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[Graystripe77]

Obviously you need skill to level up. But I am curious as to any other means of improving your level. For me, I have a system of what number player games I play when. Does anyone else have any tips or tricks to reach your skill ceiling faster?

[guided]

Play whatever games are most fun for you against whatever opponents are most fun for you to play, whenever you feel like playing them. Is what I say. But I find it more fun to play Dominion than to metagame the leaderboard

[danshep]

Once you're doing anything to game the leaderboard system, you've made your own ranking meaningless. Just play the game and let your level reflect your skill.

The only thing that I do is not play as a logged-in user if I think I'm likely to be distracted or need to abandon games (because I'm at work at lunch / preparing dinner / etc), because I want my rank to not be adversely affected then. If you don't want 3/4 player games to factor into your skill, don't play those while logged in. Otherwise, just play.

[Graystripe77]

Well, i can see this is probably going to turn into a 'just play' thread. Oh well...

[guided]

Well, i can see this is probably going to turn into a 'just play' thread. Oh well...

I would like the rating system to reflect players' actual skill as much as possible, so if your desire is for this thread to spread knowledge about how to pervert the ratings so that they are less accurate, then I sincerely hope your desire is thwarted.

[Graystripe77]

no, i meant for this thread to be about, ah..  dang. Alright, ignore this thread, it was stupid to even consider it.

[Nimmy]

Easy. You can do the exact same strategy 79 times out of 84 games to become level 40+

[Mean Mr Mustard]

The same general guidelines professional gamblers use apply here, I think.  Never play when you are tired or distracted.  If you start to tilt and play badly take a break, etc.

[Kirian]

Easy. You can do the exact same strategy 79 times out of 84 games to become level 40+

Are you suggesting the BM or BM/Singlet is likely to win against most players?  I suspect this is incorrect.

[Graystripe77]

The same general guidelines professional gamblers use apply here, I think.  Never play when you are tired or distracted.  If you start to tilt and play badly take a break, etc.

This was the kind of response i was looking for.

[Davio]

No, the correct response is: Don't take it too seriously.

The ranking is there to provide players with some guideline to find players of their own ability to actually enjoy the game. Players may find a challenge in playing higher ranked opponents or want to give lower ranked players an opportunity to learn something.

I find myself being disappointed if my ranking is lower than the previous day, but I try to not let it consume me, it's still a game after all and being first gives you nothing more than bragging rights.

With professional poker players, playing while focussed can mean the difference between a profit of $1000 and a loss of $1000.

[Captain_Frisk]

Easy. You can do the exact same strategy 79 times out of 84 games to become level 40+

Are you suggesting the BM or BM/Singlet is likely to win against most players?  I suspect this is incorrect.

I'm pretty sure they are talking about Paralyzed here. See the current leaderboard.

[painted_cow]

It is really sad to see such players dilute the leaderboard.

Didnt HornyToad do like the same?

The only way to avoid this would be a real ladder system where you can only hit a play button and get matched automatically without possibility to refuse, play fake opponents, or play the same sets over and over...

[Graystripe77]

Well, i just looked up Paralyzed's page.............. idiot.

[ackack]

The only way to avoid this would be a real ladder system where you can only hit a play button and get matched automatically without possibility to refuse, play fake opponents, or play the same sets over and over...

Not sure if Doug wants to set this up, but like a lot of other people I'd be very pleased to see such a thing.

[Lazer]

One small way to optimize your level is to not make a habit of playing only 1-2 games each day.  The uncertainty in your skill is increased every day that you play at least one game.  That uncertainty is increased by sigma0/100 = 0.25 (assuming sigma0 = 25, since starting players have 25 +/-25).

So, if you play one game per day for four days, with all four games ending in a tie (or 2 wins and 2 losses against players near your level), your uncertainty would increase by one.  As a result, your leaderboard level would drop by about one.  Note: I am ignoring the negligible reduction in uncertainty resulting from playing four games.

This effect is minimal if you play many games each day, but potentially significant if, for example, you play one game per day during lunch.

[Graystripe77]

One small way to optimize your level is to not make a habit of playing only 1-2 games each day.  The uncertainty in your skill is increased every day that you play at least one game.  That uncertainty is increased by sigma0/100 = 0.25 (assuming sigma0 = 25, since starting players have 25 +/-25).

So, if you play one game per day for four days, with all four games ending in a tie (or 2 wins and 2 losses against players near your level), your uncertainty would increase by one.  As a result, your leaderboard level would drop by about one.  Note: I am ignoring the negligible reduction in uncertainty resulting from playing four games.

This effect is minimal if you play many games each day, but potentially significant if, for example, you play one game per day during lunch.

Well, that shouldn't be a problem, i play 10-50 games a day

[greatexpectations]

my thoughts on the issue...
- play regularly. helps keep your dominion skillz sharp. when i play less my level seems to drop fast.
- play fast opponents.  i don't know about the rest of you guys, but i zone out against slow players or against players with ridiculous engines and/or slow turns. that is when i pop open some other tabs and i lose more games.
- keep your style fresh and don't over rely on good cards (or bad ones). i think we all have our favorite cards, and i think we tend to use them even if it might not be prudent. i like (and probably overuse) shanty towns and islands, and i will play a garden strategy every single time i see them. i think it is more fun (and challenging) but it probably doesn't help in the rankings.
- talk to other players. you can get a sense of their styles and both offer critiques and be critiqued. i've definitely gotten tips from other players before.
- watch other players turns. this goes back a bit to my second comment. you can learn a lot about the game and your opponent by watching them play their turn.  what their strategy is, nifty card combos, when they start greening, etc.  i will never forget the first time i saw someone run a goons engine and then watchtower-trash all the extra copper buys. ditto watchtower/talisman/treasure map.
- take breaks.  this one might just apply to me, but i tend to lose in streaks. i get frustrated and play "just one more" to end on a win and my play gets really lazy.

[DG]

One small way to optimize your level is to not make a habit of playing only 1-2 games each day.  The uncertainty in your skill is increased every day that you play at least one game.

That's probably why my uncertainty is so high. All my poor play can be explained away as just uncertainty.

[Kirian]

Easy. You can do the exact same strategy 79 times out of 84 games to become level 40+

Are you suggesting the BM or BM/Singlet is likely to win against most players?  I suspect this is incorrect.

I'm pretty sure they are talking about Paralyzed here. See the current leaderboard.

Ah, I see now.... wow, what an asshole.

[Kirian]

One small way to optimize your level is to not make a habit of playing only 1-2 games each day.  The uncertainty in your skill is increased every day that you play at least one game.  That uncertainty is increased by sigma0/100 = 0.25 (assuming sigma0 = 25, since starting players have 25 +/-25).

So, if you play one game per day for four days, with all four games ending in a tie (or 2 wins and 2 losses against players near your level), your uncertainty would increase by one.  As a result, your leaderboard level would drop by about one.  Note: I am ignoring the negligible reduction in uncertainty resulting from playing four games.

This effect is minimal if you play many games each day, but potentially significant if, for example, you play one game per day during lunch.

Um... citation on that?  The TrueSkill page Dougz links to doesn't mention that, and his indication is that he uses that directly.

It would certainly explain my high uncertainty, though.

[ackack]

It's in the FAQ somewhere. The original method increased your uncertainty by a little bit each game, but that method had a threshold past which you cannot cross that was still pretty high (12, iirc, for the choice of uncertainty gain.) So he switched to a lump sum per day. Your uncertainty will definitely be pretty high if you only play a couple of games a day.

edit: On that note, I'd love to see an option to sort leaderboard by the best estimate of skill instead of by level.

[Lazer]

Um... citation on that?  The TrueSkill page Dougz links to doesn't mention that, and his indication is that he uses that directly.

It is on the Isotropic FAQ page, "Leaderboard" section.

[Kirian]

Um... citation on that?  The TrueSkill page Dougz links to doesn't mention that, and his indication is that he uses that directly.

It is on the Isotropic FAQ page, "Leaderboard" section.

Huh... I totally missed the change in February.  My bad.  Kind of a weird way of doing it though.

[chwhite]

Someone called "Facepalm" just challenged me with the same sort of trick Paralyzed has been pulling, except with Militia instead of Goons.  I declined.

Just wanted to warn folks.