Wednesday, May 28, 2008

In Defense of a Rating

You've perhaps just finished reading my diatribe about how awesomesauce I am in PvP and how inside of a little feminine Night Elf with spindly arms and big pointy ears, who bounces around all whimsically during any down time, can be hidden a monster of a BG node capper, damage dealer, CC'er, and general havoc wreaker.

Lol, not quite, but I believe the term I used is "...at the very least, above average."

In BG's, that is.

Arena is a different story.

2x2. BM Hunter and Resto Druid.

Rewinding a few weeks...started around 1350, destroyed our opponents 8-2, and probably should have been 9-1, save for the fact that I was tragically stupid in one fight (doh, soft trees are better targets than prot warriors, you idiot).

That streak bounced us to 1450-ish. Then the next week, go 3-7, pretty much being used as a mop to clean up our own blood off the sands of the Nagrand Arena floor. Many of the 7 losses were hugely one sided, clearly being outmatched by a landslide.

That week bounced us back to 1350-ish, and had me wondering at how effective Blizzard's matching and rating system really is.

Fight 10 fights at 1350. Go 5-5.

And 2 of those wins were against a team named Dink and Doink who showed up naked and just ran in circles, /hugging us.

So, in theory, going 5-5 would indicate to me that they've actually found the proper rating to face opponents that are overall matched to our skill and gear. Right?

This would have to be sustained for a few weeks to prove true, but with only a 1 week sample, I'm drawing a conclusion and will have to watch over time to see a pattern or any consistency.

I'm a little confused. Based upon my earlier reflections, I'm assuming I'm above average at PvP. Nothing fantastic, but not a total scrub botting his way through the cave in AV.

My partner is similar. As a healer, he's not going to have the same stories of node maddness that I do, but he normally leads the BG in healing, and he's got good ability to adjust to situations. And a resil of 315 or so.

We do what I would consider to be a reasonable job communicating and coordinating our crowd control, target choices, line of sight, maneuvering, etc.

So, what gives?

As far as I'm concerned, an arena rating of 1350 pretty much sux. Its got us in the same category as Dink and Doink the Nudist Clowns.

I'd expect that with two players who seem to be "above average" at BG/PvP, you'd end up with a rating slightly above 1500.

Is that an unreasonable expectation?

Are my conclusions drawn from BG skewed?

Having taken 2.5 months off of Arenas during Season 3, are we so behind on the gear curve that we're hopelessly lost? At 250-ish points per week, that represents one, or at a stretch, two pieces of S3 gear that we're missing that other welfare cases have.

Do any of my readers consistently maintain a rating above 1500? Please share with me any thoughts about this rather confusing situation.

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