New matrix for ranks online?

[Mike Abberton]

For truth in advertising purposes, I'll preface my comments by saying that I was an assistant ladder custodian when this process started, and knew about the basics of the ladder/rank changes a while ago.

With that being said from what I recall, there has been at least one instance of asking for some general membership input (not in the details, but of the changes in concept at least), and it has not exactly been a super-secret endeavour, particularly in the last few weeks. This has been a topic of conversation on and off again on the CM ladder since the scoring changes for that ladder about a year ago.

I think Ed and the leadership did a great job balancing initial advancement (essentially the same as it was before), decent mid-level advancement (harder than before, but manageable) and difficult high-level advancement. Particularly with the generally higher level of reward on a per game basis, I think the changes will work very well.

Recently joined members will not see much impact, since the lowest ranks didn't change much and their advancement was probably impacted the least. Saying this will decrease new membership doesn't make much sense, since they will never have been exposed to the old rank system and won't have a basis of comparison.

As for the longer-term members, what is better achieving the highest ranks "early" (I realize that this is a completely relative term depending on your individual playing rate) and having no more potential for advancement? Or having ranks to shoot for a much longer time? I guess that is up to the individual. Some will like it and some will not. Taking a look at the various forums, it looks like it a basically a non-issue (there are little to no comments) or generally seen as a good thing. Most of the negative remarks seem to be here on the CS ladder.

Mike