Hearthstone

[smackababy]

I am sure the Play uses a simple ELO rating system.

I don't know about Arena, but it is interesting if the goes by wins in that Arena session. Playing against another 8 win person to hit that 9-0 status would make a lot more sense than hitting a 0 win guy for that last match.

 

[lupi]

I heard previously that arena does try to match players at currently win levels in arena.

Haven't heard much about unranked play, but that seems somewhat random as hell.

 

[smackababy]

I would guess there is an ELO rating for unranked as well, otherwise it is just completely random.

 

[Rhezuss]

Do we have a release date for this except "4th quarter of 2013" or it's a late december thing?

 

[lupi]

Some people are hoping for an open beta announcement at blizzcon, but nothing yet otherwise.

 

[Wardawg1001]

I would guess there is an ELO rating for unranked as well, otherwise it is just completely random.

What I heard is that it there is no separate rating for unranked, it just uses your ranked rating, but of course wins/losses in unranked don't change it. I think this was pure speculation and not confirmed by Blizzard though. This is how unranked play works in SC2 though, so I guess it makes sense on some level.

 

[smackababy]

What I heard is that it there is no separate rating for unranked, it just uses your ranked rating, but of course wins/losses in unranked don't change it. I think this was pure speculation and not confirmed by Blizzard though. This is how unranked play works in SC2 though, so I guess it makes sense on some level.

That makes a lot of sense. It just uses your ranked ELO, but the outcome isn't recorded. That way, you're not getting matched up with people completely out of your league or under you, the challenge remains as it would in ranked.

 

[lupi]

I've never played ranked matches but have done a lot of unranked play. I've see all types of different players against me including guys with legendaries, some with a deck stuffed with rares, and those looking like they're playing the second game.

 

[smackababy]

Well, I know a lot of people just play Arena, and you can get legendary (and rare) cards from that. So, it is possible, they never play constructed deck matches outside of unranked, thus their ranked ELO would be 1400 (or whatever it starts at), hence why they are getting matched up against you (being at the same starter ELO).

But, unless Blizzard actually states how the matchmaking works, I doubt we'll ever know for sure.

 

[Wardawg1001]

I've never played ranked matches but have done a lot of unranked play. I've see all types of different players against me including guys with legendaries, some with a deck stuffed with rares, and those looking like they're playing the second game.

The fact that you haven't played any ranked matches is probably not doing you any favors. Right now you are sitting at whatever the baseline rating is, which will include basically every type of player. You'll be matched against other new players who have played no ranked matches. You'll also be matched against players who have played 500 unranked matches and are experienced in other card games like MTG. You'll be matched up with players who have been building their card deck by buying card packs or playing arena for weeks. You'll also be matched against players who HAVE played ranked matchmaking, and their skill level has been determined to be right around that baseline rating.

You'll still see some randomness even after playing a few ranked matches, because of the ability of people to gain advantage outside of ranked play. If you go lose 15 ranked matches, your next match might be against someone who also lost 15 ranked matches, but that was 2 months ago and hes been practicing in unranked or arena since then. In general though you should see more skill appropriate matches if you let ranked matchmaking determine your rating then switch back to unranked. This should get better as time goes on as well, as the system can more accurately gauge respective skill levels.

 

[Madia]

I'm still wondering if the number of cards you have own has anything to do with matchmaking. I'm asking because the first time I bought cards ($30 worth) my opponents seemed to go from noobs to somewhat competent players.

Prior to getting into the beta I watched some playthroughs (particularly total biscuit's arena runs) so I had a good idea how to play the game well. I ended up pretty much sleepwalking through matches in the beginning mostly playing just to level up my characters and unlock the basic cards. I wouldn't be surprised if I had and 80%+ win rate. I got a little bored leveling up since many of the cards I used were the same across decks so I ended up buying the packs for more variety. It was around this time my opponents seemed to go from noobs to somewhat experienced players.

Currently on ranked play I'm getting mostly competitive matches with the occasional killer deck and very infrequently someone who makes rookie mistakes. I've been running a hunter beast deck with mostly basics/commons and a couple rares (no epics or legendarys) and have been having good success. My concern is that when I start playing more as other classes I might have a difficult time due to a high ranking.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

I havent even figured out how to play ranked games...is it that little check box in the upper right when you go to "Play"? Arenas have been really fun though. Once I figured out which cards I liked, I have been winning at least 80%

 

[Newbian]

Arena matching people for it with the same elo in normal play would be a horrible design as it would be very abusable and unfair.

Should just go by arena record and nothing less.

 

[lupi]

once you hit play there is an unranked/ranked toggle button in the upper right.

 

[Wardawg1001]

I'm still wondering if the number of cards you have own has anything to do with matchmaking. I'm asking because the first time I bought cards ($30 worth) my opponents seemed to go from noobs to somewhat competent players.

If it factors in to the equation at all, it has to be an extremely small part. It would be too easy to troll on new accounts otherwise. Just buy a few card packs, turn it all in to dust, and put together whatever deck happens to be overpowered at the time. You get an overpowered deck AND you get to play against weaker opponents.

Plus you'd end up with total noobs being stuck in high brackets just because they collect a lot of cards. It would be a negative incentive for people to collect cards since they don't want to be faced with tougher competition (resulting in lower sales for Blizz).

Not to mention it doesn't even make sense - a matchmaking system is supposed to aim to place you with opponents of similar skill, and number of cards is not even remotely indicative of any given players skill level. There is some amount of correlation I'm sure, but when trying to match player A with player B it is far too loose, and the ELO system on its own will be much more effective at matching players without looking at card counts.

 

[lupi]

Had a great game yesterday. With the daily quest being play 1 or 2 cost minions, went and made a beast huntard deck. Stocked it with a bunch of low cost beast minions and all the buck minions/spells. Went against a mage so thought it may not go well if they pulled a couple arcane explosions quickly.

I went second and used the coin to drop the raven that gives a card draw on each beast played. Second turn I dropped the 3/2 raptor and mage decided to take that out vice the 2/2 bird. Third hand put out the 3 mana taunt bear. Didn't lose any into my fourth and put out wolf and another 3 mana beast. He manages now to kill the bear but I drop my second raven and a couple more beast (so now getting 2 card draws with each beast). On my 6 mana go I use both kill commands which leaves him around 6 health. He them flamestrikes me but at this point he will die in not more than 3 rounds with just my hero ability and he can't do enough damage as I'm untouched.

It was pure RNG that I got the cards in about the exact way I'd want to have had them drawn, but it was sure fun playing like that.

 

[ikachu]

Finally started playing this this weekend; my beta key was hidden in my gmail 'Promotions' folder for awhile and then I couldn't find my authenticator.

So far it's pretty fun, could see myself killing some time w/ it although I don't think I will ever spend money on it. Has anyone run into the issue where your opponent's turn takes forever, and then all of a sudden he gets like 10 turns in a row and kills you? I think something like that would really piss me off if I was doing an arena.

Is there any point to getting a good ranking besides epeen? I'm wondering whether I should worry too much about trying to build up a good deck or just play a bunch of games to get more experience under my belt and not worry too much if I win or lose.

 

[lupi]

No idea what you mean by getting multiple turns.


In a future patch they're added unlocks ofranked play that give you a gold foil hero model.

 

[ikachu]

I think it might be some kind of battle.net desync issue? Kind of like a big lag spike followed by a period where everything that happened during the spike catches up with you. Of course during that spike the opponent made a bunch of moves while you just sat there.

Maybe additional strain on the servers due to influx of people playing during Blizzcon?

 

[smackababy]

Sometimes Arena really annoys me. A mage deck without a single polymorph or fireball...

 

[lupi]

I want to watch the inventational still, but did catch some detailed descriptions of how arena is played over the weekend. (BTW, max arena wins will be upped to 12 possible), holy potluck batman.

 

[Madia]

Sometimes Arena really annoys me. A mage deck without a single polymorph or fireball...

Arena draft can be really wonky at times. My last draft I took 5 mirror images. My mage run before that I got absolute junk. Of course, that mirrors is ccg's brethren drafts since that's luck of the draw also.

 

[smackababy]

Just had an amazing hunter draft... and by amazing, I mean I got literally 3 beasts in my deck. Another mediocre 3-3! I went up against some people with really good decks. And a priest who somehow got so lucky he had a lightwell, two double health (bring it to 20) and then a make the attack equal to the health. Yep, a 20/20 card in the first like 5 turns. Thanks Obama!

 

[lupi]

Played 4 games last night. Had the quest for 2 wins as hunter/mage, so went with the new hunter again. First match was against a mage, we both whittled each other down a bit but I had a real bad card draw order so was never able to put real pressure against him and ended up losing. Second was against a priest with a bunch of uncommon/rare cards giving him secondary effects. I was able to last awhile by keeping his minions clear, but when the mana count got high he was able to drop so many effective moderate cost cards I got wiped out. Third game was another dream draw for me and the other guy dropped match with over a dozen health left. Fourth was against another hunter but I managed to keep his minion count low till my stacking cards started to show up.

Do need to look through and learn more of the secret cards. I did like one time where I blew the other players eye for an eye card by attacking the hero with a 1 point damage ruining it (just a round after I had hit hit with an 8 point fireball)

 

[Wardawg1001]

Hunter is probably the toughest to take into the Arena. If you don't get enough beasts and low cost cards you are pretty screwed, and secrets can be very hit or miss. That said, Hunter has some really really nice synergies, so if you do get a good deck you can really wreck a lot of people, even if they also got a good deck.