Am I wrong or do the skill squishes keep making Kyber 1 smaller and smaller?
At the end of the first season I was rank 8361 with a skill of 3725. Today I also have a skill of 3725 and am ranked 4204.
One in my ally list is Kyber 1 at rank 7668. With a skill of 3631. Maybe rank 8361 doesn't even exist in Kyber 1 anymore?! Before the first squish, at rank 8361 you were 115 skill points over the limit of Kyber 2. Open today Rank 7668 only 21 skill points over the limit. 700 places better but almost 100 skill points less.
https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/252923/grand-arena-seasonal-skill-squish#latest
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E.g. if you never lost in k1, your skill would go up indefinitely. Conversely, progressively lower skills would be promoted from k2. Eventually the bottom of k1 would be low enough it would be very difficult to even get demoted.
In essence, each season stretches a given bracket, each squish compacts it back down so the range within each division stays somewhat constant. Over time, that just means the same skill rating as earlier has a RELATIVELY higher rank.
I dunno if that makes sense, but thats my understanding.
the squish definitely promotes and relegates ppl. it just takes a round to do it. But you can't strip 70+ points from players or give them almost 100, then tell me that has no impact on their promotion/relegation. It does. Also, if the squish is there to move ppl down, why are some accounts being given enough squish points to see themselves promoted all the way up to k5? The squish is nonsensical. If CG built a system they need to personally tend to every 3 weeks to "fix" divisions then they didn't create a self-sustaining system.
Squishes move them back to the pack to give them easier matches.
Squishes defeat the entire purpose of skill ratings and should be removed.
#ditchthesquish
It is player friendly - just not to all players. It is whale friendly.
Sure, go look at matchups whales get before and after squishes. When their skill rating moves down and the overall bell curve becomes un-lengthened (taller), you see more lopsided matches.
This skill score gets better and better over time. Squishes undo this progress to help the whales get better matches.
What about the non-whale players with similar SR? Are they squished and in turn matched up differently than the whales? I don't think the squish process can tell if a player is a "whale".
So it’s not based on evidence, just your prejudice.
Thanks for clarifying.
they moved the K1 threshold once already. was like ~3540 when it first started. So they squished us and increased it that first time which made zero sense. I agree that the division sizes are their reasoning; which just goes back to this is a poor system they created.
Clearly they learned from that mistake and now the thresholds are adjusted after each GAC to maintain the desired distribution of players across leagues and divisions.
That's direct interference with our ratings, seedings and rankings. If we are artificially sqished into a position they want us to be, just to meet some quota in a mode that is supposed to be about how you play/win/lose, then it is everything but fair.
I don't see the problem. Why would it be bad if some leagues or divisions have more players than others? If people get the SR that seeds them there, why tamper with it?
I didn't design the system. But as a participant in it, I am glad that Kyber-1 means something now. That is, it indicates a Top x% of the game. The old system, the divisions and rankings were pretty meaningless because they weren't regulated or adjusted as the game and our GP grew.
Again, I think you have it backwards. The SR number is just a way to rank us and match us up. They want the cutoffs for divisions to be based on a distribution of the playerbase. To meet that goal, they have to adjust those cutoffs as time goes on, adjust the SR values of the players, or a combination of the 2.
I agree that it is good, that it means something now. That's exactly the reason why I think it's unfair to change player's SR. If they earned a position with their fights it shouldn't be taken away from them or given to others that haven't earned it.
I know the initial squish doesn't do that but after 1 round it definitely affects it.
The fact they want those cutoffs means SR is changed, which in turn also means rankings and placements are influenced. Not by the players or how they played but from the outside.
That's why imho these percentage distributions, that require these SR changes, should not exist.
Like I said, I don't see a problem in divisions or Leagues having more players than others, if those are the positions the players earned and rightfully deserve to stay there.
I don't get why they have to do both, though. Adjusting the cutoffs between seasons or rounds feels a lot less visible and intrusive. Say if an A1 player ends a season above K5 cutoff, wouldn't "well we had to curve everyone so the new Kyber 5 has a higher cutoff, and you aren't making it." be kind of easier to swallow than "we are docking two wins' worth of SR, so you aren't making K5."
If I'm not mistaken, the squish doesn't change your position in the ladder. If you were the 2500th player before the squish, you're still the 2500th player after the squish.
* adjusting league / division boundaries controls the player distribution across leagues / divisions
* adjusting skill ratings could be a way to flatten players within a league / division to increase matchmaking diversity (though frankly for most players I don't think that is a big issue)
If the only goal is redistributing players across leagues / divisions then I agree, I don't see why they would need to adjust both things.
Speaking as someone who has been bouncing back and forth between Kyber 1 and Kyber 2 since the second season of new GAC, I can honestly say the squish doesn't bother me. New GAC is all just endless churn as far as I can see anyway.
I personally don’t agree with the squishing because they want to keep the divisions at 10/25/30/25/10. Maybe I could get on board with a quarterly squish or semiannually one as the leagues get closer to 20% across the board but each season is too much.
By position, I assume you mean league/division and not ladder placment? If you mean the latter (i.e. ladder), I'm not aware of the ordering being jumbled from the squish. Could you provide an example? If you mean the former, more on that in a sec.
That's a fair position to take. I don't share your opinion, but I won't fault you for having that. For me, the SR number is arbitrary and means nothing to me. All I care about is my percentile rank in the playerbase. So for me, if CG is adjusting SR to keep the divisions to some distribution and is not altering relative ladder placements, I'm okay with that. Again, this is just personal prefernce. I can respect that others don't feel the same way.
As far as I know your position on the ladder is determined by your SR. So after the first round your position on the ladder/ranking will be adjusted according to your SR.
To answer your question: I was talking about both. I just don't think it's right to intervene with what players achieved, just so they can keep their divisions/leagues filled with a predetermined percentage. Especially because it involves crystals.
I understand if not everyone shares my opinion and I don't want to convince anyone of it. I just want to make use of the opportunity to voice it on the official forums to have the slim chance of being heard by CG. 😉
after the hear / not hear check you have to also pass the care / not care check
If the squish preserves everyone's rank on the entire ladder, you haven't "moved" really. If the Top X% were Kyber 1 before GAC, and the squish means the new Top X% are Kyber 1 before the next one, what's the problem?
Not suggesting. Actually happened. Discord and Reddit often have people talking about the squish after a squish and there were comments/posts of people with Screenshots from before and after. There were definitely players that ended up on different spots/SR eventhough they started out with the same SR.