yoyoma wrote:Also regarding the difficulty of CSamuri's experience, I can see how it would be hard for a rating system to determine the difference between an 11kyu (high Bronze) and a 7kyu (low Gold) for a game like SC2. For a perfect information game like Go this a 4 stone difference at that level is easy to detect, but SC2 has a much larger randomness/luck factor. Especially in lower leagues where players can easily be blind countering each other randomly. So for SC2 the equivalent skill difference is much harder to measure/rate.
If I felt like I was low gold I could understand it, however, as I play I've come to believe I'm not. I'm mid to high gold at least, so it's more like the difference between 5/4k and 11k. Even if what has happened is that the lower ranks add a certain amount of randomness, the system is slightly broken.
However, I do have an explanation for the problem.
Reviewing my games, I'm highly susceptible to early game pressure by protoss and terrans. Rush builds (Friekin zealot rushes) can make my best builds look pokey and slow. I invest heavily in economy, and, for a great while, early expanded every game. It taught me a bit of a lesson about balance, though, so it improved my game overall.
Rush games, that is, builds that are all or nothing rushes like zealot rush builds or agressive 4 gate, or the like, tend to be executed a lot at lower skill levels. The players lack the capability to play longer games, so they try to rush and win on the first push every time.
So, when playing more temperate players, who are content to try to match me build for build, I fare well, but when playing highly agressive players, who try to overwhelm me early, I fare poorly.
Which puts me in the odd position of winning against golds, and losing against bronzies.
Don't get me wrong. It's not that you don't see high level rushers. I've had quite a bit of cheese and rushes, particularly from terrans, but at gold, you still see a lot more solid build, solid play.
I had to learn to beat the rush, learn to scout and build a defense and macro up under fire, before I could get out of bronze, even though my play was better than most bronze.
My play is better now than it was a few weeks ago, and I hope to keep improving, but I think I'm about where I belong, squarely in gold. My points/ladder position are rediculous, another broken signal of player skill, but I guess that's to be expected for 800 games. I'm looking forward to that 500 1v1 wins as protoss acheivement, which should come around any day now..
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Platinum just round the corner now 
