ChfZ | Hanky
Legacy Member
THE AMM EXPLAINED
In the new AMM design, level 28 is the new average level, and anyone, noob or gosu, *will* reach that level if they play enough games. During all the games you play that it takes to get to this average level, the AMM system will gauge your skill and give you an ELL, which is a shadow level that represents the level (of skill) you should be at. This is an elegant way to stop smurfing: If you want to start a new account, you have to go through hundreds of games again just to get to the average level of 28 and have the ELL correctly callibrate to your skill. So in order to understand the new AMM, you have to get over the idea that level 20+ is good. It isn't anymore. After anyone plays enough games, they will be 20+. Being below level 20 simply means you haven't played enough games yet. Real skill can be measured by people being in the 35-50 level range.
Q: Old AMM was fine - if it ain't broken, why fix it?
A: I agree that it was fine, but it didn't work out how Blizz intended. They wanted the full range of levels to be occupied by all the players, not have 99% of bnet below level 15. This way skill between the realms can also be evaluated more clearly.
Q: So the "pretty decent" players will all end up at level 50?
A: Pretty much. Love it or hate it, it's what Blizzard intended.
Q: But in FFA, an average game takes over an hour, how am I ever going to get the 100+ games that are needed to be evaluated properly?
A: Agreed, the AMM doesn't sync well with the FFA gametype.
Q: What about the abuse? Leaving games on purpose to get more experience?
A: This is indeed very real, but you have to realize that this is not a problem with the AMM design, but with the implementation. It should reward good players, not punish them. Blizz is looking into this and hopefully it will be fixed soon.
Q: Grubby and Showtime get 0 exp per win, while some noobs get tons of exp for beating crappy players.
A: The main problem is that the new AMM doesn't work well with high level people who got to keep their high level. The new AMM would have worked a lot better with a ladder reset, but Blizzard didn't want to take away people's hard work from the past. There is no easy fix to this, other than the top player playing hunderds of games vs lesser skilled opponents until his ELL matches up to his skill.
Q: People with good records have to wait very long to get a game, why?
A: Very true, another implementation flaw, not a design flaw, that will hopefully be dealt with soon.
Q: How is ELL calculated? Does it work?
A: While the exact mathematics haven't been disclosed, Blizzard assures us it is pretty accurate. They can predict the outcome of a game that you play with only a 2% error margin. Pretty damn decent.
Q: How can I tell if someone is good? What if they are level 12? How about their win percentage?
A: About the level 12 guy, all you can basically say is he hasn't played enough games yet. Win percentage is trickier to evaluate, because the AMM will try to pair you off against people of your skill as good as possible, so it will push you towards 50% a lot more than the old AMM did. The only time you can really tell something about a person's skill is when they have played 200+ games (under 1.15) and are level 40+. That means they got skillz.
Post additional questions in this thread and I will attempt to answer them. I will also keep this post updated with any changes or explanations from Blizzard.
In the new AMM design, level 28 is the new average level, and anyone, noob or gosu, *will* reach that level if they play enough games. During all the games you play that it takes to get to this average level, the AMM system will gauge your skill and give you an ELL, which is a shadow level that represents the level (of skill) you should be at. This is an elegant way to stop smurfing: If you want to start a new account, you have to go through hundreds of games again just to get to the average level of 28 and have the ELL correctly callibrate to your skill. So in order to understand the new AMM, you have to get over the idea that level 20+ is good. It isn't anymore. After anyone plays enough games, they will be 20+. Being below level 20 simply means you haven't played enough games yet. Real skill can be measured by people being in the 35-50 level range.
Q: Old AMM was fine - if it ain't broken, why fix it?
A: I agree that it was fine, but it didn't work out how Blizz intended. They wanted the full range of levels to be occupied by all the players, not have 99% of bnet below level 15. This way skill between the realms can also be evaluated more clearly.
Q: So the "pretty decent" players will all end up at level 50?
A: Pretty much. Love it or hate it, it's what Blizzard intended.
Q: But in FFA, an average game takes over an hour, how am I ever going to get the 100+ games that are needed to be evaluated properly?
A: Agreed, the AMM doesn't sync well with the FFA gametype.
Q: What about the abuse? Leaving games on purpose to get more experience?
A: This is indeed very real, but you have to realize that this is not a problem with the AMM design, but with the implementation. It should reward good players, not punish them. Blizz is looking into this and hopefully it will be fixed soon.
Q: Grubby and Showtime get 0 exp per win, while some noobs get tons of exp for beating crappy players.
A: The main problem is that the new AMM doesn't work well with high level people who got to keep their high level. The new AMM would have worked a lot better with a ladder reset, but Blizzard didn't want to take away people's hard work from the past. There is no easy fix to this, other than the top player playing hunderds of games vs lesser skilled opponents until his ELL matches up to his skill.
Q: People with good records have to wait very long to get a game, why?
A: Very true, another implementation flaw, not a design flaw, that will hopefully be dealt with soon.
Q: How is ELL calculated? Does it work?
A: While the exact mathematics haven't been disclosed, Blizzard assures us it is pretty accurate. They can predict the outcome of a game that you play with only a 2% error margin. Pretty damn decent.
Q: How can I tell if someone is good? What if they are level 12? How about their win percentage?
A: About the level 12 guy, all you can basically say is he hasn't played enough games yet. Win percentage is trickier to evaluate, because the AMM will try to pair you off against people of your skill as good as possible, so it will push you towards 50% a lot more than the old AMM did. The only time you can really tell something about a person's skill is when they have played 200+ games (under 1.15) and are level 40+. That means they got skillz.
Post additional questions in this thread and I will attempt to answer them. I will also keep this post updated with any changes or explanations from Blizzard.
ad:
btw gosus maken altijd een ander acc waar ze op trainen. Dus voor hun maakt da toch ni veel uit of hun lvl nu weg is of ni. Iedereen kent ze en ze moeten hun eigen maar opnieuw bewijzen. Uw icoontjes geraakte toch ni kwijt dus maakt ni veel uit in mijn ogen ma ja, tzen ekik maar 