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Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm thinking Phyrex got a raw deal having to go against Jedi and Mark in his gold challenge with an expected score of 11 against them. He only needed 12 for bahamut so is platinum that close to gold? He met the expectations on all the gold pilots in the positive, but it was the platinum pilots, the "Masters" as the website puts it or as we know them, the gods of descent he was up against that were the determining scores.

I really don't see how the algorithm could give a fair number because it's really not about the score with these guys. And I know you'll agree that sometimes it's what they will let you score. It's a purely mental game at that point and that's why they are platinum and no one is close to their level consistently. Anyone can fight Jedi in the same map and depending on his mood they will be completely different scores if played a second time. I'm sure Mark has the same ability he just won't smear your face in it. Maybe this isn't true for gold pilots but there is a mindset as a platinum player (I assume) that they can pretty much hold you (especially silver) to whatever score they please.

I'm not looking for an argument or to make anyone upset, and I may be way off base here because I don't know how Phyrex feels about this but I'm just saying what I assume others may feel too, and that is...can we just go back to the essence of the ladder? Bronze goes up against silver, silver goes up against gold and gold faces platinum? Sorry Mark and Jedi but we have not learned how to wield the force as you have. You are intimidating. Why make silver have the added mental freak out of facing those two legends regardless of what the algorithm says? I think it devalues platinum and scares the shit out of silver pilots. Ok I'm done.

Just a note that the only reason we were allowed in the promo's is because of Gold's major inactivity overall. A post was made to address that earlier on. Also, due to Gold's major inactivity many of their algorithm scores were (and still are--which results in an inflated rating) outdated and did not reflect active scores and actual, realistic, ratings. The algorithm is not as steady and reliable with very low samples, and higher gold activity would have given much higher targets to reflect realistic goals.

I had to get twelve on them. What's the big deal?

Thanks Mark I did not know that. I've seen gold double up before but you're right about the shifting algo. Seems a shame there isn't more activity in gold. Seems the drive has always been to get to the next level. Bronze is hungry to be silver and so on. Are any gold close to platinum level in the algorithm? If not, why not lower the algo a tad and let people strive for platinum. Seems counter productive to have only 2 guys in a category. Lonely for Jedi when you're not around.

Morfod, I see your point and that sucked but you made it and that's awesome. They were moved to platinum for a reason after that too.

I think one thing I was getting at was promos are a right of passage and an acceptance to a group. Phyrex was up for gold and only 3 showed. I realize people have lives so maybe we can lengthen the promo time due to low activity or do we need to send out a forum post saying "I was offered a promo - is this a good time for ya'll?"

Its also city nnection consistency. Phyrex and I did play a few games, and based on those #s I feel the outcome would have been the same if I participated in promo.

As for souljah and bahamut being 12? Yup. They earned it. I frankly think the promo shouldn't have triggered with targets that low but phyrex held his own. The correct response is pride in Phyrex for facing such a challenge and disappointment in the lack of activity.

agreed.

@ssman, if I am reading between the lines accurately....I just want to make sure you know that target scores vs me and mark aren't changed to make it harder for YOU to get in to GOLD.

Bahamut's skill rating is not far from Mark and myself and is the highest rated active GOLD pilot on the ladder so it makes sense that his kill target would be close to ours.

Mark is right, the skill ratings would be better if there were more activity in GOLD...but think this through. Are you a GOLD pilot if you can't get in to the double digits with mark and myself? 11 certainly isn't too much to ask to make GOLD imo.

The continued existence of Diamond is being discussed as well. I'm not much of a fan of a 2 player tier that often seems to be a 1 player tier. We may go back to being GOLD pilots with some special award or recognition of some kind for a Diamond status of sorts that people can still strive to get. (like the blue orb)

When overall ladder activity is low, skill ratings (and therefore promo challenge targets) fluctuate.

Yea I don't feel that targets on Mark or Jedi were too high. Tough, sure, but gold challenges should not be easy. If anything targets on Bahamut and Souljah were on the low end. If I could consistently fly at gold level I should have been able to make up for the scores vs Jedi and Mark there. Game vs Bahamut especially showed that I just lack answers (or take to long to come up with them) to certain types of play. Target on Vainiac was probably quite realistic.

In the end I ended up doing better than I expected: Had I replicated all my higest scores I got on promo challengers before the promo was triggered I would have ended up at -17 if my quick calcs are correct:)

Just in case it wasn't clear I feel perfectly happy in silver and I'm not frustrated, angry or very disappointed about not making the challenge, nor do I feel disadvantaged by the algorithm and yea it makes perfect sense to me that it will spew some questionable numbers if there's not a lot of activity. No doubt that's why I got the challenge in the first place