Why an in game ladder is more important now than later.

Then again, I was like one of the major people who didn't want a in game chat either, so I am probably a little bit bias.

I agree, an ingame ladder is essential. I was personally bored of PA a couple of months ago because i didn't found any competition. When i joined PAstats the game changed for me a lot and now its still fun, I try new strategies, challenge better players and I try to be a part of the community. If you wont have an ingame ladder soon you will loose players that dont find new challenges. There should be also more open tournaments, maybe some ingame ads that will promote them

common, that's nohere near feature complete. And uber will have to make their own anyways and that day they won't take current stats from an unofficial ladder. everything will be reset.

I wouldn't mind an in-game ELO rating system, especially if it were paired with a "Quick Match" finder.

The thing is, GW was/is a stretch goal. Ladders are not.

Go to Starcraft Forums/Multiplayer and you will see an endless list of complaints about matchmaking =P however i do guess PA needs one since the range of skill is also very long

ok lol XD

but the fact we are now considering ladders should be a stretch goal at all is very frightening.

Ladder is a BASE feature. more base than being able to pause the game or queue up multiple orders.

Why in the world would UBER even have to mention on their KS that ladder would be a feature?

Ladders aren't even confirmed in the 'Confirmed Features 2.0" thread. Needless to say a big rock feature has more importance than something that isn't even confirmed or denied.

Myself and a lot of players I know have stopped playing pretty much in anticipation for the ladder. During alpha the gentlemans ladder kept me playing, then the pastats ladder, then matiz and now I'm waiting for an official one. Ladders and competition keep players around for longer so I agree sooner the ladder is released the better. But before that we need a stable build with stable balance. Until now balance has been drastic changes instead of tweaking and each build suits certain play styles more than others.

It's good that the devs prioritize confirmed features, but a ladder is very important to me and many other players.


That's why I made this thread, you see?

One important thing needs to be considered for the ladder.

It needs to encourage all game types!

I don't want what I call the Call of Duty effect happening in PA. In Call of Duty every just plays Team Deathmatch because it's the mode that most effectively awards XP. A ranking ladder is a little different but if rankings are only applicable to 1v1 or 2v2 then we may find a lot of FFA and larger game types will diminish. I've proposed a ladder that ranks commander kills vs commander deaths in a PA Stats Elo kind of way. I'd really like to see that as it would work for all game types.

Multiple ladders.

I'd say a 1v1 ladder and then a team ladder, and then of course various stat based ladders (Unit kills, games won, coms killed, etc).

I agree, matchmaking will be very important for keeping players active. Curb stomping isn't overly fun, nor is getting beaten terribly.

Check out this post on reddit about the shut down of SMNC. http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comme...ay_night_combat_where_did_it_go_wrong/cj3haou

PA has several of those points, weak new-player tools, slow development of balance and matchmaking, small player base, long closed beta, charging for cosmetics during beta, and the like.

Uber really needs to nail the balance and give us matchmaking pretty quick otherwise the multiplayer is gonna go stale.

As per Brad's newsletter, it won't be released for 1.0

Hope it won't be long after

*sigh* again with the SMNC comparisons. Know how this isn't like SMNC? This game has actual functioning bots and single player. In a multiplayer only game (like SMNC) ladders and tutorials for new players and things like that are essential. PA has the singleplayer GW mode (which needs work), and single-player skirmishes against bots. Anyone who has ever played an RTS should know that if you're going to play Multiplayer you start out playing a bunch of skirmishes vs. AI to learn all the mechanics, then you can jump into the random people multiplayer if you want. If you want more player retention then focusing heavily on balance and a clean polished single-player experience for fun and learning the game is essential.

Just because there's singleplayer doesn't magically mean all of those concerns and issues go away.

And just because you have some singleplayer experience under your belt doesn't mean multiplayer is magically going to be an even experience.

Playing against the AI in any game is very different than playing against a player.

Guys there is no end of features you would ask for. I would love a ladder but we also need to spend some time polishing the game. We can't delay releasing forever just to get every single feature in.

Also from the perspective of someone playing the game now, what do you expect to change? To anyone who already has the game it's business as usual. We'll keep working on it and get these features in updates over time. Same as it would be if it wasn't 1.0 released.

You will only be able to keep working on it if the game is in good enough shape to be a huge success when you do the 1.0 release or you will starve to death.

That's what everyone is concerned about !

We are like a caring mom worried for her unborn child that might not survive the cold winter into which it will be born

Silly question, but what is wrong with pa stats ladder? Why is that no longer worth using and why must it be replaced?

If anything I think pamm should be integrated into the lobby so players can easily find mods like pa stats, however I don't think there is much wrong with it in terms of what it does?

Things I expect to change:

More Noobs Everywhere, looking for help.
If a ladder, there will be more incentive for those noobs to stick around to climb it. If no ladder, many more will leave than otherwise.
Scathis' balance philosophy (who am I kidding?)