Forum

So I heard Spike was looking at re-launching the ladder with a few rule tweaks and some really great ideas on how to popularise it. I was wondering if there was any movement on this now he’s gone and left the admin team, (damn selfish of him if you ask me :D ), used to enjoy a few random ladder games to keep the competitive edge going.

Would like to play some ladder games myself, but also the new players and teams formed sice F2P would find it invaluable to get some official match practice.

It’s something we’re discussing at the moment. I’m not sure if Spike managed to make any changes/fixes/improvements before he had to stop working, so it would likely be the same old buggy ladder we had before we took it down. If there’s massive demand for it then we might work something out.

Edit: I got Canfo’d. :/

So sorry :(
I hadn’t implemented anything spectacular yet, but I do know that the auto-drop treshold is a setting that any admin can change. It doesn’t fix the bug though, just postpones it.

It would be awesome to have, but as Skyride said, people didn’t use it before, so unless something has changed in the last 6 months, is it worth the effort.

Saying the ladder wasn’t being used is a very false statement. It wasn’t used much. Div6 and div5 teams most definitely had some good matches there. It was easier to schedule and play than looking for a game on irc, at any rate (apart from that dropping bug thingy)

i think the old CSS enemy down ladder worked really well, with a vast range of skill level from top to bottom. I think something like that would be awesome for tf2, for people to use instead of getting mixes.

I feel that instead of trying to replace tf.wars, the ladder should embrace it. So here is my theory into making a successful ladder.

First off, the ladder only operates when a season is undergoing, every team that signed up for the season will be placed on the ladder. Prem teams starting with more points then a div6 team.

Now a team searches on irc using the words “6v6 server on div4 (ladder)”. once a game has been found and both teams agree that it will go towards the ladder, they play and the usual screenshots are taken.

After the game screenshots are uploaded (maybe even a screenshot of the irc conversation of the agreement to play for ladder points). Team leaders from both teams verify the screenshots to prove they are legit and points are calculated as normal, meaning the team who has the lower points and wins gains an appropriate amount of points depending on the difference.Thus not rewarding the team who plays most but the team who keeps punching above their weight.

I seriously hope this idea does not get shot down instantly, this way is incredibly easy for the user now that P-Rec can automatically save the needed screenshots at the end of each map. However I do realise that this would take a lot of work to create! If there is also a problem about administrating such a large ladder then I will be willing to help with it as much as possible!

David: That requires effort by the teams involved. It’d be “play a pcw” versus “play a pcw and upload the screenshots”. There has to be something to be gained.

For lower div teams, having a ladder scoreboard is enough award to keep playing (in my experience – see TC match history).

For higher divs it could, with a few adjustments and without any effort required, be a good alternative to sitting on irc all day long trying to schedule a game for the night.

If it’s not easier than what already exists, or does not provide any benefits, people won’t use it.