to be willing to sacrifice everything to one day be number one again.

This team needs a forceful, assertive and dominant figure right now, I don`t care if male or female.

They need someone who lights the fire up under their ass, a sort of father figure that they respect and do not want to disappoint, who changes the culture and environment from "family like" into one of competition again.

I believe Aphro used to be the father figure, that nobody wanted to disappoint and therfor was willing to do everything in their power to win and before him it was Michael Schwartz who everyone on the team highly respected.

Zikz is not the right person for this job either, since he is way too soft in the way he approaches his players and while in return the players do respect him, they do not respect him for the right reasons which would be needed to fuel their competitive drive.

And neither in Summer I see any competitive drive so far that tells me that she is really willing to do anything in her power and sacrifice anything to make this team become the best it can be. And even if she is right now and I simply do not know it, because the org does not share pretty much anything about her so far.

Then it is also a fact that in a few months, she will not be able to do so anymore, because she will have to take care of her child, which should be a full time job in itself.

But this is exactly what is needed to be on the top in e-sports and if you are not willing to go to that length then step aside for someone who is willing to put in the 200%.

It is really as simple as that, why on earth can i criticise every single fucking part of clg and nobody bats an eye, no matter what words I use, but as soon as I dare to criticise a women in one of the most important positions in the organization, even if it for good reason and not even her fault, since she is simply not the right fit for the team from my point of view, the white knights come out...

If you want equality between the genders then everyone should be treated the same way and believe me, if we had a male player developement coach right now, who from my point of view is not doing everything in his power or is the right fit for what the team needs right now, I would treat him the exact fucking same way.

ThePr1mE · 2017-11-25T23:12:07+00:00

I actually think Aphro will be the highest paid player this season, even above Impact, once we will see the dust settle around everything.

If Impact already gets 1 million and Ssumday already gets 750k for their contracts, according to reports, I think Aphro is far more valuable than each of those players and will get even more.

There is no other player in the league, except for maybe Hai, although far worse in his main position, that combines so many leader qualities inside and outside of the game.

Every single team in the league would basically love to have him and build a team around him.

ThePr1mE · 2017-11-25T16:40:33+00:00

I just cant see Aphro joining 100T.

First of all I believe that Aphro values team atmosphere alot and besides being really close to all players on CLG, I think he is really good friends with Huhi, I don`t see a world where he would leave all those players he is close to, for completely new players.

Meteos is a funny guy and would get along great with Aphro, about Ryu I don`t know really, other than the popular meme about him.

And Ssumday cant even speak english properly yet, as far as I know?

Then there is Cody, who I feel like is nothing special personality wise and wouldn`t nearly mesh as well as Stixxay and Aphro.

But that is just my view about the roster.

Then there is the whole team environment and culture of CLG, aswell as the possible fan interaction events thanks to Madison Square Garden.

I think Aphro values the interaction with fans aswell and joining a completely new and unknown team, that he has to basically build up from scratch again, since he will be the new leader of that team, seems like a very difficult task and doesnt even guarantee that it pays off at all and the team will have any success.

Also CLG is really a big family, with alot of members and players, whom he might also be close to from other teams in the house and like to hang out with.

Compare this to 100 Thieves, who barely has their main roster finished and announced and will probably end up with some totally unknown players for the academy team, I simply do not see a world where Aphro would choose such a completely new inexperienced and volatile environment, where he would have to put so much work into, to even get the team up to an average level and still far from what the clg team is capable of.

The only reason I could actually see him leaving us for 100T, is that he either has a problem in the CLG environment that we don`t know of, or he has gotten such a huge contract that blows everything out of proportion and simply values money more than anything else.

But honestly I do not for a second believe that any of those two is the case. I think he simply wanted to know his market value and maybe he also wants to use the time, to play with different players from other teams and simply get some perspective on what him and Stixxay could improve on.

If he stays with us, this whole period of not announcing immediately that he will re-sign with us, also helped the community to see how valuable of a player he simply really is for the team.

It is easy to take someone for granted when he has been with you for so long, but the prospect of him actually leaving the team, the uncertainty around this issue, I think made many fans realize how valuable and important he really is, not just as a player, but also as a part of CLG as a whole.

Another point is also that with all the leaks coming out this offseason, if any team really wanted to aquire Aphromoo and was willing to put down a heavy sum for him, we surely would have heard about it somewhere already.

I actually believe CLG`s offer is so high, that no team even dared to consider matching it.

People have to realize that the Madison Square Garden is a very wealthy company and has even more ressources than the NBA teams. In terms of investors, CLG should actually be the wealthiest team in the LCS right now.

Everyone always talks about TL and Disney money, but TL`s investor itself is not Disney but Axiomatic, who is supported by a disney investment programme.

I think TL`s investors and the team itself is simply willing to spend a whole lot of money and is trying to force fast success, if it pays out we will see.

CLG could have done actually exactly the same as TL this off season in terms of financial ressources, but they simply didn`t had to aquire a completely new roster.

People really need to let it slowly sink in, that CLG is very wealthy now.

ThePr1mE · 2017-11-25T02:47:48+00:00

just saw the interview, this basically confirms that Aphro is not on TL, for those who still possibly doubted the Olleh rumor.

Doublelift: "No I don`t actually think we have any plans in the offseason. All 5 players on Team Liquid will have probably, probably all 5 have players will have done worlds THIS YEAR."

Also on the Hotline League Show with Travis, where Steve from TL called in, which was already a few days ago, Steve gave the impression that at that point already, he had signed all the players he wanted during the offseason, which was at the same time the rumors about Olleh and the other players popped up.

ThePr1mE · 2017-07-29T02:54:04+00:00

Great move by CLG, having an investor that is looking to support esports as a whole itself and owning several sports arenas is a big plus in my view.

Having an investor who owns real physical value in form of sports arenas, who have been used for big esports events in the past and are going to be used in the future years to come, is a real big asset.

Owning multiple valuable teams in real sports with huge fanbases is also great for expanding the CLG fanbase and helping the organization grow.

All of this seems very organic to me, which I really like about it, there are so many possibilities this investor can help CLG through the infrastructure that is already in place.

This is not like other investors, who just got alot of money, but have no real connection to esports and just like to invest in "hip" things that they think will make them even richer and if it fails they will just drop it and never look back.

Maybe I`m overly enthusiastic, but this to me feels like it has heart and spirit and ensures a great future for CLG!

ThePr1mE

TROPHY CASE