Ladder Leagues & Pools

[FtXCommando]

I was asked to make a more definitive explanation about the recent change to ladder, both as an explanation on how it is intended to work and the rationale for changing it.

Long story short, if you want the rationale, please read:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19432

I explain the logic behind every structural element in the change there and go further in depth on what those changes are meant to accomplish in that thread.

But most of you don't care about boring data dumps, you just want to know why you keep getting the same map over and over. Well, let me explain how ladder is going to work and how to read the map pools.

First things first:
Why is the "map pool" shown in the client wrong for me?

Well, mostly because we're currently in a transition period. While the code to implement the pools themselves was finished and ready for deployment, the client development has lagged behind. The client itself is still using the outdated pool list and it basically shows off the map list that was used in the old, universal map pool system. Partly it's my fault there are some maps that are in the pool but not showing up in that list because I never got around to updating the outdated system to include all potential 20 maps. However, when I do, you still won't be getting more than 7 of those maps if you were under 300.

So this should be fixed once the client catches up in development and we can just get rid of the old system. Until then, I'll just be including all the maps in all the pools there.

So how do I know what my map pool is?

Right now the only definitive way to do so is to look at the ladder pool thread. I thought it was pretty self-explanatory there. Basically, everyone's pool is color keyed and the main thing to understand is that every pool is built upon the pools preceding it. In easily understandable terms, this just means that every time you breach some rating range you will unlock a few new maps.

I'm 1400 and my opponent is 1200, what pool gets used?

We decided to base the pool on the lowest rated player in the game. This is because, if you were the lower rated player, a system that may potentially throw you into maps you had no reason to expect to play is inherently unfriendly. Both players should expect to play the maps in the lower rated player's pool prior to learning anything about their match up, and so making that lower rated pool the map pool should not harm either player much. It also has the marginal benefit of guaranteeing a slightly better game as odds are the lower rated player would not perform well on a totally new map outside of his pool, but some level of competence could be expected on a map he has statistically had a higher probability of playing.

I just played the same map 3 times in a row; I thought ladder had no repetition code?

Yes, the code is just currently bugged and not working properly. It should get fixed sometime soon and kept at the restriction it was at in the old system. In the worst case scenario of 2 <300 players playing each other and having a list of 6 unique previous maps in their sum game list, there will still be 1 free map for the system to choose.

If you have any other questions about the system for me to clarify, let me know.

[nine2]

When did this launch roughly?

[FtXCommando]

July 4th.

[nine2]

Sorry, noob question here. Can't find a post explaining the divisions and the current maps-per-division?

[nine2]

Is this it? viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16382&#p165465

[nine2]

The new pools are good. Are they built off "what people asked for?" or "what you think people should have". Because I wonder if the ladder pool should be tiny all the way up to 1000 rating.

[FtXCommando]

Sorry, noob question here. Can't find a post explaining the divisions and the current maps-per-division?

No idea what exactly you're asking. If you want in depth explanations then see:

III. League Developments and Their Impact on Decisions
V. Map Pool Size
VI. Map Preferences

The new pools are good. Are they built off "what people asked for?" or "what you think people should have". Because I wonder if the ladder pool should be tiny all the way up to 1000 rating.

Both.

See:
V. Map Pool Size

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19432

[nine2]

Well its a bit hard to write a news post without having to read the marathon so I guess I'll just write some garabage

[nine2]

How do you feel about writing up a news cell to summarize the ladder pool changes and link to the right spot?

[FtXCommando]

Would just be me saying the new pool structure exists, that the general idea is that you unlock more maps in your personal pool as you move up in the ladder leagues, the fact pools now change once a month, and the breakdown of map sizes in each pool.

I'd then link to the Ladder thread saying that the maps you unlock at each rating range are color-coded in the OP, then link to the survey saying it was the data source used to arrive at the structure of the system, and then link this thread for Q&A stuff about the implementation.

If you want me to write it then it'll probably take a few days or so because of other commitments.