Season 13 and the Future of PvP

[JediMasterAlex]

It will be the same as always. The same 10 people in queue vote kicking others out of matches as they pretend solo ranked has any meaning to it (it doesn't)

Agreed, instead of 100/200 playing, it now 10 who manipulate it for their own benefit and are intolerant of any others who try! It almost laughable. They sure like to preach about how great they and ranked are though! Exclude everyone to make yourself great....the new ranked!

 

At least there will be decent rewards for them now....***!

Because it is. And yes I've played it, I've given it plenty of chances and I'm done giving it any more. The quoted attitude is reflected in this thread - the "cesspool" is ranked players who think they're too good to play objectives, who think everyone in regs is an r-word and then who wonder why no one wants to queue with them.

 

Aside from nightmare raiders, ranked is universally recognized in this game as the most toxic playing atmosphere. It's lulzy, Trump-level cognitive dissonance to blame that on the forum. The last time I critiqued Ranked here I was told to "git gud" which is always the ranked player's answer to accusations of toxicity: everyone complaining about them is a bad.

 

You guys have done a great service by directly proving Caprica's point here lol.

 

I'm the one that brought the abuse of vote kicking to the forum's attention this season. I was actually there in those games all season long, so I can accurately report what actually happened in ranked on SF. Pointing out specific instances of "toxicity" and ******** is important so that hopefully Bioware can do something about it where warranted, but it's equally important not to be hyberbolic and make **** up.

 

Also, "universally recognized" lol. No, it's "universally recognized" as bad only by a handful of people that post in the pvp forums that have a vendetta against ranked as a game mode. The hundreds, probably thousands of people that actually play ranked know that the vast majority of games are just normal, fun, competitive matches. The only people that play ranked and feel ranked is too "toxic" for them probably don't belong in ranked in the first place, or any online competitive game for that matter.

 

To be totally clear, there are and always will be some toxic individuals that play ranked. That doesn't make ranked inherently "toxic," nor does it make it unfun to play. The perception that ranked is awful is mostly a construction from this forum and in-game fleet chatter. It's a shame to think that some people that might try ranked are dissuaded from doing so by such nonsense.

Edited July 27, 2020 by JediMasterAlex

[Ardrossan]

The only people that play ranked and feel ranked is too "toxic" for them probably don't belong in ranked in the first place, or any online competitive game for that matter.

.

 

OK, so what does this actually mean except "git gud"? You've literally replicated the arguments I cited in my post: 1) ranked players blame all the bad press on the forum, and 2) anyone who plays ranked and thinks it's toxic is a bad and hates competition lolwut?

 

As I say, this is how ranked players respond to criticism: deflection and ad hominems. Which kinda proves the whole "toxicity" thing. And no, it's not just the forum or "just" fleet chat, I've been playing since 2.0 bro, I've been around, experienced everything in this game and ranked is by far the worst - and what's more, everyone knows it...except oblivious ranked players who can't understand why no one wants to play with them.

[KendraP]

Can we please save the polarized "all ranked players are toxic" vs "all players who find ranked toxic are bad" arguments?

 

Obviously there are ranked players who aren't toxic and obviously there are people who find ranked toxic who aren't total garbage. These are not mutually exclusive groups. Indeed, ranked and reg PvPers are not mutually exclusive. Agree on that much and move along. No one is convincing anyone of anything here any more than they have at any other point in the last near decade.

[Lundorff]

I plan on doing more ranked this season, and while random, harmless banter is fine, I will not accept down right toxic and racist behavior. And by not accept it means I will add that person to ignore on all my characters, even if it makes strategic communication that much harder

[TrixxieTriss]

Can we please save the polarized "all ranked players are toxic" vs "all players who find ranked toxic are bad" arguments?

 

Obviously there are ranked players who aren't toxic and obviously there are people who find ranked toxic who aren't total garbage. These are not mutually exclusive groups. Indeed, ranked and reg PvPers are not mutually exclusive. Agree on that much and move along. No one is convincing anyone of anything here any more than they have at any other point in the last near decade.

 

Yep, agreed. You can’t paint everyone in a group with the same brush.

But unfortunately for ranked, the population is getting smaller than ever before and those toxics that are there causing problems do have a magnified affect.

The same as troll premades or death matchers or just really bad noobs affect regs more than they used to because with less population, you will see those same people more than your would have before when they were being filtered through a larger population.

And if you login to play at a certain time and those same people you don’t like do the same, then your experience will be negative and you find you can’t get away from them and the only solution is to stop playing if they are negatively affecting your enjoyment. And the more this happens when you login to each day, the less you feel like logging into start with and we end up with this snow ball affect of less people playing.

What frustrates me is some people’s views that only their part of pvp matters and the rest doesnt. Because what they fail to understand is it all affects each part of pvp negatively. Less players in lowbies, less players in mid, less players in reg, logically leads to less experienced players for ranked. And the less experienced ranked players means other players who might want to learn to get better in regs while playing some ranked, won’t get enough balanced ranked matches to learn, so they ruin regs by death matching, with makes others stop playing.

It’s a viscous cycle that is snow balling faster and until people understand that what affects one part affects all parts, then pvp will continue to fail in this game.

[TrixxieTriss]

I plan on doing more ranked this season, and while random, harmless banter is fine, I will not accept down right toxic and racist behavior. And by not accept it means I will add that person to ignore on all my characters, even if it makes strategic communication that much harder

 

It’s such a shame that ignore never worked to stop putting you in groups with people on the list. But we know why it doesn’t because it would be abused and we’d end up with even less players. Catch-22.

 

On a side note I watched a very funny TV comedy today about a Gaming company and how it’s so dysfunctionally. There were so many “Bioware” or “swtor” moments that I could not stop laughing.

 

(It’s on AppleTV called Mythic Quest : Raven’s Banquet

)

 

But to cut a long story short, there was an episode where they discover they have a bunch of less desirable players, who lets say, follow a certain philosophy based on funny looking WW2 cross

Some wanted them banned, but others said they were paying customers.

The developers solution was to trick these undesirables into revealing themselves and then putting them all into their own instance on the server to spew hate and bad behaviour at each other away from the rest of the player population.

 

Such a shame we don’t have the population here to try such a thing with the toxic people. LoL.

It was a really funny show

[JediMasterAlex]

OK, so what does this actually mean except "git gud"? You've literally replicated the arguments I cited in my post: 1) ranked players blame all the bad press on the forum, and 2) anyone who plays ranked and thinks it's toxic is a bad and hates competition lolwut?

 

As I say, this is how ranked players respond to criticism: deflection and ad hominems. Which kinda proves the whole "toxicity" thing. And no, it's not just the forum or "just" fleet chat, I've been playing since 2.0 bro, I've been around, experienced everything in this game and ranked is by far the worst - and what's more, everyone knows it...except oblivious ranked players who can't understand why no one wants to play with them.

 

If you really want to boil it down, it doesn't mean "git gud" it means "grow a thicker skin."

 

And yes, the bad press is mostly due to the forums. I know this because I actually play ranked all the time, and the actual ranked experience doesn't accord with what people like you say about it on the forums. And when I tell you what ranked is actually like, that the vast majority of the games are just normal, competitive, fun games, you're incredulous "no, that can't be, everyone in my groupthink ********** knows ranked is toxic and horrible." If you actually played ranked on a semi-regular basis, you would learn the truth, but you're content to stay in your bubble.

 

I haven't deflected anything. I'm directly responding to the nonsense you typed about ranked. If ranked was actually as bad as you think it is, I wouldn't be playing hundreds, nearly thousands, of matches per season and having a blast. And just so you know, I'm not toxic in ranked, and I frequently speak out against the most toxic people and am disliked for it.

 

The reason you don't see more posts talking about ranked positively is because I'm one of the few ranked players that bothers posting here regularly. Most of the other ranked players consider the forums too much of a joke to bother with.

 

Can we please save the polarized "all ranked players are toxic" vs "all players who find ranked toxic are bad" arguments?

 

I never said that people who find ranked toxic are bad. I said people who find ranked too toxic probably don't belong in ranked. The reason they don't belong in ranked is because they can't handle basic, run-of-the-mill competitive online game "toxicity," not necessarily because they're "bad."

 

And I think it's worthwhile to counter the erroneous perception that ranked is so awful. At least whoever happens to read this can get a firsthand account from me, rather than only seeing posts from people that don't play ranked.

 

I plan on doing more ranked this season, and while random, harmless banter is fine, I will not accept down right toxic and racist behavior. And by not accept it means I will add that person to ignore on all my characters, even if it makes strategic communication that much harder

 

Luckily, of the most racist people playing ranked on SF, one was banned from playing ranked and another quit the game supposedly. So at least it's a step in the right direction.

Edited July 27, 2020 by JediMasterAlex

[Ardrossan]

Most of the other ranked players consider the forums too much of a joke to bother with.

 

I never said that people who find ranked toxic are bad. I said people who find ranked too toxic probably don't belong in ranked. The reason they don't belong in ranked is because they can't handle basic, run-of-the-mill competitive online game "toxicity," not necessarily because they're "bad."

 

And I think it's worthwhile to counter the erroneous perception that ranked is so awful. At least whoever happens to read this can get a firsthand account from me, rather than only seeing posts from people that don't play ranked.

 

Yeah, I sub once a year so I'm pretty sure I don't speak for the forum, particularly the pvp one, and it's pretty lulzy that you keep trying to pigeonhole me into the uninformed forum elitist role. These other two posters are regulars, I'm not. Keep swinging, bro.

 

As I've said repeatedly, I've played Ranked. Up until about six months ago I gave it a shot every time I resubbed. So your rhetoric that anyone who criticizes it hasn't played it is false. I tried it a few times, over long intervals, and it was a snakepit every time. That's a consistent experience you can't say about regs, or GSF or raiding. And if you knew me from outside the pvp forum you'd know how silly it is to argue that I am just too much of a sensitive snowflake to appreciate ranked.

 

Regular pvp is competitive, and it can be occasionally toxic too, but it's got nothing on Ranked. The degree of harassment they put on anyone they *think* might lower their rating is unreal and it's not just a few bad apples. Lastly, I don't GAF how much you complain about it in-game, you're defending it now and using the same tired old cliches the worst offenders use. Yes, I caught that you're trying to put a positive spin on ranked so the hypothetical lurker will give it a shot, and how about let's not do that? Let's not minimize the awful because your friends are rightly having trouble filling queues.

 

When we reach the point in the convo where the other guy admits he's only posting to appeal to the entirely hypothetical fence-sitting lurker who's ready to have their mind changed by the strength of the posts, it's time to call it.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Ardrossan

[JediMasterAlex]

As I've said repeatedly, I've played Ranked. Up until about six months ago I gave it a shot every time I resubbed. So your rhetoric that anyone who criticizes it hasn't played it is false. I tried it a few times, over long intervals, and it was a snakepit every time. That's a consistent experience you can't say about regs, or GSF or raiding. And if you knew me from outside the pvp forum you'd know how silly it is to argue that I am just too much of a sensitive snowflake to appreciate ranked.

 

What is your definition of "gave it a shot"? Are you gearing up properly before you play? How many games are you playing? On what server? What exactly do you mean by "snakepit"? I suspect playing 3 games, getting globaled, and getting yelled at by your teammates isn't really a good basis to form an opinion from lol.

 

Ponder this, if ranked was as bad as you say, how is it possible for me to enjoy it, queueing almost daily for the last few seasons? Not to mention all the other ranked regulars.

 

Regular pvp is competitive, and it can be occasionally toxic too, but it's got nothing on Ranked. The degree of harassment they put on anyone they *think* might lower their rating is unreal and it's not just a few bad apples. Lastly, I don't GAF how much you complain about it in-game, you're defending it now and using the same tired old cliches the worst offenders use. Yes, I caught that you're trying to put a positive spin on ranked so the hypothetical lurker will give it a shot, and how about let's not do that? Let's not minimize the awful because your friends are rightly having trouble filling queues.

 

Pure nonsense, which is par for the course here when it comes to ranked.

 

What tired old cliches am I using again? I'm simply telling you ranked is not nearly as "toxic" as you and others that don't play it say it is. I'm not putting a "spin" on anything either, I'm telling the truth based on extensive experience, unlike you. If you were to look at my post history, you would see that I speak frankly about the problems in ranked all the time. The actual problems though, not the made up forum nonsense.

 

And for you to paint me as some sort of villain, when all I do is queue ranked, try my best to win, and even stand up for those that do sometimes face abuse in ranked, is laughable. I know you so badly want to believe that ranked is awful, and I know the truth hurts, but you really should try to avoid deliberately spreading misinformation on the forums. It's really irresponsible.

 

When we reach the point in the convo where the other guy admits he's only posting to appeal to the entirely hypothetical fence-sitting lurker who's ready to have their mind changed by the strength of the posts, it's time to call it.

 

If that's your interpretation of what I said, you really need to work on your reading comprehension skills lol.

Edited July 27, 2020 by JediMasterAlex

[Lhancelot]

ranked is by far the worst - and what's more, everyone knows it...except oblivious ranked players who can't understand why no one wants to play with them.

 

This part made me lol. It's so true! It's the oddest phenomena too. Ranked has grown less and less popular I mean it's truly a ghosttown at this point, yet people defend the antiquated and stupid way ranked operates. STILL.

 

I will no longer suggest anything, because if the idea didn't come from others, they don't want to take the time to read anything anyone else considers or thinks about, it's just an exercise in futility trying to plant seeds here, especially when you try to plant seeds for ranked and for the improvement of ranked.

 

People seem to take it personal when ranked is criticized and instead of admitting reality, which is that ranked is awful, our staunchest ranked players support the present ranked system in all it's impossibly flawed glory.

 

With that said, I just will lurk and support others for now on I am done putting effort into suggestions, especially when it comes to ranked. I only get attacked by ranked players when I point out how dumb the entire system of ranked PVP is on this game it's just illogical how they score it, and how they manage the punishments, and everything else. Ranked is abysmal now. Period. It could only get better if they started from scratch tbh.

[Raansu]

I never said that people who find ranked toxic are bad. I said people who find ranked too toxic probably don't belong in ranked. The reason they don't belong in ranked is because they can't handle basic, run-of-the-mill competitive online game "toxicity," not necessarily because they're "bad."

 

And I think it's worthwhile to counter the erroneous perception that ranked is so awful. At least whoever happens to read this can get a firsthand account from me, rather than only seeing posts from people that don't play ranked.

 

lol this right here is why solo ranked is relegated to the same group of 10-20 people.

 

I can be on the winning team and still look at the chat and see the garbage from the winning team taking shots at each other. Solo ranked chat literally makes me just roll my eyes constantly.

 

Shoehorned BS with the clique of 10-20 people who vote kick anyone they don't recognize or vote kick to win trade. Sorry dude, solo ranked is a joke.

[Ardrossan]

With that said, I just will lurk and support others for now on I am done putting effort into suggestions, especially when it comes to ranked. I only get attacked by ranked players when I point out how dumb the entire system of ranked PVP is on this game it's just illogical how they score it, and how they manage the punishments, and everything else. Ranked is abysmal now. Period. It could only get better if they started from scratch tbh.

 

You're smarter than I am, Lhance. Or at least you've had enough of these convos in the past to know better than to get into them.

[omaan]

You guys have done a great service by directly proving Caprica's point here lol.

 

I'm the one that brought the abuse of vote kicking to the forum's attention this season. I was actually there in those games all season long, so I can accurately report what actually happened in ranked on SF. Pointing out specific instances of "toxicity" and ******** is important so that hopefully Bioware can do something about it where warranted, but it's equally important not to be hyberbolic and make **** up.

 

Also, "universally recognized" lol. No, it's "universally recognized" as bad only by a handful of people that post in the pvp forums that have a vendetta against ranked as a game mode. The hundreds, probably thousands of people that actually play ranked know that the vast majority of games are just normal, fun, competitive matches. The only people that play ranked and feel ranked is too "toxic" for them probably don't belong in ranked in the first place, or any online competitive game for that matter.

 

To be totally clear, there are and always will be some toxic individuals that play ranked. That doesn't make ranked inherently "toxic," nor does it make it unfun to play. The perception that ranked is awful is mostly a construction from this forum and in-game fleet chatter. It's a shame to think that some people that might try ranked are dissuaded from doing so by such nonsense.

 

Those who brought up vote kick abuses were players who played swtor even before vote kick was introduced (read it here http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=307202&highlight=Vote+kick back in 2012). I was kicked even for playing good by haters back in season 10 and mass reported it to Musco. You didn't brought it, it was here long ago. Some of vote kicks are fair, some are not. Devs should just make so that 3 votes would be needed to kick a player from a ranked match. 2 is too abusive.

[JediMasterAlex]

People seem to take it personal when ranked is criticized and instead of admitting reality, which is that ranked is awful, our staunchest ranked players support the present ranked system in all it's impossibly flawed glory.

 

Same old Lhance, happy in his anti-ranked forum bubble.

 

lol this right here is why solo ranked is relegated to the same group of 10-20 people.

 

You can literally look at the leaderboards and see how many characters participate in solo ranked.

 

I can be on the winning team and still look at the chat and see the garbage from the winning team taking shots at each other. Solo ranked chat literally makes me just roll my eyes constantly.

 

So rolling your eyes at chat makes ranked a toxic hellhole?

 

Shoehorned BS with the clique of 10-20 people who vote kick anyone they don't recognize or vote kick to win trade. Sorry dude, solo ranked is a joke.

 

First, that assessment only partially applies to SF. DM doesn't have anything like it to my knowledge. And you realize...that I'm not in the "clique" right? And that I speak out against vote kick abuse in game all the time? Most of them dislike me, and the feeling is mutual. Yet most of the people in general that queue for solo ranked aren't in that group anyway. And I still have fun playing solo ranked, even if some people can make it unpleasant at times.

 

I wonder what you think my motivations are. Do you think I'm secretly a toxic bully trying to lure people into ranked? Because I don't fit into the ranked haters groupthink. I have fun playing ranked, and I play it almost daily. And there are plenty of players just like me in ranked. But if what you say about ranked were remotely true, that wouldn't be possible.

 

Again, you guys have all done a commendable job of showcasing the disinformation and nonsense spewed about ranked on these forums by players that don't play ranked. Thank you for that.

Edited July 27, 2020 by JediMasterAlex

[Ardrossan]

I wonder what you think my motivations are. Do you think I'm secretly a toxic bully trying to lure people into ranked? Because I don't fit into the ranked haters groupthink. I have fun playing ranked, and I play it almost daily. And there are plenty of players just like me in ranked. But if what you say about ranked were remotely true, that wouldn't be possible.

 

Again, you guys have all done a commendable job of showcasing the disinformation and nonsense spewed about ranked on these forums by players that don't play ranked. Thank you for that.

 

Dude, you have this way of acting like you don't belong with the "groupthink uninformed elitists" on the forum, but I think you have the drama queen and offended pride mentality down - you fit in QUITE well with us. "The lone voice bravely whistleblowing but he still loves the game" really sells it.

 

Anyway, I think it's a bit rich to expect people to take your word when you immediately dismiss or poke holes in anyone else's experiences with ranked if they aren't as positive as yours. idk you, but you've admitted that your whole purpose here is to shill propaganda for ranked, so no, I don't really trust your motivations.

 

imo, admitting that ranked is toxic and it's not just "a few bad apples", and it's not just people on the forum who don't play ranked and faint at competition would be helpful to figuring out what to do about it. But see, now I know that Lhance has already tried this convo with you and I gotta say - if it was just me, meh I rub a lot of people the wrong way, but if you can't get along with Lhancelot...then yeah, you're toxic.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Ardrossan

[Raansu]

You can literally look at the leaderboards and see how many characters participate in solo ranked.

 

How many of them played consistently? How many of them have more than 4 or 5 wins? If that many people were active in ranked, why is it even at the beginning of a new season people are in gen chat begging people to queue solo ranked? How come when it does pop its the same small group of people every match?

 

Face it, solo ranked arenas are a joke. I'm all for group ranked, but sadly that's even more dead. Only way a solo ranked queue would ever work decently is in 8v8. 4v4 arena style pvp is just too restrictive for it to ever work well.

[JediMasterAlex]

Anyway, I think it's a bit rich to expect people to take your word when you immediately dismiss or poke holes in anyone else's experiences with ranked if they aren't as positive as yours. idk you, but you've admitted that your whole purpose here is to shill propaganda for ranked, so no, I don't really trust your motivations.

 

My purpose is to counter lies about ranked with the truth based on experience. How is that "shill propoganda" lol. I played more solo ranked on SF the past three seasons than anyone. I notice you never answered how much ranked you've played or on what server. I can only assume it's a minuscule amount.

 

imo, admitting that ranked is toxic and it's not just "a few bad apples", and it's not just people on the forum who don't play ranked and faint at competition would be helpful to figuring out what to do about it. But see, now I know that Lhance has already tried this convo with you and I gotta say - if it was just me, meh I rub a lot of people the wrong way, but if you can't get along with Lhancelot...then yeah, you're toxic.

 

Just like Lhance, you have it backwards. When you make **** up about ranked because you have a personal vendetta against it, you make it impossible to have a conversation about the real problems in ranked. That's why no one that plays ranked takes these forums seriously. If you can't see that, that's on you. Try actually playing solo ranked before spouting nonsense. And I'm toxic for explaining the truth to you, ok lol.

 

How many of them played consistently? How many of them have more than 4 or 5 wins? If that many people were active in ranked, why is it even at the beginning of a new season people are in gen chat begging people to queue solo ranked? How come when it does pop its the same small group of people every match?

 

On SF in Season 12, there were 1061 characters with 5 or more wins in solo ranked. If you want more stats, go look at the leaderboards and sort by wins yourself. Unless it's your position that each of the 20 you think play ranked have 50 alts, there are clearly far more people queueing ranked on SF. Certainly hundreds of different players over the course of the season, and probably thousands on DM.

 

As for people begging in chat, some people like to beg for people to queue even when it's popping, just to get faster pops. And depending on when you queue, it could be the same group of 10-15 people on a given night, but it's not always that way. There are times when two or three games are going at once, and other times when it's dead completely. It varies. No one is pretending that the population of solo ranked on SF is super robust or healthy. But it was enough to produce fun games for most of the season, vote kick abuse notwithstanding.

Edited July 27, 2020 by JediMasterAlex

[KendraP]

Sigh, here we go again... please just agree to disagree here. I'm not going to give my opinion because there's like zero point.

[JediMasterAlex]

Sigh, here we go again... please just agree to disagree here. I'm not going to give my opinion because there's like zero point.

 

Answer this for me Kendra, do you think it's wrong of me to correct lies and nonsense? To use my extensive experience to tell people what actually happens in ranked? Or do you think it's better to simply ignore it and let all of the ******** stand as if it were true?

 

I'm under no delusions that my posts make any actual difference. But still, personally, I don't think pointing out and correcting lies is pointless.

 

It's just a shame. These forums could be a great place for ranked players from SF and DM to contribute to pvp discussions, but instead those are happening elsewhere.

Edited July 27, 2020 by JediMasterAlex

[KendraP]

Answer this for me Kendra, do you think it's wrong of me to correct lies and nonsense? To use my extensive experience to tell people what actually happens in ranked? Or do you think it's better to simply ignore it and let all of the ******** stand as if it were true?

 

I'm under no delusions that my posts make any actual difference. But still, personally, I don't think pointing out and correcting lies is pointless.

 

It's just a shame. These forums could be a great place for ranked players from SF and DM to contribute to pvp discussions, but instead those are happening elsewhere.

 

i think you've both made your point and it's time for one of you to grow up a bit and realize you're never going to convince each other of anything.

[JediMasterAlex]

i think you've both made your point and it's time for one of you to grow up a bit and realize you're never going to convince each other of anything.

 

It's not about convincing them. If it was, you would of course be correct.

[KendraP]

It's not about convincing them. If it was, you would of course be correct.

 

it's also about not derailing yet another thread onto ranked v unranked. i for one would rather go back to moaning about the penalty for leaving a regs match before adding map choice or doing anything about blatantly unbalanced and obvious losses or backfilling into such a match than continue to watch a futless and utterly pointless discussion on whose game mode is better.

Edited July 27, 2020 by KendraP

[JediMasterAlex]

it's also about not derailing yet another thread onto ranked v unranked. i for one would rather go back to moaning about the penalty for leaving a regs match before adding map choice or doing anything about blatantly unbalanced and obvious losses or backfilling into such a match than continue to watch a futless and utterly pointless discussion on whose game mode is better.

 

I've certainly contributed to derailing threads before, but I don't think this counts. A discussion of the merits of ranked directly fits this thread. I don't think anyone was commenting on which game mode was better either. Plus, I was just spring boarding off of Caprica's post, I didn't start it.

[KendraP]

and i'm definitely not going to argue over... arguing. the point is simply: I, and everyone else, have read the incredibly pointless attacks on and defenses of solo ranked over and over again to the point where I would simply enjoy reading something different.

 

Just play the mode you enjoy, he can play the mode he enjoys, and there's no need to constantly barrage the threads with who has a bigger... well you get the point right?

[cflems]

How many of them played consistently? How many of them have more than 4 or 5 wins? If that many people were active in ranked, why is it even at the beginning of a new season people are in gen chat begging people to queue solo ranked? How come when it does pop its the same small group of people every match?

 

Face it, solo ranked arenas are a joke. I'm all for group ranked, but sadly that's even more dead. Only way a solo ranked queue would ever work decently is in 8v8. 4v4 arena style pvp is just too restrictive for it to ever work well.

 

You can sort the leaderboard by wins and find the answer to your own question. What do you want to make the cutoff? 50 wins? Over 1000 characters. 25 wins? Over 1500. 10 wins? Over 2500, and closer to 3000 actually. The ranked community is weirdly segmented by timezone and server, and interest in ranked fluctuates as the season goes on (you get the tier you want, and then you're good to go do other ****). The doesn't mean it's remotely small, we just don't tend to enjoy the forums because people say dumb **** like what you and five others have been circle jerking about for the past 30 pages.

 

I've seen good players retire from solo ranked due to the pressures and attitudes in play. But ten times more often, I see bad players talking out of their *** about ranked toxicity because they feel entitled to queue for it before they're ready, and have a bad time as a result. With all these forums warriors, I guarantee we're talking about the second option.

 

A note to the casual observer, or prospective ranked participant: You should queue for ranked if and only if in regs you are almost always near the top of the dps leaderboard as a dps or tank, or consistently breaking 9k+ hps as a healer, and are dying minimally or not at all as any role against all types of competition including premades. BOTH of these are preconditions to being ready for ranked, and failing either you will underperform in ranked and have a bad experience, even if nobody says anything to you about it, because you will consistently lose. In my observation, toxicity in ranked is usually the result of someone being told they are not ready to queue, and failing to take the hint. There are some people that skip this warning step, but they are few and frowned upon. The reason that this policy has to exist is the way that ranked matchmaking works. If you are a low-rated player, you won't be matched with other low-rated players against low-rated opponents. You will be placed on a team with the highest rated player in queue against other medium to high rated players, and they will have to carry you to victory. If you make their job obscenely difficult, they will be understandably upset, and the opposing team likely won't be too happy either as they won't be facing much competition.

 

This is the perspective shift that needs to happen: you are not entitled to sandbag in ranked just as you are not entitled to sandbag in master flashpoints or operations of any difficulty. Only queue for content you're prepared to compete in, or you're just ruining the experience for your teammates, PvE or PvP wise. It's not surprising that the anti-ranked crowd listed nightmare raids as similarly toxic--these are comparable tiers of content, and nightmare raiders often do well in ranked with a little adjustment and vice versa. On the flip side, just like nightmare raiding, if you are prepared to compete in ranked, you can and should participate in it, as it can be highly rewarding if you are successful at it. Many ranked players develop a love for the mode to that point that it eclipses all other content in the game. Think of it as top-tier content that requires progression to be ready for and I promise your experience will be 1000% more positive.

 

As to regs, it's unfortunate that there's been such a split between people who can play objectives and people who can kill players. The reason attitudes like Triss's are contested so heavily isn't because people despise objectives for no reason, it's because that attitude breeds players who call 1 inc [side], lose their 1v1 while mid is heavily contested, and then ***** about the team not compensating for their incompetence. While it is possible to get good enough to do well in ranked by playing regs, if you're dropping single digit protection and sub-2k hps and dps to the point that it's difficult to determine your role by looking at the leaderboard, you're doing it wrong and you're not improving. That's not to say that you can't be good AND play objectives. I often play objectives, prum plays objectives, and so do many other decent players, the difference being that if you're guarding a node, you should be guarding a node that the enemy is trying to take, so you provide value to your team by either stalling or killing them. And if you're playing mid (or wherever the primary fight is taking place), you shouldn't be spam capping or hiding in stealth while your team gets wiped, you should be helping them wipe the other team off the node so your team can cap it.

 

I'd like to provide a counterexample to all the bad experiences being shared as I feel they're being overrepresented. My first experience in ranked was actually not toxic at all, because I had been practicing in regs--I learned how to top the boards in damage, I learned how to pop my dcds, I learned how to kite, I learned about stuns and enemy dcds. So when I stepped into ranked, I listened to the high rated player on my team, I followed the strategy he called, and I helped him carry me to victory. In turn, because I was respectful enough to do so, he became somewhat of a mentor figure to me and helped me learn the ropes of ranked. I'm still good friends, as far as internet friends go, with the people on my first team to this day.

 

In summary, Caecus is not alone, the rest of us are just too exhausted by the repetitive, non-factual ******** being spewed constantly by the same people on these forums and occasionally in gen chat to even respond. Thank you Caecus (and Prum and Caprica) for doing the service of responding for the rest of us who can't be bothered.

Edited July 27, 2020 by cflems
spelling and clarity