Ranked... Argh!

[Jakajan]

I've been playing ranked hard. Made it to rank 2 and 4 stars, 4 times but then hit a losing streak and I don't think I can finish it. I have been contemplating not sleeping till I finish but to be honest that is a bad idea.

 

Ranked mode is actually pretty fun. I like the tighter gameplay, the smaller teams and same tier battles. However I do not like the grind up ranks to finish the season. It'd be nice if you could play it anytime and earn points like a separate experience system or something.

 

-sigh- I'm kinda sad and happy the ranked season is ending soon. Glad I will be free from the ladder, sad I will not finish it even with 550+ battles, unless I am super lucky tonight

 

Peace all. Not sure what this topic is about to be honest.

[m373x]

Good luck, you still have time to reach R1.

[Ace_04]

Don't give up.  You're right there....

[Slow_n_Low]

My experience has been the opposite.

 

It started great, with the close battles and teamwork as you mentioned.

 

But i took 2 weeks off and came back to horrible crap team work and extremely bad luck.

 

I needed to play early i think. It is all reds now, and horribly frustrating.

 

I gave up 2 weeks ago. My marathon run was spent on getting the Graff Spee, and think I didnt have another marathon run left in me so soon after. I never give up on these types of things so i am wondering why I gave up.

 

But then, i havnt been playing Randoms either. I think I burned myself out for whatever reasons.

 

Good luck to you,

 

[USSWest_Virginia]

Just made it to rank 1 today. I got a late start, but I just set a goal to advance one rank a day and it worked.

The Sims is a beast in ranked, and its the only ship I used.

[Jiggiwatt]

I played a couple games and then gave up. Losing stars after working so hard would just be too heartbreaking. My masochism starts and ends with mixing beer and bourbon.

[FayFay731]

1 day and it will all be over. Then people can start sucking in randoms!

(did I say start, I meant continue)

[pwadoc]

Hey Jakajan, thanks for helping me rank out! Good luck with your season.

[Termx]

Well I started playing last Fall and this is my first participation for a ranked season. Despite having only around 600 battles under my belt at season start, I was able to push to rank 5 with 158 battles, and that's starting from the bottom. My brother who's been playing over a year was a bit shocked since he expected me to make close to, or just reach rank 10. I proved him wrong. 

 

I end up having a bad luck week by slingshotting in rank 6, mostly being placed with a team of really bad players. No flag, signals, camo, going solo, and no communication or able to listen what so ever. Even though I maintain my star during losses most of the time, I still dropped from 55% WR down to 51%. So after about a week and a half left till the season ends and after finally reaching rank 5, I analysed my chances and the time needed to commit grinding 5 stars per rank towards #1. Considering I have a full time job and can only play during the evenings, I decided to just call it from there. I rather play with others having fun, not doing this over and over stressing out over losing a star or that the MM god's will bless me that night, right after a long day from work.

 

Ranked end up being a new learning experience for me on teamplay and map tactics, knowledge that I took with me to random. But honestly...I didn't find ranked to be fun the entire time playing it. There's too many flaws in the system and with the lost star mechanic, it just causes players to start taking it out on others when the match goes poor. This was most obvious in ranks beyond 10. Your typical person is not going to analyze the problem and see what and if they could do something differently. They will most likely shift that blame on others and repeat the same bad habit with the next team.

 

It's clear you have to grind out as early as possible, otherwise you'll be stuck with poorer teams once all the decent/good players start to rank out. With the current rewards, I don't think it's worth the stress with the current way the system is designed. It doesn't favor well to those who can't commit endless hours everyday.

[Jakajan]

Yeah. I learned a lot. I had fun. I raised 95 million credits and have 2 19 point captains. It wasn't like it wasn't not fun. It improved my focus and my aim and my tactics. It is my third season I have played seriously though. First season I made it to rank 3, second season rank 5, third season I played I made it to rank 2 but so close to 1.

 

I was hoping this would be the one. I wish I had some sort of flag I could keep to signify the season. I kinda feel sad and happy at the same time.

[Pugilistic]

Got to 10, was doing the best of any season yet, and just lost interest at the prospect of grinding out 5 stars for each level, and not one irrevocable level after 12 to mitigate variance. I understand the design was to keep 'bad battle button spammers' from ranking out, but I don't understand why this was such an overweening consideration. I don't grind, not tech tree or Ranked; I just play and unlock new ships as XP/credits accumulate.

[Thraxian]

I was away for the first week of ranked. I played a few battles and had a pretty good win rate, but the terribad players ruined it for me and I stopped playing before I got myself chat banned....

[Slow_n_Low]

Got to 10, was doing the best of any season yet, and just lost interest at the prospect of grinding out 5 stars for each level, and not one irrevocable level after 12 to mitigate variance. I understand the design was to keep 'bad battle button spammers' from ranking out, but I don't understand why this was such an overweening consideration. I don't grind, not tech tree or Ranked; I just play and unlock new ships as XP/credits accumulate.

 

Ranked is not what I thought. And is a bad name for what it really is.

 

It is a grind and luck, and bad players did spam the Battle button which was a source of major frustration for a new player like me that thought it was for decent players only.

 

The bad players were all carried up and totally stagnated R10-6 making it quite frustrating to play. Massive losing streaks for many reasons, not having a Sims to save a star, etc.

 

If you are a dark purple Unicorn, you could carry your way through in a couple hundred matches.

 

The real frustration is for the dark green and blue players having to try to carry all the reds(which are only there by Battle spamming and being carried)

 

 

[donaldEpott]

I have been working on Rank 8 now. So sick of teams that cant figure out what to do even when its explained to them. I keep telling them want to win kill the enemy cruisers first. Seems the only way to win is when I play either my Colorado or my Nagato and take out the enemy cruisers myself.

[Drakausa]

Well, just reading those comments so far I see that tiredness and disappointment are the rule, not the exception. Sure, the few epeen or lucky folks who make Rank 1 are happy but large amounts of players are just getting frustrated and some even burning out on playing any game type. Have plenty of ideas on how to improve Ranked play, adding in - game modes, adjusting MM and showing that ship to ship perfect balance is not actually a perfect idea in a single tier. Also throw in the fact that heavy emphasis on clans and clan play, especially spectate from in game, would work wonders for maintaining player base and encouraging newer players to stay and join in a clan.

 

Anyway, the present Ranked system, regardless of its effect, is the way WG is going at the moment and I doubt the cash flow will allow them to change or even improve this system very much. Takes time, money and ideas. We can always hope!

[Xylphan]

Started from the bottom (first season playing) and made it to 10 in short order. That was all I really wanted to do, and after reading all the threads of despair, anguish, and rage from those who tried to climb from 10 onwards it sounds like I made a good choice. 

 

[Taylor3006]

Congrats on making it so far! I stopped at rank 11, just not good enuff to continue IMHO. Good luck on going all the way, just think of those DOUBLOONS!!!!!!! Plus you get a cool flag.

[Jakajan]

I wanted to add something to this.

 

I managed to make it to rank 1. I started looking at all of my matches today and focusing on things like.

 

#1 Did I win? What did I contribute? Was I carried or did I carry? If I did poorly, what could I do to do better?

#2 Did I die? How did I do it? Usually I can predict where a cruiser will ambush me now. Shame on me if this happens. Usually if I did die, it was because of a torpedo spread while dodging another spread, those torps hurt, but being aware of that helps.

#3, interesting but simple technique for DD. I started using a tactic I learned from the Perth, when I sneak into a cap I slow my speed down to 1/4th and hug the edge away from where I think enemies are, part way through capping say 40 seconds left on the timer I pop smoke if available and sail in at 1/4th speed. Stop when the smoke ends, usually torpedoes will be onto you but honestly they usually are behind me because of my trail....

 

Anyway I capped so many bases today with this simple trick.. Hmm, not sure what else to say but I am going to go do a happy dance now.

[m373x]

 Grats, was looking for your update on the matter. The smoke tactics you described helped me steal caps in ranked too.

[MrDeaf]

congrats for R1

[Jakajan]

Yeah. I have a few things to add, but basically play with a clear mind, be happy, be thoughtful, don't get too emotional, don't get sloppy, be aware of ambushes, ranks punishes mistakes heavily but rewards being mindful of what is happening. It also helps your skills out.

 

Keep trying even when it feels like it is not beatable, it is, if you put the time into it.

 

I bought an Okhotnik to celebrate and went into normal play and got a Kraken my first match vs t7 enemies!! That was wonderful, I pwned all of them. Lost but it was great. Forgot premium consumables or I would have taken out 6, if I had lead a bb differently I would have sunk him with torps too. Ah well.

[Jakajan]

One other key key trick I forgot. It is sort of a no brainer, but as a DD if you take a lot of damage early don't keep scouting, you'll only find other dd. Fall back to a battleship or cruiser, snuggle up to them and keep the smoke coming, work as a short distance , say 500 meter torpedo screen so you spot the incoming torps. Use adrenalin rush as a skill to spam torps back, lame as it may be do not be the first ship around a corner when badly hurt, just fall back and let a healthier ship go first.

[Admiralbone]

Yeah tier 7 is the worst for ranked, So many premiums and if you don't buy them like me.....well your in for a bad time. I made it to rank 8 using mostly Nagato and Moyoko, but you just have afk people or you Belfast wants to yolo. I hope next season is better.

[Bentaxle]

I've been playing ranked hard. Made it to rank 2 and 4 stars, 4 times but then hit a losing streak and I don't think I can finish it. I have been contemplating not sleeping till I finish but to be honest that is a bad idea.

 

Ranked mode is actually pretty fun. I like the tighter gameplay, the smaller teams and same tier battles. However I do not like the grind up ranks to finish the season. It'd be nice if you could play it anytime and earn points like a separate experience system or something.

 

-sigh- I'm kinda sad and happy the ranked season is ending soon. Glad I will be free from the ladder, sad I will not finish it even with 550+ battles, unless I am super lucky tonight

 

Peace all. Not sure what this topic is about to be honest.

 

Ranked is such [edited]. I see players saying how you can purchase it for 200 bucks. Kinda shytty for us who genuinely try to get it only to find out that any [edited]can buy it

[Cyberdog52]

I've been playing ranked hard. Made it to rank 2 and 4 stars, 4 times but then hit a losing streak and I don't think I can finish it. I have been contemplating not sleeping till I finish but to be honest that is a bad idea.

 

Ranked mode is actually pretty fun. I like the tighter gameplay, the smaller teams and same tier battles. However I do not like the grind up ranks to finish the season. It'd be nice if you could play it anytime and earn points like a separate experience system or something.

 

-sigh- I'm kinda sad and happy the ranked season is ending soon. Glad I will be free from the ladder, sad I will not finish it even with 550+ battles, unless I am super lucky tonight

 

Peace all. Not sure what this topic is about to be honest.

 

I see that you did reach Rank 1.  Congratulations to you and everyone else that put in the time and effort for the 6th season.  

 

The topic is about not giving up, determination, and not settling for being close.  

 

Again, Congratulations,