Originally Posted by Ngita
For whatever reason teams are stil re-rolling, 20 games, 8 unique teams, 3 teams were rerolls with 4/5 s4 and/or s4 weapons at 1550-1650 rating in 5's last tim I played. From my alts games it feels like their are very few genuine 1500 teams playing as well, Both teams broke 1550(just) the 2nd week of season and have since retreated to 1400, Typically both teams might play 9 or 10/10 games against 1550-1600 teams and losing 4-5 pts a game with the occasional win.
My mains team after playing since early season 1 has petered out the last 2 weeks with the realization that despite breaking 1850 three times last season its much harder to break 1800 this season.
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I have seen a quite few teams with one or more sets of S4 shoulders
rated at 1500-1700 in 2s and 3s, but not in 5s. However, you certainly
run into many more highly geared/skilled teams in 5s at the lower end because of the low population. They just aren't
rated low (i.e., you lose few points to them).
Originally Posted by syeren
Arena is just as 'easy' as it always was in 5s, it's just the lack of fodder at the bottom of the pyramid due to the fact there is no 'real' reward playing 5s over 2s or 3s. The bracket is no more hardcore than it has been in the last 3 Seasons, just there was a worthwhile reason of queuing 5s back in the previous seasons :p
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Originally Posted by Traj
Ya, this is my impression as well. There isn't more skill because only the bad players quit. From top to bottom there was a universal exodus from 5s. If anything it feels like there are less good teams than in s3.
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The overall skill level in 5s have improved significantly, but that doesn't mean the average opponent quality one faces at the top has improved. A 2100 opponent in S4 is a lot tougher than a 2100 opponent in S3, but then you are matched against 1600-1700 opponents most of the time, because the matchmaking algorithm doesn't do 80-minute queues (anymore).
One thing people don't seem to realize is that the Arena differs from chess in that there is no match sanctioning or match scheduling to support a "truly elite" environment,
and as if the voluntary rating resets are not enough, it has inexplicable seasonal resets to make it worse. The system is much more dependent on the scrubs at the bottom than most people have realized.
It's like I said in the other thread, the loss of the scrub base in a bracket will make it so bad for the pros, pros will start to quit, which will lead to more pros quitting, and start a vicious cycle.
Originally Posted by Calantus
I can only compare it to season 2 but to me 1800 feels easier this time around. Maybe it's because we're better now or we're getting lucky with crap opponents but unless it's shaman/warrior or druid/warrior I feel confident when the doors open these days. 1500 does feel somewhat harder on my low teams though. I can't say for sure but I suspect that there's less team selling for gold (which moves the sellers all the way through the brackets) and more people just resetting to faceroll low teams (keeping them low).
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This is the impression I get as well, although I am starting to see some significantly crappier teams in the 1500-1700 on my less serious teams. Personally, I am also seeing a lot of "team breakups" in 3s now, where one or more members quit Arena, so the other members have to restart with a new member or do 2s instead.
It was actually kind of funny/sad running into some of the comps, like Retardin+RShaman or Mage+Disc in S3 gear, and you can just tell from the way they play that they were used to 3s but lost their Warrior or Rogue. And you see a lot of highly geared toons in makeshift comps in the lower ratings in 3s, and many trade channel "490 Resilience Mage LF2s will take anyone with decent gear" and such.
I think 2s and 3s are actually kind of fun at the moment, now if only I could convince all my friend who have quit Arena to come back and play, which I can't...
08/19/08, 12:38 PM
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