Forum Discussion

AtuinTheGreat's avatar
AtuinTheGreat
Rising Traveler
3 months ago

GAC squish

Yet again, another season began and another massive squish has been done.

Now, it's not only me losing another 60+ points, it's also the size of K1 - at the beginning of previous season there were 2084 players in K1, and now there are 1749 players - 12.5% less.

Please CG_Meathead , take a look at it. This issue is really frustrating.

  • I finished last season with a skill ranking of 3620 which placed me at rank 1254 in K1.  After the skill squish, I got pushed down to 3544 and a rank of 1616.  Even if I win this match, I will be demoted down to K2.  

    This has happened for multiple seasons where I finish a season in K1 and then dropped 70ish points to K2.  Even if this skill squish affects everyone, how is it that I dropped 250 places?  Shouldn’t everyone be affected equally?

    How do we still have the problem of wildly inaccurate scores forcing lower accounts to the tops of K1?  The current #3 rank has 5m GP with no GLs.  Can’t someone manually fix those scores and then let the skill squish algorithm affect points but not rank.

  • there’s absolutely no need for a skill squish mechanic for active players, the balancing is already handled by winning and losing. Winning more than losing, you climb, losing more than winning you descend and for those going 50/50 they are in the correct spot. However if they want to take into account inactive players they could do a skill squish on any player not signing up to GAC and have them losing points to simulate them being active but losing players. A potential problem is that points would be removed from the system without being applied to other players. But the current system of squishing all players is bleeding points from the system in a very unbalanced way. If removing the squish would result in more players ending up in K1 then they could always add another layer on top with better rewards. The rationale for this is that those players have obviously invested more into their characters than at the introduction of this system. As it stands now CG are actively reducing rewards for the same input. This is a behavior that CG previously said is not intended for this game. 

  • 0j4cx6hq8qbn's avatar
    0j4cx6hq8qbn
    Seasoned Newcomer

    The shrinking of K1 is the result of the algorithm. As we previously determined, the algorithm pushes all players with the squish to a target that seems to be in the upper part of k2. Unless the algorithm is changed, in the long run, all players would end there and k1 would be empty at the start of the season and then players that win the first round are in k1. So it is working as designed, not sure it is working as intended. 
    In abstract form, the squish calculates your distance from the target (here in upper k2) and the farther you are from it, the higher the adjustment is to push you in direction of the target. So if you are above the target, you get pushed down, if you are below the target, you get pushed up.

    • AtuinTheGreat's avatar
      AtuinTheGreat
      Rising Traveler

      That's an interesting theory. Did CG officially publish that or stand behind that? 

      Anyway, even if that to be true, the algorithm doesn't work properly - during the last 6 months I ended up in mid-upper K2 and got squished by approximately 70 points, being pulled to low K2

    • nottenst's avatar
      nottenst
      Rising Scout

      How does the squish push people to upper part of K2?  I am in K2 and was getting squished down -72 and -62 the last two seasons.   [Just saw the later message which acknowledges that the "target" is lower now.]

  • 0j4cx6hq8qbn's avatar
    0j4cx6hq8qbn
    Seasoned Newcomer

    Well, the target was an assumption from the reports I have seen. Could be, that it is actually lower. As it seems now, it is lower than k3. But there was a long discussion in the old forum about it where the data was pretty conclusive on the way the algorithm works.

  • Whatelse73's avatar
    Whatelse73
    Seasoned Veteran

    They needed to make room for all the Chromium tier players that get bumped up to K1's top 100.

    • AtuinTheGreat's avatar
      AtuinTheGreat
      Rising Traveler

      It seems that my only way to get into K1 goes via cgromium...

  • Last time they addressed the squish was a year ago at the end of October.  They corrected things for a few months and then it went back to the oppressive squish again.  I ma hoping they address it again.