Official Starcraft 2 Thread

[PDR60]

Just finished the campaign and was thoroughly entertained. Fun game and good story. I'm looking forward the the rest of the game. The protos side missions were very well done. Plays great in linux too.

[senorgotti]

Giantbomb invades Korea vid is now on the site. Blizzard flew one of the Giantbomb guys to Seoul for the season 2 sc2 GSL finals. Good footage of the event, and interviews with Tasteless, Artosis, Idra, and of course the Korean winner. Winner of the season got around $100,000. Seoul is a fun place, so I was pretty excited to see the footage after listening about it on this week's Bombcast.

http://www.giantbomb.com/giant-bomb-...inals/17-3514/

[Vindir]

Thanks for the heads up gotti. Haven't been following sc2 much the last month but this should be good.

[senorgotti]

SC2 party game. Little more complicated than Mario Party though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbZS8...ture=recentlik

[Snakespy]

Revive! I've only been playing this in the last couple weeks. Lots of fun, new custom games to check out.

[senorgotti]

Revive! I've only been playing this in the last couple weeks. Lots of fun, new custom games to check out.

Yeah I started playing again as well. Currently trying to get my skills back to where I was by just playing the ai on very hard. New season so you will need to play 5 mp games to get a ladder placement again.

[kent1146]

I took a break from SC2 ladder as well. People have gotten a lot better. A LOT better

[Schmunkel98]

Has anyone figured out the matchmaking system on SC2 yet? I don't see how my fellow bronze and silver teammates get consistently matched up with nothing but gold and above players. Last night, for example, we played in a 4v4 versus two guys that had masters ratings and two that were platinum.

I have been trying to figure out if it takes into account all of your ladder rankings or just the division(say 4v4) that you are queuing for? Also, do team rankings even matter? My friends and I are a mix of silver and bronze, but are rated at bronze on our 4v4 team. Again, we are constantly subjected to people that are not on a 4v4 team with a good portion of them(90%) being gold or better players. How are we supposed to compete in the bronze league if we rarely play bronze or even silver level players?

I have not seen anything official from Blizzard(and I doubt we ever will) on how this thing works. I have the sneaky suspicion that it attempts to find people of similar rank for about 3 seconds and then proceeds to just find whoever.

[Snakespy]

Couldn't tell ya, I'm not so much into the real PvP in this game. I suck too much! That would be frustrating for me to try to use matchmaking like you are and then get screwed like that. Does it do it when you are by yourself too?

[senorgotti]

1 vs 1 match making is pretty solid, but the team ones are less so. Too many variables to get a perfect skill matching when it's 4 vs 4.

[ant19]

umm this is slightly off topic sorry but I've been playing Total Annihilation on my netbook recently and Im amazed at how well its stood the test of time...I mean ive not played starcraft 2 but does it do half the stuff this game does? TA has true line of sight, physics to determine fire based on elevation, gravity and wind. small hills, massive hills, ridges, forests, everything effects the vehicles movement, gun fire, defense, attack.. the physics determine if projectiles hit and how much damage close by units recieve, they determine the flight of the aircraft etc etc. The original starcraft did none of this but I loved that game (moreso than TA actually) . just wish these games like starcraft 2 used features that were in this 14 year old game (it actually still looks pretty good as well)..supreme commander did but that was rubbish.

[Schmunkel98]

1 vs 1 match making is pretty solid, but the team ones are less so. Too many variables to get a perfect skill matching when it's 4 vs 4.

I'm not expecting perfect, but paired up with others at least in my bracket(or close to) would be nice. I know I'm not that great. I don't need to be stomped in the ground by platinum players repeatedly.

[kent1146]

Has anyone figured out the matchmaking system on SC2 yet? I don't see how my fellow bronze and silver teammates get consistently matched up with nothing but gold and above players. Last night, for example, we played in a 4v4 versus two guys that had masters ratings and two that were platinum.

Battle.net uses a "hidden" matchmaking ranking (MMR) system to match you against people of similar skill levels. This MMR ranking system is unrelated to the Bronze / Silver / Gold / Plat / Diamond / Etc league system, which is based on points and bonus pool points. MMR is much more sensitive to your recent streak of wins/losses, and is used to match you against people of similar skill levels.

Because these two ranking systems (MMR and leagues) are unrelated to each other, it is entirely possible for strong-performing Bronze/Silver players to play people in higher leagues if they have been on a winning streak, or for higher league players to play opponents in lower leagues if they have been on a losing streak.

The reason that your Bronze / Silver 2v2 teams have been playing against Gold/Plat teams is because your team(s) have been performing particularly well lately. Your MMR is much higher than the typical MMR of most Bronze / Silver league teams.

How are we supposed to compete in the bronze league if we rarely play bronze or even silver level players?

You're not expected to compete in the Bronze league. Your MMR rating puts you up there with most Gold / Plat league teams, so that is who you are playing against.

Battle.net determines your league by looking at your MMR over time. Keep playing and winning against gold / plat level players, and you will eventually be promoted to Gold / Plat league rankings.

I have not seen anything official from Blizzard(and I doubt we ever will) on how this thing works. I have the sneaky suspicion that it attempts to find people of similar rank for about 3 seconds and then proceeds to just find whoever.

There is no official statement from Blizzard, nor will there be. Once they "officially" reveal the algorithm used for matchmaking, people will immediately try to game the system and find loopholes to abuse.

All of the information that I have was pulled from Battle.net forum posts, mostly from computer programmers / developers familiar with programming matchmaking algorithms. They know enough about how computerized matchmaking work, so they can just observe the behavior of a matchmaking system and make some pretty good guesses as to how the inner mechanics work.

And yes, Battle.net will first look for people within a certain range of your MMR ranking. Any potential matches are tested for network connectivity, to make sure that the two of you have a reliable enough internet connection for smooth gameplay. If it doesn't find anyone after a set time has passed, it widens the MMR range. Rinse, repeat until it matches you.

[Adaman]

*Checks if the game is $20 yet*... Nope. Lemme know.

[Schmunkel98]

*Checks if the game is $20 yet*... Nope. Lemme know.

This is a Blizzard game. It won't be $20 until 2025. Even then it is doubtful.